It’s a class feeling winning final - Termon captain Ricky Gallagher

The celebrations in Termon after the Ladies winning the senior championship last week have a sequel this week with the Intermediate footballers taking home the senior and reserve titles after impressive wins over Naomh Columba and Burt respectively in O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny on Sunday.

The Termon seniors went into the final against the men from Glencolmcille as favourites and they wore the tag well, winning by a comfortable six points in the end.

In his acceptance speech Ricky Gallagher paid tribute to the ladies of the club for feeding them during training in recent times.

It has been a good year for Gallagher and Termon with promotion to Division 1 in the league and now promotion to the senior championship for 2025.

The men in maroon were never really troubled by Naomh Columba after going 0-6 to 0-1 ahead by the 19th minute. They were able to control the game after that and the lead in the second half was between five and seven points to the very end.

Captain Gallagher agreed that after the league campaign, there was expectation in the championship and it was something they had to deal with.

“There’s that wee bit more expectation; wee bit more buzz, more people out, more people texting. Your phone is flat out in the morning.

“It is what you live for, it drives you on. It would be worse if you were stuck in the house 24/7 or not able to get out.”

Gallagher was experiencing success at senior level for the first time as he was at an age that missed out on many of the good days the club had in the last 10-12 years.

“I’ve had a few at underage, not at senior level. I was too young when they were last in the Intermediate final and I was too old for the good minor crop that came along. I was just born at the wrong time.

“It’s hard to beat playing in a final. There is just a completely different buzz about it.”

But while Termon had a good league campaign, Gallagher says championship is a completely different kettle of fish.

“It’s a different ball game, championship. In the league, some are holding back, you don’t know who is training. All you do is play the team in front of you. We had a few losses in the league but we never lost two games in-a-row. Whenever we did lose we battened down the hatches and trained hard all year.

“We started in December, training in Gartan under a wee light I used to bring over on the tractor from a quarry. It was neanderthal stuff.

“But it’s a class feeling winning and it was all worth it now.”

Gallagher agreed that there is a lot of talent in the Termon side, and he feels it is all over the pitch. On Sunday they scored 0-14 with nine different scorers but he feels it could have been more.

“We probably should have scored more. We missed a lot and we had a few goal chances. The quality has been there all year. Even from  the full-back line, Cormac Gallagher can take a score and has scored the whole way up.

“We are very lucky to have a scoring threat from all over the pitch. If Dáire (McDaid) or Enda (McCormick) doesn’t do it or are under pressure, Jamie (Grant) or Ryan (McFadden) can come up and hit a score. And that’s what you need nowadays,” says Gallagher.

To underline the talent that they have, they were able to take Cian McMenamin from the bench and he scored with his first touch.

“Cian pulled his hamstring in Malin and he thought his year was over. Knowing Cian, if any man was injured and you  knew he would be back, it was him. He’s put in a lot of yards by himself down in Dublin and when he got his chance he took it.”

When it was put to him that his uncle, Donegal Democrat columnist Frank Galligan should have a mention for Termon in his column this week, he quipped.

“There will be no mention of Glenswilly or Four Masters this week.”