COLM MCGONIGLE had the year of his dreams in 1979, winning four All-Ireland titles between soccer and GAA.
The highlight of McGonigle’s year, he says now, was the 3-1 win over Shelbourne for Fanad United in the FAI Youth Cup final, a game played at Ramelton’s Swilly Park.
McGonigle had success in both codes with St Eunan’s College and Donegal also won the Youth Interleague Cup that year, but it was in the red and black of Fanad that McGonigle – the soccer award winner at the 1979 Donegal Sports Star Awards – had his highlight.
“The biggest one of the lot might have been the Fanad United Under-18s: It was a mix of boys from PCC in Falcarragh plus the half-a-dozen or so Fanad boys,” he says now ahead of this week’s 41st Donegal Sports Star Awards.
“It was a massive thing to win. There was a huge crowd in Swilly Park and we beat a fancied Shelbourne. It was amazing.”
McGonigle went on to have a fine senior career, a period that began when Eunan Blake signed him for Athlone Town at the Bacon Factory in Letterkenny.
At Galway United, he just missed out on a Premier Division title. He says: “We had some household names in Galway. We were unlucky that we were about at the same time as the great Shamrock Rovers team. We lost three games in the one week and we lost the league by a point.”
Listen to the full interview below …
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsporthub-club-notes/colm-mcgonagle-reflects-on-soccer-career-ahead-of-donegal-sports-star-awards
