Regan’s Lucky Streak continues with 'best first half performance in years'

“It’s a great feeling now and you don’t get over that feeling. It’s great  for the supporters, you see the crowd we have still out there, even at this stage so late after the game. It’s great for the parish and for the community. It’s a lovely feeling,” said Naomh Conaill manager, Martin Regan, speaking in the aftermath of another Dr Maguire success with the Glenties-based side.

Naomh Conaill were lifting their seventh county senior title and are now the kingpins of the old south-west division. Before Sunday they were level with neighbours Ardara as well as Killybegs and Kilcar on six titles.

And they have accumulated those seven titles in an 18 year period with four of them coming in the last seven years.

And of the seven titles won by Naomh Conaill, the win over Gaoth Dobhair in MacCumhaill Park was probably the most comfortable. The Davy Brennan Park residents were in cruise control from early on, leading by seven at the interval and eight at the final whistle.

“It was a brilliant start today. I thought our first 30 minutes today was as good as we have played for the last number of years. We were really on it, both offensively and defensively, on kick-outs, everything we asked of the boys they carried out to the letter of the law, if not better. It was top class,” said Regan.

“We also left a few behind us. John O’Malley missed two that he would normally put over and Odhran (Doherty) missed one with the right foot, but that would be nit picking, it was top class really.”

The Naomh  Conaill boss agreed that Gaoth Dobhair just didn’t bring their best to the game on the day, especially in the first half.

“One or two of their kick-outs, they pulled them slightly and went out over the sideline. I suppose they needed to get a foothold in the game; they have a lot of new players.  There is a lot of experience there alright but they have four or five players who wouldn’t have played in county finals before.

“Listen, they’ll learn a lot from that today. There’s no doubt they have some top class players and you can see the likes of Michael Roarty and Ethan Harkin, they have a lot of good players coming through. We’ve been in that position where we lost finals. Gaoth Dobhair beat us in 2018 with a similar scoreline, the other way round. St Eunan’s beat us easily. Things didn’t go right for them but it is no reflection of where they are at.”

Seventh heaven as Naomh Conaill win Donegal SFC with plenty to spare

Martin Regan's side have something of a reputation of coming out on top in close matches but today they were in complete control from the start to beat Gaoth Dobhair

Naomh Conaill will now set their sights on the Ulster club which will begin with a visit to Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan in two weeks’ time to take on the newly crowned Cavan champions, Gowna.

“That will be a tough battle. We’ll bring a big crowd to it. I know it’s in Cavan but we will bring a big crowd as usual and try to turn it into a home venue and give it our best shot.”

Regan feels there is still some unfinished business in Ulster for many of his side.

“They are an ambitious crowd and it will be one game at a time.  But we will have our eyes on giving that Ulster championship a good rattle. We have come up short a number of times in Ulster and it is and will be a regret of those lads because we lost two Ulster finals.

“Look, we will take a few days off, but we will knuckle down and get back on Wednesday or Thursday and prepare as best we can.

“And I don’t think we picked up any injuries today, which is important as well. We will definitely give it a shot,” said Regan.