Luke has his medal already!
St. Martin’s netminder a key figure in Donegal victory
WEXFORD HAVE qualified for the Allianz Hurling League quarter-final against Galway, but it wouldn’t come as any big surprise at this stage if the competition isn’t finished.
And if that’s how events unfold, it could give rise in years to come to one of those trick questions that always separate the wheat from the chaff at G.A.A. table quizzes: ‘Name the Wexford hurler who won a National League medal in 2020?’
Luke White is in a unique position right now, and that’s because he helped Donegal to Division 3A honours in only his sixth game for his adopted county on March 8.
The 25-year-old St. Martin’s netminder explained on Monday how he found himself celebrating on a field in Carrickmore, Co. Tyrone, earlier this month with a group of people that he didn’t know from Adam six months earlier.
‘It started last September when I got a job in Carndonagh Community School in Inishowen,’ the religion and history teacher said.
‘I was busy with St. Martin’s then until November, travelling up and down.’
After John Meyler was appointed to take charge of the reigning Pettitt’s Senior champions for 2020, he looked into ways of keeping Luke’s hurling up to speed in his new abode.
‘John had met someone from Donegal on an All Stars trip and made a few calls. That led to Mickey McCann, their manager, contacting me to see if I would be interested in joining them.
‘I looked into it, and when I realised that I could stay with St. Martin’s and play inter-county with Donegal, I said I’d go for it. We started back on the first week in January, and I’ve been training with them ever since.’
Six games later, and Luke has a National League medal to add to the two Leinster Under-21 titles he won with Wexford as reserve goalkeeper to Oliver O’Leary of Buffers Alley in 2014 and 2015, along with his two Senior county championship successes in 2017 and 2019.
His debut was the only game lost by Donegal in his time with the green and gold, although it went well on a personal note as he saved a penalty taken by Armagh’s Dean Gaffney in that 2-17 to 0-15 loss in O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny, on January 26.
That left them with four more matches in the six-team group, with the top two advancing to the decider.
After a 2-23 to 1-15 victory over Tyrone in Healy Park, Omagh, seven days later, a major turning point occurred in Darver on February 16.
Lowly Louth were leading by one point five minutes into added time, only for Danny Cullen from the Setanta club to get a goal with virtually the last puck and seal a 2-9 to 1-10 success for Donegal.
‘It was the day of one of the big storms, and the wind was a huge factor,’ Luke recalled. ‘We kept plugging away and got the goal, but we were lucky.’
Donegal and Armagh both ended on eight points, with Tyrone on seven. And although Louth finished on zero, that final place would have gone to the Red Hand county rather than Luke and company were it not for that late, late winner.
Interestingly, the Louth team included Jamie McDonnell, the former Faythe Harriers and Sarsfields clubman, who is teaching in Drogheda at present in the same school as Joe O’Connor, county hurler and one of Luke’s St. Martin’s team-mates.
Their paths didn’t cross on the day however, with Jamie operating at the other end of the field in the Wee county’s full-back line.
Victories followed against Monaghan in Letterkenny (1-15 to 1-5), and over home side Longford (0-19 to 0-13), leaving Donegal with a final re-match with Armagh in Carrickmore on March 8.
It was a tight affair that went right down to the wire, but the improvement since that first outing in late January was evident as Luke’s crew came through on a 1-18 to 0-19 scoreline.
An early Gerard Gilmore goal filled them with confidence, and White’s vital save from a Ryan Gaffney shot, coupled with his second successive clean sheet, went a long way towards sealing the deal.
‘We had the wind first, and led by five or six points at half-time. We felt we could hold out if we stopped them scoring goals, and that’s how it worked out,’ Luke said.
In an interesting link, the winners’ side of the scoreboard was kept ticking over by Declan Coulter, a native of Armagh who is married with children and well settled at this stage in Donegal.
Coulter and Luke are two of the three teachers from other counties on the squad, along with Niall Cleary from Offaly, while Ciarán Finn, a Garda in Ballybofey, hails from Tooreen, the best-known hurling club in Mayo.
The Donegal manager, Mickey McCann, comes from the traditional stronghold of Burt, and there is a love for the sport in certain pockets of the county that matches anything one would expect to encounter in a more successful place.
However, while there is fierce commitment among the players that Luke has got to know since January, it isn’t easy to grow the game in a county like Donegal.
‘Apart from the passion for football, soccer is also huge, especially here in Inishowen when we’re so close to Derry city,’ Luke noted.
I wasn’t the first person to ask him how the standard compares to what he is accustomed to at home in Wexford, and in fairness it’s difficult to make accurate comparisons.
‘I didn’t know what to expect when I came into the panel first, but these lads are one hundred per cent committed.
‘They’re doing the proper strength and conditioning, and there’s huge interest among the lads. The skill levels mightn’t be as high alright, but I was hoping to gauge it better on a training weekend we had planned in Wexford,’ Luke said.
Naturally enough, that’s been shelved for now, and the man in the number one jersey isn’t sure when – or even if – Donegal’s first championship game, a third meeting with familiar foes Armagh, will go ahead in the third tier grade named after probably the greatest Wexford hurler of the lot, Nickey Rackard.
For somebody who has grown up with a hurl in his hand, giving distinguished service to club, two counties, and St. Patrick’s Mater Dei in the Fitzgibbon Cup, it’s no surprise to hear that Luke is missing it.
‘While I have time off from work, there’s no point travelling down to Wexford given the circumstances. It’s just a case of doing your own thing two or three times a week, workouts at home and keeping yourself active.
‘You have to keep going and keep yourself busy, but it is harder up here. There’s just one teammate nearby here in Carn,’ Luke added.
To say that 2020 has been surreal thus far for the St. Martin’s man would be an understatement. Playing hurling for Donegal, winning a national title after six games, and now having to observe social distance guidelines more than 420 kilometres from home: if anyone suggested the above to him at this time last year, I’m sure it would have been met with derision.
Here’s hoping we’ll see a lot more of this genial goalkeeper in the colours of both Donegal wand St. Martin’s, sooner rather than later.