League campaign offers positive signs for Donegal

It seems barely believable that almost 19 years have passed since the first.

Donegal ladies made a telling breakthrough in defeating Kildare 3-12 to 0-10 in the All-Ireland Junior Championship final.

As they are now, Donegal were managed by Maxi Curran. The Glen man was even fresher faced then as Donegal climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand.

Maureen O’Donnell posted eight points and the goals arrived off the boots of Debbie Lee Fox, Kelly Lacey and a 16-year-old Yvonne McMonagle.

Seven years later, Donegal took another big step when McMonagle arrowed 2-5 in a 2-12 to 0-16 win over Waterford in the Intermediate final.

“This is the icing on the cake,” then manager Micheál Naughton remarked.

On Sunday, McMonagle lined out for the Curran-managed Donegal who were pipped by Meath in the Lidl Ladies NFL Division 1 final. Roisin McCafferty, Gareth Guthrie and Niamh Hegarty were the other 2010 survivors to feature.

Hegarty has just returned to the panel again, a significant boost ahead of the Ulster Championship opener at home to Cavan on May 1. The arrival off the bench of Tanya Kennedy in Sunday’s 2-8 to 1-9 was another noteworthy occurrence. The Castlefin woman was an underage Republic of Ireland soccer international before spending several years in Australia.

McMonagle has also come back into the panel in recent weeks to add a real threat to Donegal’s attack.

Sunday was perhaps a snapshot of Donegal’s fortunes of late. Having looked as if they’d left themselves with too much to do, Donegal hit back from seven points down to make a real game of it. That they left with regrets says much about how they made Meath, the reigning All-Ireland champions, earn their crust.

“We know that we have the potential to cut teams open,” Curran reflected.

“It probably just happens a bit too infrequently.”

Captain Niamh McLaughlin, who scored Donegal’s goal from a penalty late in the first half, touched on a similar threat.

The Moville woman said: “It seems to be the same story where we go very close and just fall short of the line. This is another hurdle that we need to push on from.”

Donegal won a first Ulster senior title in 2015 and a three-in-a-row followed from 2017-19 before Armagh snatched the prize last summer.

There had been fears that the golden generation’s chance had passed, but the evidence of this springtime suggests quite the opposite. 

A semi-final defeat of Dublin, following wins over Galway and Westmeath in the group phase, fired Donegal into the final. The likes of Tara Hegarty, Blathnaid McLaughlin, Shauna McFadden and Susanne White have showed their worth in the League. Amy Boyle-Carr made her first start of 2022 on Sunday and was given then onerous task of shackling Vikki Wall, who will head for Australian Rules later in the year.

Curran shook his backroom up over the winter.

Paul Fisher, a former Jim McGuinness lieutenant, was recruited as strength and conditioning coach.

Mark McHugh, an All-Ireland winner with Donegal in 2012, was installed as coach while Barney Curran, the manager’s brother, was added too. Curran had worked under Naughton’s regime in 2010 and rejoined the senior ladies set-up having returned from a spell in Boston.

Curran is in the fifth year of his current time in the position.

There had been questions on whether he would continue, but there is clearly an itch to scratch.

"That's something probably very legitimately that could have been levelled at us over the last couple of years,” Curran said last week. “We have been knocking on the door, running teams close and had many a glorious failure but we haven't actually managed to get over the line too many times so that was one of the most pleasing things about beating Dublin, that we did manage to take one of the big guns out.”

Geraldine McLaughlin, finally an All-Star in 2021 after a rather puzzling wait for a gong, is at the tip of the spear with Yvonne Bonner, the teenager from 2003 now going by her married name. The likes of McCafferty, Nicole McLaughlin, Karen Guthrie and Katy Herron remain lynchpins.

For many on Sunday, it was a first time to run out at Croke Park.

“We will be the better for this experience,” Curran said.

“Even being involved in an occasion like this will bond the group.

“We have had a very good League and we were very happy to get this far. We’ll be kicking ourselves that we didn’t get over the line, but our focus turns on the Ulster Championship. It’s onwards and upwards now.”

Donegal have real designs on making their biggest breakthrough yet. The road remains littered with obstacles, but they’ve every right to be confident of realising what once seemed an impossible dream.