'We’re not quite back to the days of old yet but we are improving'

If either Four Masters or Aodh Ruadh needed motivation for their championship clash this weekend, perhaps they ought to cast their minds back to a September afternoon in Donegal Town in 2021.

The Ballyshannon men came, they saw, and they conquered in what was a 14-point, 1-21 to 0-10, away victory over one of their closest rivals.

It was Aodh Ruadh’s first senior championship game in over a decade. For Four Masters’ manager Kevin Sinclair, it was his first senior championship match in charge of the Donegal Town men, taking over mid-season.

Contrasting greetings to senior championship football for both parties. A perfect start for one side, turmoil for the other. It only reminded us of the pain and beauty that this competition can bring.

Speaking to Ocean FM after that match, Four Masters legend Barry Dunnion summed up the performance and the level both teams are at: “People talk about transition, Aodh Ruadh are a good side and definitely a couple of levels ahead of us at the moment. That’s just the reality.” But that wasn’t always the way.

Mention the rivalry between these two clubs to All-Ireland winner Sylvester Maguire and he can’t help but release a loud sigh as if winded from being punched in the stomach, before letting out a laugh, as he reminisces.

“You want to talk about rivalry, our battles with Four Masters, particularly in the 80s were incredible,” said Maguire. “When I was growing up, us and Four Masters were always the two best teams at underage. We always met in league and championship finals it seemed, but for whatever reason when we got to a decider, we were fortunate to just always find a way to win.

“I was lucky to be a part of a four in-a-row minor championship winning team from ’79 to ’82 and that cohort would’ve been a large backbone to our success in the 1980s and leading into the 90s.”

The ’92 All-Ireland winner highlights his team’s winning ways in saying: “From our 1980 minor winning team, seven of our players went onto play regular inter-county football.”

Names like Tommy McDermott, Brian Tuohy and Brian Murray are just some that ring a bell amongst an older generation of Donegal fans. Men who experienced the hard-hitting matches of the 1980s – a period that saw unprecedented success for the clubs.

“You knew when you played Four Masters, it was going to be hard, it was going to be sore, and it was going to be a struggle,” said Maguire. “Joyce McMullin and I would be the same age and we had great times getting stuck into each other on the pitch. There were simply no hiding places in those matches.

“For Four Masters at that time, they had Corny Carr playing at centre-half back and Diarmuid McGettigan was your traditional full-back. If you could get past those two, then you had a good day. I remember Val Murray at full-forward broke through them one day, he scored a goal and finished it with a soccer-style celebration.

“But the laugh was that you could see the anger coming from McGettigan’s face, he was nearly frothing at the mouth. Val wasn’t long running out to midfield to nip behind myself and Brian Tuohy for protection,” Maguire jokes.

“That’s just one example of the rivalry we had with each other as clubs on the field. Like every time we went to play rivals like Four Masters we were going to war and what happens happens.

“Off the field we had great respect for each other. We always enjoyed going into McGroarty’s bar in Donegal Town after for the abuse and it was even more enjoyable when we won to remind everyone there who the kingpins were.”

Maguire was at the helm as Aodh Ruadh manager when they last won the Dr Maguire Cup 25 years ago as well as being in charge when the Ballyshannon men were last in a county final in 1999.

While he doesn’t see his native club at the level of the top clubs in the county yet, he does see progress being made significantly over the last decade.

“We’re not quite back to the days of old yet but we are improving, there’s no doubt about that. Winning the Intermediate championship was a massive lift for the club. I feel we have a good structure in place,” said the five-time championship winner.

“I can’t emphasise enough the massive work that the current management team are doing, and huge credit has to go to past managers who had to soldier through a lot of tough times to build the team that we have today.

“We haven’t been in a county final since ’99 and I say we haven’t been in a semi-final in as long. I think we have a nice mix in our team between youth and experience. We have all our ducks in a row, the only thing now we’re missing is trophies on the board.”

The great fascination of every championship season is people like to live in hope of the unknown before it starts. And while Maguire still acknowledges that St Eunans and Naomh Conaill are still ahead of the pack, for the rest of the teams he sees the season ahead as a tabula rasa on which anything can be inscribed.

“This is going to be a very open championship compared to other years. St Eunans and Naomh Conaill have kicked on another level yet again, then you may have Kilcar and Gweedore, but after that, you have eight or nine teams that could all take each other on. That level of competition now amongst all those teams will leave to a very open championship.”

While the punters believe that the Ballyshannon men will most certainly have tougher days ahead this season, for now Aodh Ruadh’s focus is to live up to their current expectations as one of the minnows who can break the idea of the ‘Top Four’ status and compete for a title.

But for now, Maguire wants his club to take their journey as one step at a time.

“We need to be careful not to get too far ahead of ourselves in the club because while we are doing very well in Division 1 the last number of years, we have to understand that the league is played without any county players. So, the championship is where you see where the best clubs are at. Our first big test starts against Four Masters.

“What is a big positive for us is, we have a lot of older players that did their travelling and experience throughout the 2010s. They’re back in Ballyshannon and dedicated to the club. We nearly have everyone at home now which is rare in club GAA.

“I just hope that while we have this team all together at the minute, we can get the best out of them in terms of success.”

But despite the All-Ireland winner’s wariness, he still expects an Aodh Ruadh win, but one they will have to fight for.
“I know Kevin Sinclair a long time. He’s a very good coach at Four Masters and likes to do things his way which is good.
“I think maybe Four Masters are just a small bit behind Aodh Ruadh at this current moment but the most important thing for them is to do is what we did with our underage teams all those years ago and bring them lads through and invest in those young players.

“Four Masters need to stay with Aodh Ruadh as long as they can this weekend but I think we just have that greater bit of experience and know-how at the minute which will carry us.”

It’s most certainly no longer the rivalry of old, but a match nonetheless that both sides are hoping to take positives from.
Aodh Ruadh are hoping to build from their league campaign and place their mark in the championship as a side that can compete with the best.

For Four Masters, it’s about staying with the rest of the pack in this competition and biding their time until their supposedly next generation of talent are through to take over the mantle.

Sport is unpredictable, often chaotic, but right now you’d imagine this match to go only one way. GAA is at a standard of professionalism we’ve never seen before, but with fixtures like this one, sometimes we yearn for the magical days of old.