Five senior debutants for Glenswilly in league opener against MacCumhaills

Glenswilly handed five senior debuts on Tuesday night as they hammered MacCumhaills by 17 points in Ballybofey. 

Liam McGinley, Cillian Bonner, Pauric Devine, Mark Collum and Shane Tinney were all elevated by boss Gary McDaid as his charges got their All-County League season off the mark with an emphatic 4-16 to 0-11 victory. 

McDaid admits that his side was chomping at the bit to get going, having had to sit back idle over the course of the last fortnight as the rest of Division 1 exited the starting blocks. 

“It hasn’t been easy sitting out the last two weekends,” he told DonegalLive.  “But the boys were itching to get going there this evening. 

“We’ve been out watching games and just waiting to finally let the handbrake off. We were idle last weekend and just unfortunate that Round 2 had us here in MacCumhaill Park. 

“The Donegal game obviously took precedence there at the weekend. But the weather has stayed kind and it was lovely to get a runout finally this evening. 

“The game was fixed for Convoy but MacCumhaills wanted to play it here which was understandable. So the CCC asked us were we okay with that and we were”.

McGinley, Devine, Collum and Tinney all started in that MacCumhaill Park rout while Bonner was sprung off the bench in the last quarter. 

That’s a fine haul by any barometer to promote from the minor ranks and the encouraging thing for Glenswilly is that there should be much more whey that came from in the coming seasons. 

“We are a very young side right now but with that comes real enthusiasm and even energy. We had five debutants this evening - all minors. 

 “The new rules, sort of suits that energy. They are mad for work and have it in the tank to carry out what you’re asking of them. 

“Of course, they’re raw and inexperienced but they are bringing real honesty to the jersey. What they showed there this evening is probably just a reflection of having been held off the last two weekends. 

“But it’s a quick turnaround now, five days time and we’re away to Naomh Conaill. To be fair to MacCumhaills, they are down a lot of key men there this evening”. 

On the Pairc Naomh Columba conveyor belt, McDaid explains that serious work has gone in at the underage ranks there and that labour has to be meticulous given the narrow confines of their parish boundaries. 

“Our underage is in a really good place right now. Our U-14s won their championship last year, that’s back-to-back for that group after the ‘13s. 

“The U-16s were put out by Four Masters as were the minors, in the semi-final. Our U-21s also fell to Four Masters in the county final so we’re competitive right through the ranks and that’s encouraging. 

“The club is doing a lot of things right. So there is a solid foundation and structure that hopefully moves all those lads along to senior level”.