‘In dual clubs there can be friction between football and hurling - not here’

Carndonagh’s dashing defender James Monagle has suffered one big disappointment already this season and he is in no mood for any more heartbreak in 2022.

Monagle is one of a healthy sprinkling of dual players on the Carndonagh panel who face Letterkenny Gaels in this season’s Junior A Championship final on Saturday at O’Donnell Park.

The stylish halfback has already experienced championship final heartbreak with a 0-17 to 1-12 loss to Sean MacCumhaill’s in this July’s Intermediate hurling championship final.

“Unfortunately we lost the hurling final,” he said. “It was very disappointing and heartbreaking to come so close and to lose by just two points. Most of the team play hurling and football and are on the two squads and they are all hurting too after losing the hurling final. Unlike in most dual clubs there can often be friction between the football and the hurling teams and they mostly work off separate panels, that is not the case in Carndonagh.

“One can feed off the other because Cathal and Padraig Doherty are strong hurlers and they have a strong say in the management of both teams. Danny, Cormac and Paddy Monagle, Padraig and Cathal Doherty, Conor Fagan, Cian Doherty and Eoghan Kelly are the dual players.

“It gives us a strong core and our fitness is massive from training with the two teams,” Monagle added. “It was difficult during the league when we were playing two games at weekends and was very tiring. But for the championship it has been different. The hurling championship was over before the football championship got underway.”

Carndonagh were one of the fancied teams for the junior championship before they came up against Downings in the semi-final last season.

“The loss to Downings last year was a setback as we had been on a great run,” Monagle added. “We were unbeaten in the league and had been showing good form until we came up against Downings. They are a good side and as we saw after they won the championship and went all the way to the Ulster final.”

By contrast Carndonagh this season struggled for form and consistency right up to the start of the championship.
“Last year we had a great run without injuries and this year injuries caught up with us,” Monagle added. “But we have slowly got all the injured players back and we have the county boys back Conor O’Donnell and the two hurlers Cathal and Padraig Doherty too.

“Conor O’Donnell was the last of the injured back. He returned against Urris in the quarter-final and with Conor back the team is getting a shape to it. Conor is a fantastic player and you could talk about him all day. He brings so much to the team and not only hitting big numbers of scores but other teams also focus on him which leaves openings for others.

Padraig Doherty is the Carndonagh manager with Padraig Kelly and Paul Newman making up the rest of the management team.

“When they came in they set out a plan and goals of what they wanted to achieve in the following few years,” Monagle said. “They wanted to win the league and the championship and progress on from that. We’ve won Division 4 last year and we hope now we can go on and win the championship this year. We have a young team and hopefully we can have success now and leave our own legacy and bring Carn back to the highs we feel we should be at.”