'This junior championship means so much to the people of our club' - Caolan McColgan

Despite being a relatively young side, the players of Naomh Padraig, Uisce Chaoin were wise in knowing how much a Junior championship title meant to the people of their community. 

And that emotion was felt as the players embraced following their 2-12 to 0-8 point win over neighbours Carndonagh on Saturday in O’Donnell Park that sees Naomh Padraig promoted to Donegal intermediate football for the first time in their history. 

The Naomh Padraig men settled into the final earlier with Kevin Lynch rattling the net inside the opening minute of the game before a second goal from Man of the Match Caolan McColgan spread the gap, one that Carndonagh couldn’t catch 

“I’m buzzing, it’s a brilliant day for the club,” McColgan told Donegal Live after the final whistle. “You can see the number of supporters out here, it means everything to these people and we’re happy to have won this championship.” 

Entering the championship as one of the top sides due to their standing as the only junior club in Division 2, there was early pressure for the Naomh Padraig, Uisce Chaoin to pull themselves together, with McColgan admitting that they learned hard lessons following their early defeat to Naomh Ultan in the opening round of the championship. 

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“We had a tough defeat at the start of the championship against Naomh Ultan which gave us a bit of a wake-up call because it taught us that we’re not as good as we thought we were and that we had a lot of hard work to do,” he said. 

“We put the foot down then after that and when we met Naomh Ultan the second time this season, we ended up getting a 20-point turnaround, so we learned very quickly and we were happy with our improvement.” 

There was also the added pressure of facing local rivals and Division 3 winners Carndonagh in the final, but McColgan noted how important it was for his side to grab an early lead, citing the Carn men as a second-half team.  

“I think our aim at the start of the game was to go out and have a good first 20 minutes in the first half, and we did that,” McColgan said. “Carndonagh are a good side and we knew that whatever they threw at us, we knew they were going to come strong in the second half, so it was important to start the game strong and then take it from there. 

I suppose the fact that we have only been in two Junior finals in our history, and only two or three players from today were involved in those games that our squad is unfamiliar with these occasions, we’re a young side but we still knew what it meant to the people to win this final. 

“We grew up with Carn, of course, they’re our neighbours, and they’re a good side, so we knew it was going to be a tough battle against them and we’re happy to have come out the right side of it.” 

Much like his team captain Dermot Keaveney, McColagn was also on hand to highlight the remarkable occasion and dedicate the championship to Naomh Padraig player Evan Craig who sadly passed away a number of weeks back, with the Donegal player saying that their win was for Craig. 

I think the thought of Evan is what drove us on in this final,” McColgan said.  

“His death only happened a few weeks ago, so, of course we wanted to win today, but the main reason was for Evan. We wish he was here today with us but at least we can take the trophy to his grave now.”