We had to play smart - Termon’s Gallagher on Division 1 triumph

The Burn Road side were on the back foot early thanks to an Iona McDaid goal on two minutes, but they levelled the game on six minutes and were never trailing again in the game.

Despite that, they were hit by a couple of setbacks in the game, leading by four coming to half-time before being penalised for a breach, which saw Glenfin narrow the gap to two points at the break.

“It’s never easy going out against Glenfin and the first half was a battle.

“The second half was a battle too, and the scoreline probably didn’t reflect how close a game it was, but we’re out on the right side of it, and we’re happy with the win.

“It isn’t nice to give that away because it’s an easy score for the other team and it can be frustrating, but we went from there, settled things down and went again.”

And there were still just two points in the game when forward Jodie McFadden was yellow carded, putting them down to 14 players for the next ten minutes. But in that period, they hit five unreplied points to ensure they got the win.

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“We knew everyone had to give an extra 10% at that stage and see out that ten-minute period; we tried to keep the ball, and we knew we had to play smart, and thankfully we did that.”

Termon are under new management this year, after Adrian and Kevin McGettigan stepped away, with former Donegal county star Johnny McCafferty coming in as manager.

Paddy McDaid, another former Donegal player, Hugh Harkin and Conal McGrenra make up the remainder of the backroom team.

A fresh management style, along with the boost of young players coming through, has been a help for the side, and the 25-year-old feels there is a real blend in the team of youth and experience.

And it’s gone well so far, with the side winning the Donegal and national Gaeltacht titles, before picking up their third piece of silverware on Sunday.

“The boys have put in a serious effort ever since the start of the year, and we knew they would be the type that wouldn’t go easy on us, and we needed that. And the girls have put in a real shift since February, and the training and coaching we’re getting is paying off, and we’re very appreciative of them.

“I’ve been playing since I was 17, so I’ve been around a while! Johnny’s daughter Grace is only 15 and Kate (McCafferty) is up with us two years, and they’re very young starting, and they don’t look out of place at all. It’s great to have that youth coming through, and then you have the other side with the experienced girls who are smart and drive the rest of us on, so there’s plenty of variation in the squad.”

It won’t be long until these two teams meet again, with Termon’s first game of the Senior Championship being at the Burn Road against Glenfin.

And while League titles aren’t taken for granted, the championship is the end goal for Gallagher and co.

“We’ve a bye the first week, and then it’s straight back into meeting them again, and it’ll not be easy. It’s great to win the league and everything, but there’s bigger fish to fry, and it’ll be the same for them.

“You have to take every game as it comes and when we meet them in the championship, we know it’ll be a completely different game to the one out there. Everybody wants to go and win medals, so we need to focus over the next few weeks, and I suppose that is the end goal.”