McIver reflects on historic Donegal league triumph

By Ryan Ferry

‘DROUGHT OVER’ was the front-page headline of the Donegal News on Monday, April 23, 2007 – the day after Donegal clinched their first-ever and – until Sunday at least – only National Football League title.

A 0-13 to 0-10 victory over Mayo in front of a crowd of 30,000 at Croke Park brought an end to a miserable unwanted record of 13 defeats in finals, stretching back to Donegal’s maiden All-Ireland title in 1992.

Brian McIver was at the helm for one of those defeats in his first year in charge as Donegal lost out against Louth in the Division Two final after a replay in 2006.

However, the team made a super start to the league in 2007 and went unbeaten through their regulation campaign before seeing off Monaghan.

“We were beaten by Louth in Breffni in the Division Two final the previous year, but we had a very good league campaign in 2007,” McIver said.

“We got to the final and it was a very good game of football. We just about shaded it. I think we deserved to win it alright. Donegal had gone through a long spell of losing finals.

“Myself and the management felt for the players’ confidence and pushing on from there, that it was important to get to Croke Park and perform and to win. To be fair to the boys, they really bought into it, and it was a very good league campaign.”

Ballinderry – When we were Kings

Donegal led the final by 0-7 to 0-5 at half time with player of the match Brian Roper scoring three points. Mayo were back on terms by the 54th minute but were left ruing missed goal chances and Donegal decisively took their scores in injury time to land the silverware.

“It was a good Mayo side, and we had to work hard. I’m working on my memory now, but I think it was the league final that Eamon McGee slotted an unreal point from over near the sideline.

“I have never asked Eamon and I know what the answer would be, but I would still like to be convinced that he was going for the point and wasn’t trying to play the ball into ‘Wappa’ (Kevin McMenamin).

“It was a great score at the time, and we needed it, so we won’t take it away from him.”

There was strong stock placed on the National League at that time but unfortunately for Donegal, that was as good as it got. They recorded a fine win over Armagh in MacCumhaill Park, but Tyrone proved too strong in the Ulster semi-final.

Monaghan would then put a halt to Donegal’s season in the Qualifiers.

McIver doesn’t believe the league success hindered his team in the summer. “No not at all. That was another monkey that Donegal had to get off their back was the Armagh thing.

“Having played well to beat a strong Armagh side, the lads – and I would have seen this with a lot of teams – went out against Tyrone and just went out to do the same thing and play the same way. But Tyrone were a different team at this stage to the way Armagh were playing.“A lot of people would have said that our league success hindered us in the championship, but I didn’t agree with that. We played well against a good Armagh side, but we didn’t up the ante when we needed to against Tyrone.”

Eight of the players involved – Paul Durcan, Neil McGee, Karl Lacey, Neil Gallagher, Christy Toye, Colm McFadden, Eamon McGee, and Rory Kavanagh – went on to play in the All-Ireland final five years later, while Barry Dunnion was also part of the panel.

Brian McIver managed Donegal to league glory in 2007

That league final win was an important step on their journey. “We were trying to instill that winning habit into them.

“Getting to the top table and competing against the best sides in the country, and we knew they were more than capable of doing it. We did perform very well in a lot of those league games.

“You see it even to this day, how important momentum is in a season, and I don’t think any team should underestimate just how important it is to get a good winning run and be performing well because it does set you up for the championship.”

Donegal fans would love to see another Division One title added to the collection on Sunday, but it will be a stiff assignment against the team that defeated them in the All-Ireland final last July.

“I have seen a good bit of Donegal this year but if I’m being honest, a lot of what I’ve seen has been on TV. I haven’t been to a lot of games. Maybe it’s a sign of age or whatever, I’m not sure.

“There’s a number of young players that have come in and are performing really well and that’s a big plus for Donegal. I don’t think you could argue that the two best teams are in the final and we could be set up for a clinker here.

“I think Donegal can win it without a doubt. They have learned a lot from last year’s All-Ireland final defeat.

“I don’t expect them to set up the same way tactically as last year’s final and Donegal are a better team for that. You have the makings of a really good game of football.”