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Chill Chártha preparing for Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta

The Chill Chártha team before the 2016 Donegal Senior Football Championship Final.

The Chill Chártha team before the 2016 Donegal Senior Football Championship Final.

By Michael Devlin

From the far south-westerly point of Donegal, down along the coastline of Ireland’s wild Atlantic way and into Kerry’s Gaeltacht on the most western tip of the Dingle Peninsula, Chill Chártha will travel to take part in the 2019 Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta All-Ireland Finals.

An Ghaeltacht are hosting this year’s competition in Gallaras on the Bank Holiday weekend in June, the 50th anniversary of the event that will feature clubs from all seven Gaeltacht counties, including relative newcomer clubs from Dublin and Belfast.

Chill Chártha though are mainstays of Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta, winning the title six times since it’s inauguration in 1969. In the qualifying rounds of Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta in Tír Chonaill last month they overcame reigning Ulster Club champions Gaoth Dobhair 1-9 to 0-9 to be crowned Donegal champions.

The competition is keenly contested in Donegal, Ulster’s sole Gaeltacht county. ”There’s a lot of clubs that get involved in Donegal,” says Chill Chártha player Aodhán McGinley, speaking at the launch of the tournament in Croke Park this week. “You go through a qualifier stage in March to get through to the May Bank Holiday weekend. Gaoth Dobhair organised it this year and it was a great weekend, not only because we won it!”

Gaoth Dobhair and Na Dúnaibh will join Chill Chártha at this year’s Comórtas Peilena Gaeltachta, and the tournament will make its way to Towney Park in 2024. It’s a festival of football and Gaeilge that McGinley savours every time he gets the chance to attend.

“You’re promoting Irish language and culture, and I suppose people playing football in the Gaeltacht areas, you’re tapping into everyone’s interest really. The music, the Irish language, and football is at the epicentre of it, it’s a great weekend.

“I’d missed the last weekend that we won in 2014, a few of us were doing our Leaving Certs and we couldn’t get down. It was in Downings last year, a very well run competition. We weren’t playing but we went down after training on the Sunday morning, and it was a savage weekend. We met up with lads from An Rinn that we know, we’ll probably see those lads again down in Gallaras this year and have a bit of craic.

“It’s nice for us to go down to Kerry this year and see how teams down there play, and take things back with us. Even vice versa, Kerry teams might have come up to Downings last year and take bits away and tweak their own game. Other than a football perspective, it’s a great weekend for bonding, everyone is from a similar background and culture.”

Chill Chártha recorded their second win over Gaoth Dobhair within a week of the Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta Tír Chonaill triumph, this time to go top of the Donegal Division One League.

County champions in 2017, last year they were ravaged by injury - notably to county stars Patrick McBrearty and Ryan McHugh - and crashed out of the county championship following a 1-9 to 0-6 quarter-final loss to Naomh Conaill. McGinley believes there are many pitfalls to be avoided in order to return to the summit of the ever-perilous Donegal Championship again this season.

Paddy McBrearty recently returned to action for Cill Chártha.

Paddy McBrearty recently returned to action for Cill Chártha.

“Last year there was a bit of hurt, we were missing two of the big heavy-hitters I suppose, it damaged our chances. If everyone stays injury-free this year you’d be hoping we’ll give it a big push. We all saw how good Gaoth Dobhair were last year in Ulster, and all credit to them, they deserve all they got.

“We know from the year before, after a long year it’s hard to come back the next year, so it’ll be interesting to see how they come back this year. It’s not just Gaoth Dobhair either, you can never look too far past Glenswilly when Michael Murphy is on the pitch, nor St Eunan’s or Glenties.

“The standard of club football in Donegal is very high, you’re constantly looking over your shoulder, and no matter who you are somebody is going to be there to get you at some stage.”

County football takes centre-stage on Sunday with the Ulster quarter-final showdown between Donegal and Fermanagh, and McGinley has the distinction of playing under both teams’ managers. He represented his county at under 21 level during Declan Bonner’s tenure, while Rory Gallagher was involved with Chill Chártha before he took over the Donegal reins in 2014.

McGinley believes Bonner has done a commendable job in steering Donegal to a Division Two league final, considering Michael Murphy missed the start of the campaign, and Patrick McBrearty’s absence due to injury.

“He’s given young lads a good chance which is a great job. Oisín Gallen seems to be a baller and I could see him becoming very good. Jamie Brennan is coming on more and more, I suppose it helped him in a way that he didn’t have the big heavy-hitters beside him, and he took on more responsibility.

“Paddy [McBrearty] played three or four games for us during the League during April. He was playing well for us too, in a massive game against Glenties he seemed to be sharp enough. He was very much doing his own rehab really, but you have to give him massive credit, having watched what he was doing over the last seven months or so. It is amazing how quick he came back, not many people can come back that quick. He’s a credit for the work he’s put in.

“You’ve Rory Gallagher, he trained us for a few years there. I know if anyone is going to be prepared for a game, it’s going to be him. He’ll know every single thing about the Donegal players, he’ll leave no stone unturned”

Another setback for Declan Bonner has been the loss of Odhrán MacNiallais, who opted not to return to the Donegal squad for the 2019 Championship season following Gaoth Dobhair’s club run. McGinley knows all too well of MacNiallais’ mercurial talent, but still reckons Donegal have enough to get past the Erne County on Sunday.

“The likes of Odhrán MacNiallais can turn a game on his own, he’s technically as good a footballer as you’ll see anywhere in Ireland. We played them in the league and in Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta, Odhrán was playing both games there and he’s hard to handle.

“I still think Donegal should have just about enough firepower for Fermanagh. You have the likes of Paddy if he’s playing, Murphy, Ryan [McHugh], you have a bit more firepower than Fermanagh, so I think Donegal should edge it.”