| Tonight in John Joe’s Pub, Kilcar’s 1989 Donegal championship-winning team, probably slower now and possibly wiser, will gather for a 25th anniversary celebration of that success.
It contains some storied names: Michael Carr, the original McHugh brothers. It is safe to guess that the club’s recent league success – the first since 1987 – will come up in conversation, but the only GAA conversation in the county concerns last night’s unveiling, after a prolonged drum roll, of Rory Gallagher as the new Donegal senior football manager.
All week, the expectation was that Gallagher would be made manager at last night’s county board meeting. After heavy speculation, the meeting was moved from Monday to last night so that the new manager could officially take his place at tomorrow’s county final.
Gallagher’s appointment represents a remarkable ascension of a figure whose nomadic football career was characterised by a self-assured and complete skill set and by a perpetual restlessness. In Kilcar, where Gallagher has, with John McNulty, been co-coaching the senior team since January, they had already begun to steel themselves for his absence before the appointment was made official.“Definitely, we would feel if Rory gets the job, it will be a big gain for Donegal and, yes, [it will be] to the detriment of Kilcar,” says Michael McShane, the club chairman.
Totally different
“Rory first came in when James [McHugh] was managing. He was totally different to what we had seen before. He looks at every player individually and works on a one-on-one situation with everybody.
“We would love him to be involved over the next few years because what he was doing in our club with our younger coaches is so important. He brought more than just a league title to our club. Every player looks at football totally differently now. And that goes through to the management and executive as well: that you prepare on and off the field to the best of your ability.”
For years, Kilcar has punched above its weight to a miraculous level through a combination of producing exceptionally skilled ball players and old-fashioned graft. McShane believes that Gallagher has added to that an attitude of big ambition and constant self-improvement and, most of all, a willingness to try things.
For instance, Kevin Campbell grew up playing half forward for the club but inside a single season, Gallagher converted him into a goalkeeper. “He looked at what Kevin could bring the team with his kick-outs and ball handling. Nobody in the club had seen that. But he has turned out to be an excellent goalkeeper for us.”
Michael Hegarty, an elegant half forward for Donegal for a full decade and still the mainstay for his club, has also assumed a transformative role under Gallagher.
“For years, he would have broken tackles, kicked points. Now, he operates between the two 45s and is the playmaker for the team. Everyone has completely bought into the roles they have been given.”
During the summer, McShane asked Gallagher to give a talk to the under-14s he was coaching prior to a county final. He knew Gallagher had attended some games and expected a general pep-talk. Instead, Gallagher came into the meeting with a dossier on previous games, taking them through their strengths and weaknesses. Then he spoke to the youngsters about what they needed to do to become the players they could become at 15, at 17. |