BY HIS OWN admission, hard work on the field was an alien concept for Odhrán Mac Niallais when he was first drafted onto the Donegal squad.
Mac Niallais burst onto the scene in 2014, but actually made his Donegal debut as far back as 2011 when Jim McGuinness gave him a run in the McKenna Cup.
Eamon McGee, a team-mate now for club and county, marked him out as ‘one to watch’ back in 2012, describing Mac Niallais as “one of the most naturally talented footballers there is”.
In the time since, Mac Niallais has been transformed.
Whereas he’s now mucking in around the middle of the park, even seen back on his own ’20 in the replay win over Monaghan aiding his defence, back then, he just wanted glory.
[adrotate group=”43″]“Before I started to play for Donegal I was a free-flowing footballer and it was all about the attack,” he told Donegal Sport Hub.
“I just wanted to score, but when I came into Donegal I wasn’t used to working hard and defending too.
“It’s hard when it doesn’t come natural. You have to work on it. It isn’t easy when all you want to do is attack and put the ball over the bar. I’ve got it into my game now playing around the middle of the park.”
[adrotate group=”76″]Mac Niallais isn’t a fan of the winter training, but with the wind howling around him in Convoy eight months ago it was to weeks like this – and an Ulster final against Tyrone – that kept him going.
He said: “It’s all about the big day on Sunday. We’ve a lot of hard work done since November, December. This is what it was all geared towards, the Ulster final. We have it on Sunday and we can’t wait to get out there in Clones.
“Championship football is what it’s all about. That’s what you look forward to.
[adrotate group=”46″]“That’s what gets you through the winter months. That’s what your thinking about, the summer and playing Championship football, during the slogs in November and December.”
Listen to the full interview below …
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsporthub-club-notes/odhran-mac-niallais-ahead-of-2016-ulster-final
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