Oct 14,2024
We're not saying An Clochán Liath got distracted, but the Mary from Dungloe festival has been running 56 years and before this season the club had gone 59 years without an appearance in the Donegal final.
That’s all changed in recent weeks though with knockout wins over Na Dúnaibh, group stage winners Glenswilly, with competition sponsor Michael Murphy in tow, and St Michael’s by a combined four points bringing stories of lore and past glories back to the Gaeltacht town.
Awaiting them in the final is a St Eunan’s side who edged out Gaoth Dobhair in their own hard-fought semi-final.
Perhaps that result was for the best - An Clochán Liath and Gaoth Dobhair hasn’t always been the friendliest of rivalries.
Their most notorious meeting came in August 1957 in the western division final of that year’s championship, one of four games between the clubs that season.
Dom Murray had goaled to draw An Clochán Liath level with four minutes remaining and moments later they were awarded a free in. However, a squabble broke out in the Gaoth Dobhair goalmouth and hundreds of fans stormed on to add to the messy scenes with fists flying all over the place.
After a 17-minute delay, referee Frank Brennan decided to abandon the fixture.
With both teams - and fans - on their best behaviour, An Clochán Liath won a thrilling refixture the following week and went on to lift the championship outright.
Legend says that Gaoth Dobhair fans took their revenge in quite a unique way, boycotting bread milled in the Rosses where the town of An Clochán Liath acted as a centrepiece. Parrafin sales in Gaoth Dobhair plummeted in response.
A young Noel McCole, part of the Donegal backroom team when they lifted Sam for the first time in 1992, was just out of minors at that stage and told GAA.ie about it when partaking in their oral history project.
"It turned nasty... there was a bakery down in Kincasslagh, the Rosses bakery, they (Gaoth Dobhair fans) wouldn't buy bread from the Rosses bakery.
"In Gaoth Dobhair there was a guy who had the agency for Shell or BP at that time, they (An Clochán Liath fans) wouldn’t buy any paraffin or oil."
By the late '50s, An Clochán Liath seemed to be well on their way to becoming a Tir Chonaill powerhouse.
From their first title in 1930 to the double of ‘57 and ‘58 - they were crowned champions on seven occasions - moving them up to second in the roll of honour alongside Aodh Ruadh and behind their rivals Gaoth Dobhair.
Even in the barren 1940s in the middle of that run, their fans got to see the great Paddy Prendergast in action, who in 2021 became the last member of the Mayo 1951 All-Ireland-winning starting team to die.
Two years later, Dr Mick Loftus, former president of the GAA and the last remaining surviving member of the extended panel, died, supposedly bringing an end to the curse that accompanied the team for not showing respect to a funeral as they travelled home from the final.
Prendergast, who had been stationed in Donegal on policing duties in the 1940s, routinely dismissed the tale of disrespect as hogwash and Mayo results in the period since would suggest he was a man of his word.
But from that last success in ‘58, it’s been essentially barren for An Clochán Liath apart from final appearances in 1961 and that last showpiece date 60 years ago.
Raymond Sweeney, one of their most famous sons, having played 96 times for his county over 10 seasons, never got to play in a county final with his last chance coming and going in a 2009 semi-final defeat to this weekend’s opponents. He didn’t play three years later as St Eunan’s again won out in the semi-final, in what was Dungloe’s last venture to that stage prior to this season.
Still, 29 September, 2024 will long live in his memory as hours before that win over St Michael’s, he was a coach as the club’s ladies team, managed by 1992 All-Star Tony Boyle, kept Ardara scoreless in the second half to narrowly claim the Donegal intermediate crown.
"When the final whistle blew against St Michael’s we headed on to the field to congratulate the players and there were people with tears in their eyes. It was emotional.
"It’s just a monkey off their backs from the club’s point of view. Regardless of how well they do in the final, getting there is such a massive achievement.
"We’ve lost numerous semi-finals. We ran into the Eunan’s a couple of years, Glenswilly when they were up and coming and we were beaten by small margins.
"In the 2007 semi-final against Glenswilly we were three points up at half-time before Michael Murphy came to the fore, big Neil (Gallagher) was there, Ciaran Bonner."
Short term, An Clochán Liath, 2022 intermediate champions, will be hoping not to follow Glenswilly’s path with the men from the Glen losing a county senior final two years after winning the intermediate crown. Long term is different as Glenswilly collected three titles in the years that followed that loss, and Sweeney is hoping his team can become a consistent force once again.
"We’re good enough to be at the stage, they’re a fantastic bunch of fellas.
"They’re the prime example of proper teamwork. They’re constantly trying to better themselves, they work so hard on the training ground and in the gym; they’re physical specimens."
Dungloe town is something of a launchpad for some of Donegal’s most picturesque spots.
Its tentacles don’t have to stretch too far to reach Mount Errigal off to one side or north to Carrickfin beach or the hidden treasure just beyond it, Boat Strand.
The Blue Stack mountains provide a stunning backdrop to the area, but with its beauty comes remoteness, something that has provided a real barrier to the senior team over the years.
Dessie Gallagher’s side have actually been forced to train in Sligo at times to ensure a more central base for those players who have had to leave home for work.
"It might be a lovely part of the country but you just wish there was more employment available," Sweeney continued.
"A lot of the fellas, some are working in Dublin, some are in Galway.
"There’s a lot of sacrifice and they were training in Sligo just around the start of the championship to train collectively, and that’s the effort that is going in.
"We were coming down from training the ladies and I could see the boys all gathering in their vans and cars and they were heading to Sligo to train.
"That’s throughout the west coast of Donegal. It’s a beautiful part of the world but that’s the unfortunate situation because if you don’t train collectively it’s really difficult to succeed."
A men’s county final this weekend, an Ulster ladies clash with the winner of Armagh’s Derrynoose and Cavan’s Mullahoran on 27 October - these are heady times for An Clochán Liath.
"We lost two (ladies) finals at junior level and to be fair we probably weren’t ready at that time," Sweeney said.
"We won it then last year at the third time and now have won the intermediate.
"So the entire club is flourishing. You go down to the pitch and there are just so many teams, you might have a team in the middle part, a team in the lower part and here’s hoping it continues."
