The Crawford family travel everywhere to see Donegal. Their son Darragh is also on an adventure of visiting every club in Donegal. Michael McMullan looks into his story…

WHEN Jim McGuinness spoke to the media after Sunday’s win over Down, his message was clear. The Ulster final had to be in Clones.

Why? The Donegal fans and how often they have put their hands in their pockets. Croke Park and an unnecessary trip to Dublin would be a step too far.

Rewind the clock three weeks to their win over Derry. McGuinness is preparing for a post-game interview. Live TV would have to wait a few precious seconds.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Donegal boss spotted Darragh Crawford.

“Where were you at, I was going to put you on for the last 20 minutes,” McGuinness said with a smile before stepping in for his interview.

Darragh, Ciaran and Eoin are Martin and Diane’s three sons. From Lifford, they are a family steeped in Donegal.

“We’ve been to Cork, Kerry, Carlow, Galway, everywhere. Wherever there’s a game, we’re at it.” Diane said, highlighting their busy, yet fulfilling, schedule.

When McGuinness speaks of families backing the team, he is chatting about households like the Crawfords. Loyal. There every day.

Darragh is non-verbal. Since he was three, he has been hooked on football. Now, 23, he remains an absolute fanatic.

Sensory issues meant he spent some of his earliest years watching on television, but since he began travelling to games again in 2013, he has rarely missed.

While the county is on the crest of a wave now, the Crawfords have been attending all games over the last decade or so, the rough and the smooth.

The family have a robot lawnmower at home. Darragh christened it Jim McGuinness and it’s a case of “Jimmy’s cutting grasses”.

When Donegal won the All-Ireland in 2012, the Crawfords were among the locals in Ballindrait, on the Convoy side of Lifford, when the bus stopped off.

MEETING SAM…Martin Crawford (left, with his arms around Darragh below), his wife Dianne (back right, holding their youngest son Eoin, their other son Ciaran also below) pictured with Jim McGuinness and Sam in 2012

It’s the homeplace of Jim’s mother. A magical moment. Gaelic football’s biggest prize glistens for all to see.

“Jim’s family and relations are around that area,” Diane outlined. “It was just local people; he got out and he spoke to everyone.”

As the focus in Donegal turns to another Ulster final and keeping their hands on the Anglo Celt Cup. Darragh is in the minority of wanting the Ulster final in Croke Park.

He’ll have to wait but the venue won’t really matter. It’s all about Donegal.

The first outing under the second coming of McGuinness was a challenge game in Ballyshannon, a six-point win over Roscommon.

“Darragh was at that game and he hasn’t missed a game since,” Diane recalls.

“We were absolutely soaked through to our skin that day, we had hailstones and rain.”

And there is no such thing as leaving early for the solace of a warm car.

Darragh won’t hear of leaving before a game’s over. Not until the last kick.

***

There is another side to Darragh Crawford. The local one where he is aiming to travel to all 40 clubs in the county. As it stands, 12 have been ticked off.

That’s where John Connaghan comes in, his key worker in CI Ballybofey Hub where Darragh attends as part of the Donegal Community Inclusion Training Services initiative.

“I met Darragh about three years ago,” John said. “Straight away, you can tell his love for the GAA. He rarely misses a day; he comes in here five days a week.”

When John floated the idea of Darragh coming out to visit his local GAA club in Termon. They were on the way back from a walk in Glenveagh Park, past close to the turn off for Termon. Something clicked. Sure, why not set a goal of visiting every club in the county?

“It’s just been phenomenal, there’s just something special about it,” John said, unable to fully put the value of their countywide tour into words.

“I’m not surprised because the GAA community is a brilliant community to be part of.

“The amount that people want to do for you and the things they want to be involved with. All because of Darragh.”

Martin and Diane joke about how their son has almost celebrity status in the county. From Jim McGuinness saying hi before a post-game interview to Hugh McFadden recognising him and stopping to touch base.

“As a parent looking at it, attending Donegal games and what they’re doing here in the hub as well, the inclusivity is coming right through,” Diane added.

She champions how the GAA for All is becoming a more vibrant part of the association. Watching on as Darragh visits the clubs of the county, she can see it first-hand.

“They’re even bringing the kids in to have lunch with him or just a guard of honour as he’s entering the pitches,” she said.

“He’s loving it. The clubs are loving it as well. It’s just showing that the GAA is for everyone. It’s not just for our Donegal team.

“Darragh doesn’t have the ability to go play in a game of football but it’s being a true supporter and being there.

“Then, welcoming him to their clubs and making him feel that he’s part of the GAA community. It’s just phenomenal.”

After John’s email to clubs, outlining their plans, the response was rampant. Half replied within in hour.

THUMBS UP FOR DONEGAL…Darragh pictured with his key worker John Connaghan, Donegal players Brendan McCole and Ryan McHugh

Starting in Downings, they have tried to get two or three visits a month. There is no obvious pattern. They take out a map of Donegal and Darragh picks their next spot.

“We’re in no rush,” John said. “We are doing it to suit Darragh. Instead of one of us here at DCITS taking him to the club goal, his family can take him at the weekends to visit for the games they’re going to.”

Somewhere down the line, they’ll have to factor in a visit to his home club in Lifford where is now an honorary member and cut the ribbon to open their new walking track.

“They’ve been a great support to Darragh from when he was no age at all,” Dianne said.

“They have come to the house with different things for him and he’s been invited to more events.

“Some the referees from Donegal games come up to him as well. Brendan Cawley gave him his ref’s card after the Galway semi-final last year and the Derry game in Ballybofey this year.”

Darragh also had his picture taken with his favourite player Patrick McBrearty and RTÉ commentator Marty Morrisey after the Derry game in MacCumhaill Park.

“Aine (Hanlon), manager here at the hub, arranged for VIP access to meet the team,” Diane points out.

“He got to meet Paddy (McBrearty) that day. Paddy said that Michael Murphy is everyone’s favourite player but, with Darragh, it’s actually Paddy and he talks about him all the time.”

In terms of a favourite game, Darragh is often locked in on Donegal’s win over Dublin in 2014. It gets regular airtime in the hub.

The irony is how often Jim McGuinness trawled over footage of the Dubs in preparation for the game until the Eureka moment. A realisation of how the Dubs aggressively pushed up.

The Donegal boss was soon on to goalkeeping coach, the late Pat Shovelin. The message was to be simple. Paul Durcan was to kick long, there’d be a flick on and Ryan McHugh’s pace on the other side of midfield would do the rest.

Now, it’s Darragh’s game of choice. John gets in on the telly and they’ll take a regular trawl through it.

“He has a love for Dublin as well,” Diane points out. “His cousins are Dublin supporters, so there’s always that great banter when Donegal meet the Dubs within the family.”

With John being from Termon, the Crawfords joined the bandwagon as the club pushed on towards the intermediate title last season.

Now they’ve opened the new clubhouse, it’ll not be long until it becomes another spot on Darragh’s tour of the clubs.

“He had a good chuckle at me,” John said of a day he was helping out with the club reserve team.

Darragh and John

“The ref came to give out to me on the line. He had a good chuckle when he saw the ref coming out to quieten me. All I could hear in O’Donnell Park was the laughs of Darragh.”

Between the family, watching Donegal and his days in the hub, plenty of doors have opened for Darragh.

He picked up an award at the HSE’s “Hear My Voice” self-advocacy event held in Jackson’s Hotel in Ballybofey last November.

“He was one of the first guys in our hub to be nominated,” John said. “The news about his goal had obviously been out there and someone nominated him.”

Donegal PRO Sinéad Breen arranged for Brendan McCole and Ryan McHugh to drop into the event to meet Darragh. Another memorable moment.

“Fair play to the lads,” John added. “They were thrown in fairly quick now but they’re two gentlemen and it wasn’t a bother to them.”

It comes back to the point of how important fan interaction is and why Clones is important on Saturday week.

In a community organisation, the scenes of players signing jerseys and posing for photographs is where the interest is passed down. Fans don’t get on the pitch at Croke Park.

“The lads on that team are absolutely brilliant,” Diane said of the Donegal camp. “Anywhere you meet them, even if you meet them outside of seeing them after a game, they always stop and talk.

“Some of the lads would know Darragh now through meeting him at some of the local clubs John has been taking him to.”

***

There are still more corners of Donegal for John and Darragh to cover, but it will have to wait. Now it’s all about a hope the Anglo Celt Cup will stay for another winter.

The All-Ireland group stages will follow, three more games and a gateway to Croke Park. That’s for another day.

If Patrick McBrearty can get his hands on the cup on Saturday week, the Crawford family will shuffle their way through the throngs. It will be bedlam. A sea of green and gold.

Like that day in the hailstones in Ballyshannon, they won’t be in any hurry home. The car won’t nose towards Lifford without another photo of Darragh’s favourite player.

In the everything that surrounds the inter-county game, a chat with Diane Crawford and John Connaghan make you realise the GAA is more than the game. More than the elite. So much more.

Following a county team is a costly business but they wouldn;t have it any other way. It’s what they do.

From Ballyshannon, to Clones, to Cork, to Croke Park, to wherever Donegal play, and back to Clones, Darragh Crawford will be there. A fan for all seasons.