IN HIS dayjob as the manager of SuperValu in Killybegs, Rory Gallagher hears it all.
From the rumours and innuendo that are part and parcel of Donegal’s Gaelic football furniture to the sharp-tongued comment – some informed, some less so – that comes with the territory of residing in the south-west, there is little that Gallagher hasn’t had to deal with.
On the evening Donegal lost to Monaghan in the League earlier this year – a game derided as one of the worst ever seen in the county by the national media – Gallagher got it in the ear.
“I was definitely frustrated,” Gallagher recalled at his pre-Ulster final press briefing.
“The day only got worse when I landed back to the shop. And some…gentleman had a go at me.
“That’s what happens. It was just outside the shop. Those things happen. That just made the evening worse!”
Another defeat to Monaghan, this time in the Ulster final, has drawn plenty of comment, but this time – ahead of a return to Croke Park for Saturday’s All-Ireland qualifer against Galway on Saturday.
Donegal had already beaten Tyrone, Armagh and Derry before being pipped by Monaghan in the final.
“The persepective is that we lost narrowly to a top team,” an upbeat Gallagher said this week.
“We felt we had enough to get over it, but we didn’t – and it’s a test of the character and the whole ambition of the team now.
“Those things are always questioned every day they go out. Any day we are beaten it hurts you massively.
“We have earned a reputation as one of the top teams. No-one likes to get beaten, but we’re going to Croke Park in a good frame of mind.
“We wanted to go as Ulster champions, but now that we’re not, we’re grateful to get an opportunity to get back there.
“We’ve got a chance to have learned from losing a tight game. We’ve had four really tough, competitive games in Ulster and we feel that we performed for most of them, but there was clearly a period in the final where the display just wasn’t good enough.”
When the Belleek native circled the wagons last Monday night at the Aura Centre in Letterkenny at a recovery session and when he rallied the troops at training behind the shut gates of Sean MacCumhaill Park 24 hours later, he sensed that the battle scars of Clones were gnawing at his men.
“The defeat hasn’t really changed us at all – every day we played there was a good chance we’d be caught given the calibre of opponents we played,” said Gallagher.
“Win or lose, the plan really was the same. The boys haven’t been hard to lift in fairness. Clearly, there was huge levels of disappointment, but there were two prizes on offer at the start of the year and one of them is still a target for us.
“Yes, we’ve lost a game against a top team, but we’ve a game now in the qualifiers to put it right and get back into the last eight.”
This will be Donegal’s tenth Championship game at Croke Park since 2011. Headquarters, when you add in six National League games to that tally, has become a regular venue for Donegal.
As he looks around his huddle, Gallagher can just feel the experience telling him that Sam Maguire remains a realistic ambition for his players.
He said: “We have won and lost All-Ireland finals in the last few years – getting back there is very much the aim again.
“Look they’ve been around the block and there is a hard core of them who down the home stretch of their careers.
“That brings a level of seriousness and the big game knowledge is huge now.
“We have been down the road before and we know that it’s not all plain-sailing.
“Even from the Ulster final, though, we saw that experience and we took great encouragement from what we saw. In the second half they said: ‘Right, we’re four down’ but they went to work, dug in and created the chances.”
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