Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THAT DORE HAS SHUT
Donegal exit made my club success possible: Cassidy
KEVIN CASSIDY believes the swift end to his Donegal career is the reason why he’s now celebrating an Ulster club title.
His fallout with ex-donegal manager Jim Mcguinness is well documented, but a new footnote can be added now he’s been crowned an Ulster club winner with Gweedore at the age of 37.
Cassidy defied his creaking body to deliver a masterful performance against Scotstown in Sunday’s decider in Omagh, and reckons he has God and Mcguinness to thank for a long club career culminating in this sweet spot.
“The man above must be looking after me because if I was to trojan on with Donegal for another three, four or five years at that level of training, I would be sitting in the stands right now.
“Don’t get me wrong, I would still be the proudest man in the place watching these boys put our club up there as kings of Ulster, but I would have missed this. I’m a great believer in what’s for you won’t go past you.
“If I had stayed with Donegal, I don’t think the body would have been able to play there today, and there is nowhere else I’d rather be. Without a doubt it’s the best thing I’ve ever done on a football field.”
Reflecting on it all, Cassidy wondered too about a curious meeting with the Scotstown team seven weeks ago.
A week after celebrating their fourth Monaghan SFC title in a row, the Scotstown players were in Gweedore on a stag do and ended up in Cassidy’s pub, Teach Mhici.
“I was kind of quizzing them about Ulster and they had set their targets on it because they had been there before and had Saturday February 16 Corofin (Galway) v Gweedore (Donegal)
Dr Crokes (Kerry) v Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) or Mullinalaghta (Longford) four Monaghan titles.
“We hadn’t won Donegal at that stage and all we were thinking about was trying to win it again for the first time in 12 years.
“In the back of your head, although you didn’t want to say it to them, you were thinking ‘it would be some craic if we met youse in Ulster’.
“In fairness to
Darren
Hughes he said
‘youse won’t be far away yourselves’. “You hear different things from different counties and obviously they were keeping a wee eye on us as well, but it’s mental the way things turn out.”
Before taking the Seamus Mcferran Cup home to winter in Donegal for the first time since 1975 and begin the mother of all parties, Cassidy had some delegating to do.
“All my barmen are players so I don’t know who’s going to be working over the next couple of days but sure we’ll sort it out.
“Somebody will just have to hop in behind the counter.”