Naomh Conaill have rightly been described as the team of all talents with a bench that is the envy of many other clubs in the county.
Competition for places must be fierce and that competition is fuelled by the fact that they have an equally strong reserve team.
But, when asked if his biggest headache was in picking the first 15, affable and articulate Glenties manager Martin Regan is quite emphatic: “No I don’t see it as a huge headache.
“Games are not won on starting 15’s they are won in the last 10-15 minutes with fresh men in.
“And that’s where it is important to have players coming on and no matter what 15 we start with we know we have good players coming in and we know we are going to finish with just as strong if not stronger 15.
“That is a huge source of comfort for if we pick up an injury we know we are not going to be weakened too much.”
He added: “If you look at the players we brought on in the semi-final against Glenswilly, Eoghan McGettigan would start most days for us and he got a great point.
“John O’Malley also came in along with Aaron Thompson who was probably our best player against St Eunan’s in the group stages.
“We have great options if we pick up a black card, we know we have the subs so we are not too worried.”
But Glenties also have quite a few other big players with three county title already.
Leo McLoone, Marty Boyle, Eoin Waide, Anthony Thompson, Aaron Thompson and Brendan McDyer all have three county medals.
“That does count for a lot as well and is a huge help that we have a pretty strong reserve team as well.
“That was very important in the training when some of the lads were away with the county team.
“So we always had 20-25 quality players at training every night and that can only help you.
“And even with boys back in college these days we still have upwards on 30 at training.”
Regan is a soft spoken, but very deep- thinking man who looks beyond the usual bland clichés in his take on Sunday’s big clash.
It is a balmy evening in the Waterfront Hotel, Dungloe as he carefully assesses his side’s chances.
When told that Gaoth Dobhair are making his team hot favourites in view of their vast experience, he chuckles:
“They would.
“No Gaoth Dobhair are deservedly favourites, they beat us about a month ago although we were missing a few players, like Dermot Molloy, Ethan O’Donnell and Brendan McDyer.”
Crucially, Glenties have come through a far tougher group to get to the final, having beaten St Eunan’s, Kilcar and Glenswilly en route.
Unlike Gaoth Dobhair’s facile semi-final win over Sean MacCumhaill’s, Glenties were pushed all the way by the Michael Murphy/Neil Gallagher inspired Glenswilly in their semi-final.
“Glenswilly never make it easy, they won three titles in 2011, 2013 and 2016 and were in the Ulster club final in 2013.
“We knew they were going to be tough and were just delighted to get through.”
So where will the biggest threat come from Gaoth Dobhair?
“They have it all over the field with huge pace from the likes of Cian Mulligan, Kieran Gillespie, Naoise O’Baoill, Niall Friel and Michael Carroll, so if you leave gaps they will punish you mercilessly.
“Odhran MacNiallais is playing very well and Kevin Cassidy has anew lease of life inside.
“Eamon McGee has also been outstanding and I was impressed with Eamon Collum who racked up a big score in the semi-final and Neil McGee is some full-back.
“They have endless talent and they will be around for a while.”
So can Naomh Conaill win on Sunday?
“Of course we can beat them, we would not be there otherwise.
“But at the same time if we don’t play to our potential Gaoth Dobhair will exploit an weaknesses in our side.
“We will need to be at ourselves.”
