"This one's for us": Brendan McDyer savours Naomh Conaill's triumph

The words of Brendan McDyer outlined just what a sixth Donegal SFC triumph meant for Naomh Conaill on Saturday: “This one is for us.”

A ten-point hammering in the 2021 final at the hands of St Eunan’s cast a long shadow in Glenties last winter. McDyer and Naomh Conaill regained the crown on Saturday after edging their old foes.

In 2005, a teenage McDyer scored three points when Naomh Conaill won Dr Maguire for the first time. On Saturday, he posted a similar haul as Naomh Conaill took hold of the prize again.

“A lot was written and said, but we knew that we weren’t gone,” McDyer said.

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“Last year was a huge driver for us. St Eunan’s, to be fair, had a super performance last year, but we were really disappointed. We didn’t turn up at all. We didn’t leave the dressing room. That stuck in our throats all year.

“We didn’t blow any teams away but we knew that if we got back to the decider that we could have a big say.”

In the Donegal SFC for the eleventh year, McDyer kicked three excellent points as Naomh Conaill prevailed to dethrone St Eunan’s in a game of inches.

It’s a sixth title for Naomh Conaill and McDyer has seen them all.

“This means more,” he said.

“There was a lot of talk about how the team was getting older and ageing. That is probably a fair enough comment, but we knew we had plenty of legs and plenty of steel.

“We had to stick to what we had to do, turn over ball and hit them on the counter. I think it was a perfect performance by us.”

McDyer doesn’t do social media, but told in a profile piece for the match programme how Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones is his favourite songs: ‘It’s just a shot away,’ indeed.

McDyer was inhibited by injury in the last two years, but has had a superb campaign to return Naomh Conaill to the summit.

He said: “It’s great to get the opportunity to get back into the team and back into those positions again. I’m delighted on a personal level.

“We were very confident. We don’t pay much attention to so-called experts, to be honest. We just know what we’re about and we know if we play the way we can that we’ll be there or thereabouts. It’s no big shock to us.”