'I can hang up the boots now, but I've been saying that for a few years' - Gallagher

Termon’s player/manager Jamie Gallagher takes great satisfaction in that his side was able to hold on and claim the Donegal Intermediate B championship, despite a nervy second-half comeback from Burt on Sunday in O’Donnell Park.  

The Termon men led 1-6 to 0-3 at the break, with Gary McGettigan’s goal, which was assisted by Gallagher himself in midfield at the end of the first quarter proving to be the difference as Termon held out for 1-9 to 0-10 pint win on a day that saw both sides from the Burn Road capture Intermediate glory.  

For Gallagher, despite leading by six points at the break, he knew the match was far from over, as Burt returned to the field with a new lease of life, but failed to add enough on the scoreboard to seriously trouble Termon.    

“We thought we did a lot of the hard work in the first half, which was good because we didn’t really perform that well in the second half,” Gallagher said after Sunday’s win.   

“Burt put it up to us and we knew they would come back at us and at some stage have a big 10 or 15 minutes, which they did, and we weren’t able to live with them in the second half.  

“Thankfully we had some top players to come off the bench, we made four subs within the first 15 minutes of the second half and that really helped. We have a big bench and they make big impacts and I think that’s what carried us over the line.”  

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The long-ball game worked wonders for the Termon side in the first half, which resulted in McGettigan landing 1-3 from corner-forward in the process and set Termon on their way to victory.  

“Gary was brilliant today and deserved Man of the Match, he really was awesome,” Gallagher pointed out.   

“He was able to switch it up too. In the first half, he was excellent inside and got a lot of big scores, then in the second half, he came out around the middle and really helped us there as well.  

“He won a number of our kickouts in midfield which was key because at that time Burt was really in full flow and we were struggling a bit and just needed someone to win possession for us, and Gary did that across the board today.  

“Obviously, the goal we got was key to winning. I feel when you kick the ball into the box, it creates real difficulty for other teams, especially on days like today when the weather plays a massive impact. For us, we were just delighted to have Gary inside to be able to win that ball and get that goal, so fair play to him.”  

Now at 43, and still playing, Gallagher has seen a huge impact in Termon with a number of talented young players coming through to play adult football, which has resulted in four finals in two years across league and championship for the reserve team, which Gallagher admits is also helping the senior team.  

And while he doesn’t know how many years are left for him to play on the football field, he does feel that the future in Termon is bright.  

“This is the fourth final in two years for the reserve team and that’s really unprecedented in fairness,” Gallagher said.   

“I think the success from our reserve team is really what’s driving the senior team on to be successful too, and by all means, we’re probably playing at a level below ourselves, but it’s great to get these wins and to add that we’re in Division 1 next year too on top of it.  

“Next year is going to be a bigger test for these boys and I was saying to them that it could be a while before we get to a final so it’s important to take these opportunities as they come our way and to enjoy them.  

“For me, I might not be enjoying the football as much now because it’s harder to move around the field compared to a few years ago. I might hang up the boots now but I’ve been saying that for the past few years.”