DONAL REID HANGS UP HIS INTER-COUNTY BOOTS Donal Reid's formal announcement of his retirement in the Donegal press last month was more confirmation of what most followers in the county had suspected anyway. His last Championship game for Donegal was against Armagh in the '93 series and he hasn't been involved since. The real point of his public statement perhaps was to protest at the manner in which he was excluded by manager P.J. McGowan. He had intended to retire this year but had hoped to be involved in '94. In hindsight however, he's glad he is no longer involved because this year, he says, was "a disaster". Donegal lost to Monaghan in the Ulster quarter final this summer. McGowan took over the reins in '94 and the new management, Reid believes, found it hard to handle a team that had won the All-Ireland. "They looked around at fellows ages and I suppose they didn't want to retire us, they wanted us to retire ourselves but I still thought I had something to offer. I was left in limbo I didn't know where I stood and there were a few other players like that. I'm very different from other people probably, I like to know if you're in the panel or you're not in the panel. When you come to a 33-year old or a 32-year old you don't say "well, we don't know". I mean one likes to know what's happening. I'm involved in business and I can't leave fellows hanging or put them on the long finger, they have to know". "I'm not bitter about the thing, not at all, I was just disillusioned and actually I had some of the best years ever this year in football. I went straight into management with the Under 21s and we won the Ulster Championship". In addition he also won his first ever Senior county Championship this summer with the Tara club in London. He has been studying physiotherapy by correspondence over the last years and with his finals coming up soon he had been commuting to London all summer so he joined Tara. The experience was great and the football gave him a new lease of life, he enjoyed it immensely: "I suppose to be respected again and appreciated again and to know that you're still wanted". He doesn't miss the county football at all now, he has enough on his plate to keep him going. Married with two daughters and busy as marketing manager with Donegal Creameries Plc., the physiotherapy studies has occupied most of any spare time he has left but he has spent a fair bit of time on physio couches during his twelve year county career and became interested in the subject. Like any other Donegal player who lined out on that historic day in 1992, September 20th, Donal Reid will always be remembered as one of that team which brought the first ever All-Ireland title back in Donegal. An achievement of that magnitude defines a person's life to some extent and anything he does in later life will probably be dwarfed by that distinction. It doesn't matter that its significance might fade for him as the years go by - it's how others will define him. "It will always stand out and sometimes I don't like people putting this tag on you but I mean we won it and you have to accept that, that's part of it. You've no choice but to be honest my feet are firmly on the ground about it. Like goes on, it was a match, it was a great for the county and all but you're only as good as your last game and that, unfortunately, was our downfall in '93 and '94 because the All-Ireland was probably still there in too many people's minds". The euphoria that pertained in the county in its aftermath was difficult to escape, Donegal had an almost invincible run in the League and got to the final against Dublin in '93, losing in a replay. It all took its toll. Donegal won their All-Ireland final against Dublin playing the type of running game that many teams have copied since. None, however have come close to the level of fluency they reached that day. Donal explains that the '92 side was a combination of the teams that won All-Ireland Under 21 titles in 1982 and 1987. But it was with perfect timing that they managed to play their best ever version of the running game on the day they needed it most. They never played as well before - and haven't since. "I think, actually, the day we played Derry in the Ulster final that year we had a man sent off and with 14 men in the second half we were down two points and had to throw caution to the wind. We had to play our own brand of football and that was the short running game. That's the way we play football here because we don't have big teams. Our forward line was very small that year so we had to play the running game. As well as that, the team was extremely fit. We knew then I think, the day we beat Derry in the Ulster final, we believed in ourselves we knew we could do it". The level of support play on the day was phenomenal and it took exceptional levels of fitness to pull it off. Donegal had trained very hard that year but they also had put in a deep foundation of stamina from the previous year, says Donal. The other remarkable aspect of their performance that day was that every player played almost to his full potential and many played above themselves. And that included the subs who came into the fray. "We left no stone unturned, we were very well prepared for the game and people didn't give us a chance but we were very confident in ourselves. We had to deal with this psychological thing of the crowd and all but as long as we were fit to do that we knew we had the potential to do it. As well as that, we knew what Dublin were about, they played this long ball but that time we were able to cope with it. I think we caught Dublin more or less that day". The Donegal running game was facilitated greatly by their backs, all of whom were comfortable on the ball, who were natural ball players as opposed to man-marking defenders. "If you look at our defence, out of six defenders only one of those actually played club football in the backline, the rest were forwards. Our two corner backs were Noel Hegarty and Barry McGowan. I mean they are forwards, those guys play in the forward line for their clubs, they're pure footballers and that was our foundation, the fact that we were all footballers". But the argument could be made that Dublin's problem was that they had too many footballers in defence, like Mick Deegan and Tommy Carr, who let Manus Boyle and Declan Bonner play havoc? "Well, if you ever get a close look at the video, if Noel Hegarty or Barry McGowan went up the field either myself or John Joe Doherty dropped back to corner back to cover their positions. We were very conscious of that it was in our minds all the time and when I dropped back to cover their positions. We were very conscious of that it was in our minds all the time and when I dropped back James McHugh dropped back into the right half back position and when they kicked out the ball we kept those positions until the ball went out of play. We had everything worked out, you know, it wasn't just haphazard". Donal was a member of that successful Under 21 team of 1982 alongside fellows such as Matt Gallagher, Joyce McMullen and Anthony Molloy, all of whom were there ten years later. He made his Senior Championship debut in 1983 and won an Ulster title that year. He went on to play a record-breaking 131 times for his county, 28 of which were Championship games. He made his League debut in November League quarter final. Along with his All-Ireland titles at Under 21 and Senior, he has three Ulster medals, two Railway Cups and a Dr. McKenna Cup. He was a replacement All-Star in 1990 and was selected Donegal Footballer of the Year on two occasions. It's been a long road, with a lot of disappointments thrown in. "A long, long road, aye, a lot of disappointments but a lot of happy times too, you always remember the better times. I have been very lucky in football, the first year I played Senior football we won an Ulster Championship an we were just after winning the All-Ireland Under 21s this year before an I thought 'well this is what football's about' but we had six very lean years with nothing at all. But it was nice to have been part of the '92 team, no doubt about that". He definitely believes that Martin McHugh had another year or two left in him on the Donegal team but the core of that '92 team is gone at this stage. A native of Killygordon near the Derry/Tyrone border where he played with Red Hugh's, he is looking forward more and more to team management as the curtain draws on his own playing career. He will be in charge of the Under 21s again this season and has 16 players from the last year's squad of 24. Their Ulster title was hard earned last year, beating Down In Newry, Fermanagh - the defending champions, Monaghan and then Cavan after a replay. "There was nothing easy about it but it was brilliant. You can see things from a different perspective and understand how difficult it is for management. I was delighted for the fellows that Kerry beat us in the semi final". Ultimately he would like to manage Donegal at Senior level and believes that he is constantly learning about the game. He would like to bring all his playing experience and management knowledge to bear in the Donegal Seniors somewhere down the line. "Definitely, I have the county at heart and have a genuine interest in the county and if I felt the same way in a couple of years, then definitely I would like to try it". Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 17th November, 1995 Tweet

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