By Michael Devlin

No matter what he does in the green jersey of Gaoth Dobhair, even scoring heroic hat-tricks against Crossmaglen in Ulster semi-finals, Dáire Ó Baoill is still in line to face criticism from the local punters in Teach Mhicí.

Kevin Cassidy’s pub in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht is a hive of football chat, and it’s where Ó Baoill works part-time, along with fellow Gaoth Dobhair players Niall Friel, Naoise Ó Baoill and Dan McBride.

“Half the barmen are footballers. Kevin looks after us alright,” laughs the 20-year-old. “It’s all a bit of craic with them. They just want the inside gossip. You’d tell one lad one thing and the next something else. Next thing they’re fighting about what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s funny how it works.

“They’d be at all the games, we’d have our buses up and they’d all watch the games, they’d know all of the players for years - most of them would be down watching training like. It’s a bit of craic, and they know it’s a bit of craic too.

“Like I said, they’re my number one critics, they’d always tell you what you did wrong before what you did right, they wouldn’t give me that satisfaction. Same with Kevin, Niall, Naoise and Dan - sometimes we just need a break and we’d spend more time out in the pizzeria and the lounge rather than heading back out to the old folks in the bar.”

This is your quintessential tight-knit, rural GAA community, and Ulster final fever has gripped the area ahead of Sunday’s clash with Monaghan kingpins Scotstown in Healy Park. Gaoth Dobhair last won the Donegal title back in 2006, and while established names such as Cassidy and the McGee brothers, Neil and Eamonn, remain integral members of the team, an exciting crop of youngsters have come through, already brimming with silverware experience.

“There are flags and banners up the last few weeks, all the talk is down around the town,” says Ó Baoill. “It’s all football chat going around, even at mass and in the shops, it’s football, football, football.”

“There was enough pressure put on us in the last 10 or 12 years to get out of the county so once we won the county the burden was lifted off the chest. We’re taking it game-by-game now. If you talk about the experienced lads, Cassidy and the McGees, that was their first time, so we’re all just taking it game-by-game and enjoying it as we go on.”

“Nine of us are part of an U21s team that won Ulster last year, and that was a year ahead. So there is my age group and an age group behind me too that are eligible to play the next two years too.”

Remarkably, that team haven’t lost since U16 level within Donegal, and they carried in a winning mentality that has perfectly blended into the Gaoth Dobhair senior setup. The relaxed and confident attitude of the young bucks has even surprised the more experienced players in the dressing room.

“We were two years underage and we won the U16’s ‘B’, and then when it was our own age group then, and maybe a year older than me – I’d always play with the older boys then – it was Tom Beag Gillespie looking after us. From U16s on we haven’t lost a game underage.

“The older boys say, we only know how to go winning. Maybe going into games with cool heads, the older boys maybe do all the nerves for us, all the shaking and thinking. They can’t get over how laid back we are.

“The craic going up on the bus, you look up and maybe Cassidy would be sitting up at the front with the headphones on, and maybe Neil sitting quietly at the back through the lads. But that’s just the way it is, it’s a nice blend.”

Ó Baoill’s generation don’t have everything figured out however, and he maintains he is learning every day from his battle-hardened team-mates who have worn the jersey of Gaoth Dobhair, and Donegal, with such distinction.

“When you were younger, it was all about Kevin Cassidy, Neil McGee, and things like that," he said. "You were always looking up watching them on TV. They were the big dogs like. When you were younger you wouldn’t really think you’d get the chance to play with them. It’s brilliant going into games with them. When they switch on for games, that’s when you switch on too.

“Watching how they go about things, big crowds, the media and things like that, they know how to go about things, so we look up to them for stuff like that and they guide us through.”

In the Ulster semi-final against Armagh juggernauts Crossmaglen, speedy and direct Gweedore were in scintillating form, racking up 4-11 to win by seven points in the end.

Ó Baoill set the game alight with his goal-scoring exploits, scything through the Cross’ defence not once but twice to hit the net, before completing the hat-trick with a penalty to put the Donegal men well in the driving seat before half-time.

The free and easy ball supply going into Cassidy in full forward was another hallmark from the game, with the former All-Star winning more than his fair share to contribute 1-2 from play.

Ó Baoill’s treble, and the ease in which he was allowed to saunter through and claim his goals, surprised him as much as anyone else. “I’m prone to scoring maybe a goal or two, but the hat-trick was a bit of a freak game, that could have happened to anyone who saw the space behind. It kind of opened up and I was laughing when it was laid out in front of me, nothing but green grass to eat up. Then I just got lucky with the penalty.

“We knew it was going to be 15-on-15, but there was going to be a serious press on man-to-man. The likes of us and the legs we have, we know if you slip your first man that opens the whole lot because other defenders might have to drop off or panic about sticking with their own men.

“When it’s man-on-man, that’s when the speed of the likes of Cian Mulligan and Naoise going through on goal, you won’t be able to touch them in a race.”

Not since 1975 has a Donegal lifted the Seamus McFerran Cup, the now-defunct St Joseph’s defeating Castleblayney Faughs that year. The competition has largely been dominated by Armagh and Derry clubs, who have laid claim to the crown on 30 occasions between them, while Scotstown have accounted for four of Monaghan’s six triumphs.

Ó Baoill believes the level of competition in the Donegal Championship has made it hard for the county’s champions to push through in the last 40 years, while Tir Chonaill’s recent good fortunes at inter-county may have proven a strain for teams to keep the show on the road into late November each year.

“Yeah when you look back at the teams that went before us like Kilcar last year, Glenties, Glenswilly made it to a final. There was Killybegs back before that, savage, savage footballers. I’m not too sure how it never clicked in Ulster. Winning the county is that tough, teams tend to take it that that is the peak of the season.

“We kind of look at Donegal as a county that makes it through the stages, the All-Ireland quarters and semis, so maybe it’s just a very long season for them, especially if you’ve older lads who might be coming down towards the end of their career.

“It’s a long year when you think about it. Teams are back before Christmas and now you look at it and we’re still playing games when you should be out running in the muck.”

Scotstown have been dominating in Monaghan of late and are competing in their fourth Ulster campaign in succession. They lost the 2015 final to Crossmaglen, but with them and other Ulster superpowers out of the running, they have largely been picked out as favourites for the title from the outset. The underdog tag doesn’t bother Gaoth Dobhair in the slightest according to O’Baoill – they are well used to it.

“When you look at a team like Crossmaglen and the years they’ve had at Ulster and All-Ireland, it was all bonus territory for us, just taking it game-by-game. Even into Cargin we’d have been underdogs because Cargin would have been around that long too the last few years.

“That’s the way we are looking at Scotstown too. They probably think they have a hand on the cup already, now that the likes of Kilcoo and Slaughtneil are out, so they’d definitely be trying to make the best of that opportunity too. We treat every game the same, going in as underdogs.”

“Maybe Scotstown are better off clawing through the games, they haven’t played to their best potential yet it’s probably better than that at this stage, they didn’t run away with their semi-final like we did, especially against a team like Crossmaglen. It’s kind of funny how it works out, but that game is behind us now.”

Gaoth Dobhair will be well aware of All-Star winning Rory Beggan’s capability of winning a game from the goalkeeper position. His two long-range frees in injury time were the beating of Eoghan Rua in Omagh last day out, and he offers another dimension to the attacking play with his ventures out the field in possession.

“It’s mad to see it,” said Ó Baoill. “The confidence he has, coming out, he’d be as good as any of us outfield players. When he’s coming out, we’re just going to have to keep an eye on him because we all know how lethal he is. He can pick a score and the things he can do with a kick-pass is magnificent.

“At the same time, there’s not much you can do when you see a goalkeeper running out, it’s just unorthodox. Maybe that’s why it’s catching everybody out at the minute. Listen we have a system, we’re more concerned with our own game - maybe that’s why we’re doing so well this year, we’re not playing the jerseys against us - it’s just 15-on-15 in our eyes and if we win our own battle, it’ll carry on through.”

Should Gaoth Dobhair do it and bring an Ulster title back to the hills of Donegal way up in the far reaches of Ireland’s north-west, you can be sure there will be some party over the Christmas season in Teach Mhicí.

“Ah it’ll be mad now alright, but sure otherwise it would be a depression session. But we’re looking forward to it. It would be mad too, Cassidy’s place will be hopping.”