A good coach changes games, a great coach changes lives - that was Johnny D Earley

A good coach changes games, a great coach changes lives.

I don’t know who said that, but it best sums up the legacy left by the late Johnny D Earley.

On and off the field, the 2000 Donegal SFC-winning boss made an indelible impact, both collectively with the teams he managed but also individually with the countless players who were lucky to call him boss.

Johnny D, as we all called him, passed away on Tuesday morning, peacefully surrounded by family and no doubt a commotion of grandchildren that will have absolutely doted on him. How could they not?

Johnny D, the manager, had a bit of everything. He was Seán Boylan, with numerous potions and lotions, but he was also Jim McGuinness, with some brilliantly simple but effective tactical takes that were way ahead of their time.

Johnny drove the bus, was the physio and, more often than not, for a generation of Ardara underage footballers, gave some of the best pre-match and half-time team talks you could imagine.

And on the days when things didn’t go quite the way you’d have wished, he could scrape you up off the floor and give you something to cling to, or chase, moving onto the next one.

With the club lifting U-21, minor and U-16 county titles from the mid to late 90s, Johnny D was the one eventually harnessing all of that potential, at the turn of the new millennium, to finally lead Ardara back to the top of the mountain at SFC level.

A Glenties native, he was able to cross that sometimes frictious divide, and not just seamlessly fit in but become part of the absolute fabric at Pearse Memorial Park.

The all-inclusiveness now of underage sport and how no one is left behind, well, Johnny D Earley was doing that exact same thing way back in the day.

He had a unique way of making every single player feel valued and needed. That’s a very special quality.

Eamonn Doherty skippered that bunch, but he candidly admitted at the time that the Johnny D and Damian Diver combination was a crucial part of a win that ended a 19-year Dr Maguire barren spell.

“Johnny and Damian were always huddled up whenever you saw them. They were in a quiet corner in the cafe, in the supermarket, in the front of a bus that was often going nowhere at times. But always chatting football.

“And once it was confirmed Johnny was the new manager in 2000, Diver was vocal right away. I mean people talk about Jim McGuinness now and his ways, but 25 years ago Johnny D was at much of the same stuff.

“I mean the psychology of it all. Johnny soon had us eating out of the palm of his hand. Anything he asked, we did it.

“Like I said, Diver was firmly on board in terms of relaying stuff to the dressing room. And, the nicest way to probably put it is that once Diver was on board, the rest of us were almost afraid not to be.

“But with the young fellas coming in as well, lads with minor and U-16 titles in their pockets from the years before, they were easily led, in a good way I mean. They didn’t have to be dragged.

“Again, in terms of comparisons, like Alex Ferguson had Roy Keane, McGuinness had Michael Murphy and Johnny D had Diver. And the rest of us fed off that and bought into it”.

Since the sad news of Johnny’s passing broke - he was 82 years old - tributes have flooded in.

Ardara GAA on their Facebook account said: “Our club has lost its most successful manager, our main bus driver for so many years, our ad-hoc physio and chiropractor, and our funniest ever character.

“So many people will have stories to tell of Johnny D. They will all involve humour and wit and will cause people to laugh as much as Johnny did.

“As a club, we will remember the great man that he was. As a manager, he could make the hair stand on a player's back as they left the dressing room.

“He was also the manager who saw something in certain players that others couldn’t see, and developed those players to be the best that they could be”.

Naomh Conaill GAA wrote: “Johnny played with the club from an early age. He won a Minor championship medal in 1962, then in 1964 he was a member of the Junior championship-winning team.

“He was also part of a very famous group of players that reached the final of the 1965 championship final only to be narrowly beaten after a replay”.

Johnny D was also a very accomplished musician and was part of the Cufflinks when showbands were at their absolute peak.

Paddy Molloy came into that band as a young teenager and he had this to say about Johnny on their social media.

“Jeez, what a man. So sorry to lose a mentor and friend. Was a big part of my growing up and especially when I joined the Cufflinks.

“He was a gentleman through and through, a funny man with loads of jokes and also a genuine role model and adviser.

“He leaves a big legacy behind him. Condolences to all the family. Rest in peace Johnny, love ye always. We will meet again. Keep playing the tunes up above in the clouds”.

Johnny will be laid to rest on Friday morning. Requiem Mass will take place at 11am at the Church of the Holy Family, Ardara, followed by burial in Glenties Cemetery.