KILCAR wake up this morning as Donegal Senior Football Champions.
Yesterday’s decider in front of 6,930 supporters at MacCumhaill Park may not go down in the annals as a classic but the only thing that really counts to the men from Towney was the result.
So many times over the past two to three years Barry Doherty’s men have played with a real purr under their bonnet. Last year was a case in point. They brushed aside teams with consummate ease on their way to the final only to require roadside assistance when it mattered most – County final Sunday.
Having been ambushed by Glenswilly in the decider last year they were hell-bent of reversing that trend this time around.
The net result was Kilcar’s most patchy performance of this summer, yet it was by far their most important.
Scotstown, away in Monaghan, is next on the horizon in the Ulster Club Championship but that can wait.
Today there’s a renewed pep in the step of the people living ‘In Through’ as Dr Maguire is in the parish for the first time in 24 years. And that it the only thing that counts.
It doesn’t matter that Naomh Conaill finished the game with just thirteen men or that there were just two scores in the second half – one for each side.
The eurphoric scenes at the final whistle told us all that we needed to know – Kilcar are the winners of the 2017 Donegal SFC.
The words of team manager Barry Doherty summed up the mood perfectly.
“At the end of the day they don’t need to be classics you just have to win them and that’s what it was all about today. I’m delighted with the result,” he said.
It’s often said that you have to lose a final before you win one and Doherty admitted that the hurt of last year really drove them on.
“They were very easy to manage because of the hurt they were all carrying from last year. I played fourteen years and I’ve lined out with most of the lads. I’m so delighted for them all, especially Michael Hegarty and Conor McShane, lads that have been around the block for so long. They’ve been knocking on the door but had never been able to get over the line…until today. I’m delighted for the whole team,” he said.
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