“Any day we got to Terryland, any day we played there, that was a huge thing, not just when we played there, I remembered being there twice with my U8s and U10s kids, it was just brilliant being in Terryland,” MacDara stalwart Diarmuid Ó Céide says about his involvement with the proud An Cheathrú Rua club.
The Connemara outfit remain defiant contributors to Galway FA leagues, but getting to the home of Galway football always mattered deeply.
There was a time in the mid 90s when a former MacDara player Máirtín Molloy would row in from Inis Treabhair to the mainland on his journey to the Dyke Road venue. At the time the Corribside venue had just been revamped, floodlights installed, and a new era unfolded.
That same respect for the venue exists; getting to Eamonn Deacy Park counts for something. “We played a couple of times there, we won a 2004 Lillis Cup, we played a league game one night against Kilshanvey was just brilliant,” Ó Céide adds.
“Winning the Joe Ryan Cup a few years ago against Kinvara, that was nice.”
Taking scalps of town teams too continues to provide MacDara with joy. “Any day we got the better of the townie teams, they'd look at us and think all those lads are good for is GAA, they won't beat us,” Ó Céide laughs. “I would take great pleasure beating some of the townie teams.”
Ó Céide has done it all with MacDara – player, coach, administator, manager. “I started off with a bit of playing, in the following year or two they were short for a secretary, so you get nabbed for that too,” he recalls about starting off with MacDara.
“Back then being a secretary wasn't as big a job as it is now. Back then we only had two adult teams, but as the years progressed, and underage started kicking in, I wouldn't be mad to take it on these days as it is a tough enough job. You need to be in front of the computer or on the phone with emails a lot of the time. I've taken on all the jobs between playing, training, coaching, you name it.”
In the mid 80s MacDara formed, winning the division 2A title in 1988-89. Last week one of the key players on that flagship side for the club, Michael Willie Ó Flatharta passed away. “He would have been a striker on that team back in 88-89, I think that was the first cup MacDara won as MacDara,” Ó Céide says. “They had only formed as MacDara in '86, they won the 88-89 Division 2A.”
A platform was provided for Connnemara footballers. A couple of decades later Michael Kennedy, prolific for many years, graduated to the League of Ireland game with Galway United, scoring on his debut away to Finn Harps.
“I remember the first season he came to us, I think 2003,” Ó Céide recalls. “He scored the winner in the Lillis Cup final in 2004 with a header against Colga. He was a brilliant, brilliant player. He came back for a season or two, he headed off again, he came back again for a season or two.
“He finished up way before his time, he is a brilliant player, he could still be playing now. I remember him scoring on a Saturday night up in Ballybofey on his debut. He would be knocking in hat-tricks for fun for us, he was way too good for the league he was playing in back then.”
Initially MacDara just fielded adult teams, but now a thriving underage set-up exists. “When things started off as MacDara one team entered the league, then in the 90s they entered a second team in the old division 2C at the time,” Ó Céide says.
“It stayed going for years like that with just the two adult teams. There was one underage team, U15s, still to this day is MacDara's only underage title in '95. There was only really the one team. It is only in the last 10 to 12 years from 2010 onwards that the club has kicked on, gone on another gear.
“At the beginning we had one underage team from 2010, then the following year there was another one, it just started off gradually, building one underage team per year. Last year we had two U12s, U13, U14, so it is progressing nicely.”
So what does the future hold for MacDara? “We were chatting about it recently, if summer soccer came in, this is only my view, it would destroy rural clubs,” Ó Céide replies.
“If the season stays as it is I think we will progress and push on nicely. If it was to go to summer soccer clubs, like MacDara, might no longer be. We aren't trying to compete with GAA, we are not trying to compete with rugby. There is a space for all of them. If they are all in the one couple of months we could struggle.
“Another thing we badly need is another pitch, it is just a struggle to find a slot to train teams because we have so many teams coming through. A few new heads on board to give a hand, another pitch, and for the soccer calendar to stay traditionally as it is, three big things facing us for another couple of years.”
