McShea’s Say: Fr Tierney Park revamp looks superb

I want to start on a real positive note and I have to say, Saturday was a day to remember at  Fr. Tierney Park in Ballyshannon when, after almost two years of excellent work, the new pitch was played on for the very first time.

As mentioned last week, it is simply an outstanding development and no doubt will host a National Football League game when the new intercounty season begins after Christmas. 

It seemed appropriate that Aodh Ruadh, on their own patch, finished as the top team in what I would term the league end of the SFC with four wins from their four games. 

On Saturday, the Ballyshannon men were pitted against Glenfin, a club that suffered a heartbreaking loss with the sad passing of Garth Martin last week. 

With Frank McGlynn in their ranks, the visitors had a leader who, especially in the first-half,  demanded that his teammates leave nothing to chance and they responded in emphatic fashion. 

The half-time score, four points each, was a fair reflection of the run of play but with a fresh breeze in their backs in the second-half, the home side were expected to prevail with a bit to spare. And that is exactly how the game panned out.

McGlynn played very well in Ballyshannon but the truth is I never remember him having a poor game. He was the orchestrator for all that was good about his team’s play in this encounter.

He has maintained a remarkable standard of fitness, and I always considered him an unsung hero of Donegal’s All-Ireland winning side. 

A stocktake of exactly where Aodh Ruadh are at is interesting. The skeptics may suggest that one weakness in their game is that they don’t score enough goals, and, in this game, they again showed that frailty. 

But I believe that manager John McNulty would no doubt suggest that his team are still very much a product in the making and not yet the finished article. 

He will know that his side have not strolled to the most facile of victories. He will understand no victory in the championship is easy and that every win throws up new challenges. 

I believe that this young Ballyshannon side have a hunger for knowledge and information that remains unsatisfied and many tricks of the trade have yet to be mastered. 

But if the team plays a little less lateral football and vary their game; they can make a significant impact on the destiny of the Dr Maguire Cup over the next number of weeks.

An in-depth look across the championship to date shows that there were several exceptional personal performances. Oisin Gallen has set the summer alight notching 21 points in his last two games and setting up many scores for his teammates. 

Gallen has continued the rich vein of form that saw him give Derry’s All-Star defender, Chrissy McKaigue a torrid time in Ballybofey when Donegal played Derry in their championship clash.

Leo McLoone has discovered the kinda form that played such a vital role for Donegal in their All-Ireland year and that is great news for the county champions while Ciaran Thompson is also motoring well. 

It was no surprise to see Michael Murphy hit the net twice when his club played Glenties on Saturday while Odhran MacNiallais played a major role in Gaoth Dobhair’s narrow win over Dungloe. 

Eoghan Ban Gallagher was his team’s best player when Killybegs were beaten by the narrowest of margins by St. Naul’s. 

After that encounter, one of the Mountcharles’ side’s best supporters, Christy Dunleavy, rang to tell me about the brilliance of Gavin Mulreany, Peadar Mogan and Stephen Griffin. 

For Kilcar, the two men doing the business are Patrick McBrearty and Ryan McHugh. All of these players are able to produce consistently high level of performance when the stakes are highest, which must form the basis for the judgement of any level of any footballer. 

While it is very good news to see all those lads playing so well, we were very aware of their footballing prowess before this season and my hope would be that we see some new blood emerge with genuine intercounty potential sooner rather than later.

Criticism 

After Ireland were narrowly beaten by France and Holland last week, I found it rather distasteful to listen to the public vilification of Irish manager Stephen Kenny by the RTE panelists before, during and after. 

Kenny seems like a most decent man. The one question that none of the panel answered was: what players has Kenny not selected that were not included on his team? 

Playing with what was at best a limited squad, the clamour to replace Kenny is distasteful in the extreme. And Martin O’Neill, the former Ireland manager, was less than grateful in his observations about the Irish job.