Gary McDaid and Glenswilly: The return of the man who never went away

Gary McDaid, the Glenswilly manager, and all involved with the club, will be hoping for a more conventional outing when Gaoth Dobhair are their visitors this Saturday. 

Last weekend, McDaid watched on at the Bridge in Dunfanaghy as his team managed to scrape a draw against St Michael’s in trying circumstances, 0-7 to 1-4, with Storm Kathleen turning the fare into something of a lottery.

Glenswilly trailed 1-4 to 0-1 at half-time and with the wind, gradually played their way back into things before wrestling out a point in injury time, when goalkeeper Oisin McGrenra played a testing boot to put the ball in and Michael Murphy marked to slot over the levelling point.

For the former Donegal captain, it was just another chapter in his dedication to the club, coming on as a second-half substitute the day after he celebrated his home wedding reception, having tied the knot in Florence in October.

“We just congratulated Michael in the dressing room there, on the big day yesterday,” McDaid said of Murphy.”

“Going down the home straight that was it. We’d take it and that stage. We probably didn’t work enough scoring chances near the end to get any more. St Michael’s had more chances than us, hitting the crossbar twice in the second half, so we got out of jail a bit.”

With clubs dotted around the county here and there having bother getting players on the park, that’s not an issue in Glenswilly. 

“We gave a debut to young Mickey Toner there,” McDaid added. “We’re trying to use all the five subs. We’re in a good place, in terms of squad depth. There’s good youth there and they’re bringing energy to the whole place.”

McDaid, along with John McGinley took Glenswily to their first-ever Donegal SFC crown in 2011, and was also in charge in 2013 when they won the second and then worked under Michael Canning for the 2016 triumph against the odds when they defeated a fancied Kilcar.

Since then, Glenswilly haven’t made the SFC semi-finals, but have been beavering away with significant success at underage levels, having won the U-21B two years ago and reached the final of the U-21A last year, 2023 County U-18 and U-13A winners last year and U-17 finalists in 2022. Glenswilly are currently running two teams in each bracket throughout their underage ranks.

“We’re maybe lucky as ourselves and Termon are getting the outskirts from Letterkenny, with the overspill in population,” McDaid added. “There’s a lot people just outside of Letterkenny now, only 10, 25 or 20 minutes from the town.”

The way things are, McDaid will never be too far from Glenswilly and Glenswilly won’t be too far from him, so when the chance arose to return to the hotseat late last year, it was something the St Eunan’s College teacher didn’t have to overly ponder.

“When you have players landing at the house and getting onto you and telling you what’s there,” he added. “I was involved with Michael Murphy with the minors and having also coached many through the college, I was well aware.”

Following their surprise relegation at Killybegs’ hands in 2022, Glenswilly built a strong foundation in Division 2 last term, storming their way to promotion and then defeating Naomh Columba in the final in Glenties. They opened life back in the top flight with a 2-9 to 1-9 win over Glenfin two weeks ago, before their draw in Dunfanaghy. 

“Coming up from Division 2 the initial aim is always survival,” McDaid added. “We’re happy enough in the first two games, having played two teams who might’ve been targeting points off the likes of us. First and foremost is safety and everything then is a bonus.

“We’d like to get as many players as we can and as many minutes as we can throughout this league and have everyone right for championship then.”

McDaid has spent much of his time in recent years working as a GAA commentator and pundit and enjoyed the role, although with things the way they are now, his first port of call will be management and not media.

“I really enjoyed that and you get to know other people and other clubs well,” he said. “I was always involved in coaching with the club, the college and Donegal in recent years and there’s plenty to work on here this year.”