Frank McFeely Donegal hero of yesteryear. A player before his time. Attending Donegal's 1992 All-Ireland penultimate championship title and the decider itself, Saint Columbs College Derry old boy Frankie McFeely kicked every ball, blocked every attempted opposition pass and outfielded TJ Kilgallon and Paul Clarke in turn. Like thousands of other gaels who had migrated to the capital from the land of the O'Donnells, the Ballybofey native only wished that the train of thoughts that whistled through his cerebellum would manifest itself as a scud capable of blasting open the opposition defence. Frankie McFeely, the one time player, was a man whom many combatants had reason to hold responsible for their demise some twenty years previous. Like most of his countrymen, the forty nine year old chartered accountant savoured every moment of Donegal's historic All-Ireland triumph last year. Instantaneous emotion became nostalgia which in turn underwent an understandable metamorphosis before finishing up as resignation for the adopted Metropolitan. Resigned, like so many of his 'ilk, to the fact that the hills of Donegal would be alight for many weeks and months to follow. Understandably, somewhat belated celebratory fare but still foreign to the 'erstwhile Donegal household star. A throwback to days of a similar mode when McFeely and company swept onto Ulster's throne some twenty years before, the former stoker of the Donegal engine room was one of the fans blue-eyed boys on the county's 1972 provincial winning team. A fetcher and runner wrapped into one, McFeely's charisma on the field of play, his honest endeavour and his ability to mix and match styles to suit the proceedings of the day, made him a favourite with the Donegal faithful. The indigenous folk back up north prepared to fete their hero like no Donegal footballer had been acclaimed in the previous eighth six years. In stark contract to that which engulfed the county's latter day captain, Anthony Molloy, after Sam crossed into the far north west, Frankie McFeely, the team's 1972 leader of men, had a conservative wind-down in the aftermath of the Ulster Championship success. The preordained post-match function was all there was to it. By the following morning, the Donegal captain was at his desk earning his daily crust. Though the match celebrations weren't comparable to that which surrounded the triumph over Dublin, the then 28 year old captain and ace midfielder wasn't a man who was going to lead the band in rousing another, more vigorous lap of honour around the north west of the country. Being an ultra-social animal was not a tag the young McFeely was particularly offay with. From a small farming background, public relations on behalf of the Donegal GAA was best left to the guys who found a high personal profile to their liking. Marathon celebrations were simply not up Frankie McFeely' street or lane for that matter. Born and reared within walking distance of Ballybofey town, the young McFeely was instantly hot property on the local underage football circuit. Before he had progressed to third level studies at University College Dublin, outings, albeit unsuccessful with Crossroads-Killygordon and Convoy had finely tuned his innate skills and placed him firmly in the GAA public eye as potential county material. An additional stint with his would-be home favourites MacCumhaills secured a county minor final place and a five star match performance went a long way to securing, for the naturally talented McFeely, a central berth on the Donegal minor team for two successive years. Excelling on the academic and sporting fronts at Saint Columbs College, Derry (where such notables as John Hume MP, poet Seamus Heaney and musicians Paul Brady and Phil Coulter also attended), an undiluted starring role in the game favoured by his ancestors was always on the cards for the Donegal student from the Derry diocese. Despite the regretted absence of any McRory Cup action at Columbs and a relatively low underage club profile, the Ballybofey youngster inherited a name that was, by his early teens, already well known in Donegal football circles. His father was, after all, a founding member of the MacCumhaills club while his older brother Brendan had established himself as a senior county player and would later go on to captain the Donegal 1963 Ulster Final team. Frankie McFeely was, in fact, doubly doused in things GAA as his mother's brother Frank Dunleavy (father of ex-Donegal defender Brendan), was also a member of the Ballybofey based club. Bolstering his inherited gradh for gaelic games was the circumstances which pertained in the Ballybofey area during young McFeely's formative years. The opening of MacCumhaill Park in 1956 and the success of his home club in winning their first county senior championship title three years later, made Frankie McFeely a soft and willing recruit into the local GAA adult fold. It wasn't long before all and sundry at the same MacCumhaill Park outfit were mighty glad to have McFeely, the younger, on board. Opposition forces expressed other sentiments, needless to say, Captain of the Donegal teams which captured the inaugural Ulster under 21 championship and the subsequent one too, in 1963 and '64 (by virtue of nine and sixteen point victories over Cavan and Monaghan respectively), Frankie prospered as a freelance midfielder, complimenting the silken skills of such as Anton Carroll, Declan O'Carroll, Micky McCloone and John Dan McMenamin. A player who could field and carry equally as well and had the stride to match, Frankie was an early entrant on to the senior county stage. For the burgeoning MacCumhaills star his debut against Armagh seniors in 1961 was the prelude to more than a walk-on part too. For the following twelve seasons, the Ballybofey battler was to emerge as a veritable luminary on the Ulster GAA scene. Before his inter county rating was to soar skywards, however, the MacCumhaill maestro enjoyed superb tidings on the club front. Invariably partnered by either Sean Young (ex-Roscommon team manager) or Tom Prendergast (Kerry's All-Ireland medalist), the 5'10" strapping midfielder was mobility personified as the Ballybofey boys romped to a hat trick of Donegal senior championship titles, 1962'64, defeating Gweedore, Kilcar and Dungloe respectively. With players like Harry, Bernard, John and Mickey Lafferty plus John Dan McMenamin supplementing the wiles and ways of the McFeely brothers, the MacCumhaill magic was something special. It was to be an appetiser for even better days for Frankie, however, on the colleges front. A commerce and later accountancy student at UCD, a Sigerson Cup triumph in season 1963/64 for McFeely coincided with a notable Dublin County League and Championship triumph in the same season. Par for the course, the Donegal dynamo was playing in good company as players like Longford's Bobby Burns, Donegal pair Paul Kelly and Bernard Brady, plus Kerry's Paudi Donoghue excelled. In truth though, times needed to be good at University, for the Donegal scholar was still smarting from the disappointment of a 1-4 to 2-11 Ulster final defeat to Down in 1963. Being part of the self same Donegal team which was subsequently to beat Down in tournament games later that year was of little consolation and if anything only served to remind McFeely and partners of their Ulster final inadequacies. Despite the nightmare Down championship affair, the galloping midfielder, with the pace of a corner forward, was suitably recognised for his efforts in '63 with an Ulster Railway Cup 'cap' and in the days of Messrs. Sean Ferriter and PJ Flood, an inevitable winners medal. Sandwiched by Down pair Sean O'Neill and Paddy Doherty on the half forward line, McFeely needed the solace of provincial success, for National League semi-final defeat to Kerry in 1965 and to Galway at the same stage two years later, seriously dented his faith in sporting justice. As it is, the Donegal half of the McFeely and McKiernan Chartered Accountants, Baggot Street, Dublin partnership maintains to this day that players like the aforementioned and others like Sean O'Donnell and Seamus Hoare never attained the rewards they were due. In many ways, Donegal's League defeat in 1967 has been viewed as a watershed among Donegal's litany of GAA watersheds. From that team, players like Neilly Gallagher, John Hannigan and the twin powers of O'Donnell and Ferriter exited the scene. It was the end of an era for the 1963/66 Ulster Final squads. A renewal of forces beckoned and was demanded by legions of supporters, crazy with the whiff of success denied. By 1972, the full aroma of ultimate success had engulfed the vast county of Donegal. A somewhat fortuitous goal from Seamus Bonner late in the provincial final against Tyrone was vital in securing not alone a 2-13 to 1-11 title win but also, according to long suffering Donegal fans, true justice. Managed by Cavan's 1947 All-Ireland winning hero Mick Higgins, the 1972 squad were expected to remain on Ulster's championship throne for at least another few seasons thereafter, but it wasn't to be. Tyrone came out of the shade in 1973 to scuttle Donegal's ambitions of defending their title at the first hurdle. A Donegal side backboned by 1966 veterans like McFeely, the seasoned midfielder, and the effervescent Declan O'Carroll had been unable to rebound from their All-Ireland semi final defeat to champions elect Offaly. The exit to Tyrone in '73 prompted Frankie McFeely's decision to draw the curtain on his football career. Hardly embittered and certainly not aggrieved, the MacCumhaill footballing cavalier would, observers suggest, have revelled as an exponent of the modern game. The playing side of the sport would be right up his street, with or without the captain's armband appendage. That the Donegal teams he laboured tirelessly with failed to realise their potential cannot take away for him the satisfaction and enjoyment he derived from the game he was born to perfect. A player before his time, wife Patricia and daughters Paula, Lorraine, Elizabeth, Lucy and Suzanne can be rightly proud of Frankie McFeely's Donegal days. Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 26th February 1993 Tweet

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