'New era' celebrated in song

After all the talk of Croke Park not being the right place for the National Football League final it was hard to imagine Donegal winning their first such title anywhere else. In the end the players were singing pitchside with supporters in a good, old-fashioned Croke Park celebration. And that, reckoned manager Brian McIver, was the way it should be.

"Just reward," he said, "a great reward. And for players who people said had potential but would never fulfil that potential, well they are fulfilling their potential now.

"That game was in the balance though right until the end, but that's because Mayo are some side, make no mistake about it. They gave us a lot of trouble.

"But I always felt we could get going in those last few minutes and come through, which thankfully we did. And they were three mighty scores there in the end. Everyone says it's a 20-man game today, and that certainly showed here. It's all about the whole panel, and that's why I have to say a great word of praise to everyone involved, including the whole backroom team and of course the supporters."

McIver, inevitably, was then asked if Donegal would be back here in September for the big prize of 2007.

"Sure that's a whole other matter," he said. "We have a lot of work to do between now and then. But all along we've taken it one game at a time, and right now we're very happy to be leaving Croke Park with a national title."

For Eamon McGee, one of the three substitutes who hit injury-time points, to win in Croke Park raised that winning moment to another level.

"Just an unbelievable feeling," he said. "I think we showed in the last few minutes out there how badly we wanted it. It's a massive relief as well, if nothing else, especially after all the finals we played here and didn't win. We're just glad to have this one in the bag."

Kevin Cassidy, only cleared to play on Thursday evening, was also happy: "I'd have been in bits if I'd had to watch from the stands. But we had such a massive amount of work done, and if we had fallen short today I think the doubts would start growing again, and people would be on about the past again. We wanted to put everything in the past behind us.

"It's a new era for us. So you can forget about all those finals we've lost in the past. This is a new team, and we've won a national medal. And now we can turn our attention to Armagh on May 27th.

"But then we didn't play that well today. It was just that sheer grit and determination that got us over the finish line.

"And to lift that cup today was a huge stepping stone for us. We've a great squad, and you need that, and it's onwards and upwards after that."

Man-of-the-match Brian Roper, despite being the team veteran, was also looking at a new era: "Everyone was saying we didn't have the bottle for winning finals. Today we showed the bottle.

"My heart goes out to the likes of Shane Carr and Damien Diver, who'd just retired, but really deep down we've done it for them as well. Last year I had my injury problems but Brian gave me another shot and thankfully I repaid him some today.

"But we'll have to settle right back down after this, get back training on Tuesday night. We have Armagh in Ballybofey and that's the next thing to look forward to."

With Donegal folk still singing out on the pitch, it was put to John O'Mahony if he could possibly begrudge them the win.

"No, I would never begrudge Donegal a victory," said the Mayo manager, "as long as it wasn't against Mayo. I think a victory would have stood to us just as well, particularly if we'd closed it out with all the injuries, and so on.

"Before today we already had our plans in place for May 20th, and we'll be fully focused on that now. But I'd still have taken the win today with that little extra pressure it might have brought going to Pearse Stadium.

"You can look at the slow start, the knocks at the end, the players that were missing, all kinds of things, but it was a fine game of football, and I'd be very proud of the way our lads performed.

"We'll dust ourselves down and move on, and we'll certainly turn up at Pearse Stadium on May 20th."