'Regan popped his head around the door and said, 'sorry Plumber, Shea is coming with us'

James ‘Plumber’ Boyle has seen them come and go over the years. 

But the Naomh Conaill reserve team boss never gave up hope that Shea Malone would someday find his way back to Davy Brennan Memorial Park. 

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Emigration, lack of interest, you name it, the list of reasons that some fall through the net can be a long one. 

But in Malone’s case, it was that his talents weren’t confined to just Gaelic football. 

And when Sligo Rovers came calling in 2023, off he went to the Showgrounds chasing a different kind of dream. 

Malone was on the books of the ‘Bit ’O Red’ for close to four seasons and came close to making a breakthrough in the League of Ireland.

But as Boyle explains, whenever Malone was home and available in between, he would hand him a starting berth with the Glenties second string. 

There was no obligation to train, that wouldn’t have worked. And ‘Plumber’ didn’t care if it put one or two noses out of joint. 

Because it not only kept Malone in touch with friends but, more importantly, he remained entwined in the fabric of the club. 

“Shea would dip in with the U-21s whenever the soccer finished up - that was the original arrangement the last few seasons,” Boyle said. 

“You just looked at him and thought it would be brilliant if he was around all the time. He looked like a senior footballer from very early on. 

“But you were also hoping he’d make a go of the soccer so we were just glad to sort of see him when we seen him. 

“I was stuck last season for numbers in a reserve games and he came in at the last moment ahead of a Comórtas game to help out. 

“He scored nine or ten points that night against Na Rossa. He was brilliant once again against Fanad in the semi-final, hit something like 12 points and two or three of those were two-pointers. 

“He played about four or five league games in the end. But I knew he’d already caught the attention of the senior management and Martin Regan. How could he not? 

“Martin popped his head around the door a day or two later and said, ‘Sorry Plumber, I’m taking Shea with us’.” 

He added: “So that was that! Really, though, I was delighted. As I knew that now he was going to concentrate on the Gaelic and I genuinely thought at the time, the sky was the limit”.

Malone rattled in a goal in last weekend’s 1-20 to 0-20 NFL opening win over Dublin at Croke Park. 

He also netted in a brace of three-pointers in Jim McGuinness’ team’s previous McKenna Cup final win over Monaghan in Omagh. 

And Boyle believes the exciting thing about his young club mate is that there is so much more to come.  

“Dermot Molloy is a cousin of Shea’s and I know Dermot had a big role to play in Shea finally deciding to fully commit to Gaelic. 

“And as we have seen the last few weeks, the sky was the limit as he’s taken another step now, to that next level with Donegal. 

“At the weekend, it’ll be 11 months exactly since that first Gaeltact game with the reserves. 

“I mean, that is some crazy progress. And, in a way,  he’s still only really finding feet again in Gaelic football so it’s going to be exciting now to see how far he can push all of that”.