Sean MacCumhaills ‘ready to step it up’ says Oisin Gallen

The din from the next room was unmistakable as Oisin Gallen spoke in the rather less boisterous dressing room 5 at O’Donnell Park on Saturday.

Having just posted 1-9 to take Sean MacCumhaills back from the brink having found themselves seven points down late in the first half, Gallen was the obvious target for post-match reaction amid jubilant scenes from the Twin Towns men.

Ordinarily, Gallen might have pressure on his shoulders as MacCumhaills’ go-to man, but he wears it well.

“I’m enjoying my football, no pressure,” he smiled. “We’re just delighted. We are where we want to be, in the last four and progressing on. The boys are delighted - and right, they should be.”

Gallen ambled through the five-minute Q&A precisely how he’d gone through the hour beforehand. The precision was almost-military in its execution.

Oisin Gallen magic takes Sean MacCumhaills past Glenswilly and into SFC semis

Oisin Gallen scored 1-9 as Sean MacCumhaills came from seven points down to beat Glenswilly in an absorbing quarter-final at O'Donnell Park.

On Friday, Gallen was named among the 2023 All-Star nominees. A day later, MacCumhaills were in a real spot of trouble when they fell seven down. While there might’ve been an element of luck about Gallen’s goal, with the last kick of the opening period, there was nothing fortunate about the nine points to accompany the major.

The goal made it a three-point game after Michael Murphy had opened up a big gap.

“Naw, no concern,” Gallen shrugged. “We just stuck to what we had to do. We were very disappointed, though. We started terribly and gave them primary possession the kick-out and they go ahead of us. There is no such thing as panicking. It’s all about the next play and the next ball.

“We were a bit happier at half-time. We got a bit of a chewing in there. We weren’t at the races at all, not at the expectations and standards we set ourselves. We fixed that in the second half.”

After Chad McSorley was black-carded, MacCumhaills outscored Glenswilly 0-4 to 0-1 in the next ten minutes - a key spell in what became a game of wafer-thin margins.

Murphy soared over a beauty of a free, against a fierce wind, but Gallen nailed a tester from the left-hand touchline and the wind returned to the MacCumhaills sails.

“We just started finally playing on the front foot,” Gallen said.

“People questioned if we would be brave enough to go at Glenswilly, but there’s no shyness in these lads. They’re ready to step it up to anybody. We got on the front foot in the second half and got the result.

“People put us down and think we might put it up to Glenswilly, take them down the straight, but they’d see it through. We didn’t look at it that way. Most games now go down the straight. Our heads are screwed on and we just tried to stay on top of what was happening.

“We’re in a good place. We’re doing the right things. When you’re on a high, you have to stay with it.”