O’Boyle behind enemy lines
There’s even a vintage car on the roof painted green and gold.
St Eunan’s boss Eamon O’Boyle manages the place. He’s not around at the moment but rings to say he is on his way. The teller behind the register says in a suspicious voice: “You’re not from around here? Are ya from Mayo by any chance?”
Before I get the chance to respond, he dismissively declares: “We won’t like beating ye,” before returning to a customer and continuing the conversation of the day — football.
It couldn’t be more Donegal.
But while Eamon has lived in Letterkenny for 11 years and his children will wear Donegal jerseys on Sunday, his heart lies elsewhere.
He comes into the shop wearing a Mayo T-shirt and everyone turns and he laughs. Behind the shelves, within a few metres of where they have been selling Donegal memorabilia, he takes out two Mayo flags and hoists them up high.
“I’ll be driving down the road on Sunday waving these two out of both sides of the car and steering with my knees,” he tells the onlookers. One of his staff quips: “More like you’ll be using them to wipe away your tears.”
This is Donegal and it’s deep behind enemy lines for the former Mayo minor.
He arrived in the town before the boom. At that stage it was big by Donegal standards but far from one of Europe’s fastest growing towns.
Having completely embraced the GAA culture in Mayo he was immediately drawn to the local club. His eldest son Conal was five at the time and when it was time to send him training he got involved with St Eunan’s. Typical of every townie club they had peaks and troughs and when he joined they had won the senior title in 1997, 2000 and ’01.
But then it was time for a lull. However, unlike other clubs in similar positions, St Eunan’s had plans to dominate the county. They brought in the Ulster Council’s master GAA tutor Michael McGeehin to do a root and branch assessment of the club at every level. By that stage Eamon had shown his pedigree by managing the U12s, U14s, U16s and minors to leagues and championships.
They developed their grounds, went on a recruitment drive for new members and coaches, grew year by year and have recently bought another 13 acres to develop into more training pitches. Donegal County Board acknowledged them with over 700 All-Ireland final tickets after Jim McGuinness used the grounds as their training base for the season.
In 2008, Eamon, along with McGeehin, took over the senior side. A league and championship followed. Crossmaglen scraped by them in Ulster by two points. In 2009 they repeated the trick but were shocked by Down’s Kilcoo in Ulster. The duo stepped down.
This year they have returned with former Donegal player Brendan Devenney on the ticket as well and, despite having two games to play in the league, have already secured that title.
That they haven’t got to play a championship match yet due to Donegal’s participation in the All-Ireland series has been extremely frustrating. But the banter around the town is keeping his spirits up.
“It’s great. People see you with your Mayo top on you and say, ‘how can you wear that?’ and others see you and say, ‘how can you not wear it’?
“People say then that you’re on a winner both ways but I’m not. It’s me that has to go out and train the senior team for St Eunan’s on Tuesday night and listen to all the hassle.”
He’s watched Jim McGuinness closely since he took over the county team and has been surprised by the side’s progress.
“I met Jim before he got the job and had a chat with him. He told me he had a five-year plan in place and that hopefully by the end of it he would be where he is today. All credit to him he has achieved the final within two years. A lot of credit has to go to him and the players. He sold it and they bought it.”
But will they beat Mayo? After an initial safe bet of a draw he played the patriotic card: “I think Mayo will win it.
Sunday will tell all but if you see a car swerving on the M1 with two Mayo flags sticking out the window you’ll know what happened.
