The character this Donegal group has shown is simply amazing - Niamh McLaughlin

Niamh McLaughlin admits it was a frustrating period sitting idle during Donegal’s difficult NFL campaign as the side slipped out of the top tier winless and into Division 2.

The current LGFA Footballer of the Year had shoulder surgery at the tailend of 2022 and only returned to the fray in the latter stage of that terrible run.

Donegal’s well documented wholesale turnover in playing personnel from the team that reached the All-Ireland semi-final the season prior meant they were written off as a beaten docket prior to championship.

Their first competitive win of the season arrived in the Ulster Championship against Cavan but it was hardly convincing. Armagh, the reigning provincial title holders, sauntered into Lifford and with Aimee Mackin running the show, exited with a convincing eight-point win.

Absolutely no one gave them a chance of avenging that loss just three short weeks later when the sides renewed acquaintances in the Ulster decider. Anyone that says otherwise is simply a liar.

But Maxi Curran was not only able to coax experienced duo Niamh Hegarty and Tanya Kennedy in from the cold in between, he was also able to keep it a secret right up until half an hour before throw in.

Given all that had went before, McLaughlin admits last month’s shock Ulster success is the most satisfying sporting feat she’s been involved in, in he career to date.

“One of the best matches I’ve played in, and so many of the other girls would say the same, was Dublin last year,” she explained. “But we’d nothing to show for that run in the end. Just off the back of the league, with our backs against the wall, it was such a special result.

“Outside our group, even people inside the county, they weren’t giving us a chance. But it was just so sweet. It’s the most satisfying medal I have, for sure. We’ve an All-Ireland at minor but that’s definitely the best Ulster one”.

The perseverance of the group, after how they’d suffered in the months prior, showed real character.

And McLaughlin - who will depart for Australia, the Gold Coast Suns and the AFLW when Donegal’s season does end - says that resolve was tempered by their league woes.

“Without a doubt because the effort and the hours stay the exact same. And that’s something that people probably forget. We go out every single day or night, looking to put absolutely everything we have into it and to represent Donegal as best we can.

“It doesn’t always work out the way you want it to. It certainly didn’t during the league this season and it was a really tough time. I was only involved in the back end of it but it was tough going by the girls, picking themselves up every single time to go again.

“No matter what people say, going back training after coming up the road from places like Cork, just trying to go again it takes a lot of digging deep. It’s tough at the best of times, that commitment and effort.

“But when it’s not going for you that’s when real character probably comes to the surface. But the girls are motivated and determined to do the best they can and it probably speaks volumes.

“I’m just delighted that we got our rewards, the team, the management and the backroom team. And we were well worth the victory as well. We won the match, Armagh didn’t lose it. That’s what’s most satisfying about it. We were the better team”.

Looking around at girls like MacCumhaills teens Abigail Temple Asokuh and Katie Dowds and, at the other end of all of that, 29-year-old Tanya Kennedy, picking up their first ever senior medals with Donegal; it was a day to be savoured.

Also, her own Moville clubmate and mate Niamh Hegarty who, like Kennedy answered that eleventh hour call in spectacular fashion with a storming hour against the Orchard County.

“The two girls were fantastic. And Niamh’s been around the block. She’s given so much service to Donegal. And Tanya, she played all the way up through underage. So they were two amazing additions.

“And I sort of know as well what it’s like coming in in the middle of a season. You're kind of wondering how others might react. But the respect there from the rest of the group for those two is huge. So it was no problem.

“It was just a massive boost to have that wee bit more experience. They are two very different types of players. But they bring so much energy to the thing”.

She added: “To be fair to the likes of Maxi, Barney and Declan McDermott, we’ve really tried to mix girls in from the minor scene just so they can get a feel of it. There really is some great talent coming through.

“The likes of Abigail and Katie are leading that out but there are more coming. Getting a win like that, it’s brilliant for them off the back of their own minor success”.

Next up are Waterford in the first round of the All-Ireland series this Saturday, in Lifford (throw-in, 1pm). The sides met earlier on this term in Letterkenny with the visitors coming out comfortable 2-9 to 0-7 winners. But it’s a very different Donegal lying in wait this time around.

We’re home and away - so we’re actually away to Meath. So Saturday is really important. As great as the Ulster final win was we simply have to park that now. This is the start of the All-Ireland series. Waterford beat us by eight points up here in the league.

“We’ve met them quite a few times now at this stage the last few years. They are a sticky side. They are direct, hard working and they will cut you open if you aren’t at it. We’ve never had it easy against them.

“It’s a massive game for us considering we’ve to go away to the All-Ireland champions in a few weeks time. We’ve a good bank of training under our belts as well since Armagh so it’s all geared towards the weekend now”.