Grand Old Team to Play For… Donegal ladies kingpins, Termon

In 2010, the Termon ladies shocked

everyone, even

themselves,

when they won

the Ulster title

In the winter of 2010, at the end of an incredible season for the Termon club, the players went to mass together.

After a year in which they’d won county and All-Ireland Gaeltacht titles, as well as County and Ulster titles, the priest took a moment to pay tribute to the players.

Roisin McCafferty remembers what he said: “I can remember going to the mass, and the priest saying, ‘there is a group of people here that brought happiness to the club. At times it might not have been happy for a lot of people, but they have put the club on the map.’

“He was talking about the ladies. They put the club on the map.

“That year brought a massive lift to the club. The older members of the club had not seen a lot of success. There was a club that didn’t have a ladies team ten or 15 years before hand to go on and have the most successful ladies team to come out of Donegal that was special for that older generation.”

The Termon team had incredible success that year. So how did they manage to achieve so much?

There’s not simple answer. It was a mix of so many things.

But first of all, there were the players.

Maureen O’Donnell was 31 that season.

“I was playing football for a long time at that point. The landscape changed. St Eunan’s and Four Masters were the big teams.

“I was away travelling and came back and they had broke into the senior team.”

For Roisin McCafferty, her love affair with football began not long after she could walk.

“For me that comes down to my father. When I was young he was going out to training, it was easy to have me out with him. I would have been an antichrist if I he had left me behind. Fair dues to my parents they carted us all round to matches.”

For others, like the legendary McLaughlin sisters, they were cajoled into playing by Harry McGlynn.

Roisin McCafferty tells the story, which has been well worn out around Termon way.

“Harry McGlynn landed to Geraldine’s mum and dad’s house and he asked them about the girls playing football.

“Their mum said ‘you’d do well to get a footballer out of this house Harry’.

“Harry got Geraldine, Sharon, Nicole and Fiona out. Some of the most gifted footballers to ever come out of Termon. None of the older ones played football. If it wasn’t for the likes of Harry they might not have been obsessed.”

People like Harry and Maura McGlynn nurtured these young girls.

At school they would play in their lunch and break times, Christy Gillespie had a huge hand in guiding them at National School in Termon.

Roisin McCafferty said: “We used to go out at break time in school. We would do training drills at 11 break, and then you’d do a match at half 12.”

One of the younger members of the team, Emer Gallagher said: “At school we weren’t playing tag, we were playing football. The headmaster was keen for us to go on and play football.”

And outside of school they would do anything to get a game.

Roisin McCafferty said: “I can remember Geraldine’s sister Fiona and I were sent to Irish dancing. We soon got our way out of it.

“I think the teacher told one of our mothers ‘I don’t think them two girls are happy to be here. They’d be happy to be up at the boys football’.”

Roisin McCafferty says that playing football with the boys was important as well.

“When we were younger we played with the boys. That brought us on. Playing with the boys up to u14 that made a difference in the hard hits that we got. That hell for leather maybe came from playing with the boys.”

The men’s element of the club had been around for many years. It might seem that they would be frsutrated by the women’s success, but Roisin doesn’t see it that way.

“That might have annoyed the mens team because the club became known for the womens team, but without the men we would have been nothing. Without the men they were the ones who trained us. As a club it brought us closer together. It brought pride to the club. It drove our club on.”

Termon were a club that had not had much success to rely upon.

Emer Gallagher said: “The older players told us about the big defeats that they had suffered. The more senior players had went through that hurt. That inspired us.”

Roisin McCafferty said that in the years leading up to 2010, she knew there was potential in the team.

“We knew we had something special coming up. The likes of me, Yankee (Roisin Friel), Niamh Friel, Geraldine (McLaughlin) played an u-14 All-Ireland final with the county and were beaten. We played an u-16 all-Ireland final and were beat. We won the minor.

“The winning is addictive. But getting yourself to that standard is important. We brought that county success through to the club.”

Maureen O’Donnell, who was one of the oldest players on the team said: “The younger players were used to winning but the older players weren’t.

“It was so hard for years. It was hard even to get teams out. We got serious hammerings. We kept going and kept going, but to make the change in 2010 was unbelievable.

“They were coming up after winning championships. When the minors make that transition they were looking forward to it. We had lost a lot of seniors. But those minors found it very easy to transition.”

The club had won a string of minor titles during the noughties and those players fed into the senior team to join Maureen O’Donnell.

It also helped that they had one of the very best players to come out of Donegal in Geraldine McLaughlin, though in 2010, she wasn’t the complete package.

Roisin McCafferty said: “If you ask Sharon Courtney she would probably say Geraldine was one of the hardest to mark.

“In my opinion she is nearly impossible to mark. She is just magic. Her athleticism, and her commitment drives everyone else on. I think that’s why Nicole (McLaughlin) is so good, she had to mark her all her life.

“When you have a special player like that. I’d say Glenswilly say the same about Michael Murphy. She just brings everyone on.

“I was lucky to play with Geraldine in school. She was special.”

Emer Gallagher said of Geraldine: “She is the most hard working and inspirational player that I have ever played with. She is the best player to have when the chips are down. If you need a goal she is the player you want to have. She is one of the best players that I have ever seen and she still doesn’t have an All-Star.”

But they were not a one player team by any stretch.

Roisin McCafferty said: “You had Grainne McCafferty and Terese McCafferty, they hadn’t won a wild lot, and they saw what we had achieved at underage, they knew it was a special group.

“Even though there was a gap of seven years between some players that didn’t make a difference.

“Nicole Mclaughlin and Emer Gallagher, they were 16 and 17, they were battling for their place.

“Laura Gallagher (Gallagher) was a massive part of that team.”

For Emer Gallagher, coming onto that team was exciting. She said: “I would have always looked up to Roisin McCafferty. I always thought she was so experienced. Though she was probably only 18.

“When we came onto the team we always felt valued. We never thought that they were the senior players and we were the younger players. We all had to take on responsibility from day one. Roisin and I were told that we had to win the kick outs.

“I always felt that I was an important member of the team.”

Maureen O’Donnell said: “There was team bonding done so that the girls could mix together, but those younger girls were very very strong.

“They were such a young bunch of girls it was important that they were all happy and looked after.

“In any team it is important that the players will have the mentality that they will do anything for you.

“That has to happen off the field. We would see each other off the field. We would always be doing things together. What happens is players become comfortable with each other.”

Roisin McCafferty said the team were incredibly determined.

“I wouldn’t have liked to be an outsider coming into that training.

“In training we would have been taking lumps out of each other.

“I can remember one night training, every girl going hell for leather to try and get the ball off the next girl.

“It showed that we would go the extra mile.”

On the field they were fierce competitors, but off it they were extremely close knit.

Roisin McCafferty said: “We were a bunch of best friends. If you saw one of us you saw ten of us.

“We lived in each other’s houses. There was no one getting in our bubble.

“We would go to lunch, go to training. We were with each other all the time.

“We were obsessed. People used to think we were mental. We lived and breathed football. We did everything that we could to be the best on the football field.

“We were able to be blunt with each other. We were able to give constructive criticism to each other. We were able to advice on board.”

Maureen O’Donnell said: “That group was very close knit. And all we cared about was football. Sometimes the girls would say, is there anything else we can talk about.”

The key turning point that season was their All-Ireland Gaeltacht campaign.

Emer Gallagher, one of the younger members of the squad, explained the Gaeltacht county final’s importance.

“We would always have had a rivalry with Glenfin but we decided that that day was going to be the defining one for us. They were the experienced team. When we beat them we decided that we could go far.

“We felt that we were a team that was good enough, and we weren’t prepared to wait for success.”

They beat Glenfin in the county Gaeltacht final, and then headed for their weekend away in Belmullet.

Roisin McCafferty said: “I think every team should try to have a weekend away.

“We got through to the All-Irelands. Glenfin got invited down as the winners in the previous year. We played them in the final. It went to extra time.

“We came up the road and the atmosphere in the club was great,

“The craic in the club was unreal.

“I was doing my leaving cert that week after but I didn’t do much work.”

Maureen O’Donnell said: “That win was so important for us. I discovered that there was no fear in those players. The momentum of winning was huge. That was what carried us as a team. That has carried us down the years.”

The key to that season was that they had not beaten Glenfin before. But when they did that in the Gaeltachta championship that gave them the belief they needed.

Emer Gallagher said: “That was where the success came from, we knew that we could do it after that.

“In that final we had been winning comfortably, but they came back. We had to compose ourselves. We were looking round to see who would step up. It was Geraldine who got a few goals. It was massive that we were able to deal with that pressure.”

So they went on and began their county championship campaign.

Emer Gallagher explained that the team were confident.

“We didn’t really fear anyone. We were nearly too young to understand that we should have feared them.

“Our management told us to rely on our own strengths. I was very fit and I did a lot of tracking.

“It was scary being in a final but we never realised the magnitude of it.”

Emer Gallagher continued: “Moville and Glenfin were our main challengers. We were lucky to beat Glenfin, It was a dog battle. But only for the wins early on, I don’t think we would have won that game.”

Emer marked Grainne Houston in that final.

“Our management said that if we won those one-on one battles we would win

“I had a good game in that final getting up and down

“Roisin was winning the air battles with Karen Guthrie.

“Obviously our forward line made life easy.

“Geraldine put her stamp on that game.

“Therese McCafferty and Naomh Friel did a good job on Yvonne McMonagle.”

Maureen O’Donnell couldn’t believe that they had won.

“That was my first ever county title. That was a dream come true for me.”

Emer Gallagher felt that their naivete was so important they didn’t realise how big it was,

They went back to the club and the reaction was great as the celebrated with the club. But it wasn’t a normal celebration.

Emer Gallagher said:

“We were 15 and 16 years old, we came back, had a meal and went to bed. There weren’t many who could stay out all night and party. It was nice being in each other’s company. But it did make us think about what we might do, what it might be like to win a game in Ulster.”

So they turned their attention to the Ulster.

Emer Gallagher siad: “I think it was important that we went in there not having the sense to know that we should be under pressure.”

Preparations were difficult.

Emer Gallagher said: “I remember thinking that I had to look after myself. I was playing for so many age groups. But it was my first experience of hard training.

“I remember after winning Ulster final we had to do one of the hardest training sessions. That really brought us back down to earth.”

Ulster feels like a blur to Emer Gallagher.

They beat Glen first and then went on to play Bredagh in the semi-final.

“I have the same feeling about the ends of the games. I was always surprised. I remember playing against Bredagh.

“They had Aoife McDonnell. She played for Donegal. I remember thinking she was so great, but when we won we got so much confidence from winning that one.

“But you never wanted to get too far ahead of yourselves.”

Maureen O’Donnell agreed: “We never really worried about any other team. We never talked about Donaghmoyne till after we passed the semi-final stage.

“They weren’t even on our register. We didn’t look ahead. I had more of an awareness of the biggest players in Ulster. I had played county. My job was just to keep them focused. I didn’t want to get too serious. They had enough confidence in themselves.”

Yet the Donaghmoyne game was one that they will always remember.

Maureen said: “The dressing room was very quiet, there was a lot of nerves. That wasn’t a good thing, We usually have the music on.”

Roisin McCafferty’s memories were of the crowd:

“Nobody thought we would do it against Donaghmoyne, they were going for three in a row.

“We didn’t have any expectations in Ulster. We enjoyed the football because we were on a roll.

“I can remember the Ulster final, Termon were a 3/4s of the crowd and Donaghmoyne were the rest.

“I can remember Amanda Casey was all over me that day. Me and Olive were doubling up to tackle her, our crowd was so loud she thought the referee had blown the whistle.

“She stood with the ball and the referee done her for over carrying. That put her off her game. That was our 16th man. There was an article in a Cork paper that said the crowd was our 16th man.

“Our fans were as much part of it as we were.”

The game did not go Termon’s way though.

The disaster for Gallagher was that she got sin-binned. It was a crucial moment in not only in the game, but her playing career.

“The player I was marking kept standing on my toes. I didn’t know what to do. She stood on my toes, and I fell over and she fell over and the ref sin binned both of us. So I went off and I was crying. I felt that I had been sin binned but I didn’t do anything. I remember my dad being on the sideline and he was like ‘stop crying, warm up, go back on, it’s done’.

“That was a baptism of fire of senior football. When I went back on I was so determined that we were going to win. I played much better when I went back on.”

At half time, with Donaghmoyne well ahead, it felt as Termon’s chance was well and truly gone.

Emer Gallagher said: “I can remember looking at Roisin (McCafferty) at half time, we couldn’t win a kick out. They were stronger and more experience. I remember looking at her and wondering what we were going to do.

“At half time I remember that the management were saying that we were still in it. I think what we thought was that we would go out and just try and keep some pride in ourselves. We would just keep going, but we never expected to win. We just wanted to make the scoreline as good as possible.”

Gallagher thinks that if they had been older they might have been more realistic and may have given up.

“I think Donaghmoyne had decided that the game was over as well.

“I remember Roisin Friel putting the ball into Geraldine and her getting the goal and then us realising that we were still in the game.”

The key moment in the Ulster final was one of the most remarkable incidents you’re ever likely to see in a ladies club game.

“One of the standout things of that final was Nicole McLaughlin was in playing at corner-back. She started screaming for the ball at one of the Donaghmoyne girls. She was screaming ‘pass, pass, pass’. The girl gave it to her and we went up and scored a goal. For a young 15 year old to think of that and do it was massive.”

What people in Termon remember is the radio coverage of the game, when the announcer basically ruled them out of the game with minutes left to go.

What followed was that string of goals that turned the game completely around.

Maureen O’Donnell: “Within the next few minutes of commentary he didn’t know what happened.

“The intensity lifted. We turned over ball. The crowd was behind us. We were excellent. It was the most unbelievable feeling. We had won an Ulster final without having even thought what it would feel like. I think we were in shock. It was such a brilliant feeling.”

It was such a huge result.

Emer Gallagher said: “No one had given us a chance. So there was disbelief when we won. Donaghmoyne were the far better team bar the last ten minutes. It shows what you can do when you keep going.

“It was such a surreal feeling coming back to Termon. Everyone was so proud of us.

“We have had a lot of hurt in our club. A lot of young people have passed away. So having something like that, an Ulster title coming back to the club was huge.

“I will always have that image of the men being so delighted for us. They weren’t hurt that it wasn’t them, they were delighted for us. It was such a special time.”

And so they won, and the crowds grew even bigger for the All-Ireland semi-final

Roisin McCafferty said: “Getting to the All-Ireland semi-final was massive and the crowd that was at that was probably the biggest ever. We could have beat them.

“But our inexperience showed that day. They were able to grind out a result. They were able to grind us down. They were able to grind out the result.

“That was devastating.”

Emer Gallagher said: “I think we did have that bit of doubt. I remember marking Annie Walsh she was like 6’4”. I can remember not being able to get off the ground. We were so exhausted.

“Things didn’t go our way. That hurt so much. We felt that there was nothing more that we could give. That was why it was so disappointing.

“What I do remember was that the supporters were so proud of us. When we looked back at that. That game pushed us on. We were one of the best teams in Ireland. We look back and realise that we did really well.”

Four years later they would make amends for that result.But 2010 will always be remembered as the breakthrough year for the Termon ladies.

Roisin McCafferty said: “That season was the pinnacle for us. It was the start of that team. We would have had very good teams coming up.

“The whole year was a roller coaster and we just went with it.”