McGlynn looking to banish the hurt of previous Under-21 campaigns

Glenfin captain Luke McGlynn is hopeful of getting his hands on silverware in the Under-21 B final after a couple of years of near misses.

It’s a final year at underage level for McGlynn, with Daniel Marley, Shaun Ward, Jamie O’Donnell, Darragh Carroll and Niall Marley also overage next season.

And his Under-21 campaigns haven’t been as successful as he’d have liked, losing the final in 2022 to Glenswilly before a quarter-final defeat to 2023 runners-up Dungloe.

Last year saw another defeat in the last eight to Burt, who went on to lose the final to Cloughaneely.

“It was a huge disappointment, even when you go back two years, when we get to the end of these competitions, we’d end up getting injuries,” McGlynn said.

“There was a few of us who weren’t right last year (in the quarter-final), but fair play to Burt, they were brilliant up in Glenfin that day.

“There has been a lot of hurt in the 21s campaigns. We were beaten in the final a few years ago, and there were some of us lads that played in the Bridge that day against Glenswilly.

“We were beaten in a Minor semi-final in Division 1, so that has kind of carried over as well for us boys.

“So there has been a lot of hurt knowing that we were probably underachieving, but thankfully, now we’re back in the final, and we’ll see where it takes us.

“It’s the last year for a few of us, and it comes down to this game now. There’s only maybe three lads gone from last year’s team, so this team have been playing together for a while, and this has been the core of the team the past few years.

“But there are young fellas coming through who are brilliant footballers, and they’re mature for young lads. Seaghan (McCormick) and Callum (Long) have been great, and we’ll be looking at them sort of boys, and we’ll see how far they can take us.”

It’s a busy time of the year for McGlynn, who is in his final year of a Sports & Exercise course at ATU Donegal, and he captained the college team that won the Division 2 title against SETU Carlow last Wednesday.

Also lining out for Cappry Rovers, who lead the Division One table, things are going well on multiple fronts for the Glenfin man, and he will be looking to add more silverware this Saturday.

He came on as a substitute in the semi-final win over reigning champions Cloughaneely, but still played 50 minutes as the game went to extra-time.

Their opponents hit an early goal and two pointer with the breeze in their favour, and led for 50 minutes before Frank McGlynn’s men got ahead and went three clear in the final stages.

And while Cloughaneely got level to take it to extra-time, Glenfin really stood up in the added periods and outscored them by seven points to none.

“They were a strong team, and when you get to that stage of the competition, every team is going to be that way.

“We were clawing back the whole time and going in at half time, we weren’t in a horrible position, given we had the breeze in the second half.

“Semi-finals are for winning and the quarter-finals too, it’s not all about how you do it. You obviously want to have the performance, but we were happy enough to get through them.”

And they meet Ardara this Saturday at the Burn Road (throw-in 1.30pm), who have also gone through the group phase and knockouts unbeaten, having overcome Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin by 1-10 to 1-7 in the semi-final on Sunday.

It’s just over ten years to the week since Glenfin last won the U21 B Championship, current senior players having an impact as Stephen Ward hit the net while Andrew Walsh saved a penalty.

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And on the 50th anniversary of the club's founding, it would be fitting if they could pick up another title.

“The lads were down watching them on Sunday, and that’s all the information we would have on them, we didn’t play them this year or last year.

“But we’re going into the game just trying to keep our own house in order. We have a full clean bill of health, and going into a final, that’s always a positive.

“It’s a huge opportunity, and it’s nice to be going into a final around Christmastime. Ardara will be gunning for the same, and we’ll just have to see what way it goes on Saturday.”