Naomh Conaill are Donegal club football’s Benjamin Button - Maxi Curran  

Maxi Curran says Naomh Conaill’s vintage collection will only really get the credit they deserve once they finally hang up their spurs. 

Curran - a 2014 SFC winner with St Eunan’s - admits it’s hard to quantify exactly what makes the cluster so special and it’s even harder to understand just how they’ve been able to stick about for so long. 

In your mid to late 30s, Bodies should be breaking down, interest, more often than not, wanes - especially if you’ve worn the t-shirt six times and have the medals at home to prove it. 

But Glenties have been able to keep the likes of Anthony Thompson, Eoin Waide, Brendan McDyer, Marty Boyle and Leo McLoone around, all survivors from their maiden 2005 Dr Maguire win. 

It’s been a concentrated period of success and maybe that is part of the magnetism that keeps those lads coming back. Naomh Conaill have six SFC titles to their name, so too do local rivals Ardara. 

But Ardara’s first came way back in 1923 with their last landed in 2004. There are many young lads on the Glenties side’s panel that have been reared on a diet of discipline and success. 

But there is that old half-dozen or so that will still remember the lean days. And the fumes of that painful recall seems to be as potent as ever. 

As the SFC centres in on the knockout states, their encounter with Kilcar in Fintra on Sunday is the standout quarter-final tie. 

Curran believes the leaders Naomh Conaill possess and the way that group encourages the others along, will again be decisive in this tie. 

“They are a really special group,” said Curran. “They are the Benjamin Button of Donegal GAA. It doesn’t make sense - what they’ve been able to do, that older cohort I mean. It sort of defies logic.

“Mentally and physically, it’s off the wall that they’ve been able to do what they’ve done. I genuinely feel as a group - they’re the best Donegal club side ever. There is a real control to how they go about their business. 

“Look at their leaders - when do you ever see a Leo McLoone, Brendan McDyer or an Anthony Thompson absolutely chewing a teammate out? It doesn’t happen. They are the ultimate leaders and that is a crucial part of their make-up or DNA. 

“It’s a rare thing and it’s something I remember Glenswilly also having and still do. But Michael Murphy and Neil Gallagher were the best players in the country in their positions but they protected those around them if mistakes were made. 

“There was that sense of team, where the team came before everything else and not the star player. And for the ordinary club player - the mere mortals - that’s really potent. 

“And there is sort of three generations now knitted into that Glenties team. Ciaran Thompson, Ethan O’Donnell, Jeaic Mac Ceallbhui and the Dohertys are now around the middle bracket of all of that. They have also developed such durability. They came from five down against St Eunan’s and six down against Glenswilly. 

“I expect Naomh Conaill and Kilcar to be tight. Kilcar still have enough quality that they’ll hang tight, they’ll be in the game right up until the end. 

“It’ll be interesting to see how the elements in Fintra affect things. Naomh Conaill don’t go for the juggler in an out-and-out fashion, it’s a controlled dissection. It is one of those that has the potential to be a draw. 

“There is recent niggle there. I still think, down the stretch, Naomh Conaill will move through the gears in that controlled fashion and will just squeeze over the line”. 

Opening act 

First up on Saturday, Glenswilly and MacCumhaills take centre stage in Letterkenny. Curran says it’s an interesting clash. He views the Twin Towns as an up-and-coming prospect but, he believes, they are an outfit still in the development stage. 

“MacCumhaills have the two lads up top, Oisin Gallen and Joel Bradley Walsh. There is a great balance there between the two. That is the conundrum facing sides right now. 

“But they also have Marty O’Reilly there, who is still making a serious contribution and will have to be watched. Kevin McCormick and Jamie Keegan, again real handfuls. They’ve been there or thereabouts at underage the last few years.

“So they are definitely a team that will feel they’re really knocking on the door. Glenswilly aren’t as defensive as they once were. For them, it’s a similar story, They have Jack Gallagher, Donal Gallagher, Daithi Gildea and Keelan Dunleavy coming through. 

“Again, and it probably sounds strange to say for a team with Michael Murphy, Gary McFadden and Caolan Kelly in it, but they are a side coming rather than one that’s arrived. 

“I’ve no doubt they’ll be in the mix in the years ahead. But right now they both will see this as a great chance to make the semi-final. Will they have enough to trouble a Naomh Conaill or St Eunan’s right now? I’m not so sure. 

“It’s probably one of the more interesting ties of the weekend. I think Naomh Conaill, in a game where they were six points up in at one stage, is Glenswilly’s only loss this season. “They lost to Buncrana in their last league game but they were over the line as Division 2 winners. 

“In terms of the weekend, it’s open and a real 50/50. That said, I still think that wee bit of extra know-how and the names we just mentioned, I think Glenswilly will edge it. They had that run out in O’Donnell Park last weekend as well. It’s a marginal call but I’d go for Glenswilly”.

Old history 

Attention then moves to last year’s defeated county finalists, St Eunan’s, who have an interesting roadblock in front of them in the form of Aodh Ruadh. 

This was once one of the most niggly club rivalries in the county but the amount of water that’s passed under the bridge, including a sharp tail-off in Ballyshanon’s success at this level, means there’s little relevance to any of that ahead of the weekend. 

1997 and the infamous Leslie McGettigan affair might well be mentioned along the perimeter in Convoy, but none of the players inside the wire will lean on that sorry saga for any kind of extra edge. 

Aodh Ruadh have unapologetically set their stall out in a rigid manner and look to hurt the opposition on the counter. That approach seen John McNulty’s team top the group section with four wins from four. 

But Curran says St Eunan’s are a much different proposition to anything they’ve faced this term. 

“At some point Aodh Ruadh are going to have to come out and play and it’ll be interesting to see how they approach this one - it’s a big ask to be fair. I just look at the firepower St Eunan’s have - they have threats from all over the pitch that can contribute on the scoreboard.

“I just feel Ballyshannon don’t have that consistency in the final third just yet. The likes of Diarmuid McInerney and Phillip Patton will kick points and Mark McGlynn is a very exciting player. I just feel they’re going to need one or two more going forward. 

“So they’re still a developing squad in that sense. They’re making inroads but this just looks like a really bad draw for them. 

“Aodh Ruadh have a lot of pace - but probably not that much size. I think they’re cutting their cloth to suit. I kind of understand why they troubled Naomh Conaill the year before last.  

“But styles make fights and Glenties don’t blow sides away, they stay the course and just get on top. 

“St Eunan’s have the capacity to run riot on teams. Niall and Shane O’Donnell are exceptional talents, Eoin McGeehin is a handful while Conor O’Donnell Jnr has really stepped up. Even the strength of their defence, they concede very little. 

“They are a well-oiled machine and when they’re on it they’re brilliant. There is huge motivation in Eunan’s after last year and the way it ended. So I just see Eunan’s getting through this in a comfortable enough fashion”.  

Muscle memory 

Moving on to Sunday, in Cloughaneely, Gaoth Dobhair and Ardara tangle. Gaoth Dobhair are not the championship animal they once were. And just as Daire Ó Baoill comes back into the mix both Neil McGee and Michael Carroll have picked up hamstring complaints. Cian Mulligan has also headed off on his travels in between. 

Ardara were viewed as SFC fodder by many this term, and for good reason. It’s been a perennial struggle at Pearse Memorial Park in recent times with their championship status only preserved by relegation play-off wins in each of the previous four seasons. 

But the manner of their win over Cloughaneely last Sunday raised eyebrows. Gaoth Dobhair look vulnerable but Curran says there is still enough quality and muscle memory there to get past Ardara and into the last four. 

“It’s one of those where Ardara will see this as progress because that’s exactly what it is. Gaoth Dobhair have lost a lot of players in the last few seasons. Still, since 2018 I’m thinking only Naomh Conaill and Kilcar have beaten them?

“So yeah, they don’t look like the side they once were and they’re not. But it’s still taking exceptional sides to beat them in championship. You have to acknowledge that and give them their dues. 

“They are also bringing some really good underage teams through right now. Donal McBride is a serious player. If Neil isn’t fit he’ll slip right in at full-back. That’s his best position anyway - that or No. 6. 

“I don’t know as much about Ardara right now. But it’s hard to ignore the noise around Karl Joseph Molloy after last weekend. That’s going to be a real addition now to their final third for years to come. 

“It’s one of those where Ardara will be looking forward to having a cut at it. And the bump from last weekend will be relevant. But I just see Gaoth Dobhair with that experience, a little like last weekend against Dungloe, making the difference”.