WHEN RORY GALLAGHER was in his teens, as well as being a talented Gaelic footballer and hurler, he also was a capable soccer player.
The Erne Gaels clubman excelled for Northern Ireland Schoolboys and even, famously, earned trials at Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers, where he played with Wes Brown and shared a room with Damien Duff respectively.
Gallagher is the current Donegal manager but if the wind had’ve taken him in a different direction, who knows what might have happened? It’s the same for some of his panellists, so here’s Donegal’s first XI.
1 Mark Anthony McGinley
McGinley has yet to make his Donegal debut and was unfortunate to miss out on a first appearance in the Dr McKenna Cup against Down, when he picked up a quad injury moments before throw-in. The 25-year-old played League of Ireland Premier Division football with UCD, who he joined from Fanad United. McGinley made his first appearance of the Students in 2011 and made 37 appearances in all for the Belfield outfit.
2 Ryan McHugh
McHugh (pictured by Evan Logan) still occasionally wears the colours of St Catherine’s FC. And last season, just six weeks after Donegal lost the 2014 All-Ireland final against Kerry, scored the only goal of the game against second placed Cappry Rovers to keep the Killybegs side top of the Donegal League Premier Division. Although from a famous GAA family with his dad Martin, uncle James and brother Mark all in possession of Celtic Crosses as All-Ireland winners, Ryan McHugh played both codes growing up and trialled with Reading FC.
3 Stephen McLaughlin
McLaughlin (pictured by Geraldine Diver) was part of the Donegal panel in the the 2014 season having caught the eye of manager Jim McGuinness and his backroom team the year beforehand when Malin upset St Eunan’s on their way to the Donegal SFC semi-final. McLaughlin didn’t get much of a look-in with Donegal and is not part of the current set-up, but is lightening fast and as well as winning the Oscar Traynor Cup for the Inishowen League last season, scored the winner this term when they defeated the Donegal League 2-1 in November.
4 Hugh McFadden
First with Finn Harps and then with Sligo Rovers, the Killybegs man won League of Ireland Under-19 Northern Section titles. He was captain of Sligo’s Under-19s for the 2012/13 season and he played for Ian Baraclough’s team as a substitute against Glentoran in March 2013. However, that was the year the then teen helped his local GAA side to the Donegal SFC final and he was taken on board by Jim McGuinness and is now becoming more and more involved under Rory Gallagher.
5 Eamon McGee
Although it’s not advisable to tell Eamon McGee what to do and the fact the man likes to be called ‘Drogba’ in and around An Screaban, the home of Gweedore Celtic FC, for the purpose of making a semi-balanced XI he can play at centre-back here. McGee scored a late goal for Donegal in their win over Mayo at Castlebar in 2008 and put the ability to finish like that down to his time playing soccer. He was part of the Gweedore Celtic squad that won the Donegal League Premier Division and went onto lift the Brian McCormick Cup in 2011.
6 David Walsh
The Naomh BrÃd clubman didn’t make his Donegal GAA senior championship debut until 2008, when he was 26 years old as he took on Derry under the management of Brian McIver. Part of the reason for that was a promising soccer career. A cruciate knee injury ended what had been a promising spell at English League club Luton Town – Walsh won a place on a Youth Training Scheme (YTS) at Kenilworth Road after impressing for Leicester City in a summer trip to Holland.
7 – Rory Kavanagh
Kavanagh, like many Donegal children, grew up playing as much soccer as he did GAA. In his autobiography ‘Winning’ the first acknowledgements are for men like Charlie Shiels, Andy O’Boyle and John O’Doherty, who were his underage soccer coaches. Kavanagh played Community Games for Letterkenny, having represented Ballyraine FC and in his time also featured for Lagan Harps in the Donegal League.
8 – Patrick McBrearty
When Celtic defeated Spartak Moscow on penalties to qualify for the 2007/08 Champions League group stages, Patrick McBrearty (pictured above by Evan Logan) was one of the ball boys. That’s because he and Brian McGroary – the Drimarone, Donegal town native who was at Finn Harps last season – and Carl McHugh, the Lettermacaward native who lines out for Plymouth Argyle, were on trial in Glasgow. McBrearty was an Ireland Under-15 international and when Donegal won the 2012 All-Ireland and then Celtic manager Neil Lennon arrived at the Burlington that night with the party in full swing, he and McBrearty spoke about the time the youngster spent on trial.
9 – Cillian Morrison
Morrison, right, was part of Jim McGuinness’s Donegal Under-21 panel that won the Ulster championship and went onto lose against Dublin in the All-Ireland final, where the Letterkenny native won the late penalty that Michael Murphy rammed off the Dublin crossbar. Morrison also set up Leo McLoone’s goal that evening but didn’t wear a county jersey against until this year’s Dr McKenna Cup. In between, he had spells with UCD, Cork City and Derry City. In 2012, he scored a six-minute hat-trick for UCD against Monaghan in the EA Sports Cup.
10 – Frank McGlynn
A talented all-rounder, McGlynn (pictured by Geraldine Diver) made waves in soccer circles as well as GAA ones. A student at St Columba’s College, Stranorlar, he played much of his youth with Drumkeen United and attracted interest from clubs in England. As well as trials at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leeds United and Preston North End, he played for Everton in the Milk Cup up front with Wayne Rooney, the current England captain. More recently, McGlynn features the odd time for Cappry Rovers.
11 – Odhrán MacNiallais
Like Eamon McGee, MacNiallais often lines up for his local soccer club, Gweedore Celtic. MacNiallais was and is a skillful winger whose father Donnchadh was part of the famed Gweedore Celtic side that won four Donegal League titles in succession in the early 1980’s and even once – legend has it – scored four free-kicks in one game. Odhran scored in the 2010 Brian McCormick Sports Cup final against Milford United in a 2-0 win for the side managed by Hughie Rua Gallagher.
