Great to see senior football back in Glen - Shane O’Gara

There might not be a cow milked in Glen for a week. The success of the men and ladies in the Intermediate and Junior Championships set off a flurry of celebrations in Lifford and O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny on Sunday afternoon.

The men’s win in the Intermediate Championship sees Naomh Columba back in senior football for the first time since 2008 and there was one player who was still playing in Letterkenny.

Shane O’Gara is the only link and he was between the posts in Letterkenny and he had to withstand a late rally from Malin but in the end Naomh Columba prevailed comfortably by 3-14 to 2-9.

“It’s fantastic to get across the line. We have been here so many times before and didn’t get across the line.

“It’s a great day for the club and with the Ladies winning (the Junior Championship) earlier on in the day, it was a great boost going into the game,” was the immediate reaction of Shane O’Gara.

He played his part but he agreed that there were a couple of dodgy moments in the dying minutes with Malin raining in high balls in search of much needed goals.

“Malin are a big side and we knew they would attempt to put in high ball on top of us. And for 50 odd minutes we dealt with it well, but we unfortunately struggled in the last 10, but we got across the line. We had to weather a black card for a period there as well,” said O’Gara.

But while O’Gara was conducting the orchestra at the back, it was the young brigade and their scoring power which saw Naomh Columba across the line.

“Listen, this squad has been building now for the last 11, 12 years. We had some good young fellows coming in, the likes of Shane Callaghan, Alex Cunnea and with the likes of Eric Carr, Aaron Doherty, they are all good footballers.

“Every one of our players are comfortable on the ball and you could see that out there.”

When it was put to him that he will now have to play an even bigger part in getting the younger brigade to adapt to senior football, he said: I think I’m the last of that group to have played senior. I played in 2007 and 2008. I think I’m the only one and Father Time is catching up with me.

“As for showing them the way, it’s changed a lot since I played senior. We’ll see how it goes.”

No doubt there will be a good celebration in through for a couple of days.

“It’s great to see senior football back in Glen. It’s a club with a massive senior tradition down through the ‘90s and early 2000s so it’s an honour and a privilege to be involved,” said O’Gara, who was just 18 back then.

“I was in the county minor panel in ‘08 and in the senior squad,” said O’Gara.