McShea’s Say: Naomh Conaill will have to make significant improvement  

Naomh Conaill’s performance in Cavan last Sunday, when they beat Gowna with a goal in the closing seconds, was testimony to the team’s bravery and bottle. 

The Donegal side were outplayed for much of the second half and that will remain a huge concern for boss Martin Regan. 

But this team’s desire is never in question and they hung in and got the rub of the green when it looked like their Ulster campaign was about to come to a disappointing conclusion. 

It is a good sign of a team that can win when off-colour and the simple truth is many of the Glenties players were not at their best in Cavan. 

But in situations like this I always refer to Donegal’s All Ireland semi-ifinal against Mayo back in 1992.

At the time it was a game and a performance that was rubbished. But it had no impact on the final a few weeks later when Donegal brought Sam to the hills for the first time ever, beating hot favourites Dublin in that never-to-be-forgotten final.

Naomh Conaill manager Regan was honest and transparent in his summing up of his team’s display admitting that his side were lucky. And he agreed that the level of display would not be good enough in the Ulster semi-final against Glen Watty Grahams. 

It is refreshing to hear a manager call a game as it was and not engage in the excuses and nonsense that seems to have become a way of life with most bosses these days. 

And most managers who get in front of a microphone now seem to think that kind of jargon is acceptable to those tuning in. 

Naomh Conaill had the ‘player of the match’ in Odhran Doherty. His probing runs, perception, vision and creative brilliance illuminated the contest. 

The Gowna players will no doubt have gone through the full range of emotions from elation to ultimate despair because as a team they produced. However, one lapse in concentration proved decisive as Naomh Conaill surged late through Kevin McGettigan’s goal. 

After a second-half display in Breffini that was hesitant, unsteady, and uninspiring, Glenties will know that much work is required on the training pitch to have them ready, both physically and mentally, for their semi-final joust with beaten All Ireland club finalists Glen in ten days. 

Like Naomh Conaill, the Derry and Ulster champions were not particularly impressive in beating Antrim outfit Cargin by four points in Celtic Park at the weekend. 

Cargin had their best forward Tomas McCann red carded in the 26th minute of the first-half and Glen - even against fourteen men - had to dig deep for their narrow victory. 

In the other Ulster club matches Trillick, the surprise winners of the Tyrone championship, beat Crossmaglen. Trillick were deserving winners against one of the poorest Crossmaglen sides ever to represent the club in Ulster. 

The much-hyped Kilcoo side, with it’s strong Donegal contingent along the sideline were many peoples favourite to win Ulster this year. But they were beaten by Monaghan side Scotchtown in a fine game. 

Rory Beggan, the Monaghan keeper, was the star of the show here kicking a very difficult long-range free in the last minute to secure a semi-final spot.

I’m sure that Martin Regan’s pragmatic approach was reflected in the Glenties dressing room after, which would have been devoid of any major celebrations after their great escape in Cavan. 

Tough watch 

Looking at the scoreline in the Mayo football final a few weeks ago, for one moment I thought it was a misprint. 0-6 to 0-4, after sixty minutes of play, made for dismal reading.

Co-commentator, the former Mayo manager John Maughan, said that he would have left the venue at half time only that he was working with radio while last weekend, former Mayo forward Tommy O’Malley, suggested that he was finding it difficult to watch the current brand of football that is being served up in many counties. 

For over half a century Mayo followers have bemoaned wretched misfortune. But it is not Lady Luck being perfidious towards battered Mayo. It is self-inflicted damage.

Mayo’s football arteries are blocked by addled thinking. But I fear those problems are not confined to just Mayo. 

Gaelic Football is not attractive in its present guise, lateral and ponderous play is the order of the day. Where are the responsibility takers and game changers in the modern game? 

Creative footballers are becoming an endangered species. The game is about players being inspired and not scared. I hope that those in positions of power will grasp the nettle before it is too late and implement some basic rules to bring the games back to where they were - wonderful, entertaining spectacles.

My hope is that incoming President Jarlath Burns will deal with this issue. A fine footballer himself, he must be aware of the serious decline in entertainment in modern-day football.