Patience pays off for rising star O’Reilly
‘If you work hard you will get there in the end’
FROM the last man into Donegal’s panel four years ago, to one of the first on Rory Gallagher’s teams-heet, Marty O’Reilly is a reminder that patience is a virtue worth investing in.
If he does not make the starting cut for tomorrow’s clash with Kerry in Tralee, it will have more to do with the knock he took to his shoulder in the closing minutes of last Sunday’s win over Mayo than a reflection of his form.
And should that transpire, it will be just the second time that he will not feature in a competitive fixture — the other last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Mayo — since Gallagher took over as manager last year.
That is quite the achievement given that in the previous three years, he made just three starts with 17 other appearances off the bench.
Prior to last summer his only start in the Championship under Jim McGuinness — who added him as the final name to his panel when he was a 19-year-old in Donegal’s All-Ireland winning season in 2012 — was on one of those days that dripped misery; the 2013 Ulster final when Donegal were laid low by Monaghan and he was benched after 22 minutes.
And given that his commitment to play a bit-part role was tested further as one of those that had to make the commute for training from Dublin — he teaches in Castleknock — and the wonder is that he did not throw his hat at it. ‘It was never an issue,’ he insists. ‘You’re going to have set-backs as well and you have to accept that. Like in the first year, I played a couple of games and ending up pulling my hamstring.
‘But you just have to put that behind you and keep working hard and if you do that it is like everything else in life, you will get there in the end.’
It is a mantra that he is not alone in standing by. While this spring the rest of the country has stood up and taken notice of the county’s production line, players have not just been pulled out of thin air.
For every Paddy McBrearty and Ryan McHugh who were left off the leash instantly, others that have come through have had to bide their time.
Peter Boyle, Paul Durcan’s replacement this spring, played for McGuinness in his first season in 2011 but did not resurface until this year.
Odhrán MacNiallais togged out in McGuinness’s first ever game as manager in the McKenna Cup back in 2011 but it was three years later before he established himself on the team.
It could be argued that getting there the hard and long way serves well, reminding if nothing else that it is not all about talent.
If it was, then O’Reilly would have made his way quicker.
Jet-heeled but small of frame, he has laboured in the gym to give him the upper body strength to allow him protect ball as well as carry it.
Ability has never been an issue, irrespective of what sport he has turned his hand to.
Last August he made local headlines when he bagged 7-1 in a senior hurling championship match to help Sean MacCumhaill’s reach the county final.
He can hit a mean pimply ball too and was accomplished enough at soccer to possibly make the short journey from MacCumhaill Park to Finn Park had he been of a mind.
But Gaelic football is in the blood, although it might not be Donegal claret — his father, Terry, is from Belmullet and is a first cousin of Mayo legend Willie Joe Padden.
He has been shunted around the team; with stints in the full and half-forward lines as well half-back lines, where his speed is an asset.
He drew blood a couple of times last summer, netting against both Armagh and Derry in the Ulster Championship, but he scoffs at the notion that perhaps he has done enough to have a shout at playing in a regular position.
‘I don’t mind. I know it might sound like a cliché that all you want is to get a jersey, but it’s true. I don’t mind where I play, whether it is corner-back or corner-forward, I am always up for the challenge.
‘When you see the sub bench that we have been carrying up to now, and we are still waiting for Karl Lacey and Colm McFadden to come back, you are hardy going to be taking anything for granted.’
That will almost certainly apply to tomorrow’s opponents as well.
O’Reilly has sat through two contrasting All-Ireland finals as an unused sub and the pain of 2014 is still there among the group.
‘It was desperately disappointing but it should feel that way because you have no business playing if losing an All-Ireland final does not hurt.
‘It will help us, though, and hopefully experiences like that in the long run will make us stronger.’