Leo McLoone and how Naomh Conaill's motivation goes way beyond just football

Naomh Conaill legend Leo McLoone says that lifting the parish and giving its people something to shout about is just as much a motivation to him and his teammates as lifting silverware.

Glenties, just like most other towns and villages in the north west, can often become slumbersome, verging on still, as the winter months close in. 

The clocks roll back in the coming days as many draw a deep breath and brace themselves for one of the more melancholy times of year. But Glenties is once again leaving up the blue and white bunting. 

In an unguarded moment after Naomh Conaill’s latest SFC triumph last Sunday, McLoone gave a unique insight into what exactly makes this group of players tick, special even. 

“The run into Christmas can be a difficult time for some,” he said. “It’s quiet, it’s dark and there aren’t as many reasons to put your head outside the door. There is a chance now to shorten it once more with football. 

“There is something for the entire community to focus on and look forward to. There really is much more to this than just football. 

“It’s not lost on anyone, what it means to a certain generation. As a player, in the moment, it can pass you by. And the truth is you’re probably always in that moment until you’re finally not, that you’ve hung them up. 

“There is always the next game, the next season or whatever. So it’s important to look around and take all that in as well. The supporters are the ones that really let it all seep in. And every now and then, at homecomings or whatever, you’ll see something that really catches your breath. 

“Right now, we’re all still living in the moment. But there will come a time, in the years to come, when the feet are up that you’ll properly appreciate the road travelled, and just how far we’ve actually come as a club”. 

McLoone made his senior debut during that famous breakthrough season back in 2005. By his own admission, he hasn’t cooled since. 

But behind the bar at home, he knows just what it means to have a real topic of conversation. And in Glenties, more than ever, that chat is now predominantly about football. 

“There is that element of it as well. Even for the players, football is absolutely everything. And if we didn’t have it who knows what you’d be at. Glenties is a great place and I love it. But if football wasn’t there, there wouldn’t be much else. 

“Even this run to the county final now, we haven’t just won a county title. We’ve earned at least another few weeks to give people something to talk about, get excited about. And that’s as much a motivation as anything”.

Naomh Conaill now proudly sit on seven SFC titles. It’s been a quite remarkable run over the last two decades. A lot has been said, and written, about the Glenties old guard, the likes of McLoone, Anthony Thompson, Brendan McDyer, Eoin Waide and Marty Boyle. 

But McLoone says there is a middle tier now in the Naomh Conaill set-up that are the real driving force behind their success. 

It’s easy to forget now that the club went into the 2019 decider locked on three titles with 2015’s win threatening to completely disappear in their rearview mirror.  In fact, their record at that stage read 2005, 2010 and 2015 with even five-year gaps nestled neatly in between. 

So McLoone gives so much great credit to a certain cluster of players - an injection that’s since pushed them onto four championship wins in the last five seasons. 

“We’re still about but the new faces that have come in over the five or six years are serious. Since 2019 even, I think that middle group now, the likes of Ciaran, Charlie, Ethan and Jeaic; they are the real driving force, the leaders now. 

“They’ve taken on the mantle. The rest of us older fellas are just trying to chip in with whatever we can. They are taking the younger lads with them and, at the same time, pushing us older ones on. They’ve been excellent. 

“And regardless if it’s the new faces just in the door, the middle bracket or us older lads; it’s about working as hard as you possibly can for the unit. That’s the one common denominator. We’re just glad that it’s getting its reward”. 

The party is no doubt still going on in some quiet corner in Glenties but you can be sure the Naomh Conaill players will have quietly got back down to business on Wednesday night. 

The exclamation mark missing on this unprecedented period of success is an Ulster club title. 

They’ll choose their words carefully when chatting about that but it’s something that needs to happen sooner rather than later, if it’s to happen at all. 

Twice, in 2010 and in 2019, they reached the penultimate hurdles but fell on each occasion to Crossmaglen and Kilcoo. Last season, they were inexplicably dumped out in the first round in Belfast by Antrim champions Cargan on penalties. 

But the truth is, Martin Regan’s men seemed to have won that game twice but managed to be reeled back in, both at the end of normal and extra-time. 

On Sunday, November 12, Naomh Conaill go to Kingspan Breffni Park with Cavan kingpins Gowna standing between them and a place in the provincial semi-finals. 

“Listen, it was one that got away, we let it slip,” said McLoone on 2022’s disappointment. “There was a lot of hurt involved there and we were very disappointed with the way it ended last year. 

“But it was to the back of the mind ever since because you simply can’t even think about Ulster in Donegal until you have the Dr Maguire won. It gives us a bit of bite now getting back into training.

“Now Donegal is in the bag, it’ll be all guns blazing for that opening Ulster club championship round”.