Fr Seán: The man behind Donegal’s storied history

Fr Seán Ó Gallchóir has had a love for the GAA from his early days in Gaoth Dobhair. Nothing has changed and he’s now the county’s unofficial historian. He spoke with Michael McMullan.

THERE’S 43 minutes on the clock. Monaghan still lead by five points. Michael Langan cushions a perfect pass into Michael Murphy.

Langan continues his run. Murphy does the needful. A perfect return. Langan doesn’t need to break stride. Give and go in perfect harmony.

Dylan Byrne buys Langan’s dummy before the St Michael’s man hammers to the net. Rory Beggan never stood a chance.

There was another significance. The quarter-final was Langan’s 100th senior game for Donegal.

The same way as Ciarán Thompson’s first ever championship goal against Louth marked his 50th consecutive championship game since his 2016 championship debut, when Rory Gallagher sent him in for Martin McElhinney late in their quarter-final defeat to Dublin.

There was a video on the Donegal News Facebook page last week. Shaun Patton in the middle of his home patch in O’Donnell Park.

Standing in his St Eunan’s gear, the club made sure to mark his clean sheet and only score of the season, a 45 against Meath in his 100th senior game.

Langan, Thompson and Patton would swap the lot for victory over the Kingdom on Sunday. That goes without saying.

But history is important. Scorelines. Facts. Milestones. Appearances. That’s where Fr Seán Gallchóir’s numbers come in. His hand written Donegal gold.

Long-serving county official Frankie Doherty will get the heads up from Fr Seán about any upcoming milestone. The county board wheels are set in motion and the centurion is presented with a memento.

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Fr Seán is a native of Derrybeg where he now lives after retiring as Parish Priest of Gortahork in 2022, after 51 years in the priesthood.

He is oldest son, one of three priests, in a family of 12, of the late Johnny Sheain, and Mary. It was in Gaoth Dobhair where a love of GAA began.

“I was always interested in the game,” Fr Seán began, speaking from home, with a view of Gaoth Dobhair’s grounds. “My father was secretary of the club in the 40s, 50s.”

He played on the club’s junior team at the time but the interest soon rooted deeper, into a something lasting a lifetime.

“The pitch here in Magheragallan is quite close and can remember going to club games there, away back to the 50s,” he added.

Educated in Cnoc an Stolaire NS, where his father taught, he moved to Ardscoil Mhuire.

From then, he studied Maynooth and then Rome’s Irish College before ordination in 1971.

His first post was Holy Cross College Falcarragh, now Pobalscoil Chloich Cheannfhaola, that year, teaching Irish, history and religion until 1992.

“I was very, very lucky because I spent nearly all my life as a priest in North West Donegal,” he said.

“I got transferred to be a curate in my own native parish. I was there until ‘99 before I became Parish Priest in Gortahork.”

In Fr Seán’s final year at Maynooth his passion for digging out facts began, during study of Louth poet Séamus Dall Mac Cuarta.

“That’s really when I got an interest in statistics, in research and the joy of discovering things,” he said.

“That taught me about research and where to look for things. I then took that into the GAA, keeping records.”

During his time teaching in Falcarragh, he became involved in coaching the school teams. There was also a spell as referee.

“At that time, the county was divided into five boards,” he added. “I was very involved in the North-Western board during the 70s and beginning of the 80s.”

In recent years, there have been moves to increase Donegal’s presence in the MacRory Cup.

Abbey Vocational School were beaten in this year’s final while a South West Donegal side ended the three-in-a-row hopes of Omagh CBS.

“Donegal never had much of a tradition in colleges football,” Fr Seán said of the recollections from his time.

“Coaching was very raw, it wasn’t like coaching today,” he added.

“You were in awe at Ulster Colleges’ meetings, listening to what they were doing in Maghera and the Abbey (Newry) and all those powerhouses.”

Falcarragh had success in the D’Alton Cup, then an u-19 B competition. It was followed up with MacLarnon titles in 1983, 1985 and 1986.

“We had boarders from Killybegs there at that time, the Cunninghams and Barry Magowan,” he said.

“We had the backbone of a good team but when we went to the MacRory, we were out of our depth.”

During his time as Parish Priest in Gortahork, Fr Seán was a member of the Cloughaneely club where was elected as President.

“If you stay long enough, you become President there for a while,” he said with a laugh.

“I was involved in the refereeing throughout the 80s,” he added.

“I remember the County Final in 1979, the year of Bundoran winning it.

“They beat MacCumhaills and while it wasn’t a particularly remarkable game, I enjoyed it.

“They were very enjoyable years, I must say. I was refereeing throughout the 80s, then into the 90s when things caught up with me.”

Away from the pitch, Fr Seán was involved in Scór both for Gaoth Dobhair and later in Cloughaneely when he won an All-Ireland in the recitation competition.

He wrote dramas and plays that were used by competing teams and set questions for the quiz competition.

When honoured with a GAA President’s Award in 2021 he was a worthy recipient.

Two years later he picked up the Gradam RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta for his contribution to the Irish language.

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Fr Seán spotted gap in the county’s GAA history in 1979. Any query of a championship success relied on pockets of local knowledge and a phone call. There was nothing held centrally.

“I created a booklet, just 15 pages,” he said of his first publication. “It was 25-pence production by a local man who had a publishing business.

“It gave the scores from the finals, the winners and who they beat.”

“That was all that was in it, but it involved a lot of work. I was going to the Donegal Democrat in Ballyshannon.

“I remember going Omagh to the Derry People office and spending days there. There were a few trips to Derry to the Journal.”

Now, everything is online. Back then it was a sift through the primary sources until a result was unearthed. Sometimes it easy. Other times it was a deeper dig.

“You’d nearly laugh at the size of the book and its insignificance,” Fr Seán modesty said of his initial efforts.

“At the time, every one of those scores had a story and a history behind it.”

It was the beginning. Donegal Gaels now had a central source. It was followed, in 1985, by the Donegal GAA Facts.

With the growing successes at county level, Fr Seán’s output grew. His last edition, the eighth one, was published five years ago. He suggests the need for a new revision.

What started off as a football finals’ book, now includes hurling and ladies’ football.

He points to all the various grades of finals and shield competitions for teams knocked out early a vibrant world.

“There’s an awful lot of statistics now and there’s great coverage now,” he adds.

“I must say the local papers here are super. The Democrat and the Donegal News, they give it great coverage. Back then, it was kind of hit and miss when looking for some of the results.”

His one regret was not putting it all on computer. Every week he updates in his copy book.

His noting of appearances began in the eighties with 1992 All-Ireland winner Donal Reid the first he charted to 100 games. Martin McHugh followed.

“I got the paper on a Monday and wrote in the details from the previous day,” he said.

In more recent seasons, there are some discrepancies. Fr Seán doesn’t include a blood substitution as an appearance. In some cases, the appearance was all too brief.

“It was lovely to see pictures in the last couple of weeks of Patton and Langan getting their plaques,” he said.

Donegal can win a third All-Ireland title on Sunday. That’s the hope.

Thankfully, the work of Fr Seán Ó Gallchóir paints a chart of Donegal’s GAA landscape. There to stay.

Come Monday, his book will be open and the pen will be at the ready.

That’s why Fr Seán imprint is so important. Record keeping is an everyday thing.