HE MIGHT ONLY be at the start of his senior career, but Christy Fildara is unlikely to experience a weekend like this again.
On Friday afternoon, he lines out for Carndonagha Community School in the FAI Schools Dr Tony O’Neill Senior Cup final against Presentation Brothers College from Cork at Home Farm.
On Saturday, he’ll board a coach to head for Limerick with Glengad United, who face Pike Rovers in an FAI Junior Cup quarter-final on Sunday.
“It’s a dream weekend – or, I hope it will be anyway,” says the 18-year-old.
Picture caption: Christy Fildara (left) with his brother Stephen and their nephews Ronan and Callan.
“This is what every footballer wants to do, play in big games like this.
“We’re playing an All-Ireland final at Home Farm and you don’t get much bigger than that in schools football. Then there’s the FAI Junior Cup – that’s the cup all junior teams want to do well in.
“I’ll take it one game at a time here and try to get Friday out of the way first before thinking about Sunday. Friday is the main aim for now.
“It takes the pressure off for the Leaving Cert anyway!”
Fildara netted twice in Carndonagh Community School’s All-Ireland semi-final win over Arklow.
Martin Cavanagh’s team have hit form at just the right time. They were magnificent in the Ulster final win over Loreto, Milford even if it did take a dramatic late goal by Cathal Farren to seal a 2-1 win.
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Fildara says: “Ulster was the big one for us at the start anyway. We set out to win Ulster. You can’t be thinking about All-Irelands when you have that kind of quality in Ulster. We had a big battle with Milford in the final, but we always knew we could get over the line.
“Once we did that, we got a bit of belief and confidence that we could go on and do well in the All-Ireland stages. Once that Milford game was over, we focussed right away on the next game.”
His brother Stephen was on the Donegal senior football squad in 2014 when they reached the All-Ireland final and won the Ulster Championship. The experience of his brother is invaluable on weeks like this.
Carn have never won the Dr Tony O’Neill Cup, but they head for the capital with their confidence sky high.
Fildara says: “This is our last game together. We want to go out on a high.
“We’re going into the game in good form. We have the quality in the squad to do well and we’ve the players to win.
“We have a lot of experience in the squad. We’ve all played in big games – but they don’t come any bigger than an All-Ireland final.”
Shane Byrne drafted the young Fildara into the Glengad United senior panel last season. He had largely a watching brief as Glengad won the Jackie Crossan Premier Division title as well as the League Cup and the Charlie O’Donnell Memorial Cup.
‘A smashing player’, is how Byrne describes the teenager. ‘We had him in last year and held him back for a bit. It’s the right time for him this season and he’s proved that.’
Fildara’s Carn team-mates Sam Todd, Evan Tweed and Farren are at Derry City these days. City are keen for Fildara to join, but the loyalty will stay with Glengad until the season’s end at least.
Fildara, from Aughaclay, Culdaff, has been rared on the pitch at The Crua and is delighted to have made a place his own in the senior team.
“It’s been a memorable season for sure,” he says with Glengad pushing for honours on all fronts.
“I was delighted to get into the Glengad team. There is such a good squad there.
“Shane put a bit of belief in me so I want to repay him. It’s hard there because there is pressure on every day we go out and you have to perform because there are plenty of men to take your place if you don’t there is a man there to take your place.
“We have cover here in every position. The likes of Nigel McMonagle came in and the quality he brings is unbelievable.”
Pike Rovers won the FAI Junior Cup in 2011 and go into Sunday’s game against Glengad as the firm favourites.
But the Inishowen League champions aren’t going Shannonside to make up numbers.
“For all the games, we’re going in an no-one knows us – sure we’re just a wee small team from Inishowen,” Fildara says.
“We really wanted to give this one a go at the start of the year. The Oscar Traynor win put Inishowen on the map. People are starting to know us now. Hopefully they’ll know more after the weekend.”
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