When the jury got it so wrong: 'I just knew Ardara were good enough' - Manus Boyle

It’s remembered as one of the greatest ever Democrat Jury calls but Manus Boyle says he still doesn’t get what all the fuss was about. 

11-1 was the bleak forecast there as the overwhelming majority of pundits predicted that reigning champions St Eunan’s were going to start the new millennium like they’d ended the last one - on top. 

READ NEXT: 25 years on: Skipper Eamon Doherty reflects back on Ardara's seismic 2000 SFC win 

But Donegal legend Boyle, a five-time Dr Maguire winner himself with Killybegs, says a simple look through the Ardara line-up at that time meant there was no way they were ever going to be fodder or pushovers for the Brendan Devenney-led Letterkenny outfit. 

Boyle says that Ardara had steel through the middle, players that you just knew what you were going to get from. 

But if Johnny D. Earley and his management team could get their more enigmatic and flair operators to fire on the big day, then he was in no doubt that Ardara could end what had been, up until 2000, a 19-year SFC title famine. 

“Just looking at the team there; Shaun Whyte, Eamon Doherty, Brendan Boyle, Kevin Byrne, Damian Diver and Peter McHugh, they were men for the trenches. 

“But what was key for Ardara on the day was getting the likes of Fergal Heena, Conal Doherty, Michael Doherty and Jonathan Boyle on the ball, causing bother and stretching the play. 

The Donegal Democrat jury from just before the 2000 SFC final 

“I’ll always  remember Peter Campbell ringing me at the time, I was last up. I genuinely thought he was joking when he said it had been a clean sweep so far. I don’t know how so many others had seen it that way, 11-0 at that point. 

“I knew the natural talent the likes of Heena, Conal Doherty, Michael Doherty and Jonathan Boyle had.

“But more importantly, I had played with Damian Diver and I knew the type of him. I knew the driving force he’d have been behind that dressing room door.

“I’d seen both sides in the run-in to the final. And it looked like Ardara had the momentum. St Eunan’s were needing Devenney and John Haran to really step up and get them over the line.  

“What Ardara had, I just knew they were players that were good enough. Jonathan Boyle was as good a free-taker that was about at the time. 

“Michael Doherty, if he was around now he’d be the kind of lad called into the Donegal squad as he was direct and had pace to burn. 

“St Eunan’s were back in the mix and had a serious reputation that they’d deservingly earned.  But Ardara played the team and not the occasion that day. And that’s what made the difference.

“And even though Killybegs had their battles with Ardara over the years, I was delighted for them. 

“But I was especially delighted for the likes of Ted Breslin, Jimmy Brennan and Patrick ‘Larry’ Gallagher. They’d got their medals for all their efforts and sacrifices over the years.

“They got their run outs right at the very end, I think they were all sprung together. It was a lovely touch as Ardara were home and hosed at that stage”.  

Boyle says the great thing about that squad or, most of them anyway, is that they backed that remergence up once again, in 2004. And that, he explains, is the hallmark of a great team. 

“I know there were some personnel changes but many of those same lads got back to the top of the mountain in 2004. 

“It might have been less dramatic and more comfortable against MacCumhaills but it was another championship medal. 

“They had the experience of 2000 and they knew exactly what it took. So much has to come together on the day and that has never changed. 

“We’ve been lucky enough to have experienced that a few times, the 25-year recognition thing, and I’m sure those Ardara lads will have a brilliant day on Sunday, before, during and after”.