Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THIS WILL BE NATHAN LIKE IT
Facing Dubs in Croke Park shows how far Mullins has come since first game in a Donegal shirt
NATHAN MULLINS’ first appearance in a Donegal jersey could hardly be further removed from his next one at Croke Park this evening.
Maxi Curran remembers it well. A under-21 challenge game against Kildare in Leitrim, with a former Minister for Finance acting as linesman.
“I remember it well because Charlie Mccreevy did the line!” smiles Curran, then a Donegal U21 selector under Jim Mcguinness.
“He was with the
Kildare boys at the time. It’s the sort of thing you remember from these games.
“What struck us most that day was the level of physicality that he brought to his play and you could see that he hadn’t left too much of the father’s approach to football behind him.”
His father, of course, is four-time Dublin All-ireland winner Brian, who brought his family up in Donegal having worked as principal of Carndonagh Community School, then the biggest in the country.
He returned to Dublin in 2000 but one of his sons, Bernard, still lives in the county and has a son, Luke, who was on the Donegal under-17 team last year.
Nathan maintained his links to the county and though he was part of the Dublin panel that won the under-21 All-ireland title in 2010 against Donegal, he switched allegiances to play for them at that level the following year.
“It became known to us in 2011 that Nathan’s first club would have been Carndonagh,” says Curran, now the Donegal ladies manager.
“It would have been considered his first club, his home club, so he was entitled to play for Donegal if he so wished and once the legalities were ascertained we were very keen to explore the thing and move it forward.
“He showed a massive desire to play for Donegal back then. There were no barriers, there were no hurdles that he couldn’t overcome or felt that anything was going to be a problem to him.
“He was going to play regardless of the long commute and the big distance there. There was still a strong affiliation to Donegal and he was very proud to play back then.”
Donegal under-21s didn’t get out of Ulster in 2011 though and Mullins’s inter-county career stalled as he tried to make inroads with St Vincent’s in Dublin, albeit he was slowed by injury along the way.
When they retained the county title last year he was named club player of the year. With no call from Dublin boss Jim Gavin, Donegal snapped him up. He played at midfield in their League opener against Kerry and received a straight red card, though has served his suspension and should see some action against the All-ireland champions at Croke Park this evening.
“I suppose since Rory Kavanagh and Neil Gallagher retired, Donegal probably haven’t replaced them with out and out midfielders, so to speak,” says Curran (inset).
“Michael Murphy played there a lot last year but Donegal haven’t had a settled midfield maybe and it’s probably clear that he might possess some of the potential to play there.
“Having seen his performances in the Dublin Championship I would say he would probably be in most inter-county squads other than Dublin’s.”
Given the strong connections Mullins has to Donegal, Curran doesn’t envisage any local opposition to his presence on the team.
“I think he has always maintained that contact with Donegal and that connection and as I say, he has demonstrated a huge hunger and desire to play for Donegal all through the years so that will definitely help him and I think he’ll be welcomed with open arms in Donegal.”
VERDICT: Dublin