Big Donegal representation on Irish teams for Masters series

Donegal will be well represented when the Irish Gaelic Masters team take on their Australian counterparts in a two-match series starting this Saturday, March 9th.

Ireland will play Australia in Over-40s, Over-50s and Over-40s Ladies and Donegal have an involvement on a playing level on all teams and also in management.

On the Irish Masters Over-40 team, Conor McShane of Four Masters and formerly of Kilcar, will be representing the county.

On the Irish Masters Over-50 team Paul Gallagher of Naomh Muire, Lower Rosses will be Donegal’s representative. Paul  has been to the forefront of Masters GAA now since 2016 and has been a driving force behind the revival of the Donegal team.

On the Irish Ladies team Diane McGlynn (Toner) of Glenfin and formerly of Glenswilly will be Donegal’s representative. Diane has a long history of playing for club and county and was part of the Donegal team that won an All-Ireland Junior title in 2003. Diane is married to Donegal All-Star Frank McGlynn.

On the management side Mark Cannon of MacCumhaill’s is on the backroom team of the Ireland Over-50s while Maria Devenney of St Eunan’s is on the management ticket of the Irish Ladies Masters team.

The first of the two-match series for all three teams takes place this Saturday, two of them in Charlestown and the other just across the Sligo  border in Curry. The Over-50s game will kick-start the day at 12 noon in Curry.

The Ladies game is set for Charlestown at 2 p.m. with the Over 40s game following at 4 p.m.

“We are really looking forward to the weekend. The second game will be hosted at the Denn GAA Club in Cavan the following Saturday and the aggregate score will determine the winners,” said Paul Gallagher, who is the Donegal representative on the Over-50s.

“We had the trials back in December and from there the squad were given their own personal training programme.

“From the first of January we were doing one squad session every two weeks, either in Athlone or Roscommon, the middle of the country. Between all we had 25 players for all squads so in total around 100 people.

“There was a good buzz around with the teams bonding and it has been pretty intense. You have me coming from Ranafast and another boy coming from Cahirciveen, three hours plus for some people. 

“It is a great honour to  play for your country. It’s not going to happen again so it is a great opportunity for the members of all three squads. The commitment has been 100% for everyone from day one,” said Gallagher, who has been involved in Masters GAA since 2016.

“We started up the Donegal scene again after a long hiatus. Francie Martin is looking after us now and he actually played for the Donegal Masters back in 2003. He’s come back into it.

“We had a good turnout for a get-together and we had our first training on Monday of last week in Convoy with 30 plus players.  I think it has been a re-boot for the team because we went through a cycle when we were not as competitive as we should have been and not putting as much effort in.

“I think Francie will shape things up and boys will buy into it,” said Gallagher.
https://www.donegallive.ie/news/gaa/1439870/charlie-gallagher-to-be-remembered-at-gaa-masters-international-rules-series.html

Looking forward to the weekend, Gallagher says that it will be competitive. “The Australians are not just coming to play, they will be coming to win in both codes, so we will have to match them on the field.”

There will be a presentation night after the second games in the series. The Australians arrived in Ireland on Wednesday of this week and there was a meet and greet in Galway.

One of the cups being presented to the Masters winners is being named in memory of former Donegal and Irish International Masters player Charlie Gallagher of Dungloe and Donegal Town, who passed away in 2022.