'Buzz is back' in Malin ahead of the Intermediate final - Christy McLaughlin

The flags and bunting are up in the north of the county as Malin prepare for another battle with Naomh Columba in the Intermediate Championship final.

After relegation from the Senior Championship in 2019, the Connolly Park side have been looking for a way back to senior level, and they have come close in recent years.

But success hasn’t come easy and captain Christy McLaughlin is hoping they can get over the line this Sunday in O’Donnell Park (throw-in 4pm).

“The buzz is back, which is great for the club. 

“It’s a great community thing when a team is in a final and progressing well. There are many people who maybe haven’t stepped foot inside the gates at Connolly Park looking for flags, and if we get nothing else out of it but can gain five or six younger ones into the club, then it will nearly make it worthwhile in itself for the future.

“But it would be a massive plus to win something. There are a few boys in that dressing room who may have won the Sandy Harper Division Two title, but a lot of the boys have never won a trophy with the club.

“Everyone is aspiring to get back into senior football, regardless of where in the county you’re from, it’s everyone's goal. Getting that senior status back would be massive.”

Malin reached the 2023 final, losing out to Downings, while it was Sunday’s opponents who defeated them in the final four last year, with the sides level going down the stretch before a late Naomh Columba surge.

“We had a good run the last couple of years. We came up short against Downings two years ago, and then last year we had a big win against Buncrana, but we went out in the semis.

“We’re hoping this year we can go one step further and get a bit of silverware after trying and pushing over the last number of years. It would be nice to accomplish that.

“The games are always getting closer and closer, and even over the weekend, you can see that with the new rules, it’s only a kick of the ball, and you could be up and then down again.

“We’ve shown a bit of experience coming through the group stages. Buncrana and Muff were our first two games and two massive local derbies that were hard on the bodies. But we’ve pushed through and come out on the right side of every game so far.

“Everyone knows the firepower that Glen have and it’ll take a lot of stopping to control them. There’s no way we’re going to stop them from scoring, but hopefully we can limit them and get the scores at the other end. I’d imagine for a neutral, looking at the scores both sides have put up, it could look to be a great game of football.

“Hopefully we have that experience from the last few years, obviously Naomh Columba have that experience too, but I imagine it’ll be a similar tight game and hopefully we can come out of the right side of it.”

And while Paul Gallagher’s side may have experience of going far in the competition, the 28-year-old McLaughlin alluded to the youthfulness in the squad.

Conor O’Neill, Daniel Houghton, and Conor McGeoghegan are in Australia, while Terence Doherty and Matthew Byrne both retired.

John Gerard McLaughlin and Stephen Fildara had also hung up the boots but made a return for the championship, but the youth in the side have stepped up to the mark.

“From last years squad, we lost about eight players, maybe even more, from players retiring and a couple of boys emigrating, which was a big chunk, but the boys have kept the shoulder to the wheel and Paul came in.

“We knew it would be tough in the league and there would be changes to the squad but the boys stepped up and thankfully we’ve got a few of the older heads back in and other boys coming back from injury.

“To get to a final, you need a squad of 28, and to have them boys back is a big help.

“This was the first year I went to one of the trainings, and I was the oldest player there which was a tight one for me! 

“Since I’ve started, I have always been one of the younger boys, but there’s a big gap between myself and the next group of boys around 23/24 but there are a lot of boys coming through who are showing maturity, which is a good sign for the club as a whole.

“Everyone is stepping up. I’ve been captain for the last few years and I’d like to think I’ve done a good enough job of it. I’d hate to think of asking people to do something that I’m not prepared to do myself, so I’d like to hold that sort of accountability, and if I see boys pushing on, then I have to try and step it up further.”