BALLS.IE HAVE LABELLED Donegal and Gaoth Dobhair defender Eamon McGee as ‘one of the most outspoken liberals in the GAA.’
On the sports website this morning, there’s a feature on the ‘Most interesting men in the GAA right now.’
Photo caption: Eamon McGee in the pre-match warm-up before Donegal’s Allianz League Division 1 fixture against Monaghan in Castleblayney this year. Photo: Geraldine Diver
“McGee was one of the first GAA players to support a Yes vote in last year’s marriage referendum,” Balls.ie said. “Such was opposition to his stance in his home village of Gweedore, McGee was denounced from the pulpit by a visiting priest. He also received hate mail because of his views.”
[adrotate group=”46″]McGee said: “There’s been letters to the house with no names on them saying that I’m going to hell and leading the people of Ireland to hell, all this off-the-wall stuff. Obviously, you’d prefer it didn’t happen but I feel I’m doing the right thing.”
There’s also reference to the now legendary story of 2006 when McGee missed the Donegal team bus on their way to Clare before accidentally getting a taxi to Carlow. Realising his mistake, McGee made his way as far as Galway where he waited on a friend to take him to Clare.
“I remember back to 2006 and it was Paddy’s Day,” McGee said on Newstalk’s ‘Off the Ball’ last year. “I decided to go for one pint on the Friday, which turned into a massive session.
[adrotate group=”53”]“We were due to play Clare on the Sunday and I missed the bus and I thought to myself ‘oh no, what am I going to do?’ So I jumped in a taxi and told to him to take me to Carlow. This is from Donegal and I’m on my way to Carlow.
“I rang Brian McIver [Donegal manager at the time] and he said ‘Jesus. Eamon, we’re down in Clare here’. So I cut across the country and landed in Galway.
“That was the type of thing that was going on and that was mild. Obviously I didn’t start that Sunday. The taxi actually left me off in a pub where there was a traveller’s funeral going on. I got one of my mates in Galway to pick me up and drop me in Clare.
“Two quick pints with the boys, they were good craic. That’s deadly serious.”
