Niamh Boyle and Naomh Columba want to make the parish proud as Ulster final beckons

Naomh Columba’s remarkable rise over the past two years has brought them to the brink of Ulster glory, with Truagh standing between the Glen outfit and a first Ulster Ladies Intermediate Club Championship title.

Having put last year’s early Ulster Junior exit behind them, the Donegal champions have continued to flourish, with six titles already secured in the past two season. For 20-year-old Niamh Boyle, Sunday’s final is the realisation of a childhood dream, but the opportunity to bring joy and pride to a close-knit community makes the occasion all the more special.

In their first year back in Intermediate football, the Glen ladies targeted another final, and they coasted through the Donegal Championship before defeating near neighbours Killybegs by 5-15 to 2-11 in the final in Towney, which has been a happy hunting ground for them this season, also picking up the Intermediate Gaeltacht county and national title there.

Into Ulster, they came through away to Armagh Champions Mullabrack in the semi-final at the weekend by 1-13 to 2-5, with Boyle’s sharpshooting from frees being key to that as five of her six points came from placed balls.

And it was a much more convincing win than their 3-7 to 2-9 victory over Down’s Burren at home in Páirc na nGael in the quarter-finals.

But that win over Burren banished the demons from last year’s early exit to Killeevan Sarsfields in the Ulster Junior Club Championship.

“We started off well, and Mullabrack were just trying to chase us the whole time, and they couldn’t keep up with us,” Boyle told DonegalLive.

“We went into half-time with the lead, and we said to keep the shoe down and keep the score ticking over, and thankfully we got away with the win.

“There was a huge gang from Glen there, with the car horns going when we went out to warm up and then when we were out playing, the roaring from the side- you don’t realise how much it helps you when you know you’ve got people behind you, and the Glen support is great for that.

“The game against Burren was a different kind of game, we were up by about eight points, and we got a bit too comfortable and we had a ten-minute period where we switched off and they got back into it. We only managed three points in the second half, but one was to level it and the next to win it, so I think the luck was with us that day.

“A lot of us had the first round of Ulster in the back of our minds and how disappointed we were after it for days, and we left that game behind us. Ulster was over after just a preliminary last year, and we felt like we let everyone down. But this year, it wasn’t as new territory and everyone is behind us, and we feel like we’re making people proud, which is a special feeling.”

The 20-year-old would have had underage success as Naomh Columba won the Division 2 minor title, while she was also part of an impressive Donegal minor team that won an Ulster Silver and All-Ireland C title under Declan McDermott in 2023.

But the senior success at the club has been relentless in the last two years, with both the Junior and Intermediate county championships, along with the county and All-Ireland Junior and Intermediate Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta titles, and the youth coming through have helped with that, which include her younger sisters Alanna and Laura who have represented the county at underage levels this year.

“As far as experience goes, it’s not that we’re a very old team and being in an Ulster final is probably something I’d have dreamt about as a child, and to be doing that now at 20 years old is crazy. But there are girls in the team who are 16 to 18 years old, and for them to be able to say they’re in an Ulster final is unbelievable for them.

“I was only dying to get into the senior team and I’ve been playing with them since I was 14, but even the younger ones now, Emma Cunningham is 16, and she’s had a massive influence. Then my sisters, Alanna and Laura, are both unbelievable players and I love playing alongside them.

“Three years ago we lost to Downings in the semi-final by four or five points, and that year they won Ulster and made the All-Ireland final.

“So from there we could see the potential in the team and we just needed that extra push. “We’ve won six cups in the past two years, and that’s brilliant in itself.

“We had a tough final against Urris last year and then the Ulster loss, but ever since then we’ve just kept improving and we were putting in a serious effort. Girls are away from home between college and work, but they’ve always been putting in the work, and that really does pay off.

“People might think we nearly sailed through the Intermediate Championship, but that was from the work we put in throughout the last two years, which has shown all of this year, so it has all been worth it in the end.

“I already have an Ulster medal under my belt, which is brilliant, but if I could say I had an Ulster club medal, it would just be that bit more special.”

Boyle has a busy schedule, as she is a third-year Quantity Surveying student at Ulster University and is playing for the University’s Gaelic team.

There’s a good Donegal contingent also playing, as club mate Kate Byrne lines out with the side, along with senior Donegal player Ulitah Boyle (Dungloe) and county U-20 captain Tara Rose Mahon (Buncrana), and U-20 star Chloe Costello (Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin), while Áine O’Connell (Downings) and Sadbh Foy (Burt) are also in the panel.

So while she doesn’t get back for club training during the week, there’s plenty of training still being done and she’ll be spending the week practicing for when she may be called upon again for free kick duties.

“I do a bit myself, there’s a field not far away from me so I’d do an odd bit of kicking and that, then I’m training with the university team, so that’s two or three days a week.”

And it’ll be the last one out turn off the lights in Glencolmcille and the surrounding areas on Sunday as the community gets behind this impressive team ahead of the game against Monaghan Champions Truagh, and Boyle admits she has done a bit of research on the opposition.

The Glen team stayed up in Newry last Saturday to avoid the long journey to Mullabrack, and they’ll be doing similar again this weekend when they go to Killyclogher (throw-in 12pm).

“I could tell from when the final whistle went in the semi-final, there were supporters running onto the field and it was just mental, and I’d say there’s some buzz at home at the moment; it means so much to the supporters as it does to us and that drives you on, but we have to stay focused for the weekend.

“Being part of college teams, I know a few girls who know girls on their team, so I’ve found out a bit on them, but I’m not going to dwell on it because I feel it will take a very good team to beat us with how we are going, and I think it’s more important to focus on ourselves.

“Glen has gone through a really tough time in the last few months as we lost two young men in the club, which hit the club hard.

“But we knew from then on that if there was anything we could do to put smiles back on people's faces and take them through tough times, we would do it. Any day we go out, we have them loved ones that we’ve lost in the back of our heads and we want to do it for them to make them proud as well.

“But that also comes back to the support we get from the club; everyone supports each other and that’s probably why Glen has thrived over the past two years, and it makes me so proud to be part of the club.”