Naomh Conaill 1990 Intermediate win - the first breakthrough

Naomh Conaill are playing in their seventh Donegal SFC final on Sunday when they face a resurgent Gaoth Dobhair in Sean MacCumhaill Park.

It is also the Glenties-based club’s 10th final since their breakthrough year of 2005. 

That was the year under the guidance of Hugh Molloy (manager) and Jim McGuinness (coach), they won the club’s first senior title. 

But it was not always like that. Far from it! 

Glenties were defeated in the first Donegal junior championship final by Erins Hope, Stranorlar. 

That was in 1932 and they had to wait until 1964 when they collected their first championship silverware when they won the Dr McCloskey Cup for the only time. They defeated Castlefin in that final. 

Two years later they came agonisingly close to claiming a first senior title when losing to a star-studded St Joseph’s, in a replay. 

St Joseph’s was an amalgamation of Ballyshannon and Bundoran and was the top team in the county at the time and went on to dominate the next decade. In the 11 seasons from 1965 to 1976, St Joseph’s were Donegal champions eight times including a four-in-a-row.  

Glenties had dropped back down to Intermediate football and also had undergone a name change by the time they had their next big championship day. That was the intermediate final of 1990 when Naomh Conaill defeated Bundoran to win the intermediate decider. They won on a score of 2-12 to 2-10.

Connie Doherty was one of three Doherty brothers in the Naomh Conaill squad at the time.

Connie lined out at right half-back and Gerry was in the number seven shirt. The third of the brothers Martin was suspended for the final after being sent off in the semi-final. 

“I don’t remember much about the final. I remember more about the semi-final against Dunkineely. It was played in Ballyshannon that day. It was a rough game,” said Connie, who is better known nowadays as one of the leading and longest-serving referees, in Donegal and will be on duty in his own right in MacCumhaill Park on Sunday next as he is referee for the Senior B final between Aodh Ruadh and Gaoth Dobhair.

“I remember Martin being sent off. He retaliated and was seen by the referee and he got his marching orders from the referee. It was the only time he was ever sent off. 

“I remember I got a wild shot to the jaw. I was pulling at my man as you did in those days and in an attempt to free himself he swung back and he caught me fair and square on the jaw. 

“I cannot remember the score. We were winning well at one stage but Dunkineely fought back well and it was tight enough at the finish. 

“The couple of things I remember from the final was Jim McGuinness, John Gildea, Stephen McKelvey, Pauric Brennan and Bradas O’Donnell were the young lads in the team and the five of them played very well.

“Stephen had a great game at corner-forward. He scored something like a goal and two points. Stephen joined us after Fintown, who had a team for a number of years, folded.

The other thing there was a bit of controversy at the end when it was discovered Bundoran had 16 players on the field for the last five or six  minutes. 

“We didn’t know about it until after and the referee obviously did not notice it and I’m not sure if the linesmen were neutral. They were probably not. Things back then were certainly not as well organised and run as they are today. 

“All I know Brian McEniff came on late in the game because I was marking him so I’m not sure what happened and if the man he was to replace stayed on or not.  

“There was a bit of a fuss about it afterwards. But there would be a hell of a lot more about it if we had lost the game. 

“Red Joe Gallagher was captain of that team. I had forgotten that until he told me this evening when we were reminiscing about the game. 

“He was also told that when he was presented with the trophy afterwards he was surprised to find it wasn’t a cup. He said it was more like a stool you would have for sitting on when milking the cows.

“The fact it wasn’t a cup caused a bit of a dilemma until Leo (McLoone snr) found a cup somewhere and the boys drank out that cup for the rest of the week.  

“That team was made up of a number of older lads like Dinny McGill, now involved with Red Hughs, Connie Gallagher, Dessie O’Donnell, John The Block Molloy and John The Bacon Molloy and Pat Ward, all members of the team beaten by Dungloe in the 1986 final, which was played in Ardara.

“A number of lads like myself were in their early 20s and the young lads. Hughie Molloy was the manager, the same Hughie was also a manager in 2005 when we won the first senior.

“He was a great man to get lads out to training and we had big numbers at training every night.

“God the game was very rough back then compared to nowadays. Red Joe was telling me that he watched the 1990 final on Youtube and if you were playing in the backs then, especially in the full-back line, if you came out with a ball it was no good if you did not scatter two or three men out of your way on the way out.

“It did not matter if you cleared the ball into the crowd or not as long as you scattered a few men on the way. That was what  got the crowd going.” 

After winning the intermediate championship Naomh Conaill found themselves back in the senior championship for the following season, 1991. 

They also soon found there was a big difference between senior and  intermediate championship football.

“We seemed to draw Glen (Naomh Columba) every year in the championship for a number of years. They were one of the top teams in the county at the time.

“We were surrounded by all the top teams at the time. We always struggled against Ardara and we also had Kilcar and Killybegs on our doorsteps, another two of the leading teams in the county back then.

“But we hung in and managed to survive until the big breakthrough came in 2005. 

“And really what has happened since is unbelievable and something we could not contemplate when we were playing. 

“In my latter years playing we did make a breakthrough when we won the Division One ACFL for the first time in 2002. We beat St Eunan’s in the league final which was big for us at the time because up to then St Eunan’s was our bogey team. 

“I remember Jim McGuinness saying at the time if we can get to a county final we would win it. And three years later when we finally got our hands on the Dr Maguire Cup, Jim’s words were prophetic.”

The rest, as they say, is history.