BY RYAN FERRY

STEPHEN ‘Donna’ McFadden’s first experience of county final day is not one he cherishes but he’s hoping that Gaoth Dobhair will have their moment in the sun this time around.

Mayo’s David Brady famously joked that he wasn’t brought on during his county’s 2006 All-Ireland Final hammering against Kerry to help force an unlikely comeback but to ‘look for survivors’.

It was a similar scenario for McFadden when he was introduced during the 2023 decider.

Gaoth Dobhair were 0-9 to 0-2 down at half-time against Naomh Conaill and the writing was already on the wall.

McFadden and his teammates have picked up some tough lessons but their commitment and hunger has brought them back to the final.

“I came off the bench that day,” McFadden told the Donegal News.

“The game was well gone by that stage when I got on.

“We got walked off the pitch that day.

“For teams like us, you probably need the hurt so that the boys just set everything else aside and just leave it that it’s ‘football, football, football’.

“We’ve done that and we’re happy to be back in the final.”

There is a good unity among the young Gaoth Dobhair players and when that is combined with the experience in the team, it provides a good cocktail of speed, power and game smarts.

“I still consider myself a young boy at 22.

“There’s a lot of young boys still coming through, I think we have a bright future ahead of us.

“We still have the veterans, he won’t be happy with me saying it but Odhrán Mac (Niallais) and those boys, they’ll be teaching us.

“But a lot of young boys have dragged us through here now and it’s good to see.”

Gaoth Dobhair have won all six of their matches to date and there will be no shortage of belief when they hit the road for Letterkenny on Sunday.

They were impressive in their semi-final as they defeated St Michael’s by six points.

McFadden had a huge game himself as he notched the first three points as Gaoth Dobhair made a slow start.

“I was kind of worried coming up to half-time when we were three points down it would have been a big lead for St Michael’s but with Domhnall (Mac Giolla Bhríde) stepping up and getting that goal, we were slightly at ease.

“We were able to relax a wee bit and regroup and then I feel like we came out a bit stronger than them and got off to a great start with a few two-pointers and the Mícheál Roarty’s two pointer got us over the line then we kind of pushed on from there.

“In fairness we were very strict on (Micheal) Langan getting his shots and Daniel McLaughlin too.

“We knew those boys could shoot from anywhere outside to the 45 metres line. The two of them have wild boots so we were drilled in to keep it tight but also not to be allowing silly two-point shots.

“Langan banged one in the first half but we kind of sharpened up then at the end and locked that down.”

It’s been a long campaign for Gaoth Dobhair as they played in the Ulster Senior League before the Gaeltacht.

They started the All-County League quite slowly but while there have been a few ups and downs, the young players in the team have got loads of exposure to high quality football.

Rónán Mac Niallais has been at the helm for three years and McFadden feels he has galvanised the side.

“In fairness he is very strict on us but it’s good to see, he doesn’t take any bullshit.

“He’s smart with everything and you can see there now we’re playing as a team.”