Standing on the other side of the line

By Michael McMullan

THIS time last year, Daniel McLaughlin and Martin McElhinney lined out in the St Michael’s attack as they fell short on semi-final day.

‘Squandermania’ was the word as they fell short of Dungloe and a first final since 2011 by a single point.

The duo are now joint player-managers and they’re peeking over the wall at a place in the final.

After a comfortable win over MacCumhaill’s, it’s a tight seven-day turnaround ahead of their meeting with fellow 2024 beaten semi-finalists Gaoth Dobhair on Saturday.

“We have to cram in as much information as we can in the seven days and try and get the bodies recovered,” said McLaughlin, who didn’t feature last weekend.

McElhinney and Antoin McFadden came in off the bench, while another two survivors of their 2011 county final team remain – Stephen Doak and Michael McGinley.

Unless there is a knock in training this week, McElhinney and McLaughlin are picking from a full deck.

“It’s just about ticking over and refining wee different points to pinpoint come Saturday,” McLaughlin said.

“We played well as a unit (against MacCumhaill’s) but we’ll probably have to go up a few levels in different aspects that we weren’t happy with.

“If we can tidy things up, it’ll give us a chance. That’s all you can look for is to give yourself a chance or an opportunity to be close within a game. If we can get to that level again, we’ll be quite happy.”

They are thankful to Danny Langan, Stephen Black and Michael McFadden in their management team for allowing either – or both – to enter the playing arena.

“It’s good when you’re playing to have somebody else playing and managing too,” McLaughlin added.

“It’ll be very tough trying to play and manage on your own two feet. The three boys with us on the backroom team are very good and take the pressure off us.

“When you’re playing too, you don’t want to be overly focusing too much on the managerial side.”

McLaughlin tries to forget the 2011 final, a day when Michael Murphy rose like a salmon under Joe Gibbons’ missile from midfield to score the decisive goal. Murphy scored all but one point of Glenswilly’s 1-8 tally.

Looking back to last year’s semi-final defeat to Dungloe, McLaughlin’s five converted frees weren’t enough in a one-point defeat. Michael Cannon’s point was their only score from play.

It was a different game, played under the old rules. They were wasteful in a game they lost by a point but one factor still applies.

“We didn’t get the levels that we knew we could get to,” McLaughlin said. “That’s something me and Martin speak about every day, is just to get a performance.

“The result will then take care of itself. Games are about moments. It’s just grasping those wee moments within games.”

They have a man on form in Donegal star Michael Langan who is heavily tipped for an All-Star.

The one game he missed was the Round One game, a defeat to MacCumhaill’s, before scoring 0-26 across their other four outings.

“He kicked 11 against Glenfin and 10 the last day,” McLaughlin said.

“It’s not even on the scoreboard; he just keeps ticking over in all aspects of our play. We’re very lucky to have him.”

On the flipside, St Michael’s have to be aware another Donegal star this weekend, Gaoth Dobhair’s Dáire Ó Baoill.

“He can be a real danger on his day,” McLaughlin said. “People see his two-point efforts but it’s the way he drifts in behind. We’ll have to be wary of the flip side too. They have a star within their ranks too.”

There is also an awareness of the overall Gaoth Dobhair package, their pedigree and the players coming in from their u-21 teams.

They were beaten senior finalists in 2023 before losing to St Eunan’s in last season’s semi-final.

“They’re always knocking on the door,” McLaughlin summed up. “They have experience within the ranks, the likes of Odhrán (Mac Niallais) and Dáire.

“They also have a nice sprinkle of youth throughout the team. It makes them a really dangerous animal.

“They have loads of pace and power. We’ll just try and get our homework done as best we can. Hopefully we can put on our own performance and hopefully it might be enough.”

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