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Where would we be without McDaids Football Special It is no surprise that Donegal is home to the world-famous McDaids Football Special soft drink. Originally started in Ramelton, McDaids & Sons was established in the 1940s by James McDaid & Corey Delamingus Ltd. In Donegal, it could be said that McDaids is loved by all, they have various unique flavours on offer such as the classic football special, banana, ice cream soda, pineapple and creamy cola. It is somewhat of a tradition around here to see students and various locals stocking up on McDaids and taking it with them to their desired destination, just for a taste of home. Even the Scottish comedian, Kevin Bridges, has voiced his support for Football Special. In 2015 he tweeted: “Good to see this fine brew has made it over to Clydebank from Donegal!” Kevin Bridges has a fondness for Celtic FC and Swilly Rovers The original Football Special was first created to celebrate the successes of Ramelton’s local football club Swilly Rovers, which the McDaid family were heavily involved in, “originally designed for celebrating winning sporting events by ‘filling the cup’ with an exciting but non-alcoholic beverage,” as it states on Football Special itself. The Swilly Rovers were a very successful amateur side and this success allowed the cup to be frequently filled, most notably when they won the FAI Junior Cup in 1962 and 1967.
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Geography is a strong point Doctors, engineers, software developers, scientists, and lawyers aren’t bad at what they do, so all credit to them, but nobody is more skilled than a Donegal postman. "The Fairies, Fairyland, Buncrana," once found its recipient at Swan Park and Rory Kavanagh, Donegal’s 2012 All-Ireland winning midfielder saw an envelope with “Rory Kavanagh, the fella who was in the storm in Fiji” come through his Letterkenny letterbox. Of course, these new-fangled Eircodes are for upstarts and wannabes, with many preferring the traditional: “Go over the second brae and from there you’ll see a field with two cows and six sheep, well up that hill there’s a house. So it’s not that one it’s the house three past it.” With a fondness for signposts, Donegal isn't shy about using them Things can be difficult, with signposts for Castlefinn and Castlefin, Dunglow and Dungloe, and, be honest, does anyone actually know how to spell Glencolmcille, Gleann Cholm Cille, Glencolumbkille? But that’s not important, because the postman knows where it is.
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Don’t take the lord’s name in vain When you’re from Donegal and living in Donegal, certain things are optional. And when you’re from Donegal and living outside of Donegal, certain things are obligatory. One such incidence of that is to firmly back anyone from Donegal. Take, for example, Daniel O’Donnell. Down the years there have been frequent cases of people, with next to no interest in Daniel and his musical career whilst at home, becoming his most fervent fans when living away. Been there. Seen that. Bought the T-shirt. Considered the tattoo. Seriously. The great man is a fantastic ambassador for the county, of course, and his recent appearance on the Late Late Show was the best guest the show has had. Ever. Daniel O'Donnell t-shirts are hot property on buy-and-sell sites like eBay Jim McGuinness is another. While his defensive football drew some negative attention from national circles back in 2011, nobody here was taking that and the year afterwards, Donegal had won a second All-Ireland title. And Mickey Joe Harte, of course, was basically robbed at the Eurovision Song Contest in Riga back in 2003 when “We Had the World Tonight” dominated the airwaves.
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The accent is widely recognisable - so it is Around Donegal, there is an assortment of accents, especially as the county is so large, but one thing is for sure… everyone knows a Donegal accent when they hear it! When outside of Donegal it is not uncommon to hear “that’s a lovely accent” or “that’s a Donegal accent I hear” not only is it loved by many but it is also widely recognised! Well, it is no wonder considering in 2019 Ireland was voted as having the “sexiest accent” in the world. In a survey conducted by OnePoll which asked both male and female participants Ireland came out as the world’s sexiest accent beating other countries such as Italy, France and Australia. Donegal is the market leader when it comes to accents, which each townland claiming to have its own Now, you may be thinking… Where does Donegal come into this? Following on from the Irish accent, Jury’s Inn conducted a survey to find out the best accent in Ireland. Over 1,000 people participated in the survey and 37% of respondents considered the Donegal dialect to be the best accent in Ireland. No wonder it is so frequently mentioned! Added to this, there are just some typical phrases that are a dead giveaway, to take a few examples “Is that right?”, “you could surely”, “So I am”, “that’s wild”, “no harm”, “so you could”, and just general terminology such as the overuse of the words aye and wee among most of the population. As well as these phrases, it is a common phenomenon in Donegal for a great deal of people to have shared surnames or even first names. It is quite common to be identified with another distinguishing feature such as a parent’s name or even a nickname. It is seen often, especially in small communities to not call everyone by their proper name, which makes people easier to differentiate with the sheer amount of overlap.