BY GERRY McLAUGHLIN
For Sean MacCumhaills manager Gary Wilson, it is all about getting bodies back on the field.
The start of the League has been a bit bumpy for the men from the Twin Towns, with four defeats to Glenswily, Termon, Naomh Conaill and Gaoth Dobhair.
However, it was better news last time as they had a valuable away win over struggling Kilcar in Towney.
“It was tough at the start of the League as we had a few lads that did not come back after 2024 and then we had four lads on the county U20 team but we hope to have three of them back for this weekend.
“The night we were beaten by Glenswilly, I think we were missing up to 13 players.
“All in all, I know results were not going our way but excluding the Glenswilly game we were getting good performances from the players we had on our team.
“Obviously we were lacking that bit of quality.
“It proves to us as a club, that to be competing at the top we need everybody and that was just not possible.
“But we did have a good result in Kilcar last weekend.
“We played Termon away, Glenswilly at home, Naomh Conaill away and at home to Gaoth Dobhair, and Glenswilly apart, we competed well in all of those games.
“It was a badly needed win in KIlcar.
“They were in the same position as ourselves, and were desperate for two points and for large periods there was not much between the sides and we gave away a soft goal but the breeze favoured us in the second half and we managed to kick a few two-pointers and we won by 0-19 to 1-8.
“But the final score did not reflect the closeness of the match.
“Kilcar fought hard, and they will be much stronger when their county players come back.”
Sean Martin, Conor McGinty and Ruairi Callaghan all performed well for the county under 20s and they will need to provide leadership going forward, especially as some seasoned campaigners are not about.
“We’re missing Andrew McCloskey who has just got married and is building a house and is a college lecturer so he has not come back yet.
“There are three in Australia, including Gavin ‘Fireman’ Gallagher and Sean Breen is in Austria.”
“To us Gavin Gallagher is the same as Leo McLoone is to Naomh Conaill and he is a huge physical presence and has strength and power.”
On the plus side, Wilson can call on the inspirational Luke Gavigan who has been a real leader and he is also the captain of the team and Jamie Keegan and Chad McSorley are also available.
And he saluted the dedication of dual players Fintan and Conor Griffin.
“Those two lads, especially Fintan who trains with the hurlers on Monday, with us on Tuesday, and he might depending on how he is feeling, train with the hurlers on a Wednesday and then we try and rest him on a Thursday, and he is playing for the hurlers on a Friday.
“The only day off he might get off is a Sunday.
“And Conor is juggling the dual aspect of county hurling and club senior football.
“You have to admire lads like that and Conor and Fintan are huge cogs for the hurlers who are going really well this year.
“But we had to find a way for them to play senior football and senior hurling and that has taken quite a bit of co-operation between Jamesie Donnelly and myself.
“There is a lot of good work going on in the club.”
Wilson is keenly aware of the challenge Malin will pose at the weekend.
“Malin will be very tough.
“They are big and physical, and they are strong, and they always have footballers like Terence Doherty, the Fildara McLaughlins (Paul, Christy, and Benny) who are great ball players and the O’Neills (Sean and Conor).
“We will not be underestimating them, and they have had a very good start, and it is not surprising as they have a very good team.
‘”They know what they are doing and they have been in Division One now for around three to four years, and with that comes more experience with younger players coming through.”
Wilson feels there is plenty of attacking flair within his club but it’s just about getting them all on the field together later in the year.
“Conor McGinty is a fine footballer, and he combines well with Jamie Keegan who is a very good player and has a phenomenal work rate.
“For the first four games we were minus Oisin Gallen, Joel Bradley Walsh, Kevin McCormick, Chad McSorley and Marty O’Reilly and they are all top players to go with our other absentees.
“Kevin picked up a bad knee injury in the U21 club campaign in December and has not come back.
“MacCumhaills have some very good footballers and always have and always will.
“The challenge is getting them all on the pitch at the same time.
“We just have to juggle that.”
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