Eamon McGee: If my NFL medal is left off my CV I’m quick to remind people

Eamon McGee says he values his NFL medal from 2007 but admits it took some time for him to appreciate the feat of landing a Division 1 crown.

At the time, that victory over Mayo when a patched-up Neil Gallagher lifted the trophy at Croke Park, represented the county’s first major honour since their 1992 All-Ireland win. 

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Under Brian McIver, it was obvious that Donegal were a talented group of footballers and the hope was that the good times were about to roll once more in the north west. 

However, it would soon transpire to be yet another false dawn, for some at least, before Jim McGuinness eventually took the reins and led the county back to Ulster SFC title glory once more in 2011. 

That ended a 19-year wait for provincial honours and with Sam Maguire returning to the Hills the season after, Donegal had reemerged as a serious footballing force once more. 

Three Ulster titles later, that Celtic Cross, as well as an Ulster Club SFC title with Gaoth Dobhair, you’d have expected McGee to be blasé or, at this stage, somewhat indifferent to that old league triumph. 

But for McGee, it’s much more complicated than that. It usually is. Still waters continue to run deep with him and reflecting back on 2007 stirs some interesting sentiment. 

It’s a medal that, in a way, represents what could have been for a certain vintage. 

On the other hand, it completes a grand slam of sorts with Donegal, but much like the FA Cup in a Manchester United ‘Treble’, its sheen is a direct result of being in the presence of the other ‘big two’.

What does your 2007 NFL medal mean to you? 

It’s a hard one to answer. If someone leaves my National League medal out of my CV I’m very quick to correct them. I suppose that in itself tells me I value it. I remember beating Kerry in 2007 in Letterkenny and we were raving. Everyone was saying Donegal had arrived. Darragh Ó Sé was laughing to himself coming off, probably thinking ‘ those eejits getting worked up about the league’. But we built up some nice momentum and that group needed some kind of traction. In the here and now, maybe Donegal won’t place too much value on it even if they win at the weekend. But coming out the other side, when it’s all over, it’s still a great medal. 

Did you think 2007 was a threshold moment ahead of that year’s championship? 

There wasn’t a stage where I thought ‘yeah, we can do this’. But it did give you a wee bit of confidence moving onto championship. It was different when we finally won an Ulster title in 2011. We were ready to take on the world. It felt like a proper foundation to push on and we did - we won an All-Ireland the next year. The league in 2007 may have represented potential. But it’s fair to say, looking back at the quality that was there, we never got anywhere near to realising our full potential. Now, for the older lads, the Adrian Sweeneys, the Brian Ropers and so on, maybe because they were the experienced cohort, maybe they were looking down that line. But we younger lads just didn’t have the maturity to interpret it as anything like that. These days, you’ll still hear ‘the league is the league’ but I do feel it’s much more a barometer now of exactly where teams are at. In that sense, it demands value. I personally think the provincials have lost a wee bit of their lure. I predict that the league will eventually slip into second place in the pecking order behind Sam. There was a time when you built up through pre-season into the league and then into championship. But what lads put into the early stages of the season now, in modern football, it’s gone to another level again. So by what they have invested, the games are inevitably going to another level as a direct result of that work. There is a mindspace there that you’re primed to win games. It would probably be easy for me to be snobbish about a league because I have provincial and All-Ireland medals at home. But players that gave an awful lot to the county cause and that is their lot, at least they can say they’ve won a national title. I’d never trivialise that or downplay it. By that I mean all the lads that gave absolutely everything for their county but don’t have anything to show for it at home. 

How good was that group? If they’d embraced a certain approach, like Armagh and Tyrone did at the time, could they have got over the line? 

Yes, absolutely. There was so much potential in that squad back then. It had a brilliant blend. But we were mentally weak. But in terms of ability and that word again, potential, we could definitely have pushed on. Again, it was just that mindset at the time, what was needed to be a successful intercounty side. Armagh and Tyrone were setting the bar as well. And it went to a higher level so quickly. Dublin came along and flipped the thing again. They were so consistent and dominant. Kerry are the side now looking the part when it comes to that. You see them… when it comes to championship, they just come to life. Back then, we were lacking in all of that.

Eamon McGee in action against Mayo in the 2007 Division 1 NFL final

Do you feel for those lads, the ones that maybe just fell by the wayside or off the radar just before 2011? 

I often think about that. And yeah, I do feel for them. When you look at the lads that for some reason that was their end, there were so many absolutely brilliant footballers. It’s a sore one for me. Like, when you are out of that bubble, it’s easy to forget just how cutthroat and selfish intercounty football is. But when you’re retired, and you began to reflect on a human level, you begin to realise the amount of lads that just missed the Jim McGuinness boat. All those lads would have sat around, myself included, and just speculated what it actually would be like to win an All-Ireland with Donegal. And any time I bump into any one of them, I do think about that. 

Would you prefer or would it be better for the GAA season if the outright winner got the trophy? 

I was listening to Martin McHugh actually make some very good and relevant points on that. And I completely get where he is coming from. Some part of me agrees but I can also see it from the other side. I can understand why the GAA want to have a showpiece or final. Our calendar is so condensed as it is. But when there is breathing space, like there is right now, people are happy to see the two best sides in the country go at it. It goes back to marketing the thing and elevating it as much as we can. So while I get where Martin is coming from, I believe right now there is definitely space for it.

What relevance does Sunday’s game have in the grander scheme of things? 

Absolutely none. I’m actually half hoping, in a twisted sort of way, that Jim does the exact same thing again on Sunday. Paudie Clifford isn’t playing but if he was, leave him untagged. I’d love to see Donegal just sit in that low block, mark David Clifford and just give the proverbial two fingers to his detractors! It’s an opportunity to get a run out against Kerry but it’s not an All-Ireland final. Yes, we can look at how to maybe attempt to shackle David Clifford. Brendan McCole seemed to pick up a knock near the end against Monaghan and hopefully he’s alright. Real-time information, even in a softer environment like a league final, there is learning and value to it. For McCole to get another close look would have value. Even if Clifford kicks eight or nine points, Brendan is mature and intelligent enough to use it as a learning or information-gathering exercise. Joe O’Connor is another one. But Jason McGee is injury-free and that’s a new dynamic. Further out the field, it’s a different kind of duel. It’s not always that one on one battle. O’Connor is crucial to Kerry but the form McGee is in is massive for Donegal. It’s a weapon we didn’t have last year. So much talk centred on Paudie Clifford not being marked last year. But the kickouts, we just didn’t get enough of a platform in the first-half to compete. Hugh McFadden came in as did Jason and that dynamic changed. Who knows what would have happened, or the direction things might have gone, had we both men in from the off. Like, we came back to within three or four points. We posted no two-pointers. So there are loads of things there that can be improved upon. 

What did you make of Jim at Croke Park after the Dublin win and that discussion on zonal and man-to-man? 

I loved it. That’s what you want. I used to love Jose Mourinho the first time around. I loved that interaction. It’s the same now with Jim McGuinness, Kieran McGeeney and so on. It just gives some life and colour to those exchanges. I’d love to see the players step up in that kind of fashion. I think the GAA can do so much better and has so much to gain by being more accessible and personable. We shouldn’t be criticising or complaining when managers or players have their say. With Jim, I sometimes think there is a bit of jealousy when it comes to analysing him and his teams. It’s almost a ‘how dare he look to upset the natural order’ type thing. He went to soccer and people scoffed at it. But the GAA are blessed to have him. What else or who else besides him and maybe McGeeney would we have to call out some of the things they do? Even their post-match is always interesting and colourful. They are the exceptions to the rule. And even with all of that, I can still say he’s spot on with everything he said. But the journalists would have been the last ones complaining that evening. It made for great copy for them and, as a result, great reading for the rest of us.  

Even though we’re a month out from Ulster, could Donegal decide to err on the side of caution on Sunday regarding personnel? 

I think there will be an element of that. We have injuries and I don’t know if the likes of Oisin Gallen, Ciaran Moore or Michael Murphy will be seen at the weekend. Brendan came off, like we said, in Monaghan. If there is even the smallest of doubts, we won’t see those lads. Four weeks out from the start of Ulster and Down, the lads aren’t going to get much fitter. It’s all about fine-tuning tactics and ball skills. Whoever Jim does go with, Jack O’Connor the same, there are going to be loads of established players on both sides. There will be quite a few who were involved in the All-Ireland final. So both sets of players will be going all out to win the game. I can still get excited about that. I can still see it being a really cracking game. But, like I said, when the dust settles, what it will exactly count for in the grander scheme of things, I don’t think it’ll count for that much.