Donegal duo reflect on memorable year with DCU following All-Ireland success

Four Masters player Conor Reid and Glenfin man Shaun Ward played a vital role for the DCU Fresher football team who clinched the All-Ireland last night in Dublin with a 4-9 to 0-8 point win over NUIG. 

The Donegal pair marked off one of their finest hours on a football field with Reid and Ward playing centre-half forward and corner-forward respectively, with the latter nailing 1-3 in his team’s 13-point victory. 

Seán MacCumhaills man Nathan Gavigan was also a selector on the winning side last night.

Despite only leading 1-5 to 0-3 points at the break, the north Dublin university was well in control with Ward’s opening goal on the eighth minute the lead DCU needed early on to settle their confidence on their home turf. 

“I was slightly nervous before the match, but as a team we were very confident going into the game,” Reid told DonegalLive. 

“We were well set up and prepared for what was coming our way. We already had some tight matches against some good teams in the previous games. Our aim was to not overhype the match too much and I think we did that well.” 

DCU’s inside-forward line of Ward, Louth man Liam Flynn, and Kildare native Ryan Sinkey caused untold damage to the NUIG full-back line with the trio racking up 3-6 between them.  

But despite the Galway side crawling back and dominating large amounts of possession in the second half, DCU never panicked with three goals in the final 10 minutes of the game sealing DCU’s fifth fresher’s All-Ireland in nine seasons. 

“It was probably the worst we’ve played in the championship this year. Ryan Sinky and Shaun Ward were excellent up front and did a lot of damage,” said the Four Masters star. 

“In fairness to NUIG they had a lot of attacks throughout the game but had a good few wides in the first half. If they went over, they could’ve built up a big enough score and put us under pressure, luckily for us we held it together. 

The goals in the end probably didn’t reflect how close the game really was, but we won’t worry about that now.” 

Ward analysed the competition as a whole, praising the openness of the football and the effort put in that affords players the chance to win an All-Ireland medal.  

“It’s a great competition in the fact that you don’t really know what you’re coming up against, which makes it an exciting affair. The brand of football is also quite open, which you don’t see too often these days,” said Ward. 

“It was run really well and there’s obviously a massive effort and time put into sport in DCU which is great for us. 

“The chances to win an All-Ireland don’t come around that often, so it was great to get over the line in the end.” 

The Glenfin native also mentions his side’s tactics prior to the game with DCU forcing their players back into defensive positions and breaking quickly on the counter when they won the ball. 

“We played against whatever breeze we had in the first half, so it was about holding tight and catching NUIG on the break. We did the same against UU last week and it worked well, so it was about replicating it again and keeping calm throughout. 

“We struggled a bit when NUIG hit a purple patch, but that happens in every game, you have to learn to deal with it, and I think we did. Once we got the ball in our hands, we could play our own game. 

“The second goal probably sealed the match for us. I knew at that point we had it won, and from that the goals kept coming in the final minutes, but I think the second goal put us seven points up maybe, so unless something terrible happened, I knew then we were going to win the All-Ireland.” 

Reid sums up the high of clinching his first piece of national silverware emphasising the work and dedication his DCU team put in throughout the year.  

“It’s a great achievement, I’m still buzzing from it to be honest,” said the centre forward.  

“I know at college football you can be thrown together as a team, but in fairness we really put in the work and trained really hard. We’re really close as a team and it was an honour to win an All-Ireland with all these lads.”