Moville’s marvellous double
15.09.09
Equal opportunities as
women and men win county titles
by Damian Dowds, Inishowen
Independent
WHEN Con O’Donnell, Jimmy Hegarty, Joe McGeady, Sean
Faulkner and friends established a GAA club in Moville
in the 1980s, they can scarcely have dreamed of days
like Sunday.
Moville GAA club is very much an equal opportunities
affair and its members enjoyed the most storied day in
their club’s short history with the women retaining the
Donegal Senior Football Championship in the early game
in Convoy before the men won the Junior Football
Championship for the first time since 1996.
“We had hoped that the women’s match would have been on
after ours,” team captain Sean O’Hare quipped when he
addressed the delirious Movillians after accepting the
Dr McCloskey Cup, “because then we wouldn’t have been
under so much pressure. We didn’t want to be the
bridesmaids again!” |
Having dominated the first
half of the Junior final Moville held a 1-6 to 0-3 half
time lead, but had to withstand a late Milford rally to
win.
Moville corner back Conor O’Donnell, a survivor from the
1996 junior championship winning team, was jubilant
after watching O’Hare lift the cup.
“Thirteen years have passed and I can’t believe we have
won this again today,” he said. “We had five players
involved back then and again today and I think the
standard of junior football is a bit higher now, so this
win is even more meaningful.”
“I’ve lost so many finals,” the 30 year-old said. “Once
you finish school and college you don’t get to play in
many finals, so when one like this comes along you
appreciate it more.”
“We lost a lot of players when we dropped down to junior
football last year, and we’ve been trying hard to
re-establish ourselves as an |
 |
intermediate club. We’ve been training hard all year,
and we’re much more organised than last year.”
Promotion from Division 4 is still very much within
Moville’s grasp. They have six league games remaining
and with an Ulster club championship match in Mac
Cumhaill Park against the Down champions on 18 October
to help keep the squad focused, promotion is very much
in their own hands.
Meanwhile, the women had a comfortable 3-13 to 4-3
victory over Termon the Donegal senior final. |
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“We’re delighted to have
retained the title – it made it a really special day for
the club,” said Margaret Mulhall, part of the
three-strong management team that includes Anthony
Doogan and Davy McLaughlin. “There has been a lot of
talk about how we’re going to be there for years, but
that doesn’t count for anything unless you win it on the
pitch. We put ourselves under a bit of pressure to
retain it, but the men being involved in the junior
final helped take a bit of the focus off us a wee bit
and that helped.” |
“We started strongly, held
a big lead at half time and the two quick goals after
the break almost sealed the win for us,” Mulhall
continued. “But Termon hit back with four late goal and
that made the finish a little tense. But it should stand
us in good stead for the Ulster club championship. We
know that there was 20 minutes when we weren’t
concentrating, and if we do that in Ulster we could be
knocked out. It’s something for us to work on.”
Moville reached last year’s Ulster final, losing out
after a replay to Monaghan champions Donaghmoyne, and
having got the taste for the Ulster club championship,
Mags reckons that the appetite is there for it again.
“We’ve drawn the Tyrone champions St Macartan’s at home
which makes a nice change – all our matches last year
were away,” she said. “We’ll be taking it one game at a
time. Last year our opponents didn’t know much about us,
but after getting to the Ulster final everyone has heard
of Moville now. But it’s great to be involved in the
Ulster championship in this, the 125th anniversary of
the GAA. Sunday was a very special day for the club and
we were glad to play our part in it.”
For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the
Inishowen Independent. |
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