What's rare is wonderful - St Naul's lift an underage title

The number of underage titles won by the St Naul's club is easy to count. There was a minor title in 1951 when the club was called Tamhnach an tSalainn, while the only other A underage titles came with an U-21 success in 1999 and an U-13 title in 2002.

In more recent times success has been confined to B competitions and on Monday last they lifted a third Division 2 minor title after a titanic battle with Naomh Padraig, Muff, in O'Donnell Park, Letterkenny.

It looked like much of the Parish of Inver was in Letterkenny as O'Donnell Park was thronged for the double header with the Division 1 final - the crowd even bigger than the previous day at the senior semi-final between Kilcar and Naomh Conaill.

Finals are great for winners and a whole different ball game for losers. St Naul's know all about it, especially at adult intermediate level. They could write a few books on losing intermediate finals, seven times between 1985 and 2017.

That's why there was some rejoicing to be done on Monday as a young side coached by Peter Mogan withstood a late rally to get over the line against a physically superior Muff side.

It takes a combined team effort to win any competition but there was a stand-out final performance from joint captain Conor Campbell, who hit 3-3, all but two points of it from play. To say that the cup would have been going to Inishowen but for Campbell, would be an understatement.

The Leaving Cert student at the Abbey VS in Donegal Town is a very talented sportsman, having already represented Ireland at international soccer level, and he is currently in the Sligo Rovers Academy.

The most recent successes at this level for St Naul's came in 2003 and 2011 and there was a direct link to the 2003 win on Monday through Conor's dad, Cathal, who was also a mentor in 2003.

Cathal, however, wasn't noted as a scoregetter and he says himself he was probably more comfortable at the other end of the pitch, where he lined out at corner-back for Donegal in the late 1980s.

"In fairness to him, he had a good game and he finished his chances well," said a proud dad, speaking to the Democrat on Tuesday.

As regards Conor's sporting choices, he leaves it very much to his own devices. "I haven't pushed him either way. He could have gone in with the minors this year. Luke Barrett did call him, but he thanked him and said he was committed to Sligo this year."

Cathal has been involved at club level for St Naul's in many ways from his playing days ended.

He remembers clearly the success of 2003, which yielded a few players at senior level. "Paul Griffin was manager and myself and Andrew Gallagher were helping out. We were talking about it on Monday night. I had them at U-14 and they won a Division 2 title - Derek Logue, Sean Og Ward, Owen Gallagher, who ended up captain of that minor team.

"Then Stephen Griffin was coming up, he was three years younger. Himself and Danny McDyre were U-16 and were on that team, but in fairness they were probably two of the best U-16s in the county at that stage."

Asked who might come through from the present team, Campbell worries that the gap between the present minor level at U-17 is too great.

"Not enough come through from minor teams. If you get one or two, you are doing very well," says Campbell, who also pointed out that St Naul's got a massive boost of players coming through from their U-21 success of 1999 to play senior.

"It kinda went against the grain at the time. We must have got seven or eight players out of that U-21 squad who played regularly at senior team, the likes of Andrew Gallagher, Gavin Maguire, Martin Griffin, Martin McHugh, Daniel Friel, Gary Kane.

"From this squad, it is hard to know. They are a year younger at U-17 and I don't know if I agree with that. They have a gap now," said Campbell, who is hopeful that it will be a boost, and it was a first medal for all of them.

"Conor said it was the first medal of any description that he had won. It all comes back to that, it's your own parish, your own club," said Campbell, who said Conor would admit that there is a different atmosphere to playing for St Naul's than with Sligo Rovers.

The most recent St Naul's success at this level came in 2011 under the stewardship of John McGroary, Tom Dunleavy and John Cookie Meehan. John McGroary admits that he was a reluctant manager. "It's 10 years but it seems like only three. I remember the first game we were to play Kilcar away and we could must only muster 11 players.

"But in the championship we drew Bundoran and it was home and away. We got a late goal in Bundoran to get a draw and won at home. Then we went on to the Divisional final and beat Four Masters. We would meet them again in the final in Glenties," said McGroary, who said the team yielded players like Barry Griffin, John Rose, captain Jamie White and James Flynn.

"I was delighted with their success on Monday and it has been a good year for the club, getting to the senior championship quarter-final," said McGroary.