GAOTH DOBHAIR CAN END DONEGAL’S DROUGHT
WHEN the Ulster Club Championship officially came into existence in 1968, a Donegal club contested the final. It wasn’t a surprise at the time. St Joseph’s were considered a powerhouse, both within and outside their own county. They had won two ‘unofficial’ Ulster club tournaments in the previous two years and even had the title of ‘unofficial’ All-Ireland club champions, having beaten Galway’s Dunmore earlier that year.
On a wet and windy day in Dungannon, Derry’s Bellaghy got the better of Joseph’s by two points to become the maiden Ulster club champions. It would be another seven years before Joseph’s reached the summit, beating Castleblayney Faughs by five points on another wintry afternoon, this time in Omagh.
This afternoon, another Donegal side go to Omagh for the provincial decider, but Gaoth Dobhair are carrying the burden of a county who have been unable to make any sort of impact at club level in their province. The Seamus McFerran trophy hasn’t returned to ‘the Hills’ since 1975 and St Joseph’s, the only club that ever won it, no longer exist.
At inter-county level, in the intervening period, Donegal have won seven Ulster titles and two All-Irelands. They have contested a further 11 Ulster SFC finals and produced talented footballers like Michael Murphy, Martin McHugh and Barry McGowan but at club level, they have always come up short. Only four teams – Killybegs in 1991, Glenties in 2010 and Glenswilly in 2013 and now Gaoth Dobhair – have reached the final.
‘It is a difficult one to put your finger on,’ says former Donegal captain Pauric McShea, who was full-back on the Joseph’s side. ‘Donegal have produced a lot of good club sides since we won it, but we never have a dominant team, like in other counties.
‘There’s never someone like Crossmaglen in Armagh, or Burren in Down, that win it every year, so they know the terrain of Ulster, they are experienced in it. There’s a different winner in Donegal nearly every year, St Eunan’s were the last club to do back-to-backs, so Ulster is often something new for Donegal clubs. And sometimes, maybe winning the county can be the pinnacle of ambitions for clubs.’
McShea’s words are borne out by his own experience with Joseph’s. Formed as an amalgamation of Ballyshannon’s Aodh Ruadh and Bundoran’s Realt na Mara in 1963, they won seven Donegal SFC titles in their 14 years of existence. When they played Castleblayney, it was their third Ulster final (they had also lost the 1972 decider to Armagh’s Clann na nGael), and it came in the middle of a four-in-a-row in Donegal. They were seasoned at that level. Brian McEniff captained Joseph’s in the 1968 Ulster final against Bellaghy and, within four years, he was player-manager on the first Donegal team to win an Ulster title.
That side were backboned by McEniff’s Josephs’ teammates in McShea, Martin Carney, Alan Kane, Séamie Granaghan and Declan O’Carroll.
‘That was a huge factor. We were so used to playing with each other, both for club and county. There was a real sense of togetherness.
‘The two towns are only three miles apart so we had all gone to school together in the De La Salle in Ballyshannon, where the pitch was in front of the school and rather than have lunch, you would go out and kick football. It was a great GAA school because of the Christian Brothers. We had all grown up together and we socialised together. All of that fed into making us the team that we were.’
The success of Joseph’s gave Donegal football a badly-needed lift at the time, even if their dominance caused a little consternation. After finally conquering Ulster, the two clubs decided to go their separate ways again.
Despite being a proud Ballyshannon man, McShea was disappointed to see the combined team come to an end, even if it seemed a natural end. ‘I think after we won Ulster, both clubs thought they wanted to go it alone.
‘Our team was reaching its end anyway, but it was still disappointing to see it go, because there were great times and the two towns really got behind that side.’
McEniff has claimed before that it is no coincidence that Donegal’s most successful side were an amalgamation.
The 1992 All-Ireland winning manager believes that there are too many clubs in the county. It has always been his contention that there should be a concerted effort to go down the Kerry route of divisional teams. It’s an interesting theory, considering that such a proud footballing county hasn’t been able to produce a single club capable of conquering Ulster since Joseph’s disbanded in 1977.
It would be another 26 years before another Tír Chonaill club even reached the final, when Killybegs were unlucky to lose to Castleblayney by a couple of points.
The fishermen won five county titles between 1988 and 1995 and in Barry McGowan, Manus Boyle, Barry Cunningham and John Cunningham, they played a prominent role in the Donegal team that McEniff led to Sam Maguire glory in 1992.
Glenties reached a final in 2010, putting up a fight against Crossmaglen Rangers while in 2013, Michael Murphy, a year after he lifted Sam, led Glenswilly to a decider but came up short against Ballinderry. This is only the fourth time that a Donegal club have even reached the Ulster final in more than 40 years. It hardly makes sense given the county team’s success.
‘There have been some very good club sides down the years in Donegal,’ McShea says. ‘That Killybegs team with Manus and Barry
McGowan and the Cunninghams, the Kilcar team with the McHughs and Michael Carr. Aodh Ruadh and St Eunan’s had some great teams.
‘But the longer that it has gone that a club hasn’t won Ulster, the more of a burden it becomes. And teams might have just started to look at the county championship as an end in itself.’
In the same ground where he helped Joseph’s to glory 43 years ago, McShea reckons there is a good chance that his team will no longer stand alone in the record books as Donegal’s only Ulster winners.
He has been impressed by this Gaoth Dobhair side in the way they have taken to Ulster football, even though this is the first time they have ventured outside the county in 12 years.
‘They have the perfect blend of youth and experience that all club sides need. What they do have, and what can destroy other teams particularly at this time of the year, is they have pace in their attack and they can score goals,’ McShea says.
‘I would prefer if they were playing someone other than a Monaghan team because down the years, traditionally, Monaghan sides, both at club and county, believe they have some sort of hoodoo over Donegal teams, and Scotstown are a seasoned outfit.
‘But the thing that makes Gaoth Dobhair different to teams that have come out of Donegal in the past, they aren’t just content with a county Championship. They have shown that. That’s not just the pinnacle of their ambitions, so they have a great chance.’
With the likes of Odhrán Mac Niallias, the McGee brothers and Dáire Ó Baoill, there may never be a better opportunity to rectify the anomaly of Donegal’s lack of success in Ulster club football.