BY RYAN FERRY
‘DROUGHT OVER’ was the front page headline on Monday, April 23, 2007 – the day after Donegal clinched their first ever National Football League title.
A 0-13 to 0-10 victory over Mayo in front of a crowd of thirty thousand at Croke Park brought an end to a miserable unwanted record of 13 defeats in finals.
That was all the way back to Donegal’s maiden All-Ireland title in 1992.
A sizeable crowd gathered at the Diamond in Donegal Town to welcome the team home.
Brian McIver, pictured below, was at the helm for one of those defeats in his first year in charge as Donegal lost out against Louth in the Division 2 Final after a replay.
However, the team made a super start to the campaign and went unbeaten through their regulation campaign before seeing off Monaghan.
“We were beaten by Louth in Breffni in the Division 2 Final the previous year but we had a very good league campaign in 2007,” McIver told the Donegal News this week.
“We got to the final and it was Mayo we played.
“As I recall it was a very good game of football. We just about shaded it. I think we deserved to win it alright.
“Donegal had gone through a long spell of losing finals and myself and the management felt for the players’ confidence and pushing on from there, that it was important to get to Croke Park and perform and to win.
“To be fair to the boys, they really bought into it and it was a very good league campaign.”
Donegal led the final by 0-7 to 0-5 at half-time with man-of-the-match Brian Roper scoring three points.
Mayo were back on terms by the 54th minute, helped by the introduction of Kevin O’Neill, but Ger Brady and Andy Moran were left ruing missed goal chances in each half.
Donegal decisively took their scores in injury-time to land the silverware.
After an initial wide from Dillon and a lengthy injury stoppage for Ciaran Bonner, who had to be stretchered off, Donegal powered back up the field for a succession of fine points, reeled off by Rory Kavanagh, Eamon McGee and Colm McFadden much to the delight of their supporters.
“It was a good Mayo side and we had to work hard.
“I’m working on my memory now but I think it was the league final that Eamon McGee slotted an unreal point from over near the sideline.
“It was a great score. Now, I have never asked Eamon and I know what the answer would be, but I would still like to be convinced that he was going for the point, and wasn’t trying to play the ball into ‘Wappa’ (Kevin McMenamin).
“It was a great score at the time and we needed it so we won’t take it away from him.”
The Donegal team celebrate after beating Mayo.
There was strong stock placed on the National League at that time and the three winners before Donegal in 2007 had all gone on to lift the Sam Maguire Cup after a promising spring.
Unfortunately for Donegal, that run ended with them.
They recorded a fine win over Armagh in MacCumhaill Park thanks to a last-gasp Kevin Cassidy point but Tyrone proved too strong in the Ulster semi-final.
Monaghan would then put a halt to Donegal’s season in the qualifiers.
McIver doesn’t believe that the league success hindered his team in the summer.
“No not at all.
“That was another monkey that Donegal had to get off their back was the Armagh thing.
“As I recall, having played well to beat a strong Armagh side, the lads – and I would have seen this with a lot of teams – went out against Tyrone and just went out to do the same thing and play the same way.
“But Tyrone were a different team at this stage to the way Armagh were playing.
“I think we missed a penalty against Tyrone that day and then young (Raymond) Mulgrew hit a thirty yard screamer to the back of the net and all of a sudden the game went away from Donegal.
“A lot of people would have said that our league success hindered us in the championship but I didn’t agree with that.
“We played well against a good Armagh side but we didn’t up the ante when we needed to against Tyrone.”
Eight of the players involved – Paul Durcan, Neil McGee, Karl Lacey, Neil Gallagher, Christy Toye, Colm McFadden, Eamon McGee, and Rory Kavanagh – went on to play in the All-Ireland Final five years later, while Barry Dunnion was also part of the panel.
That league final win was an important step on their journey as it showcased that they had the ability to compete and defeat the best teams.
“We were trying to instil that winning habit into them.
“Getting to the top table and competing against the best sides in the country, and we knew they were more than capable of doing it.
“We did perform very well in a lot of those league games.
“You see it even to this day, how important momentum is in a season and I don’t think any team should underestimate just how important it is to get a good winning run and be performing well because it does set you up for the championship.”
McIver went on to be involved with Down and Derry after his stint with Donegal but he says he has ‘seen sense’ at this stage and his managerial days are behind him.
However, he is still a student of the game and is enthusiastic about the game once more since the introduction of the FRC’s rule changes.
“I have to say I have enjoyed the football this last year.
“The change in the game has been dramatic. There has been some top class football in this year’s league in all four divisions.
“All the games are fairly high-scoring and very tight.
“Without a doubt the new rules have helped and they were badly needed.
“Football had become so static across the pitch and across the pitch, play it back.
“Watching the game live or on TV, it had got disheartening.
“But a lot of aspects have improved immensely now. I have been very impressed with a lot of tackling from different teams.
“There’s a lot of excellent kick-passing to inside men and tremendous scores from outside the D.
“If I was back in management, I think I would enjoy coaching teams the way football is being played at the moment.”
Donegal fans would love to see another Division 1 title added to the collection on Sunday but it will be a stiff assignment against the team that defeated them in the All-Ireland Final last July.
McIver has been impressed with what he has seen from Donegal and feels they have the tools to claim the win.
“I have seen a good bit of Donegal this year but if I’m being honest a lot of what I’ve seen has been on TV.
“I haven’t been to a lot of games. Maybe it’s a sign of age or whatever, I’m not sure.
“I follow them on TV and Donegal have been playing really well and I think it is set up on Sunday to be an excellent game.
“There’s a number of young players that have come in and are performing really well and that’s a big plus for Donegal.
“I don’t think you could argue that the two best teams are in the final.
“Having said that, Armagh haven’t been far away in any of their games and would probably think there’s very little between themselves, Donegal and Kerry.
“But the two best teams so far are in the final and we could be set up for a clinker here.
“I think Donegal can win it without a doubt. They have learned a lot from last year’s All-Ireland Final defeat.
“I don’t expect to see them set up in the same way tactically as last year’s final and Donegal are a better team for that.
“You have the makings of a really good game of football.”
Teams
Donegal: Paul Durcan; Neil McGee, Paddy Campbell, Karl Lacey; Paddy McConigley, Barry Monaghan, Barry Dunnion; Neil Gallagher, Kevin Cassidy (0-1); Ciaran Bonner (0-2), Brian Roper (0-3), Christy Toye; Brendan Devenney, Colm McFadden (0-3, 1f, 1 ’45’), Michael Hegarty. Subs: Kevin McMenamin (0-1) for B Devenney (30 mins), Eamon McGee (0-1) and Thomas Donoghue for N.McGee and McConigley (47 mins), Rory Kavanagh (0-1) for Gallagher (59 mins), Adrian Sweeney (0-1) for Bonner (65 mins).
Mayo: David Clarke; Keith Higgins, James Kilcullen, Liam O’Malley; Enda Devenney, Billy Joe Padden, Peadar Gardiner; Pat Harte (0-2), James Nallen; David Heaney, Alan Dillon (0-1, 1f), Andy Moran (0-1); Michael Conroy, Ger Brady, Conor Mortimer (0-6, 5fs). Subs: Aidan Higgins for Kilcullen (19 mins), Kevin O’Neill for Conroy (42), Trevor Howley and Aidan Kilcoyne for A.Higgins and Dillon (both 70+1 mins), Aidan Campbell for Nallen (70+5 mins).
Referee: John Bannon (Longford)
Posted: 11:58 am March 26, 2026
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