'It is a great honour to captain this team to an All-Ireland title'

Captain Sean McDaid was a proud Urris, Inishowen and Donegal man in Connolly Park, Collooney, on Saturday evening after raising aloft the All-Ireland Masters Shield trophy.

It was a third All-Ireland Masters medal for McDaid but this one was special after turning in a man of the match performance against Galway.

Donegal claimed the honours after defeating Galway in the All-Ireland final on a 1-5 to 0-7 scoreline thanks to a late Paddy McNulty goal. McNulty struck for the vital goal on the stroke of the hour mark after Donegall had come from three points down late on.

“It is a great honour to captain this team to an All-Ireland title,” McDaid said afterwards. “And it is even more special when you come from a small club like Urris. It is not everyday a player from a small club like Urris gets to captain a Donegal team to an All-Ireland title.”

The skipper played a sweeping role in front of the full-back line and all across the defence and stood on the bridge time after time in the second half when Galway piled on the pressure.

Donegal played into a stiff breeze in the first half but dominated in the possession but were a little wayward in their shooting. They kicked five wides and found themselves trailing by a point 0-2 to 0-3 at half-time.

“Some of the lads didn’t have their shooting boots on in the first half. In fairness to all the lads they stuck at it,” McDaid said. “We definitely felt at half-time we should have more scores on the board. In fairness, to the lads we were playing into a stiff breeze in the first half. And some of the boys were saying it was hard to kick into the breeze.”

The Tribesmen handled the breeze better in the second half and led by three points by the three quarter mark. And while Donegal pulled a couple of points back Galway were still two up with the clock ticking on the hour mark.

But a well taken goal by McNulty after a good delivery from Benny Boyle turned the tables and Donegal held on in injury time.
“Galway pulled away from us in the second half but we stuck at it and never gave up and we kicked a couple of points and then Paddy stuck the ball in the net for a super goal,” McDaid added. “It was a great goal and we scored at the right time and it won the game for us.”