‘If you go into Leo’s now for a pint, you might get medals back in the change'

Since making the breakthrough in 2005, Naomh Conaill have arguably been the most consistent team in the county up to the present day.

On Sunday, the club will contest their sixth county final in-a-row and their 11th since making the breakthrough. Prior to that, apart from a county final appearance in the mid ‘60s, it was a barren period with just an intermediate title in 1990.

Two players who laboured through that barren period were John ‘Daffy’ O’Donnell and Pat Ward. O’Donnell was part of the Donegal U-21 panel which won the All-Ireland in 1982 while Ward was a senior panellist in the late ‘80s under Tom Conaghan.

So what was the catalyst for the change in Naomh Conaill? John O’Donnell points to one man and the year 2005.
He said: “Everything clicked that year. Jim McGuinness came in that time up at St Naul’s, Hughie Molloy was the manager and Jim took over. That was the foundation of the pyramid. He built the club up and once you start winning, you get the full support of the whole parish.

John ‘Daffy’ O’Donnell

“We saw that then at underage and the pride in wearing the jersey. Every time you head down home, you see fellas heading to the pitch or coming from the pitch late at night; down doing the gym, doing weights.

“There was one time you would see wee young fellas, wee skinny lads and they’re all bulked up now. Between club and county, it was all down to Jim. It is Naomh Conaill now, with Fintown and the Glen of Glenties as well, all together.

“There is always a lot of slagging about the big parish we have, but I always say we have a big parish but no houses in it. I’d say from Glenties to outside Fintown, there’s only about 10 houses and half of them are closed.”

There had been little success for the club apart from a brief period when Glenties, as they were known then, contested a senior county final, losing narrowly to St Joseph’s in a replayed final of 1965.

The Glenties team who contested the 1965 Donegal SFC final


“Basically, it was a barren time,” O’Donnell added. “We were just chatting recently, this present bunch of footballers must have contested eight U-21 finals in-a-row. That team have won more medals from underage to senior than the whole history of the club, which is now 100 years.

“They are just an absolutely great bunch of lads, so modest, and they keep going. They have no big heads, nothing. They really are a credit to the club.

“Some of them are going a long time. So it is important to make hay when the sun shines. You never write them men off. Once they hear that, they dig their heels down in Davy Brennan Memorial Park.”

And would you like to be around to be part of the present squad: “You would have a different mindset if you were around now. What they are doing now, sometimes you wonder if they are doing too much. Football should be enjoyed too. Everybody thinks they are going to win the Dr Maguire. It is lasting a long time for this bunch.

“Somebody said, ‘if you go into Leo’s now for a pint, you might get medals back in the change!’ That’s how many medals are floating around after this group.”

                                                                                      Pat Ward

Ward is still involved with the club and is enjoying the way the club has evolved in the last 20 years or so. He too soldiered one for many a long year but has enjoyed sitting back watching on in more recent times.

Just like O’Donnell, Ward’s only medals came with an intermediate title in 1990 and a Division 2 league title in 1988 after long service for the club. He said he would love to be around for the present success and says he would have been happy to sample the present running game.

“I would love to play now,” he admitted. “I know it’s faster but at the same time there is a lot of running and I would love that.”

Ward pointed to the success of an Ógsport team under Martin Regan Snr in the early noughties. “He had a whole different level of football at the time,” Ward added. “They were so together and them boys won everything from there the whole way up. And they stayed together, and that was important.

“To me, that was the start of the present club, that was the winning team. They never knew how to get beat. They won everything, minor, U-21. To me that was the start. It rubbed off on everyone else. They are great young fellas, all mad to play football. They all stayed at home and together. You have to hand it to them. They are the team of the last couple of decades,” says Ward.

“The difference in preparation is unreal with strength and conditioning and diet, everything. We wouldn’t have done half of it even at county level back in our time, and that’s not being disrespectful to Tom Conaghan or anybody. We did plenty of hard training and I loved training, but nowadays it is completely different.

“I remember going down to the gym a few years ago and seeing Charles McGuinness doing weights and pulling himself up and down on the bar. And all the young fellas watching him and being impressed,” said Ward. “It is unreal the effort they put in, great dedication. They are all mad to play football.”