Naomh Conaill captain John O'Malley: 'So special and a moment I’ll never forget'

Captain John O’Malley believes the 2019 trilogy against Gaoth Dobhair was a real turning point for Naomh Conaill,

Naomh Conaill have won the Donegal SFC eight times including their maiden triumph in 2005, with five of those wins coming in the last seven years.

Naomh Conaill had lost finals in 2017 and 2018 to Kilcar and Gaoth Dobhair, but got over the line after a three-game marathon in ’19.

O’Malley scored the winning point in the second replay six years ago and on Sunday he captained Naomh Conaill to a thrilling extra-time win in the final against Gaoth Dobhair.

“It’s a very proud day for me and the family,” O’Malley told Donegal Live.

“It’s hard to sum it up.

“We’ve had a lot of tough days as well. We lost back-to-back finals in 2017 and 2018. I think the win in 2019 was a bit of a turning point for the team. 

“It could have went one way or another. That was a massive battle against Gaoth Dobhair too and we had the famous trilogy. 

“That was important in terms of keeping a few lads about at that time. A couple of boys were thinking about retirement if it didn’t go our way. 

“Since then, it has been our most dominant period of a great 20 years for the club. We’ve had hard days, but we learned from them. They make these days all the sweeter.”

Last winter, O’Malley mused to his wife, Megan, that he would have been happy just to get a chance to captain Naomh Conaill seniors in a challenge game. O’Malley was appointed as the new skipper by boss Martin Regan and now he joins an illustrious band of names.

O’Malley goes alongside Paddy Campbell, Anthony Thompson, Leo McLoone, Ciaran Thompson, Kevin McGettigan and Ultan Doherty as the Naomh Conaill captains to have taken receipt of the Dr Maguire Cup.

The 32-year-old said: “It was so special and a moment I’ll never forget. It was a moment I thought that I would never get, but it will live with me forever. 

“It’s something I never got to do, captain the senior team. I try not to think of it because we have leaders all through the group. Anyone could have gone up to get the cup, but there’s no doubt it was a very proud moment. 

“They are all special in their own way. We knew that this one would be very special too. 

“At the start of the Championship, we were slow to get going and we were being written off. A lot of people said that the new rules wouldn’t suit us. We had to reinvent ourselves a wee bit there. It took the course of the Championship for us to do that.”

O’Malley might now be one of the elder statesmen in the Naomh Conaill dressing room and he has become well accustomed to digging deep into the depths.

After coming from seven points in arrears, Sunday’s win was up there with the best of them.

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O’Malley said: “The bit of experience helps. We’ve been in tough positions time and time again, as our supporters will attest to. 

“We never lose belief. We always back ourselves. We never panic. If we were seven points down with 10 minutes to go, we’d still believe we would win. 

“We believe in the quality that we have. The young lads have probably been our top performers in the Championship. They have been absolutely brilliant. The experience is so important, but those young fellas have added so much and they have no fear.”