THE PRESENCE of three Moville players on the Donegal team at the end of Sunday’s Dr McKenna Cup clash against Cavan was the signal of a new, changed landscape in the county.
Dylan Doherty and Tony McClenaghan both started the game, while Ciaran Diver came on as a substitute in the second half.
Before now, Danny Murphy – who was a member of the 2011 All-Ireland-winning Donegal Under-21 squad, managed by Jim McGuinness – had been the leading light at Carrick Field.
Malachy McDermott got a run in the McKenna Cup in 2015, but soccer remains his priority, and Enda Faulkner played two years with the Donegal minors.
[adrotate group=”46″]Now, though, McClenaghan seems poised to go where no Moville man has gone before.
Donegal’s decision to enter the county under-21s in the Dr McKenna Cup has been under wide scrutiny, but the performances of McClenaghan have been one of the real highlights.
McClenaghan was handed the captaincy for the competition by Declan Bonner, who knows the player now better than most.
Bonner first clasped eyes on McClenaghan – whose style has been likened to Martin ‘Rambo’ Gavigan – in 2011 when he became involved with the Donegal Development squads.
Under Bonner’s watch, McClenaghan won Buncrana Cup (2012) and Jim McGuigan Cup (2013) titles before going on to win an Ulster Minor League and Championship double in 2014, as well as appearing in the All-Ireland minor final loss to Kerry that year.
“Tony has been very solid for us; he’s a good, strong, physical player who has a first-class attitude,” Bonner says.
“You can see that he’s a real professional in everything that he does. He’s a good leader and he takes that attitude onto the pitch with him. He works really hard at his game.
“He’s key to what we’re about. He’s very powerful and helps in our defensive shape. You can see that in the McKenna Cup games so far.”
McClenaghan has flourished under Sean O’Hare’s tutelage at underage level with his club.
O’Hare helped transform Moville from also-rans and no-hopers to one of Inishowen’s top sides in the underage ranks. From under-16 level the likes of McClenaghan and Diver really benefitted from O’Hare’s work.
[adrotate group=”76″]With Colaisti Inis Eoghain, O’Hare managed the Brock Cup (under-14.5) team and it was here that McClenaghan began to stand out.
“He proved that he could compete at that level,” says one coach who was also involved with that team. “Moville at the time were pretty weak, but with Colaisti Inis Eoghain, Tony could stand out at a better level and now he’s standing out with club and county.”
Moville won Division 4 of the All-County League in 2016 and will compete in Division 3 this year.
Last year, McClenaghan missed much of the campaign with a hamstring injury having been initially called into the Donegal senior panel by Rory Gallagher.
A raft of retirements and withdrawals mean several places will be up for grabs this spring and McClenaghan’s knock on Gallagher’s door will be one the senior boss might find hard to ignore.
McClenaghan will lead Donegal into the lion’s den tonight when they face Tyrone in their final McKenna Cup game of the year.
Bonner will be without the exam-ties Conor Morrison, Cian Mulligan and Caolan McGonagle, while Jamie Brennan, Stephen McBrearty and Kieran Gillespie are injured and Lorcan Connor is also unavailable.
Bonner said: “We took this competition as a learning curve. We had UUJ, the top college team, Cavan who are getting ready under Mattie McGleenan and we all know how serious Tyrone take this competition.
“It will be a tough night at the office, but we know that and it’s a chance again to see where we are.
“Regardless of results, we will be in a much better place than we were 22 months ago.
“There’ll be a few sore bodies after Sunday, so we’ll have to freshen things up.
“We have to try and be as competitive as we can.
“We know it’ll be a very trying 70 minutes, but it’s about seeing lads stand up and be counted and about getting our level of performances to where we want them to be.”
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