Football

Leo McCloone aiming for more Glenties glory

Clontibret's Brian Greenan and Naomh Conaill's Leo McLoone in action during the Ulster Club Senior Football Championship Semi Final between Clontibret and Naomh Conaill at Healy Park Armagh on November-16- 2019. Pic Philip Walsh.
Clontibret's Brian Greenan and Naomh Conaill's Leo McLoone in action during the Ulster Club Senior Football Championship Semi Final between Clontibret and Naomh Conaill at Healy Park Armagh on November-16- 2019. Pic Philip Walsh. Clontibret's Brian Greenan and Naomh Conaill's Leo McLoone in action during the Ulster Club Senior Football Championship Semi Final between Clontibret and Naomh Conaill at Healy Park Armagh on November-16- 2019. Pic Philip Walsh.

By Paul Keane

Naomh Conaill possess four Donegal senior titles but it's their first, in 2005, and their last, mined out of rock just a few weeks ago, that chime loudest with Leo McLoone.

That 2005 breakthrough engineered by Jim McGuinness, his first significant statement in football management, came against the head at a time of difficulty for the club.

"It came out of nowhere," recalled McLoone. "We were proposed by the county board to play intermediate football that year. We ended up staying up in the senior championship. We were playing Malin in the first round of the championship and a late goal won it for us by Paddy Campbell. Jim just instilled a belief into the players that we can win something here, if we work hard enough we can win it."

The Glenties club collected more titles in 2010 and 2015 but it wasn't until they made it four late last month following an epic trilogy of finals with Gaoth Dobhair, the holders and reigning Ulster champions, that McLoone truly felt the spirit of 2005 again.

"There were two (titles) in between but this is the first time it really felt like the same atmosphere at home as it was in 2005," said McLoone, who made his senior club debut at just 16 that season.

"I think the people and ourselves realise how hard it is to get to finals and to win them and to have success. Everyone just really rowed in behind what we were trying to do this year. I suppose for the people of Glenties, they had seen how hard it was in each of the county finals we played this year and they were all very proud of the players and how hard they worked, and to come out the end of it. There's been a great buzz and a great atmosphere around the area."

In all, it took over 220 minutes of football to separate Glenties from Gweedore, McLoone and Co eventually breasting the winning-line tape on a Wednesday evening, just days before they were due to play Castlerahan in the Ulster championship.

"Wednesday night rolled into Thursday and Thursday rolled into Thursday night but by Friday we had everyone down on the pitch," said McLoone. "We only did a very light session, as you can imagine, with a bit of a warm-up, just to get a bit of a sweat up. Everyone just got focused really then for the Castlerahan game."

Cute punters reckoned they were onto a winner when they piled on the Cavan side to take advantage of Naomh Conaill's fatigue.

It didn't happen, the Donegal champions winning by a goal and taking out Conor McManus and Clontibret in the semi-finals. As much as Gaoth Dobhair upped standards and expectations by winning Ulster last year, it all feels a little like bonus territory for McLoone.

"I think so, aye, because the Donegal championship is so hard to get out of," said the ultra experienced county man. "Teams like Kilcar, Gaoth Dobhair, St Eunans, they're all strong, so to get out of there was a big thing for us. I think there was a bit of relief when we go out the other end of the Gaoth Dobhair games and with that relief comes a bit of pressure off. We could go out and probably play with a bit more freedom."

Unlike 2005, there's no McGuinness around this time dropping nuggets of inspiration.

"No, no, we haven't seen Jim in a while, he's still in America," said McLoone, centre-forward for Donegal when they won the All-Ireland under McGuinness in 2012.

Gone but clearly not forgotten and responsible, according to McLoone, for a general rise in standards in Donegal, at club and county level, over the last decade or so.

"When Jim came in to train us with the club, he just instilled a belief in the players that we can win something, that if we work hard enough we can win it," said McLoone, also part of McGuinness' Donegal U-21 team that came up just shy of Dublin in the 2010 All-Ireland final. "He brought in a style of play that worked for us in 2005, against a very good St Eunan's side that went on afterwards to win three-in-a-row. From a club perspective, he definitely ignited something for us at that level.

"He had the Donegal U-21 job then and the senior job. In 2010, with the U-21s, we won the Ulster championship and got into the All-Ireland. I suppose he instilled that belief again in us and it was a similar style of play.

"The rest then, 2012, going on to win the senior All-Ireland, you could argue that he's had a huge bearing on how Donegal football has evolved, how it has improved really."

Back to back Ulster title successes for Donegal clubs, something never achieved before, would be another huge fillip for the local game.

Naomh Conaill were at this stage once before, in 2010, when they lost by five points to a Crossmaglen Rangers side in its pomp. Almost a decade on, Kilcoo won't strike the same fear into Glenties supporters though they're a formidable outfit, runners-up in 2012 and 2016.

"They have dominated Down over the last 10 years," noted McLoone, referencing Kilcoo's seven county wins since 2012. "They have a lot of experience in Ulster finals so it's going to be a tough game. We are probably just really focusing on ourselves and trying to get our own game right, trying to play to our potential really and we'll see where that takes us."

The winners will play the Leinster champions - Ballyboden St Enda's or Eire Og - in the All-Ireland semi-finals on the first weekend of January. The final is pencilled in for January 19 and after that, if Naomh Conaill make it that far, McLoone will have a decision to make about his county career.

"I haven't made any decision on that yet," he said. "It's something I will do, I'll sit down when the club run is over, whenever that will be, I won't make any rash decisions, just see how things pan out really."

ENDS