Gallagher hoping to end Donegal drought
FOR a couple of weeks last year, Donegal feared they would lose Eoghan Ban Gallagher to good weather and professional football.
The 22-year-old jetted off, along with county team-mate Jason McGee, to Australia’s east coast for a two-week trial with the Brisbane Lions.
They had reason to be fearful; the Killybegs clubman is blessed with the power, ball carrying strength and the pace which serve as fundamentals to the professional game but they did not bite.
Donegal and Eoghan Ban are happy to live with that slight as he has emerged this season as a driving force on a team, even prior to this Sunday’s semi-final clash with Down, who are shortpriced favourites to win a fourth Ulster title this decade.
If it comes to pass, it will be a first one for Gallagher and several of his team-mates as Donegal build again.
And all the sunshine — which for once has not been in short supply in the north-west — and Australian dollars could not match that thrill if it comes to pass.
‘I never heard anything back from Brisbane to be honest,’ Gallagher explained.
‘It is something I put out of my mind. I was over there, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I looked at it as a positive experience but it has not entered my mind since.
‘When I was young I only ever wanted to play Gaelic football when I grew up. It was a very enjoyable two weeks but I think if it came down to it Gaelic football has been my life and it is what I dreamed of playing.’
It is in his DNA, his father John Ban played for Donegal — in a delightful twist of fate both father and son were managed by Declan Bonner — and he was seen coming from so far down the tracks that he was called into the panel as a teenager by Rory Gallagher just months after the county had lost the 2014 All-Ireland final.
From the star-struck boy supporting in the stand to togging out with them, it was a fast-paced journey which even at this remove astounds.
‘These were the players I looked up to when I was growing up and to be in the same dressing room was incredible.
‘They had just come off being in an All-Ireland final and I had immense respect for them. ‘But the awe goes away when you realise you are all in it together, all in the one boat trying to achieve the same goal.’ Karl Lacey was one of those players who Gallagher once idolised, but who is now his defensive coach. In many ways, as a counterattacking option from deep he is the best placed to fill the void left by the former footballer of the year, who retired last winter. Right now, though, Gallagher is just happy to be learning from the master. ‘You just see what he brought to the game. Defensively how he thought about it, his hunger to turn the ball over, and the intensity even when he is talking about it you can see the desire there. ‘He has brought huge energy to the set-up. A player of his calibre has a huge skill set in terms of providing tips for us younger boys but you even find that the older boys are learning from him too.’ It is four years since the county last won silverware and they have taken their knocks in the interim, losing two Ulster finals and taking a four-goal mauling from Galway in the qualifiers last year.
This spring they endured relegation, but suffice to say that the last cut is hardly the deepest.
‘Last year we went well in the League and everyone thought we were going to do well and then we fell massively short in the Championship. This year, the League did not go as well. There were still positive performances but we had one win, one draw and the rest were defeats so that was not positive.
‘At the end of the day, it is all about the Championship. Kerry won the League last year and hardly anyone remembers it because Mayo beat them well in the semi-finals. The Championship is the be all and end all at the end of the day,’ added Gallagher, who has his eyes fixed on the prize.
‘Ultimately, every Ulster team wants to win the Ulster Championship so that would be a good achievement and we would take it from there. The Super 8s will be very interesting this year. It is something that we as players would not be used to.
‘Even this year, the fact that the Ulster Championship is changed in that you are playing a game every two weeks which is like the Under-21s used to be played.
‘It is very enjoyable. There used to be four-week and three-week breaks, now it is just two weeks so it is game after game after game and it is brilliant.’