IT’S been an upsetting and challenging few months for the community in Cloughaneely.

The tragic deaths of four young men – John Harley, Daniel Scott, Shaun Harkin, and Micheal Roarty – back in January in a car crash has left a dark cloud over West Donegal.

It shocked the community and no-one was immune from the grief as the locality came to terms with that harrowing night.

It was particularly testing for the Cloughaneely GAA club who lost their senior star John Harley, as well as Daniel Scott who wore the blue and white with pride.

Their teammates are still devastated, but last week they produced a stirring display in their first All-County league game of the season, and bainisteoir Michael Lynch says they are strong and united as they look forward to the campaign ahead.

“It’s been a very tough couple of months for everyone.

“John was probably the heartbeat of our team over the last couple of years when I was in charge.

“His family would have went to every game since John was underage.

“Daniel (Scott) was a big part of club and would have played the whole way up.

“Most of the lads were friends with Shaun and ‘Roycee’ (Micheal Roarty) as well.

“It has been tough, and the grief affects everybody in different ways. You just have to try and take it day by day, week by week.

“It’s not easy, and it’s only a game of football at the end of the day, but it probably has galvanised the club, and brought everyone together.”

Cloughaneely have received a lot of good will and Glenfin made a presentation to them before their recent Gaeltacht game, and St Michael’s did the same last week before their outing at the Bridge.

There was a large travelling support at that game in Dunfanaghy as the people of Cloughaneely got behind their team.

“There definitely was a big crowd down, and I suppose you’d rather it wasn’t a tragedy like that that made people come out.

“There wasn’t one person in the area who wasn’t affected, and it was nice to see people out in numbers to support us last week.

“The spirit shown by the community has been brilliant, and it would restore your faith in people.”

Cloughaneely lost their first game back in Division 1 last week to near neighbours St Michael’s by a point, but there was still plenty to take from it.

Lynch gave senior debuts to three players – Finn McGinley, Noel Sweeney, and Micheal McHugh – and while, they got off to a bad start, the Falcarragh men came back strongly.

Cloughaneely hit nine points in-a-row to lead by four at half-time, but St Michael’s gradually clawed back their deficit in the second period, before Martin McElhinney struck the winner.

“We found ourselves five points down and heads could have dropped,” said Lynch.

“But they stood up and while we were disappointed not to win, it was a good performance.

“St Michael’s have a lot of stronger runners like Colin McFadden, Martin McElhinney, and Daniel (McLaughlin), but for twenty minutes they were running back towards their own goal.

“Jason (McGee) was very, very good, and I would say that was his best ever performance in a Cloughaneely shirt.

“Our forwards – Cillian (Gallagher), ‘Doxy’ (Darren Ferry), and (Shaun) McGarvey are all capable of scoring if they get a chance.”

Former Donegal minor and Under 21 player McGarvey transferred out of the club last year when he was living down in Mayo.

However, he is back in the fold for Cloughaneely this season, and undoubtedly a talented player.

“He played very well last year, and when he’s in the mood, he’s very hard to stop.

“It’s good to have Shaun back and we would be hoping for a big year from him.”

Cloughaneely battled well in Division 1 last year, and they were hard to beat at Páirc Naomh Fionnan.

However, the pitch has caused problems at the end of the summer in each of the last couple of campaigns, and the club have taken the decision to address the issue.

That means they will play their home games at the nearby PCC school pitch.

Lynch said: “We were hoping to get a game or two on the home pitch but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

“We’re digging it up to get a new surface, it’s probably long overdue at this stage.

“All the younger lads would have played on the PCC pitch plenty of times, so they should know it well.”

Cloughaneely have a tough game this Saturday when they host St Eunan’s at PCC, with throw-in at 6.30pm.

The Letterkenny men have one of the strongest panels of players in the county and they got their season off to a flying start with a comfortable win over MacCumhaill’s last week.

“We know we won’t get anything handy against St Eunan’s.

“I think the last time they were down they beat us by 13 points. We don’t have a great record against them.

“But we will go out and give it our best and try to push on from last week.

“We’ll try to go out and play the type of football we played in the first half last week, and see where that takes us.”