EAMONN Collum admits it wasn’t always easy following the fortunes of the Gaoth Dobhair senior team from the Middle East but he’s pleased to be back wearing the famous green and white jersey now.
Collum was a key forward in the Gaoth Dobhair team that cleaned up at underage level, and added to that success in 2018 when they won the Donegal and Ulster Senior Club titles.
His accuracy in front of the posts was certainly missed by the team in recent years and the 26-year-old is now pleased to be home and putting his best foot forward for Gaoth Dobhair once again.
“I had always planned to go away at some stage after I qualified,” Collum told the Donegal News this week.
“I was working up in Dublin and decided I would go away to Dubai for two years and see a bit of the world.
“I was playing over there for Jumeriah Gaels, and it was very competitive. You had boys from all over the country playing and it was a good standard.
“I also went to America last summer and played for Donegal New York.
“But I was lucky enough that a job came up in Letterkenny this year and I got it.
“I’m teaching third class in Gaelscoil Adhamhnáin and I’m looking forward to that and playing some football as well.”
Collum actually played in the first championship match in 2022 against Ardara when Trevor Alcorn was at the helm.
However, he then headed away and the team went on to reach the Donegal SFC semi-final.
Last year they went a step further and reached the final but lost out against Naomh Conaill.
Collum says it’s not easy to detach yourself from the team even when living so far away from home.
“It was very hard especially when the team reached the county final last year.
“I know the final didn’t go that well but you still don’t like missing out on that.
“You’re following the scores in games on Twitter and talking to the boys and hearing about how things are going.
“You do miss it, especially when it’s boys playing who you grew up with.”
The Gaoth Dobhair team has changed considerably over the space of the last six years.
Collum’s contemporaries such as Naoise Ó Baoill, Michael Carroll, and Cian Mulligan have all emigrated. Odhran McFadden-Ferry has recently returned home too but isn’t expected to partake in the championship as he recovers from injury.
Christopher Sweeney and Odhrán Mac Niallais have also travelled while Neil and Eamon McGee, Christopher McFadden, Donal McBride, and Kevin Cassidy are no longer in the mix.
Luckily for Gaoth Dobhair, they have kept doing the hard work at underage level, and young players such as Fionnan Coyle, Eoin de Búrca, Fiachra Coyle, Stephen ‘Donna’ McFadden and Adam Mac Iomhair are now in the team and looking to establish themselves.
“Absolutely it’s different now.
“I remember the first time I went down to training when I came back and you notice a big change.
“You have a lot of young fellas in and they have really stepped up.
“It’s a very young team now but there’s a lot of talent coming through.
“Odhrán (Mac Niallais) is gone now and a few of the boys have gone travelling.
“But in fairness to Francie (Friel) and Rónán (Mac Niallais), they have put in a lot of work and I’ve been really impressed with the young fellas.
“You have to hand it to Niall Friel, Daire (Ó Baoill) and Gary McFadden who have been driving it at home, and it can’t be easy when they see other boys heading away but they are a credit.
“It’s great to have Danny Curran back home too and he’s a big leader.”
Gaoth Dobhair began their campaign with a disappointing loss against Four Masters and few were expecting them to do much after that.
However, the outlook is brighter now after impressive victories against Glenfin and St Eunan’s.
“I think the papers and everyone else was probably writing us off after the loss against Four Masters,
“It was a big sting for us at the time to be fair.
“But with this system and the championship the way it is, there’s no point sulking over it.
“There’s another game coming and you have to get over it.
“We got a win over Glenfin in the next game when we put on a good enough show.
“We did very well against St Eunan’s but we were probably lucky enough to come through.
“Now we have a big game with St Michael’s and they are going very well with six points.
“It’s never an easy game against St Michael’s, they have a lot of talent.
“You never know how much of a say the wind will have in Magehragallon, and it will be tight but we would hope to come out on the right side of it.”
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