James ‘Plumber’ Boyle’s rallying call for Naomh Conaill after Ulster defeat

“Toe to toe with the best in the country, absolutely nothing lost today, only a game, still not going away - Naomh Conaill G.A.A Club”

That was the post of James ‘Plumber’ Boyle on Facebook as he set out for home from Healy Park, Omagh on Saturday night after watching his beloved Naomh Conaill suffer a heartbreaking last gasp loss to Glen Watty Grahams in the Ulster senior club championship semi-final.

On Sunday morning, along with his sidekick, Martin Shankey Smith, James was on the road to Ballyshannon with his U-21 charges and they were successful in their final group game to reach the semi-final of the competition.

Their two point victory (0-15 to 2-7) was probably more comfortable than the scoreline suggests and it underlines the way the Glenties-based club keep going, as James says himself, ‘not going away’.

On Sunday they were well in control in the opening half and but for a brief period in the second half when Aodh Ruadh came back within a point, they were able to pull away again.

“I thought we left a lot of scores behind us in the first half. We were four up but I thought we could have been eight or nine points up. We had a goal chance that went by as well.

“But we’re happy enough that with us training and a lot of them boys involved with the seniors and minors we would have the fitness on them. They had a purple patch that we didn’t expect and they got a goal and got back into it.

“We tagged on three or four points and got it back out to five and I was comfortable but then that second goal at the end made it nervy for us.”

What was really impressive from a Naomh Conaill point of view was the point taking of the likes of Danny Brown, Shea Malone, Tiarnan Ward and Daniel Gildea.

“I was very happy with that. We snatched at a few and we spoke about that at half-time. We wanted them to play with the heads up more. But they are phenomenal young players, Danny (Brown) and Shea Malone are up from U-17. We wouldn’t have been allowed to use them all the way up because of the four year rule; Tiarnan Ward as well and Conan Brannigan, them lads are a great addition to the team.”

Naomh Conaill into U-21A semi-final after win over Aodh Ruadh

Davy Brennan residents put the disappointment of their Ulster club semi-final defeat behind them as they always do

Asked about having to field less than 24 hours after seeing the seniors devastating last second defeat in Ulster, Boyle said: “It was a downer alright. My young fella was driving home and I was on WhatsApp putting a rallying cry out on the group. I was saying we went toe to toe with the best in Ireland and in the last kick of the game we lost out. It can be difficult and we spoke about it before today.

“We told them that the standards are high and some of the older fellas will eventually be retiring and some of these boys will have the opportunity to step up. Some of these lads are great footballers, natural forwards. The future is good and we emphasised that hard today, because it was a downer in the club last night after the way things turned out.

“But overall, we’re happy here as well. But credit to Ballyshannon, they gave us a great run for it.”The win means that Naomh Conaill go straight to the U-21 semi-final and it also gives them next weekend off with the quarter-finals taking place.

“It does and that was the target because we have a few injuries. Conor Roarty carried an injury into the game today and Finbarr got injured at county training, two massive players for us,” said Boyle, who says he is very hopeful that Finbarr will be available for the semi-final.

“We have two weeks now until the semi-final and we will get a look at teams we didn’t see, the likes of Gaoth Dobhair, Termon and Glenswilly,” said Boyle, who said he wouldn’t be surprised if they got Gaoth Dobhair in the draw for the semi-final. He also said that Conor Roarty had got a belt on the hip against Gaoth Dobhair and had a dead leg. “He was at half mast today, as they say.

“Look, we have aspirations to go as far as we can and I’m sure Gaoth Dobhair and the other teams are the same. Four Masters came here a few weeks ago (to Ballyshannon) and they were very impressive. Sinky (Kevin Sinclair) will have them well psyched up. Any team can win it and we’re just glad to be in there.”