'We've gained a lot of experience from being in finals over the years' - McCrea

It’s been another successful year for Four Masters minor captain Callum McCrea following last Saturday’s Donegal County minor final where the Donegal Town emerged victorious with a one-point win over Naomh Conaill in O’Donnell Park. 

The Four Masters side can boast three minor championships in-a-row that has seen the underage in the club go from strength to strength in recent years, with the Donegal U-20 corner-back a key player in the spine of those teams that have reached an extraordinary amount of success in recent times. 

And last weekend was no different when the Donegal Town side had to come strong and hold their nerve against a gallant Naomh Conaill team who never gave in.  

But Masters were as good to their word in carrying the tag as favourites into the game, as they fought off the Glenties club on a 2-10 to 1-11 scoreline. 

In a nip-and-tuck affair, it was the captain himself who got his team motoring when midway through the first half, Alan McHugh floated in a sailing ball to the half-back on the edge of the Naomh Conaill box, resulting in McCrea turning and firing off his right under pressure for the game’s opening goal. 

And while this placed Four Masters into a cool position, McCrea knew the job was never done until the final whistle was heard.  

“I said in my speech that Naomh Conaill were our biggest rivals growing up and there was never anything between us, it always went down to the wire, and it was the same again today and we were expecting that,” McCrea said behind the stand of O’Donnell Park following his side’s victory. 

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“I know we were labelled as favourites and all the pressure was on us, but we weren’t getting ahead of ourselves and we knew it would be a tight game, thankfully we got over the line and won it, so we’re delighted.” 

For McCrea, who also had a fantastic debut season with the senior team, who knew with the advantage of the wind, it was important for his team to take the lead into the half-time break, which they did at 2-3 to 0-6. 

But in what was a more open and manic second half, Naomh Conaill fought back, largely thanks to the work from Finnbarr Roarty and Danny Brown, with the latter hitting his side’s only goal to level the match. 

“We knew Naomh Conaill would come out firing in the first half, especially with the wind, but we just wanted to keep the scoreline tight and stay with them until we got the wind then in the second half,” he said.  

“So, it probably wasn’t the most pleasing first half for us in terms of our performance, but look, finals are there to be won and thankfully we won it in the end.” 

When asked to put his finger on what drove his team on, the 18-year-old puts it down to experience and now has another Ulster Club Championship to look forward to this winter when his minor team puts their crown on the line. 

“We’ve gained a lot of experience from being in finals over the years, and that stood to us today, but Naomh Conaill had a never-say-die attitude, that’s always been the same with them, so we just wanted to keep the scoreboard ticking near the end, and we did that,” he said. 

“The last two years have been great up in Belfast, so hopefully we can replicate what we’ve done last year again.”