BY DÁIRE BONNAR
AFTER injuries hampered his career, Niall O’Donnell got back to his best and had a super season at both club and county level as Donegal once again became a team to fear in the All-Ireland championship.
O’Donnell’s first year with the Donegal senior panel was during the league in 2018 and he enjoyed early success as Declan Bonner’s side won the Ulster title in 2019.
After covid struck, the county had their own disappointments with losing Ulster finals to Cavan (2020) and Derry (2022), but O’Donnell had his own personal setbacks with injury and he admits that he wasn’t far off packing it in with regards to his intercounty career.
He opted out of the county squad in 2023 but a summer across the Atlantic in New York saw absence make the heart grow fonder and he was determined to get back into the squad this season with Jim McGuinness at the helm.
Knee surgery did allow the 26-year-old to get back fit, although a hamstring injury at the beginning of this year kept him out for the majority of the league campaign.
Under the new management, O’Donnell was assured he was in the plans of his boss and he got his chance in the Division 2 final.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about (giving up county football). I did go to America to get a better understanding of what I wanted to do, the commitments of county football were a lot and I wasn’t enjoying it because I had issues with my knee.
“If you’re playing something so much and not enjoying it then it’s probably not worth doing.
“And if it wasn’t going to get better (after the operation) then I don’t know if I would have went back but it allowed me to get more out of myself and put me in that bracket of playing for Donegal again.
“It probably was a crossroads in terms of my career, there aren’t many people that take years out and go back to Donegal, sometimes it’s easier to stay in that bubble.
“You have doubts in your head coming back in and you feel like you really have to prove yourself again, I had to wait longer than most.
“When I didn’t play the previous year I was wondering if (McGuinness) had plans for me and then in the first 15 minutes of the first training my hamstring went.
“But to be fair with anybody that was injured, Jim always said it was a long season and we’d mean something to the team and sometimes you might think that a manager is just saying that to keep you involved but he gave me my chance.
“You saw it then when Conor O’Donnell started in the Louth (quarter-final) game and Caolan McColgan started in the semi-final, us three and Jason McGee were all injured for a long time and we all got a chance to prove what we can do.
“Mine didn’t come until the league final when Jim decided to start me, but as a young fella growing up, all you want is to start at Croke Park for your county.”
His performance in the final helped him keep his place in the Ulster campaign which began with the impressive 4-11 to 0-17 over back-to-back Ulster winners Derry.
Another triumph in Celtic Park followed as Tyrone were beaten in extra-time, with O’Donnell impressing hugely.
And with their tails up ahead of Ulster final day in Clones, a Player of the Match inspired performance from O’Donnell helped Donegal defeat Armagh on penalties, earning him the Donegal News Sports Personality of the Month Award for May, in conjunction with Brian McCormick Sports & Leisure.
It was a second Anglo-Celt medal for the St Eunan’s man, but he admits it was a different feeling this time.
“It was superb, when we set out at the start of the year you have a few objectives but the Ulster win with how competitive it is, it was a great achievement and May was a great month for us.
“I feel we definitely deserved it having beat Derry, Tyrone and Armagh, and with Armagh winning the All-Ireland, it shows how hard it is to win Ulster.
“I remember when the draw was made, we knew Derry were on an upward trajectory but when Jim came in we knew we’d have the tools to play well and the closer it got to the game, the more prepared we were and it got to a stage where we were happy to get the game played after talking about it for six months. Everything went to plan on the day and it was a great result against a Derry side that had only just won Division 1 at the time.
“We felt really battle hardened after coming through Derry and Tyrone. A lot of people were tipping Armagh, it was 50/50 and came down to the wire but we felt confident as a group.
“When we won (Ulster) in 2019 Manus Kelly was after passing that day so there was no real celebrations so while it was the same medal this year, the two days are black and white.”
The All-Ireland series went well despite a blip against Cork and with Dublin and Kerry both knocked out, Galway stood in Donegal’s way of a first All-Ireland final for ten years.
It wasn’t to be on the day however and O’Donnell felt the Tribesmen were the better team but it was a dampener on an overall good season as Donegal were back as one of the big names in Ireland.
“It’s something we hadn’t experienced as a group, getting to an All-Ireland semi-final but we’ll take our learnings for our first time in a semi-final for ten years and we’ll try push on from that.”
Attentions soon turned to the club and another successful season saw St Eunan’s beat Naomh Conaill twice before a semi-final win over Gaoth Dobhair and they clinched the club championship title for the first time in three years in MacCumhaill Park against Dungloe last month.
“When you’re playing for St Eunan’s you’re always setting out to win the Dr Maguire and any year you do it is a positive.
“You never think about getting through to Ulster because you have to focus so hard on Donegal, but we had an opportunity we didn’t take against Errigal Ciaran who are a serious team.
“But any year you win Donegal is a successful year and that’s the picture we want to paint.
“For me it has been a successful year, in 2023 I didn’t win with the club and I wasn’t involved with Donegal so to win Ulster and Division 2 with the county and then the county title with the club, in years gone past you’d probably think that’s the most successful season you are ever going to get but with the group we have at St Eunan’s and Donegal you do want to try and push further.”
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