Maxi Curran has left a legacy with Donegal - Emer Gallagher

Emer Gallagher says the future of Donegal ladies football looks extremely bright and she says a leap of faith by Maxi Curran last winter, no doubt against his better judegment, has propelled that belief.

Deep in the bowels of Croke Park last summer, Donegal had just lost an All-Ireland semi-final they could and probably should have won. Nods of acknowledgment went around the dressingroom that day - it was indeed the end of the road for so many.

Curran had just completed his fifth term at the helm and he too was expected to exit stage left and finally hand those reins over.

Gallagher explains though a real fear that the learning curve might prove too steep right away for those left on the fringes, paved the way for a number of u-turns.

Curran spearheaded that. With wedding bells on her 2023 horizon, Gallagher says she too had initially intended to step down for the year.

But a change of heart, a roll of the dice into the complete wilderness really, means she is now looking back on perhaps her most satisfying season yet at senior intercounty level.

Donegal might well have just lost an All-Ireland quarter-final on their own patch to Dublin, but the Termon girl was able to qualify just what was achieved, against all odds, this term.

The curtain has since come down on Curran’s tenure as boss but Gallagher, speaking on Sunday, says he leaves a real legacy behind him.

“Maxi has left a legacy, no doubt. He cares so much. The easiest thing for him to do last year would have been to head off after the All-Ireland semi-final loss. Like I said, no one was coming back at the time.

“The sense for that group was that it was done, our journey together was over. But Maxi felt Donegal’s interests were best served if he gave it one more shot in what was viewed as a rebuilding period.

“But look, in some ways, 2023 was actually more successful than last season when you look at it in terms of trophies or medals. Our Ulster success, it’s a medal I’ll cherish for so many reasons. The league relegation was a real blow at the time.

“At the end of the league, an All-Ireland quarter-final didn’t look like it would be on our radar. Our main (championship) goal was probably avoiding relegation and not falling down to Intermediate.

“Expectations were at a low ebb. So for that reason alone, Ulster was such a special win - against all odds”.

She added:“It might well be a threshold moment. But in some ways I feel that line was crossed last year. Like no one was coming back after the defeat to Meath. I got married in April and even Nicole, she’s getting married in December.

“But the truth is neither of us felt we were truly ready to go last year. And there was a sort of fear that the deep end might be too deep for the ones being left behind. The fear was we might just not survive Division 1 league and senior championship if there was a total wipeout of experience.

“So regardless of who stays or goes this time, for the ones that do depart, I think they’ll go safe in the knowledge that what’s coming and what will still be there will be ready for 2024. To have an Ulster medal in their pockets is a huge confidence booster.

 “I probably did have concerns myself at the start of the season. I came back in, in late December. I remember there was something like a seven or eight-year age gap between myself and the next player!

"But faces started coming back and you could see the young girls grow into their roles. They’d to really learn on their feet. They had no adjustment period.

“Abigail (Temple Asokuh) and Katie Dowds, they are the examples I probably keep using, but those girls were just out of U-16 football, never mind minor. What a year they’ve both had. Then there are the girls at the other end of that, the ones that might have also made the decision that they weren’t coming back.

“But the love for the county jersey meant they answered the call once more. It’s really important to give those girls credit also. When they think their time is up but they don’t want to leave the younger ones on their own just yet, it just shows how much they care.

“But like I said, the others are more than ready now I feel to take up the baton”.

As Dublin players celebrated, there were Donegal players hobbling off at the end of matters in MacCumhaill Park - they were literally limping towards the tunnel. And Gallagher explains just what some have sacrificed by hanging on in there.

“Geraldine McLaughlin, Karen Guthrie and Niamh Hegarty there… you’re talking about girls that have already put their bodies through hell. They are hanging on by a thread - that’s the easiest way to describe it.

“They care so much that they are willing to risk long term damage in some cases. So you simply cannot understate just what they’ve given Donegal.

“That’s what it means to wear the Donegal jersey and I’ve no doubt the new faces on the block see that as well and have taken it on board”.