Strokestown ‘in with a shout’ against Glenullin

Strokestown GAA Chairperson Damien Donlon has praised the club’s intermediate footballers for taking ownership of a rollercoaster season, which has left them just 60 minutes away from a possible All-Ireland final appearance in Croke Park.

The Roscommon and Connacht intermediate champions make the trip to Fr Tierney Park, Ballyshannon, on Saturday to meet Derry outfit, Glenullin, in their AIB All-Ireland semi-final. In a season where the club lost some special stalwarts, Donlon has credited the players for putting the smile back on people’s faces.

“If you’re involved with Strokestown — whether you’re a supporter, player or official — the best way to describe it is that it’s like a rollercoaster. The last number of years has seen ups and a lot of downs.

“For me, the lads seem to have a hangover from being relegated in 2023. The players themselves have taken ownership this year. They’re putting their own imprint on it.

“At the start of the year, they looked at what went well and what didn’t work the previous year. They’ve made adjustments and moved on.

“We had a devastating start to the year. Our Club President Tony Flaherty died in January, and a week later Fozzy (Martin Fallon) passed away.

“There’s a GAA poem that talks about honouring the legacy of those that have gone before you and creating your own, and that’s the way I put it to them. That has been repeated a few times to them during the year. In fairness to the lads, they have responded magnificently to that,” he highlighted.

Donlon, a former Roscommon player, soldiered in the trenches with the late Martin Fallon for both club and county. Capturing two major titles, with a third possibly appearing on the horizon, has been a fitting way to honour “Fozzy” and his family.

“Fozzy’s jersey has been in the dressing room before games. He was my generation, and I said to them after the Connacht final that they’ve brought massive comfort to so many club supporters and members who were closely connected with Fozzy and his immediate family.

“We’ve also been lucky enough with the injection of some youth — Stephen Tighe has been a breath of fresh air, Seán McDonnell is starting to come into it now, Dillan Casey has been exceptional all year. Then you have a certain Colm Neary who, in my opinion, is on a trajectory to be Roscommon’s Lee Keegan.

“You put that together with the experience of David Neary, Colin Compton and Diarmuid McGann, and you’ve got the right mix. They’d admit themselves that they weren’t playing exceptionally well all year. But in the Connacht final, they produced the performance we knew that was in them,” he pointed out.

By the time Saturday rolls around, it will have been six weeks since that famous 4-11 to 0-14 victory against Kilmeena in Castlebar, a timeframe Donlon doesn’t feel is advantageous to his side.

“I think all these games should be played every second week but there’s no co-ordination between the provinces on dates. There’s nothing you can do about it. When you get to an All-Ireland semi-final, you don’t mind how long you have to wait. But, in terms of fluency, it would be better to have it before Christmas.

“We have two lads (Niall Curley and Seán Mullooly) out of the country at the moment. Trying to see if they can get back is problematic. Both of them are so crucial to the team. At this time of the year, you are always running into injuries, so it’s not straightforward,” he admitted.

Donlon also feels that the 12.30 p.m. throw-in time is a strange call, meaning an early start for both teams and their supporters on Saturday.

“Almost all the junior, intermediate and senior semi-finals are on the one day. I don’t know, 12.30 p.m. seems like a ridiculous time for both sides. Glenullin have a long way to come down and we’ve a bit of travelling to get up there (to Ballyshannon).

“It doesn’t make sense that it’s on at that time. It doesn’t give huge respect to the competition, or to either team. But it is what it is. It’s the same for both sides. If it was at seven o’clock in the morning, all our supporters would be there,” he noted.

And what of Glenullin, a side that defeated Cavan side, Cuchulainns, in the Ulster final on the club’s 100th anniversary. Former Derry player Eoin Bradley’s contribution of 1-3 caught the eye, while the seismic contributions of Ryan and Neil McNicholl will also have been noted by the Strokestown players and management as they finetune their preparations for Saturday’s showdown.

“We’re definitely going to have to get to the level we produced against Kilmeena again. Having watched the Ulster intermediate and senior finals, you can appreciate how club football up there is so passionate.

“Seeing what it meant to the Glenullin supporters to win Ulster, it means that our lads are going to have to be as good, if not better, than they were in the Connacht final. But if they can do that, they’re going to be in with a shout,” he concluded.