McShea's Say: Mixed fortunes for Naomh Conaill and Dungloe in Ulster Club

To say it was a mixed bag for Donegal sides in provincial action at the weekend would be an understatement. 

Donegal’s poor record in Ulster Club SFC football continued in West Belfast in a game where Naomh Conaill were in control for much of the match but were unable to prevail in the end. 

To lose a match in a penalty shootout is particularly hard to accept. Naomh Conaill would have trained three nights a week and most of the weekends in preparation for the Donegal and Ulster Championships.

And they would have no doubt spent most of their downtime talking about the game and some even fretting about the game. In preparation for Ulster and their match with Cargin, the Antrim winners, they would have finished their training session together last week mud splattered as they headed for the showers. 

But they would have been happy that the hard work  was done. Manager Martin Regan was as ever dignified in defeat as he felt that the game was lost in normal time, and he had no issue with the penalties that his team failed to convert. 

I’m not aware of any Gaelic follower who has any time for the concept of penalties deciding the outcome of a game. It is simply a despicable rule which never should have been introduced and it is time that it was discarded forever. 

The overcrowded fixture calendar is no excuse for the introduction of penalties and even the idea of ‘next score wins’, which as children was a part of our games, would be much fairer than what now exists. 

If teams finish level after extra-time, then restart the match with a throw-in and let the team that scores first take the honours. Dungloe did very well to win their Ulster Club IFC quarter-final.

After a less than impressive first-half, they played like a team transformed in the second and even before Dunloe lost their discipline late in the game, they were the better team and were in no way flattered by their winning margin. 

Their manager Dessie Gallagher has his young charges playing a nice brand of football and the club has a very proud history, with some great players of the past household names in Donegal football. 

Sean O’Donnell, Sean Ferriter, John Andy Campbell, Enda Bonner, Tony Boyle and Adrian and Ray Sweeney were among the best to ever wear the green and gold and no doubt some of the young lads who played last Sunday will be in new manager Paddy Carr’s notebook before 2023 is out. 

One of Donegal’s most loyal followers and former Dungloe player, Fred Sweeney, had to be the proudest man in the county on Sunday when his beloved team progressed in this campaign.

Dave Gallagher

The proud history of the GAA is as much about what happens off the field as it is on it. Dave Gallagher has supported Donegal throughout his life, something he probably views as a labour of love. 

Dave Gallagher, second left, who suffered a cardiac arrest in Clones when Donegal played Armagh

On June 12,  Dave travelled from Dublin decked out in his Donegal colours to support his county in their All-Ireland Qualifier loss to Armagh. As he was about to enter the stand in Clones Dave collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. 

He was extremely fortunate that a young man behind him, who was with his two young daughters, witnessed this. He rushed over to Dave where a young lady was just about to start chest compression. This man asked her had she ever done compression before?  She said she had not.

He then took over and worked on Dave until the ambulance crew arrived. In his day job part of his brief is CPR training which was a real bonus. Doing compression, he broke two of Dave’s ribs, but he effectively saved Dave’s life and he was more than happy to survive the frightening ordeal.

Dave has made an excellent recovery and he was very disappointed that he did not know who the young man was, who came to his aid. Last week he got a text from him inquiring about his well being. 

He did not contact Dave any earlier as he did not, in any way, want acknowledgement for the role he played in saving his life. Dave’s guardian angel was not always a star in Donegal followers’ eyes as he played with Armagh for ten years at a time when Donegal/Armagh games were not for the faint hearted. 

He was delighted to hear that Dave is well and his only request was that he would not get a mention about that memorable day. Talking about what happens off the field, Dave is a guest of the Ulster Council at their annual dinner at the end of this month, a nice gesture and well deserved. 

Dave’s story is yet another example of the passion and the sheer fascination of life with the GAA.