Caolan McDaid praises superb effort from his team as Termon triumph in IFC

The roar from the young Termon supporters was loud and clear as they screamed ‘Jaffa's Winning Matches’ to their team manager from the stand in O’Donnell Park following the club’s Donegal Intermediate final win over Naomh Columba on Sunday.  

For Termon, their season for a large majority of the year has been built on ruthlessness and a free flow in their style of football, and that was again on show as the men from the Burn Road return to the Donegal senior championship ranks next year for the first time since 2021 following their 0-14 to 0-8 point win.   

Finals tend to take on lives of their own and that was exactly what Termon manager Caolan McDaid was aiming to control, stressing the idea that, to them, it was just another game, in the hope that the sense of occasion would not take its toll over his side.  

But it was a game that Termon made their own with the six-point margin at the end hardly flattering the winners, who were dominant throughout after hitting six points without reply in the opening quarter to go five clear.   

And they maintained that margin throughout the second half against a Naomh Columba side that failed to find their feet during the final.  

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to be honest, we set out our goals on January 8, when we met collectively and it’s great to see this achievement today,” said McDaid after the final whistle in O’Donnell Park.  

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For McDaid, the achievement was not only winning the county title, but also seeing the hard work his side have put in throughout the year in what is his first full season in charge.  

“I said it during the week, to make finals, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, what people don’t see is the work that goes on behind the scenes and the commitment that the players give to the cause, and I’m so happy for them and I’m so proud of them,” McDaid stressed.  

“Since we met in January, we’ve done 180 collective sessions since then and that has laid the foundation for us.   

“I think what I’m really happy with is that sometimes in finals, teams might not turn up, or they get tense on the day, but really, I have to give great credit to our lads today.   

“In other years, maybe the pressure would’ve got to us and we might have folded but we’ve put an emphasis on how to deal with that this year and have been working on the mental side of things.  

“But like everything, you don’t know how we can deal with these occasions until you come face to face with high pressure situations, and I just think the lads really turned that on today and deserve this win.”  

Pressure never seemed to register with termon during the match, and while McDaid claims that finals can bring their own level of stress to the men on the sideline, the high standards that his side showed throughout the game led him to fix a calm demeanor in the Termon dugout.  

“I think when we made it a two-score game, the lads were able to hold out until the end. For us it was about keeping standards high all the time, and maybe the match got a little bit dull in the second half but we were still happy that we had that second-half lead to keep our nerves,” he said.  

“Of course, it can be difficult at times when you see the lads working so hard and we’re maybe not getting that score or that final shot away, that’s difficult, but today, we knew that Naomh Columba were coming with their high-ball tactic. That worked for them in the semi-final, and today we had our homework done and were able to nullify that.  

“We noticed that a lot of their kicks were coming up from the right-hand side of the pitch, so we tried to force Naomh Columba down the left-hand side, and thankfully we were able to nullify those things too and it worked today. On another day it might not have, that’s sometimes the way the game goes.”  

With promotion to Division 1 next season and two championships in one day following the reserves intermediate B final win, McDaid believes that success is made easier when the club is all looking to move in the one direction, something he believes is currently happening in the club  

“I don’t think you achieve those things without everyone pulling in the one direction,” he said. “Ricky Gallagher said it in his acceptance speech that the club at the minute has a great camaraderie.   

“It was great to see the reserves winning today too and everyone is buying into it, and I just think it’s an amazing feeling when the club is all pulling in the one direction and for the senior team, the 25 to 30 players out there, they made that happen through their hard work.”