McShea's Say: A lot done but more to do for Donegal in 2025

The Donegal management recently announced that they had added four players to the Donegal panel alongside Michael Murphy for the upcoming season.  

All the ‘so-called’ new lads are talented footballers, and all have previous experience of being involved with the senior team except for young Finnbarr Roarty who was listed to play for the county last year, but a technical issue came into play and the young Naomh Conaill man missed out.  

The climb is not particularly steep physically, but mentally adjusting to the change takes some time to figure out for every young player. All underage players with talent must learn how to deal with off-the-pitch nonsense, mostly from some experts who have never kicked a ball.  

One of the negative aspects of performing well on underage teams is the constant warnings from ‘good football men’ that there have been better footballers than you in the past who never bridged the gap between underage and county senior football.  

All sorts of stories about players who drank too much, who were too soft, who got carried away with themselves or didn’t want it enough to make it, are encountered by young players, so, if they ultimately fail, those are the first people who will quickly say ‘I told you so’.  

The thought that talented youngsters are born with everything, and that nothing was ever challenging for them is a foolish comment with no substance. As humans, we all love the stories about players who never made their minor team but went on to prove everyone wrong and become greats of the game.  

Any player who does make the breakthrough to his county senior team needs patience. There is also a theory with a degree of substance that young emerging players often try to do too much on their own, especially if that player was his club and college’s star. Those sides may have encrypted a specific way of playing into their team’s spiritual leader. 

When such players get on the ball, they all try to take on and beat their man and want to score. At senior level, on many occasions, there can be more room or openings to spray the ball around, so a new or young player needs time to evolve.  

The winter training season usually shows how strong a county’s conveyor belt is and that is one area that I would be concerned about.  

The recent underage game featuring Four Masters and Glenswilly was simply a top-class game of football, and it is to be hoped that several players on those sides may have the ability to make it at the top level.  

However, I watched the Aodh Ruadh minor team in action this year and at the risk of sounding parochial, I was very surprised that at least two and possibly three of that side were not involved with the county minor team.  

As we eagerly look forward to the new season and the new rules, apart from the championship, the league has now become the only other competition of relevance. 

Regarding patience, when a young player joins his squad but is on the bench, he will be sure to wrestle with an internal dilemma. He clearly wants his team to win, and he will never want his teammates to have a nightmare performance, but the instinct of any sportsperson is to want to play.  

No doubt in 2025, Donegal’s focus will not be on chasing records, it will not be on chasing statistics, but it will most definitely be on chasing success.  

Winning back-to-back Ulster titles would be just a byproduct of the team. All the team must care about is winning.  

This week I was asked what was my sporting highlight for 2024. I did not need to reflect: It was the courage, class, and will to win that Donegal showed in the last quarter of the Ulster final against Armagh, when they overcame a significant deficit, before burying five wonderful penalties into the Armagh net, which brought the Anglo Celt back to the county. 

After the excellence shown that day all Donegal dreamed about was a third Sam Maguire, unfortunately, the Galway game was disappointing. But it must be acknowledged that this time last year we were not too confident about Ulster championship success.  

To quote an Irish political slogan that applies to Donegal 2025: A Lot Done, More To Do. 

Take Care  

In wishing all our readers a very Happy Christmas, and good health in 2025, I would urge everyone who drives a car to please take care on our roads. Please do everything in your power to make sure that Donegal’s statistics on our roads do not deteriorate over the coming holiday period.