Quite an eventful year for young Naas and Kildare star Johnny McDonald 1991. The year that all those connected with gaelic football in Kildare are unlikely to forget for a very long time to come. The year the Lillywhites treked up to Croke Park to play Dublin in their first National League final appearance in 23 years. An occasion that signalled to all that at last, Kildare had emerged from their recent fog of obscurity to take their place in the warm spring sunshine of Croke Park on a big match day in front of 50,000 people. One of the half forwards on the Kildare team that day was 22-year-old Naas man John McDonald who wasn't even born the last time the midlanders appeared in a league final in 1968, when the All-Whites lost to Down by 2-14 to 2-11. For McDonald his appearance in the 1991 final - which Kildare also lost - was a memorable moment filled with a paradoxical mingling of excitement, wonder and bitter disappointment. And for the Kildare players and their supporters, the appearance of the Lillywhites in the final was a huge achievement, intensified even further by the fact that nobody had expected them to be there, fighting for major honours at the end of a long hard season. For months beforehand John McDonald had been?involved in the quite radical and, at times, highly publicised changes that were taking place in Kildare footballing circles. Changes that had started to occur soon after the arrival of the former Kerry manager, Mick O'Dwyer to take over the coaching duties of the county team. O'Dwyer arrived in the midlands in a blaze of publicity that signalled the rehabilitation of not only Kildare but also the flagging careers of some of its players including that of John McDonald. Throughout most of the eighties the Naas player had been playing for Kildare at various underage levels, from the U-14s upwards. His promising skills having been spotted by selectors who realised that here was a player that had the extra qualities required for intercounty football. The young player helped his county win U-14 and U-16 Leinster championships before he moved up into the minor ranks. In 1987 the Kildare minors, with McDonald in the forward line, won their way to an All-lreland semi-final. They had defeated Dublin in the Leinster decider but in the semi-final they were conquered by a Down side containing future stars such as Conor Deegan and James McCarten . And although the young Lillywhites trooped back down to the midlands denied a place in the final, they had at least savoured the big match occasion and what it was like playing in front of a big crowd, on live television. John McDonald wasn't sure if he would ever have the chance to experience the great feeling of running out of the Croke Park dressingrooms, along the darkened corridor to the brightness of the pitch bathed in sunshine to a chorus of loud cheers. Kildare, he knew, were one of the weaker sides. A team that showed some signs of getting somewhere in gaelic football but who always seemed to fall at a vital fence, often when the stakes were at their highest. John McDonald had grown up hearing about the Kildare team of the late sixties and the late seventies that reached six Leinster finals between the years 1966 and 1978, only to lose them all. There had been some very capable players playing in the white shirt during that period Jack Donnelly, Tommy Carew, Pat Mangan, Pat Dunny. But somehow there always seemed to be something missing, maybe that extra player or two or the fitness, commitment or confidence that would have carried them on to an All-Ireland final. Gradually, almost inevitably, Kildare's surge for glory fell away as they sank back into the mire of an occasional league victory followed almost inevitably by an early dumping out of the championship In between there was the odd flash of promise. In 1985 the midlanders got to the quarter-finals of the league where they were beaten by Monaghan. But the promise, as usual, faded. In 1989 John McDonald was drafted into the senior squad after playing for the U-21s. He played two games with the seniors. Then he drifted out of the squad, admitting that he lacked the necessary incentive and commitment needed. It was a time when his interest in the sport weaned a little. A time when he was happy enough helping out his club side. Then, out of the blue, and to a whirl of flashing cameras and newspaper article, Kildare was thrown onto the front pages by the announcement that Mick O'Dwyer, the man who had taken Kerry to 8 All-Ireland victories, was to join Kildare. The usual appointment of a former county player to fill the role of the manager was flamboyantly dispensed with. One of O'Dwyer first tasks in his new role was watching the Kildare county final between Naas and Clane. The occasion was made especially memorable for John McDonald, who was in the Naas forward line, by the extraordinary media attention that was given to the game and by the result. Naas won the match and the county championship for the first time in 58 years. The celebrations went on for weeks. McDonald feels that he probably did OK in the county final because soon after he found himself one of the players selected in the first Kildare squad picked by O'Dwyer and his fellow selectors. He remembers the first night that the new manager called his charges on the first training session. "It was a cold autumn night but 34 players turned up. Gradually the panel was cut but he talked to us that first night about the need for commitment. That if we really wanted to, we could win something". For many of the players, long starved of any success, this was sweet music. "Kildare had been in the doldrums for so long that many of the older players, I think, began to think that they could win something now with Kildare. There was a definite air of expectation, a buzz around the county that made the players more enthusiastic", recalls McDonald. McDonald talks of the "certain mystique" that surrounded O'Dwyer and how he began to change the thinking within the squad. "The man's reputation preceded him and he began to make us believe in ourselves. We didn't feel any inferiority complex. We felt that we could compete with the best and we had pride in our jersey. Of course we were also made aware that if we didn't perform well once we were given the chance, there would be someone else there to take our place'. This newly inspired confidence allied with a great deal of hard work began to bear some fruit. Kildare lost to Leitrim in the first round of their Division 2 campaign. But then they strung a couple of wins together to stay with the leading pack. It didn't look to be enough until the end of the campaign. "We played Mayo in the last match of the league. They were ahead coming into the last few minutes of the match when Bill Sex scored a goal for us with just two or three minutes to go. It seemed a lost cause for us until then but we just kept plugging away". Soon after, they beat Leitrim in a divisional playoff then went up to Croke Park to play Kerry in the quarter final. They defeated the Kingdom, 1-7 to 0-9, and suddenly expectations began to rise. "We didn't get over excited beating Kerry but when we beat Donegal in the semi-final the bandwagon really began to roll and there was a lot of talk of us actually winning it then. But on the big day all expectations crumbled as Kildare tasted defeat but only after they had given Dublin a very close run for their money. John McDonald enjoyed many aspects of the occasion. The excitement and razzmatazz associated with the big match day was invigorating. But the success of getting to the final brought with it its heavy weight of expectation. "The morning of the league final I was very nervous. I think like a lot of the other players I was affected by the occasion. It suddenly dawned on us here we were in the final, with a lot of people travelling up to see us. In the end, I suppose, it was our inexperience that showed." Kildare lost by a point. McDonald recalls with painful recollection, failing to find any sort of rhythm in the game with his marker Tommy Carr giving him endless trouble. But the Kildare forward is also quick to point out that in a recent challenge against Dublin, he was once again on Carr but this time scored 1-4. The value of experience? But then there was the championship with Kildare expected to breeze through to the Leinster final by way of an accommodating open draw. But a shock defeat by Louth in the first round left any flights of optimistic fancy shattered on the Drogheda pitch. "That was a terrible disappointment. I just don't know what happened to us that day. Maybe we peaked too early. Maybe they wanted to win more than we did. I don't know but it was terrible. A few lads were in tears after it. We didn't even want to discuss it", he recalls. So instead of chasing Kildare's first Leinster final success since 1956, John McDonald spent his summer helping Naas to their second successive county final. This time the Naas side were beaten by Clane - the team they had overcome the previous year to win the county Championship for the first time in almost 60 years. At 22, John McDonald knows that he is young enough to experience again the buzz of winning a county final or appearing in Croke park on big match day. These days football is as much a part of his life as breathing- filling most of his hours away from his job in the Kildare Chilling Company. But then football has always been an important part of his life ever since his late father Terry brought him to games as a youngster and encouraged him to improve his skills and learn more about a game at which he is now beginning to gain a glowing reputation. John's brother Terry was also part of the Kildare minor team that won the championship in 1983. And now in the new O'Dwyer era, John McDonald is hoping that he can be part of future triumphs in the famous Lillywhite jersey. Even though Kildare lost the 1991 league final, getting there was a very nice feeling. Near the top, where he would love to be again, this time to stay. Taken from Hogan Stand 8th November 1991 Tweet

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