How St Eunan's 1999 championship win started a football dynasty

Emotion – that's the word that springs to the mind of Adrian McClafferty when asked about that momentous county final day in Ballybofey in 1999.   

The older guard of that St Eunan’s side lived in dread of being another nearly team from Letterkenny, so when they look back on it now, the primary feeling is perhaps the most precious one of all: peace of mind.   

Two years after the debacle of the 1997 county final against Aodh Ruadh, which saw St Eunan’s stripped of their title following a boardroom protest, due to the eligibility of Leslie McGettigan, the bitter pill was still as hard to swallow 24 months later.   

But for the Cathedral Town men, it brought to focus the task at hand when they faced off with Aodh Ruadh once again in the last final of the millennium.   

There are moments in a sporting life that can still fire goosebumps down one's arm. A feeling of energy before a game where they can sense something is different, without putting their exact finger on it.   

For McClafferty, who started the ‘99 final at left-half back for the winning team, that memorable feeling was in the sanctity of the St Eunan’s dressing before the game.   

“I think the emotion was weighing on a lot of the older lads because of the whole mess surrounding the final in 1997, and when we didn’t make the final in ‘98, it seemed like ‘99 was the make-or-break for a lot of the older lads,” McClafferty said looking back 25 years.   

“You have to remember that the last final we won before that was 1983, so there were a lot of players like Charlie Mulgrew and Vincent McGlynn, who gave great service to St Eunan’s and probably felt that the club should’ve won more in that time.   

“In 1997, there was a batch of young players, including myself that came in and we were sort of the new kids on the block, but obviously what happened that year is well documented, so for us, when it came to 1999 there was a highly motivated group of players that were just so set on winning a championship.   

“You talk about things that stand out in your mind; well, I’ll never forget the dressing room before that final. We all just knew from the feeling in the room that day that we were not going to be beaten. There was something in us that just drove us on to win.   

“I don’t think I was ever in a dressing room before that, and there’s been very few since that where you felt this rush of energy in the air and a determined attitude that we were not going to walk off the field without that cup.”   

READ NEXT: Mac's View: Dungloe must give it hell if they are to win

If they hadn't completed the task, looking back would be filled with regrets — those mental stab wounds that stick in the mind like sharp needles. Unresolved matters are a curse without an expiration date, especially when there's no way to ever set things right. 

Moments from that season can sometimes bring to light that the Gods are on your side. For Mickey Houston’s team, it was a season where all fell right for them.    

Having not played the opening championship match, it felt fitting when John Haran placed the ball into the back of the Naomh Conaill net in their first-round play-off in Falcarragh when the Eunan’s men trailed entering the dying minutes of the match.   

Solid performances against Ardara and Four Masters culminated in a final where everything seemed to hit song for the men in amber and black that day.   

The pre-match focus highlighted the need to stop a certain St Eunan’s forward, Brendan Devenney, with The Donegal Democrat highlighting in 1999 that ‘there’ll be no prizes for guessing who’ll have the most points in the St Eunan’s camp. The better the opposition, the more up for it Devenney gets’.   

The result ended with the Eunan’s legend bagging a record 14 points alongside a little dance in celebration that still he is reminded of to this day after one crucial score that carried his side to a 1-19 to 1-11 win. 

“I think if you look at the game itself, you have to admire what Brendan did that day with his 14 points, and fans will always look back on that with fond memories,” McClafferty noted. “But for me and the team, it was about getting over the line and winning that championship. 

“It’s funny because the scorer is always going to get the credit, but if you watch that game Kevin Winston, who was alongside Brendan in full-forward assisted him for more than half of Brendan’s scores.   

“So, when we saw that Brendan was on fire that day, the tactic became very simple where we would give the ball to Kevin who in turn would pass it to Brendan to put over the bar.   

“You would say Brendan and Kevin were the standout players that day, but all over the pitch, we really had a lot of talent, the likes of Mark Crossan, Johnny Scanlon, and Damien Daly were all vital to us winning that day.”   

A team meeting in the dressing room before the match appeared to be the trick that got the Letterkenny motoring. 

McClafferty and his team to this day see 1997 as their championship year, but they knew there was reason to go the extra mile and shut down the naysayers. The ‘97 season was a motivator without it ever having to be mentioned.   

Team manager Houston returned to Eunan’s five years previously, having managed his native Glenfin.  

A teacher at St Eunan's College, Houston was familiar to all. 

For the younger generation on the side, the importance of club history and carrying success is what stands out for McClafferty.

“For someone like me and a lot of the younger players on that team, even though we were basically only kids, we knew how much that win meant to the older players on,” McClafferty said.   “Then, to be able to bring the Dr Maguire back to Letterkenny, it was really special.  

“The dressing room before the game focused more on emotion than anything else. I remember the older players standing up to address the team that day and it really brought home what it meant.    

“They were involved in the club for a long time and particularly what went on two years previously, it was certainly drummed into us what it meant to win.   

“I think 1997 was a motivating factor without any of us really mentioning it. It was really bad what happened that year, and then in ‘98 we played Killybegs three times before losing to a solid Naomh Columba team, so we didn’t get our chance that year either. And as you know in sport sometimes these chances never come around again.   

“So, when we met up in 1999, our target was to win the Dr Maguire and from the start of that season, we were just so determined to win.    

“We won a few championships after that but I think 1999, when you look back, that was the one with the most memories and it was probably the most important one to a lot of us.”   

And then what? Where do you start? Twenty-five years on and St Eunan’s have repeatedly dined at the top table.  

The torch was carried on under a new generation and under new management in the 2000s. There have been highs and lows but the Letterkenny men were always present near the top.   

“That season springboarded us on as a team that could continue to compete at the top table,” McClafferty, who won five more senior championships in his time up as far as 2012, said. 

“We found a winning habit, and that gave us confidence that we belonged at that level, even though there were ups and downs along the way we were lucky in the fact we always stayed competitive.   

“There was a great level of responsibility from the older players in that dressing room in terms of guiding the younger lads and wanting what’s best for the team, no more than when a lot of the lads my age became senior payers in the dressing room.   

“I think what those guys did for us was invaluable. Those boys were there to remind us about how serious it all was and how they didn’t want us to be a team toiling in the championship for years without success from 1983 to 1997.”   

The tag of 1999 is still very much felt in St Eunan’s with many past players still featuring across the club’s underage structure, senior coaching, and board positions as they continue to pass the torch and lead the next generation and keep the tradition alive. Not a single regret?   

“The fact we partied so much that there was no shock that we were hammered in the Ulster club championship to Bellaghy two weeks later,” smiled McClafferty. “But no, I wouldn’t change a thing.   

“That’s what winning a county championship is about, it’s about celebrating them and creating our own history and we did that. The medal from that year was important but what we learned and the memories we gathered they’re more important to us.”   

Even as the clock ticks on 25 years. Heroes then, heroes now.