Malone’s path from ‘ultra’ to break-out star

BY RYAN FERRY

SHEA Malone was one of the Naomh Conaill ‘ultras’ during the famous trilogy with Gaoth Dobhair but he will play a starring role on the field when they square off this Sunday.

Those three finals will go down in folklore with Naomh Conaill as they refused to yield against the reigning Ulster champions.

It took a third game to decide the match with Naomh Conaill eventually winning by 0-8 to 0-7.

It was far from free-flowing football but there was a savage intensity to the matches.

Both clubs’ young fans tried to back their team from the terraces and really added to the atmosphere, and the Naomh Conaill players hailed their supporters as they basked in their glory afterwards.

Malone was 14 at the time but now he’s earned his spot in the team and there will be young fans urging him on this time.

“I was one of those boys behind the goal with the bodhráns roaring and shouting.

“It’s good to be on the other side of it, on the pitch, hopefully we can bring the same sort of support again.

“They were very different games to now, games could finish 0-8 to 0-7 and you’d be celebrating 13 metre frees like the way you’d celebrate a two-pointer now.

“It was unbelievable, probably the best time for the club, you look at those teams and they went on those Ulster pushes, hopefully we can match the atmosphere and the energy of the trilogy.”

Young players have tended to struggle to break through into the Naomh Conaill team but it has all happened quite quickly this time around for Malone.

He represented the club at minor level in recent seasons but it always came second to his soccer commitments with Sligo Rovers.

And it is only in the last couple of months that he really threw his lot in with Naomh Conaill.

“Myself and my family were on about that, I haven’t played a full year of Gaelic since I was 15 or 16 so it’s completely new to me, this sort of set-up.

“If you told me three months ago that I would have been playing Gaelic full-time again I would have laughed at you, but that’s the way it has ended up.

“I think I played the last three league games and that’s when I made the decision to go full time with it so hopefully now it will pay off for me.”

If there has been any nervousness or tension, Malone has managed to hide it well.

He looked supremely confident and backs himself to score, even tricky two-point efforts.

Excellent games against Termon and Four Masters have added to his stock and he will be watched closely on Sunday.

He’s not suffering with imposter syndrome and says the experienced group have welcomed him and provided advice and insight.

“I think when you’re in and around with those boys, those veterans, they’re serial winners.

“You look at ‘Brick’ (Dermot Molloy), Leo (McLoone), Brendy (McDyre), John O’Malley these boys have done it for years, year in year out, and when they’re rubbing off on you and you’re learning from them every day, it’s hard not to jump up a level or two.

“But that’s the thing, there’s no bad blood in it, they just want to see you do well and the team to win, no one is in it for themselves, that’s what it is about.

“Eoghan McGettigan too, I think that’s the player all of us young players will be looking up to because if you talk about talent there is nobody like him.

“All those forwards I’ve just listed, all of them, it’s great to be learning from them.”