Naomh Conaill championship success is the thing of dreams - Daniel McGeehan

Daniel McGeehan has lost count on the number of times he has pinched himself in recent years when he reflects on Naomh Conaill’s phenomenal championship success.

“I’ve often thought, coming back down the Glen on Sunday evenings after another championship win, is this really happening or am I going to wake up and find it is just a dream,” says the former player and more recently club chairman. 

Dream was all Daniel and his teammates could do in his playing days in the 1960s and 1970s as success alluded them.

“What the team has achieved is nothing short of phenomenal. Six  championships in 13 years, four in the last five seasons having appeared in the last five finals, is unbelievable.

“It is the stuff of dreams but it is real and long may it last. Given the work they put in training and preparing for games, the success is fully deserved.

“It is a great time to be a Naomh Conaill supporter and after being starved of success for so long we are enjoying every minute of it.

“We appreciate how lucky we all are and hopefully it will continue. We have a special bunch of players. They are all really nice lads. 

“There are no egos or big heads in the squad, it is all about the team and what is best for the team. 

“In my playing days we came close once to winning the championship but after that the odd semi-final was the height of our achievements. 

“More often than not we were knocked out in the early rounds of the championship and joined the also rans. 

“But it was different times too,” explains Daniel, who was the team goalkeeper in his playing days and also kept goal for Donegal for a number of seasons. 

“We did not have the panel of players they have nowadays. There were no reserve or third teams in my time to create a panel.

“Football was not as well organised as it is nowadays and the training and preparations was nowhere near what it’s become. 

“We might have trained twice a week and had a game every other weekend. I see the current squad, they train at least three times a week when it comes around to the championship and they also have their own individual strength and conditioning programme to follow, which takes in a gym session. 

“They have recovery sessions after games and they have video analysis sessions. But all top teams are doing the same. It’s gone to a completely different level”.  

The nearest Daniel came to winning the senior championship was in 1965. 

 “We were leading a star-studded St Joseph’s by a point in the closing minutes of the county final. We were within seconds when the great Mickey McLoone won a free close to our goals and they levelled to draw the game. 

“They won the replay by four points. It was heartbreaking at the time because we were craving success.

“I wasn’t playing. I was still a minor and I was sub keeper to Willie McNelis. Willie was a great keeper but we had a very good team that time.

“I only played a couple of games that year in the earlier rounds when Willie’s wasn’t available. I won a minor championship that same season with Ardara and the year before, in 1964, I won a junior championship with Glenties.

“We beat Castlefin in the final. Glenties had no minor team in ‘65 so a few of us played with Ardara and beat Gaoth Dobhair in the final.

“The current team is a very talented bunch of players and they have a great manager in Martin Regan. 

“He has been there every step of the way and has a phenomenal record. He has changed his management teams over the years but it makes no difference if the boys keep on winning.

“So as well as being a good man to line out a team, he has an ability to pick quality people to work with and, like the players, we are lucky to have him.” 

Watty Grahams of Glen Maghera,  the Derry champions, are the reigning Ulster and defeated All-Ireland finalists from last year and they now stand between Naomh Conaill and a place in the Ulster final. 

“Glen is a great side, their quality is well known. They are formidable opponents and they are the favourites.

“But we have a good team too and I feel the hard game against Gowna, in the first round, will have brought us on. 

“It is the Ulster championship, it is winter football and I feel we have a chance. One thing for sure, no matter how it goes, we will all know leaving Omagh, on Saturday night, our boys gave it their best shot.”