NAOISE Ó Baoill found it difficult to put his emotions into words when he spoke to the Donegal News after yesterday’s win.
A third year Biomedical Science student in Maynooth, Ó Baoill (21) was a bundle of energy throughout the final win over Naomh Conaill.
According to the match programme he stands at 5′ 5” but what he lacks in height he more that makes up in skill, speed and courage.
“I’m not built for GAA as I’m a bit small but I want to got out there and prove that small people can play at a high level of GAA. I hope that I showed that,” he said.
The son of a Japanese mother (Kumi) and Gaoth Dobhair father (Colm), Naoise was born in Sydney, Australia and the family only came to Ireland in 2009.
“I played one year of Aussie Rules before I came over here but I suppose I was a bit small for that too.” he laughed.
Over the past decade though he’s really adapted well to the skills of GAA and his explosive pace has long marked him out as a star of the game – as he showed yesterday.
“I was lucky to have boys like Tom Beag Gillespie in charge of me and our teams battled it out through the years. We were lucky to win minor and U21 titles but the talent was there. We just had to put in the hard work,” he said.
Ó Baoill has decided to park his college football commitments this year to concentrate his efforts solely on Gaoth Dobhair.
“Bringing the County title home to Gaoth Dobhair was the main goal this year. Twelve years is a long time waiting for a parish like Gaoth Dobhair. I hope everyone enjoys the celebrations tonight before we turn our attentions to Ulster which I think we can give a rattle,” he said.
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