Mac's View: Disappointing weekend for Donegal teams in Monaghan

It was a disappointing day at the office for Donegal teams in the Ulster club championships at the weekend with both Naomh Conaill and Naomh Columba suffering defeats against Monaghan opposition.

Naomh Conaill were not able to match Scotstown in St Tiernach’s Park, Clones on Sunday, going down to a six point defeat, but the margin was much greater at one stage and Scotstown lost a man to a red card and were never in any danger.

I was expecting much more from Glenties but when you look back on the year they struggled at times against Donegal opposition and were lucky to get past both Termon and Four Masters. They were also without their playmaker, Ciaran Thompson, which was a big loss. But even taking all that into account they were poor and the game was over as a contest very early in the game with the Monaghan side getting in for two goals.

There is a lot of maturity in that Scotstown team and their big name players played their part, but they also had a number of young players who played well. And they were without one of the better players also, Conor McCarthy.

It was sad to see the Donegal champions just not able to make an impression.

It was the same story the day before in Inniskeen with Naomh Columba, our Intermediate champions, not able to make any headway against Carrickmacross. I was very disappointed with the result and the margin of it because I felt that Carrickmacross was not a traditional stronghold for Gaelic football in Monaghan.

I’ve heard people talking about the four and five week breaks since the Donegal finals in intermediate and senior and that might be a factor but you cannot make excuses. Donegal teams should be doing better. But unfortunately we have not been doing that well at this level for some time, only getting results now and again.

 I remember back when St Joseph’s were able to compete every year and we enjoyed competing at that level. Only Gaoth Dobhair have won the senior since then although Naomh Conaill usually competed very well and did get to the final, as did Glenswilly.

There is a case for Donegal to have a look at the championship structures, especially the time lapse between the Donegal final and the Ulster competition. That is something that is very much in our own hands. There was a great chance this year to have a replay after the county final ended in a draw. That was a very good game of football and the replay would have  been very attractive and would also have brought in much-needed finance for the county board.

The club structure in Donegal should be looked at to make it more competitive. At the moment clubs are finding it too easy to survive in the various championships. And the leagues are also a problem, especially without the county players. 

There is a need to have an overall look at the league and championship structures.

While Donegal teams didn't do too well in Ulster, my congratulations to our neighbours, Erne Gaels, who had a big win over Cavan champions, Kingscourt Stars, on Saturday night in Kingspan Breffni Park led by our own Paul Brennan and Declan Bonner.

The Belleek side went on a scoring spree in the opening half but then had to withstand a great comeback from the Cavan champions. They needed extra-time but pulled away again for a great win. They will now face Down champions Kilcoo in the semi-final and that’s a great occasion to look forward to.

FOUR ALL-STARS

Congratulations to our four new All-Stars who picked up their awards at the weekend. It was great to see Michael Murphy getting his fourth All-Star. He is now level with Karl Lacey and with the great news that he is committing again in 2026, he can add to his collection.

For the others, Michael Langan, Brendan McCole and young Finnbarr Roarty, it was their first award and worthy recognition for their contribution this year. It was great to see young Roarty pick up the Young Player of the Year award as well, joining the select Donegal group of Michael Murphy and Ryan McHugh who have picked up the award in the past.

The All-Star Awards night is always a great occasion. There are a few more Donegal players who must have been close. I was really pleased to see Sam Mulroy of Louth get an award this year. He is a very good player and I would have a grá for Louth after what happened to them in 2010. They got their just rewards this year with a Leinster title.


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The All-Stars will always have their talking points about who gets the nod and one of the talking points was that there was no Connacht player in the list this year.

The GAA season is coming to a close with just the U-21 competitions to be completed in the coming weeks. We also will have the GAA Convention in December but I’m not expecting there will be many contests this year. I’m hearing that Frankie Doherty will be stepping down after completing his five-year term as Assistant Treasurer and he deserves recognition. He has put a lot into the Association in different roles over the years.

Brian McEniff in conversation with Peter Campbell