By Shaun Casey

MOST footballers dream of leading their club to the first. The first of anything is always special. Years and years of hard work, dark days and bright futures accumulated in 2005 for Martin Donaghy and the Claudy club.

Claudy did win a Junior Championship title in 1983, their one and only championship until then, but in 2005, it was the Intermediate trophy that visited the John Mitchel’s club house. A first-ever Intermediate Championship crown.

Twenty years on, Donaghy still has extremely fond memories of that year. Of that famous day. The final whistle, getting hands on the cup, the short trip home, the celebrations. This is what dreams are made of.

“It was probably our best achievement in the club,” said the former Derry footballer. “Those 20 years have just flown in, and you thought those days were going to keep coming but obviously we only reached one more final after that year.

“It’s my biggest achievement with Claudy but I know the guys played in a county senior semi-final in the ‘60s and that was the closest thing to it, that was fairly respectable too for a small club. It was definitely celebrated like it was the biggest thing ever in Claudy anyway.

“It was great because we were playing in a neighbouring club just three miles down the road so the whole of Claudy was at the game, and it was the first big trophy that the club had ever won, and it was a pretty big celebration.”

Coleraine offered a stiff challenge in the decider. The Eoghan Rua men went on to win the Intermediate the following year, along with an Ulster title and an All-Ireland final appearance in Croke Park. But 2005 belonged to Claudy.

“I think it ended 0-12 to 0-8 so it was a fairly low scoring affair, but we had a three- or four-point lead from the first half and it was never really going to break into a mad, high scoring game the way they had set up.

“I wouldn’t say we were comfortable, far from it, but we were in control of the game I would say towards the end. If we needed to push on, I think we could have but that Coleraine team was a great team, and they were just maturing at that time.”

A new management team of Paul McIver and Killian Conlan came to the fore that season and carried on the good work that had been done by Liam Bradley in the years leading up to 2005. That pair just added the wee edge to bring Claudy to the Promised Land.

“That was their one and only year with us. Paul and Killian were in with Paudie O’Kane from Loup for a while as well,” recalled Donaghy. “Liam Bradley was with us for a good few years before that and we’d have been knocking on the door with Liam.

“Then those guys came in for 2005 and they just give us a few wee different perspectives, and they added to what Liam had done in those few years beforehand and that got us over the line in the end.

“Just flicking through the team, it wasn’t a very young team, but we had a few young players like me and Gavin (Donaghy, Martin’s brother), Barry Murphy and Gareth McCloskey, but we had Willie Canning playing centre half-forward and he was 39, touching 40.

“We just had a good mix of aggression and talent. Everybody just knew what to do and the team had been going well for a few years at that stage and getting to semi-finals but there were a few hard luck stories.”

It’s fair to say that Ulster was on the backburner. Claudy’s focus was the county title and the provincial series was an afterthought. And yet, they pushed Downpatrick all the way in the opening round, just to fall by the narrowest of margins and crash out of the competition.

“After we came back down from the party, I think the Ulster Championship started fairly quickly after it. We played Downpatrick at Celtic Park, and I had pulled my hammy the week before in training,” Donaghy added, regrettably.

“I only played the last 10 minutes, and they beat us by a point and to be fair, I think our sights were very much set on the county final and we didn’t look by it. We probably should have prepared a wee bit better for Downpatrick, but they beat us.

“Maybe a more experienced team would have been ready for that Ulster campaign and wouldn’t have enjoyed ourselves as much, but we’ve learned for the next time if it ever comes around.”

That “next time” almost arrived in 2019. Claudy got back to the showpiece but unfortunately for Donaghy and his teammates, they were on the losing side this time around. Forglen were six points better off when the final whistle sounded, winning 0-15 to 0-9.

“That was meant to be the last year,” laughed Donaghy. “That team was maybe better technically than the team that actually won it and we had a great manager again in Emmet McKeever and it’s probably the most disappointing match of my whole career.

“Those two finals, one of them was the best match and the other was the most disappointing out of all the games. We just didn’t really show up and the regret of losing that probably sticks in me more than winning the first one.”

That second championship medal didn’t arrive in 2019 but never say never. Donaghy is still plying his trade with Claudy and having ploughed through another preseason, he’s back for another crack at it.

“I’m still playing with Claudy, I came back out this year again,” he explained “I’m playing with the Derry Masters so that reunited the hunger for it again, I guess. Ciaran Mullan is my brother-in-law and he’s the manager.

“He asked me to come in with him this year and I said I would. But the more I was going to all the training sessions, the more I thought that I might as well join in. We’re intermediate level at the minute.

“We were at senior level for four or five years and then we came back down to intermediate. We’re just consolidating things now at the minute and we’re trying to get things going again.”

When is one final year actually one final year? Well, 2019 was supposed to be Donaghy’s last dance but he’s kept plugging away and the new rules have only reinvigorated him for the coming season.

“I would say this is going to be my last year, but I’ve said that 10 times now and my wife will be shaking her head at me!

“It’s enjoyable at the minute and with the new rules, I think it’s a more enjoyable game, especially somebody my age, I can maybe bluff a wee bit more.

“It takes a while to get used to them; I was just getting used to the old mark rule. All the rules are great; they all work perfectly. Giving the ball back to the player, I haven’t caught up with it yet but they’re all great.”