IT’S 100 years since Dungloe – who take their club name from their townland of An Clochán Liath (the grey stepping-stones) – contested their first Donegal championship final.
They appeared in five in-a-row in the 1930s and won two in-a-row in the 1950s (beating St Eunan’s, their opponents on Sunday, in both finals).
So the club has a rich history, but it’s been 60 years – 1964 – since the men from the Rosses last pulled on the red and white jersey for the Donegal showpiece.
“For a club with the tradition of ours, it’s far too long,” says Tony Boyle.
Tony’s father (Tony senior) was a Keadue Rovers soccer man who played very little Gaelic Football. Tony junior played a bit for the Rovers too but, like his brothers Brendan, Danny and James, he loved to have the O’Neill’s ball in his hands.
He was an All-Ireland winner with Donegal in 1992 and an Allstar winner that year too. He has a couple of Ulster medals as well but his club career – which evolved from player to player/manager and then manager – is a story of near misses.
Dungloe came up short in five semi-finals during his time.
“We played Naomh Columba (Glencolumbkille) in ‘96 and we had a really good team that year,” Tony recalls.
“We won Division One. There were 15 teams in it and we won all 14 games… We had Adrian Sweeney, Raymond Sweeney coming through, I was 26 at the time and going well and we had a good group of players.
“But we just found making the championship breakthrough difficult because, even then, the club hadn’t done it for so long. We came up against that Naomh Columba team with John Joe Doherty and Noel Hegarty who had played in five finals in the ‘90s and they just had that bit of knowhow.
“We were two points’ up and then conceded a very soft penalty but we still had a goal chance late on to win it and another chance to level it. We didn’t take them…”
That was one that sticks in his craw but there are others. He was player/manager in 2007 when Dungloe came up against Glenswilly who included a young fella called Michael Murphy. Again Dungloe held the lead (by four points) but again they missed a couple of chances and they lost out narrowly at the finish.
“There were a lot of near misses, a lot of them unfortunately,” says Tony.
“We just couldn’t get over the line and whether it was bad luck, or we didn’t believe enough, or we just weren’t good enough we didn’t do it and that’s why there was such great relief when the boys got over the semi-final two weeks’ ago.
“All the ex-players who have been there and tried and didn’t accomplish it are delighted for this group of lads who’ve finally done it.”
DUNGLOE had been a senior club since the 1980s but after dicing dangerously with relegation a number of times, the club finally did slip down to intermediate level. The drop was viewed by some as a disaster but others saw it as a potential blessing in disguise and it turned out to be the case.
Manager Dessie Gallagher, who had previously been involved with the club’s minor side, moved up to senior level and his young side began to start looking up again.
In their first year, Dungloe reached the intermediate final in 2021 and, although they lost after a replay, they won the title the following year and now… Sunday and a first senior decider in six decades against Letterkenny’s St Eunan’s.
“Intermediate definitely brought the young boys on and gave them a bit of confidence,” says Tony.
“We’ve been in three finals now in the last four years and the players have done a massive amount of work in training and strength and conditioning and now we can match the top teams in Donegal physically which has helped them a lot.”
CHAMPIONS in 2021, St Eunan’s will clinch a 16th county title and overtake Gweedore as outright leaders at the top of the Donegal championship roll of honour if they win on Sunday. They are expected to do so but Dungloe have matched the talent in the team with an unbreakable spirit that enabled them to come out on the right side of one-point games against Glenswilly (quarter-final) and St Michael’s (semi-final).
Supporters’ nails have been chewed to stumps at this stage and they will make their voices heard in Ballybofey on Sunday in support of a side that is backboned by the Currans – Mark, part of the Donegal panel, and older brothers Barry and Darren.
Elsewhere, goalkeeper Danny Rodgers also has senior county experience and Jason McBride, skipper Conor O’Donnell and Conor Greene, who returned from several years working in Australia and is the focal point of the attack at full-forward, have been consistent performances alongside the likes of Daire Gallagher and Oisin and Dylan Sweeney
“We have no marquee player as such,” Tony adds.
“It’s all about the sum of the parts and that’s not being disrespectful to the lads – it’s a team ethic that has got them this far and we’re hoping there’s one last big push in us.
“Eunan’s are one of the kingpins of Donegal football and they have been over the last 20-30 years. It’s going to be very difficult and I saw in the bookies’ that Eunan’s are 1/8 on and unfortunately the bookies are rarely wrong but we’re not going up to make up the numbers after the amount of effort the boys have put in to get this far.
“We’ll need a lot to go right for us on the day but we’ll be hoping that, if we’re still in the mix going down the home straight, all the pressure will be on Eunan’s.
“If you ask anyone outside the Dungloe area, everyone is tipping Eunan’s – not just to win the game, but to win it easily. Sometimes that can be a bit of a burden to carry.”