2019 season review – Donegal club players’ vox pop

Calum

Gallagher

Naomh Brid

What was your biggest frustration playing club football this year?

From my own personal perspective, the frustration I have is living in Dublin and having to travel up and down. It is very time consuming and very demanding on the body. When you get to the latter stages of the championship you are expected to come down all the tieme. But that’s from my own perspective.

Generally speaking I thought the county board did a good job this year, apart from the senior county final which went on a bit too long. The only game that shouldn’t have been played was the Aodh Ruadh Cloughaneely Intermediate semi-final because it was mid week and a lot of lads were in college.

What club story in your county caught your eye this year?

Naomh Conaill Glenties success this year. It was brilliant to see them go on and reach the Ulster final. That’s two Donegal teams who have got to the final in the last two years. That’s given Donegal club football such a boost.

What would you like to see changed in Donegal next year?

The standard of refereeing could be improved. It has to be changed. There are too many referees who are blind sided. They don’t have enough help. You go to a game and there is one referee, and no linesman. They can’t see everything. If the quality of refereeing is not good, then it brings the standard of football down.

What was the best club game you watched in Donegal this year, excluding your own?

The Gaoth Dobhair Naomh Conaill Glenties replay, when the sub came on and kicked the final point to draw the game. Gaoth Dobhair were trying to push Glenties out. But then on came John O’Malley and he kicked the final score. It was a dramatic way to end the game.

Martin McElhinney

St Michael’s

What was your biggest frustration playing club football this year?

This year and the last two seasons I feel that the club scene within Donegal has really ran well and as result players are happy. From talking to other club players they are more than happy with the way it is run. The fixtures are laid out at the start of the season and players can plan holidays around them. The league is completely finished before the club championship starts this means players know when they have to start focusing on the championship training and I think it has helped the Donegal clubs perform so well in Ulster.

What club story in your county caught your eye this year?

The club story that caught my eye was probably the three game saga that was the county final. For amateur players to put on three close, hard, entertaining games all within 10 days really was a credit to both teams the fact that one of the games was midweek with some players working in Dublin made it all the more impressive.

What would you like to see changed in Donegal next year?

I would like to see more Friday and Saturday evening games. I know geographically with players working in Dublin it might not be feasible but I think it would allow players to enjoy their weekends particularly in the summer.

What was the best club game you watched in Donegal this year, excluding your own?

The best game I watched was the the very first game in the county final trilogy it wasn’t high scoring or anything but I thought for honesty and effort it was brilliant from start to finish the last 15 minutes was real edge-of-the-seat stuff.

Gerard Ward

Glenfin

What was your biggest frustration playing club football this year?

I booked a holiday for a week in July and knew I’d miss one match. The fixtures committee then scheduled a midweek catch-up game that week and I also missed that. This is very frustrating for players and managers. We are in Division 2 in Donegal and every game is tough so you’d like to have your full squad to pick from every day. The re-scheduling of games from Saturday to Sunday with one week notice depending on when Donegal are playing is also very frustrating.

What club story in your county caught your eye this year?

The obvious story would be the County Final trilogy. I was at the first and the last game. The atmosphere at the midweek second replay was different to any club game I was ever at in Donegal. There was a lot of niggle in the third game probably brought on by the familiarity with each other. They may not have been classic games but they were definitely very entertaining.

What would you like to see changed in Donegal next year?

This is related to my answer to the first question. The fixtures committee have generally done a good job of scheduling the league and championship in Donegal in recent seasons. Getting the league finished before the start of championship has been great. The one thing that is very frustrating however, is changing a league game from a Saturday to Sunday (or vice versa) depending on when the county team are playing. It happens in the Ulster Championship and if Donegal get to the Super-8s. You cannot plan weekends at all in June, July and August. I think that once a fixtures plan is made at the start of the season and dates confirmed then it should not be changed unless both teams agree. I know there are always games cancelled during the year for various reasons so these games should be re-fixed on Fridays at the end of the league season (say last two weeks in August) unless teams agree to play them before that. If this means reducing the number of league games by 2-4, then so be it.

What was the best club game you watched in Donegal this year, excluding your own?

I watched Gaoth Dobhair against Bundoran in the quarter final of the Senior Championship and thought it was an exciting game. Gaoth Dobhair had the game won a few times but Bundoran stuck at it, brought it to extra time and just seemed to run out of steam then in the end.