WHEN DANNY MCDAID was posting letters and posting personal bests back in the early 1970’s, he lived in Fairview in Dublin.
Running out of Clonliffe Harriers at the time, McDaid recalls flicking through on of the national papers, most likely the Irish Independent, seeing awards nights in various counties and thinking to himself something like that might just work in Donegal.
Between his appearances at the Olympic marathons of 1972 in Munich and in Montreal four years later, McDaid moved back home to Newmills.
Photo caption: Chairman of the Donegal Sports Star Awards Committee Neil Martin, Danea Herron and Danny McDaid. Photo by Declan Kerr, Donegal Sports Star awards PRO
And in 1976, the Donegal Sports Star Awards was born, with its first staging taking place at the Milford Inn Hotel with 1956 Olympic 1500m champion Ronnie Delany the guest of honour.
McDaid, though, wasn’t there. Although he will be tonight for the event’s 40th staging.
“I missed the first couple as the event always clashed with the International Cross-Country Championships that took place on the same weekend in Gateshead,” he recalls. “My wife Kathleen collected the athletics awards on my behalf but I made it back for the 1979 awards. I was honoured to be there.”
With his wife taking home the silverware as McDaid won the athletics awards at the first staging in 1976 and then a year later, 1979 was the famous year of the postal strike and the World Cross-Country Championships that took place in the muck at Limerick Racecourse.
John Treacy won gold for Ireland in the individual event, while McDaid, who came 11th overall, captained the Irish team – with Gerry Deegan, Mick O’Shea, Donal Walsh and Tony Brien all scoring – to silver medals.
McDaid was well scrubbed up by the time he was named as the overall winner of the Donegal Sports Stars awards.
“The committee had people like Brendan McDaid, Fr Mick Sweeney, Denis Martin, Harry Blaney and Hugh Strain was the MC,” McDaid recalls. “Back then, athletes and sportspeople weren’t so media-orientated and didn’t do so many interviews, so sometimes Hugh didn’t always get the answers he might’ve wanted!”
McDaid, now 74, hasn’t missed many of the awards night since. He has watched on as the event has developed through the passing of time. It has, in many ways, grown and evolved in unison with Donegal’s sporting achievements.
“At one stage there mightn’t have been 80 people at it as awards nights started sprouting up here, there and everywhere,” he adds.
“But the committee -with new people like Gerry Davenport, Neil Martin and Declan Kerr – persevered and have done an excellent job.
“Last year there was close on 600 in attendance and it was as big an event as you’ll find all around the country.
“The scope has broadened so some sports which mightn’t be considered as popular now get recognition and that recognition and encouragement is a spur for young people in their given sporting field.
“People like Mark English and Shay Given and whoever have gone onto to become international sportspeople and they would rank their Donegal Sports Star awards as high as anything.
“Donegal has some of the biggest names in Irish sport right now and the Sports Stars can take a little bit of credit for that.”
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