GAA and soccer have mixed in 'otherwordly' Gweedore - but there's only one big show when it matters

Irish Examiner

4 days ago

THERE'S a 10-minute drive towards Donegal's west coast that feels almost otherworldly.
As you whip right around the base of Mount Errigal and head towards Dún Lúiche, the valley and rolling hills surrounding Lough Dunlewey and the Poisoned Glen come into view on your left, the roofless old church providing a picturesque landmark.
Through the village and onwards towards Gaoth Dobhair, the smell of turf permeating the air. Onwards, past the beach on the left and the increasing dilapidated ruins of the famed Bád Eddie and out to Cnoc Fola — Bloody Foreland — a height that takes its name not from some old battle, but how red the rocks become at sunset. And there you can look out onto the Atlantic Ocean, a view of blue to nothing and to everything.
While tourist-friendly Gaoth Dobhair has a bustling hub at this time of the year, former Donegal star Kevin Cassidy amongst the proprietors in the area with his pub Teach Mhicí, it's hard to escape one description of this area — quiet isolation.
That tranquillity has been shaken in recent weeks and months as Donegal's All-Ireland venture has gripped all corners of the county and in Gaoth Dobhair this week, everything feels alive.
Gaelic football has never had to fight for its spot in the locals' conscious, but unusually for a Gaeltacht area, soccer has always held a firm grip too.
The search for work has taken young men away for many generations and so often that voyage has been to Scotland. One consequence is that around the turn of the 20th century, soccer could make a decent claim to be the main sport.
Even now, there's a huge Celtic fanbase in the area as well as four soccer clubs — Gweedore Celtic, Gweedore United, Glenea United and Dunlewey Celtic.
Paddy Crerand, starting right midfielder as Manchester United won the 1968 European Cup and a former Celtic player before that, spent many years growing up in the area as his mother Sarah Boyle was from Gaoth Dobhair.
Daire Ó Baoill, one of a trio of club members chasing Sam this weekend, captained a Republic of Ireland home-based squad in an U18 international against Wales while playing for Letterkenny Rangers. Current Donegal midfielder Jason McGee was a teammate.
'In the '40s and '50s emigration was a big thing, people would go away for seasonal work, some would go 10 years or five years and sometimes they never came back,' said Tom 'Beag' Gillespie, Gaoth Dobhair GAA's fabled underage coach who has influenced nearly every underage player that has come through the ranks for decades.
'Emigration to Scotland was big and soccer was always a big sport in the parish. It still is.' Immigration from Scotland was also a thing, too. Kevin Cassidy knows that having lived near Glasgow until he was nine.
Born into a world of soccer, he soon discovered that Gaelic football seeps into your blood in a way you simply can't control.
'There is soccer here, we all play it, but there's only one show in town,' he said.
'The GAA is the be-end and end-all and trumps everything, and that's why on weeks like this it's just so exciting. It's ingrained in you.' Gaelic football got its first proper footing in Gaoth Dobhair 1931.
Kevin Cassidy, Donegal, celebrates with his Gaoth Dobhair club-mate Tom Mike Gillespie, after victory in the 2011 All-Ireland quarter final against Kildare. File picture: Dáire Brennan/Sportsfile
Its prominence came more by accident than design and the result of good aul parish rivalry having been a ragtag operation until then with teams formed by a townland border.
It appears a drama group from Mullaghduff had come into the area and performed a play, and the locals called a meeting the next night to form their own drama group feeling they could put on an even better show. And while they were there, they thought they may as well establish a football club too, Charlie Owen and Jim Size seizing the initiative.
Since then, they have reached extraordinary heights on the club scene, topping the county's roll of honour until St Eunan's recent triumphs, while they have had fingerprints on nearly all of Donegal's greatest days.
Gillespie, an inspirationally enthusiastic coach who has been nurturing young talent in the club for decades, speaks with great pride about their mark on Donegal then and their mark on Donegal now — Ó Baoill, Odhrán McFadden-Ferry and Domhnall Mac Giolla Bhríde part of the panel heading to Dublin this weekend.
'It's huge for the club and parish to have those boys there,' said Gillespie, who managed Ó Baoill and McFadden-Ferry to an Ulster U21 title in 2018.
'The huge support for Donegal in the parish has been there all year, and it's been there since the very first league match. Everybody has rowed in behind Jim McGuinness and this Donegal team.
'Anton Carroll from the club was on the first Donegal team to win Ulster in 1972, Neilly Gallagher in '74.
'From '74 to 1995, I think it was, mid-nineties anyway, we had no county men representing the club.
'Martin Coll then started playing for the county and that led on to us winning a Donegal minor in '99 with Kevin Cassidy and Eamon McGee. Shane Sweeney, the McGees (Eamon and Neil) and Stephen Cassidy were on the Donegal panel, James Gallagher in the early 2000s.
'That helped a lot, it helped the club and the helped the area, it gave the underage players something to look up to.'
Kevin Cassidy was that man for years, but as the club's vice-chairman — as well as U12 manager with Gillespie assisting — the build-up has been less butterflies in the stomach and more trying to sort as many members as possible with tickets. The two-time All-Star has a busy weekend ahead of him. First it's to London and Wembley to see his beloved Oasis on their reunion tour before heading back to Dublin for the big match.
That McGuinness is again at the helm does not dampen his enthusiasm. Earlier this year, former Donegal full-back Neil McGee married his wife Maria at the nearby Caisleáin Óir and it was the first time that Cassidy and McGuinness had properly met in years. The mood had certainly changed since their controversial dispute that saw Cassidy dropped from the panel for the 2012 All-Ireland success after contributing to the book 'This Is Our Year.'
'In 2012 and '14, those years were awkward because you were still the age enough you could play, you were still close, but the way I see it now, it's not for me anymore,' said Cassidy.
'I'm taking my son Fionn up to the game and I'm hoping he remembers these days, he wants to emulate what he sees on the pitch.
'All that other stuff has gone, everyone has moved on and it's just excitement about this team, 'From early doors, people just have been believing in this team.
'Back in 2012, those games against Cork, Kerry, they were going in as underdogs, nobody gave them a chance, but this year is different.
'The fans are full-sure they're going to win anyway, which is a dangerous thing, so I'm sure Jim's job this week has been to shield the players from that.
'If you fall short of all that, hysteria quickly goes away and when you're on such a crest of a wave, you have to make the most of it. The county has been going crazy for it, and it's the same here in Gaoth Dobhair; a very exciting time.'
Gaelic and soccer have mixed in Gaoth Dobhair, it's mixed for Jim McGuinness in his managerial career too. There's only one big show when it matters though, and the locals will make that otherworldly journey alongside Mount Errigal on Sunday – only this time they'll be heading towards Dublin.
Heading towards Sam.