Donegal’s Karen Guthrie: Both sides of the line

Karen Guthrie played 167 senior games for Donegal over a distinguished 18-year career. She is now helping guide the next generation. She spoke with Michael McMullan.

YOU sense the love of football in Karen Guthrie’s voice. It’s there. The fact she is on the way to a session with Donegal’s seniors just reinforces it.

As part of James Daly’s management team, the video work is done. When you have walked the walk as often as she has, there is a level of experience money can’t buy.

Having played her last game in the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat three years ago, getting involved or, as she calls it, helping out, is something that was always on the cards.

Putting something back is one thing. Enjoying it is another. There is also the deep love of Donegal. Growing up in Castlefin, football was there from the very start.

An early love came from the constant stream of football at home. Karen and her brother Gary against their father Raymond. Two versus one and it was competitive.

“I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed about it,” she recalls.

“The local club was Robert Emmet’s, I would have started there at eight or nine years of age. I loved the team environment; I was just mad about football.”

She was the only girl of three and left St Safan’s NS where principal Breda McConnell pushed sport and saw its value. It was on to St Columba’s in Stranorlar where she met friend Lisa Duffy who she knew from playing against Seán MacCumhaill’s.

“I ended up playing for the school team, you fall into that environment and you end up playing underage. The rest, then, is history,” Guthrie added.

There was also soccer with Finn Valley but Gaelic football was the main event.

Both complemented each other. Her kicking with the instep, something that burled many a point, can be traced back to soccer.

Mari Heron was part of their friendship group in St Columba’s. With teams in Robert Emmet’s folding at the time, Heron convinced Guthrie to throw her lot in with Glenfin. It was on a permission to play basis before later making the permanent move.

“There were four of us, two girls from MacCumhaill’s but she was the one that convinced us the hardest to come up to Glenfin,” Guthrie explains.

“It just felt like I belonged there straight away, they were so good to me. I needed to be playing club football because I was trying to get on the u-16 Donegal team.”

Between club, county and school, throw in a bit of soccer too, Guthrie counts herself lucky to have tasted the team environment.

OTHER SIDE OF THE LINE…Karen Guthrie is part of the Donegal senior management team

There was an interest in football but it was more than that. Belonging and motivation were important ingredients too.

“You were out every night of the week,” she recalls. “You might have been playing soccer on a Monday night. There was county on a Tuesday and Thursday.

“You’d have been up to the club and you’ve been playing school football during the day. That’s just the way that it was.”

A major influence came in the form of Kenny Griffin who was managing the Donegal u-16 squad.

“For so many of us, Kenny just instilled a love of Donegal that I can’t explain,” she said, stressing his imprint.

“He was phenomenal in terms of what he did at underage. His legacy in Donegal is absolutely massive.

“One thing that I would love to say is that Donegal’s best footballers were coached and managed by Kenny Griffin at underage.

“He was just so passionate and I think that’s probably where I developed my love of it.”

Aside from coaching, Griffin’s personality saw him create bonds that both mattered and lasted. There were those, non-football, off the cuff moments too.

“We used to sing after every game, the Hills of Donegal in a wee group and you’d think it was crazy at the time,” Guthrie continued.

“Whatever it was, that love of it probably came from him. In my mind, when I was in that environment, I wanted to do it. Even then, at that age, I knew, and so many of the girls were the same, you just knew you wanted to do it for as long as you possibly could.”

*****

Growing up in a Manchester United house, Roy Keane was an early idol. The Cork man’s passion struck a chord.

On the Gaelic football front, she was looking up to Donegal players like Diane Toner, Debbie Lee Fox and Maria Devenney. It wasn’t long until she was sharing a dressing room with them.

“Charlene McHugh would have been managing the minors, she would have been playing seniors for Donegal at that stage,” she said.

“That all helped to pull you in as well because you had good senior leaders in the environment.”

They helped grow the love of Donegal and the want to pull on the senior jersey, with thoughts of playing on the biggest stage.

“I don’t remember thinking that there was ever anything else for me, only playing for Donegal,” she added.

“When you’ve good enough influences at underage level, I think that’s where it starts.”

Having won Ulster titles at u-16 and minor level, Guthrie made her Donegal debut in 2006.

Thanks to the impeccable record-keeping of Fr Seán Ó Gallchóir, her career numbers are etched in history.

She made the first of 102 league appearances, the most of any Donegal player, male or female, against Monaghan in February ’06 before making her championship debut against Armagh later in the season.

By the time she called it a day in 2023, she had played 167 times for the county at 39 different venues across the country. Fr Seán never missed a beat.

She is the holder of four Ulster senior medals. She played on the Ulster and All-Ireland Intermediate double winning team of 2010. Add in two Division Two National League medals.

She was one of seven Donegal players to help Ulster to the 2017 inter-provincial title. She played in the All-Star exhibition games the following year in Bangkok.

At club level, she picked up a sixth Donegal senior medal with Glenfin last year and is helping out with the men’s team.

Karen Guthrie pictured on the All-Star trip

“You just wanted to be part of it and wanted to be even in their presence,” Guthrie said of walking into a Donegal dressing room for the first time, meeting her heroes.

“We were probably young and immature; I remember myself, Grainne Houston and Niamh Hegarty going up for the first time.

“You didn’t say very much. You were just sitting there, taking it all in and seeing what it looked like.

“I was trying to impress them. That was a big part of it, trying to do the right things and say the right things.”

In the earlier years, Guthrie had a stint in goals in her final minor year.

By the time she broke into the senior ranks, she was studying sports science in Limavady, before later moving to Ulster University. She’d return home at the weekends for football.

Donegal manager at the time, Emlyn Hughes, offered her a chance outfield if she could make the midweek sessions back at the rugby club in Donegal Town.

“I would drive down from Limavady during the week to training,” Guthrie said.

“You would have done anything at that time and that was the precedent that was set.

“You just wanted a jersey; you wanted to play and wanted to impress them and that has probably never changed in me.

“Even to this day, if you’d ask me what motivates me, I would still say my teammates and my friends, wanting to be good enough for the people around you.”

*****

The Donegal graph shot up with the arrival of Davy McLaughlin as manager in 2014, with Sean O’Kane coming in as coach. By the following year, Donegal were Ulster senior champions for the first time.

“Davy just set a standard that we’d been craving,” Guthrie said. “He expected certain things of you as an inter-county footballer.

“We were very fortunate with the group of players; all we needed was structure and professionalism to try and get that next level. Davy gave us that.”

“One thing that stands out in Davy’s time, we used to have to keep our diet diaries and you’d have to hand them at training,” Guthrie said with a laugh.

“You’d fire them out and Davy would take look at them. That probably created a bit of fear but it kept us on track anyway.”

Adam Speer came in to look after the conditioning. Everything was lifted a notch. Standards were important. Punctuality came into it too.

“Davy is the same today,” Guthrie added. “If you’re meeting Davy at 10 o’clock for a coffee, Davy’s there 10 or 15 minutes earlier.

“His standards in life and how he liked to do things, that really opened our eyes.

“By the time Maxi (Curran) came in (as manager in 2018), a lot of those groundings were there. We knew that we could compete at senior level.”

There was also a “golden generation” of players. Guthrie starts rhyming them off. It’s a who’s who of the game’s stars.

Yvonne McMonagle, Niamh Hegarty, Geraldine McLaughlin and Katie Heron were those asking questions of defences.

“Then you had our defenders, Ciara Hegarty and Treasa Doherty, Emer Gallagher and Nicole McLaughlin,” she added.

“You had big leaders and all we needed was Maxi to come in and set a whole other standard.”

Curran, who had been part of the men’s 2012 All-Ireland winning setup under Jim McGuinness, ramped up the attention to detail.

Individual preparation. Systems. Scouting opponents. It was a new level again and Donegal were among the contenders for the Brendan Martin Cup.

They came closest in 2022, falling narrowly to eventual champions Meath in the All-Ireland semi-final having knocked Dublin out in the quarters.

“I suppose that’s the one thing for us,” Guthrie said. “We never got over the line but it wasn’t for the want of trying from Maxi, the people he had around him, the county board and the girls. It just never happened for us.

“I think when you look back, you’re so grateful for all of it, you’re so grateful for the girls and those girls are still your best friends to this day.”

Picking out a favourite moment from a lifetime in the Donegal jersey is a difficult one. Eighteen years is a long time.

“In terms of games, there’s 2023 because it was our last Ulster final,” she recalls.

Karen was part of Donegal’s 2010 All-Ireland intermediate winning team

“I think that one was special in a lot of ways because of what we achieved.

“Then, you look at 2022 and we lost the Ulster final, we lost the Division One final and we lost an All-Ireland semi-final.

“You’d think it was a terrible year of shortcomings but there was so much enjoyment in it too.

“We were really, really on it for such a long period of time that year. Beating Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final in Carrick on Shannon, that was a massive highlight for us. If I had to pick one, it probably was that one. Nobody expected us to beat them. We’d been knocking for a while and just couldn’t get that off our backs.

“The girls were just immense, in terms of how Maxi had set us up and how the group saw the game out.”

There have been plenty of great days in the Glenfin jersey and they are not over yet. Four of her six county medals came in a five-year spell and they are the current champions after three years without glory.

“The club is laced with good people who are all there for the right reasons. The success we’ve had with the ladies team has belonged to everybody in the club,” she proudly said.

“We’ve always felt so supported when we’ve done well and there’s been such pride in us as a group. We feel the responsibility to show up and do well.”

They have had a rivalry with Termon and Moville. The ambition is always there to keep chasing silverware.

“What it comes down to, we’ve such a group of like-minded people,” she added.

“We’re ambitious in the same way and want the same things and love to do well for your club.

“I think when you have that, coupled with the desire and that want to learn, then you can be successful in any club, when your headlights are pointing the one way.”

They had Paul Bonner, Yvonne McMonagle’s husband, along with Ciarán ‘Jaffa’ Brady and Ciaran Moy in charge, winning two championships in three seasons before returning for last year’s success.

They demanded high standards, on and off the pitch. Nonsense wasn’t welcome. Good habits and positive behaviour were the cornerstones.

“The boys are massive club people and they genuinely care about us,” Guthrie added.

Now, a coach herself, she can recognise their input and there is an even greater appreciation.

Looking back on her own career, 18 seasons at senior level with Donegal, Karen speaks of the support.

“I had huge family support, a real wraparound there,” she said. “You care about it; you care about Donegal doing well and it’s the same with the club.

“If you can help in any regard to do that and do it well, then you want to do it.

“The best people I know are in those two environments, at club and county. It’s crazy how you get drawn into something and fall in love with it. I suppose I wanted to do it for as long as I possibly could.”

It was part of her identity. It offered life skills she takes into her job, working as a sports development officer with the Donegal Sports Partnership.

“I had 18 good years playing with Donegal and there was a new generation of players coming along. You didn’t want to be keeping them out of the group,” she said, content with her decision to retire.

Now, as part of Daly’s management team, she is coaching some of the players she soldiered with.

“There’s a cohort of minors that have come out of underage, there’s a middle group and then there’s still the older girls,” she said.

“I genuinely love to see them doing well. I genuinely love to see Donegal doing well and if you’re able to help in any way, that’s where it’s at.”

She is content that football in the county is in a safe place with a hope that it continues. After winning three games in a row, they’ll be hoping to bounce back after last weekend’s defeat to Cavan.

“I think we’ve a very good, honest, decent group of girls there now,” she said.

“You’re trying to create an environment they want to be part of. You have to put down those foundations, get to know them as people and players before you can really start to develop them.”

It’s the same mantra rolled out by men like Kenny Griffin, Davy McLaughlin and Maxi Curran. Standards. Culture. Improvement. Ambition.

Nothing has been achieved yet. The current Donegal squad are writing their own story.

“We constantly tell them they are the most important people in the room because they’ll be there long after us,” she said, summing up.

“It’s important that they set the standards, they own that and they take responsibility for it. They’re the future, not us. We’re only a very, very small part of it.”

When it’s Karen Guthrie’s turn to address the Donegal senior squad, her words matter.

Why? She has been in the tight corners but, more importantly, she cares. And there is a burning desire for the county to thrive. You feel it in every word. Kenny Griffin coached her well.