Bad old days after the battle of Ballybofey

ULSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL:

“Donegal GAA will withdraw from Ulster?” read The Donegal Democrat’s front page on Friday, June 29, 1973 — five days after Tyrone toppled the reigning provincial champions.

“As a result of their experiences in recent cross-border games in general and last Sunday’s deplorable scenes in particular, Donegal GAA may seek to leave Ulster and affiliate with Connacht,” the paper stated.

Under player-manager Brian McEniff, Donegal won a first Ulster championship the previous July in Clones, defeating Tyrone 2-13 to 1-11 in an occasionally tempestuous final.

Neilly Gallagher, who had been coaxed back after a two-year sabbatical, scored three points to put Donegal 0-3 to 0-1 up when the teams met again in 1973.

Gallagher and his marker Mickey John Forbes had, according to the Gaoth Dobhair man, been “throwing thumps” at one another from the first whistle. After 15 minutes, with the ball at the other end of the pitch, the Tyrone defender took his retribution.

Reported in the newspaper as a “savage assault... in cold blood with premeditation,” acting Donegal County Secretary Frank Muldoon later claimed the blow “was something more than a fist”.

Having been taken to a nearby café first, Gallagher was taken to Letterkenny General Hospital where “surgeons managed to save his eye”.

40 years passed before, this week, Gallagher broke court on the issue publicly for the first time.

“He hit me with the fist,” he says of Forbes. “The reason he opened me was because I was so close. I wasn’t expecting it. I was concussed and got seven stitches. That’s all I remember from that game.”

Antrim referee Hugh McPolin missed the incident and having consulted with an umpire, took no action. The game descended into warfare as McEniff and Joe Winston Curran were levelled as was Tyrone’s Patsy Hetheringon, who scored six points and Seamus Donaghey, Tyrone’s wing-forward, was dismissed for striking Andy Curran before half-time.

“He got sent off for giving me a box on the nose and busting it,” recalls Curran. “There were some wild tackles. It’s a mystery more players weren’t injured.”

The incidents poisoned an already edgy atmosphere. Visiting supporters were blamed by locals for their threatening behaviour, hurtling bottles and stones. Fights broke out like bushfires.

“I was sitting in the dugout with the subs not even being able to warm-up,” said Kieran Keeney, Gallagher’s 20-year-old replacement, who scored the only goal.

“It was a frightening experience. Most of the Donegal players just wanted to get out of the ground.”

Tyrone, inspired by Hetherington and Frank McGuigan, broke free in the last two minutes to win 0-12 to 1-7. Both teams fought their way off the pitch but the unnamed local journalist held little sympathy for Donegal.

“Donegal beat themselves, or rather the management, mentors or whatever you call them did,” he wrote. “What did the mentors do? Damn all. It’s time the players demanded an explanation.

“After all, if one of them has a bad game he is dropped. But when the sideline display their sheer incompetence, as they did so well on Sunday, nothing happens. They remain a threat to the progress of the team. This is the heart of Donegal’s troubles and until it is resolved, good players will feel frustrated and abused.

“Two other points — the referee was well and truly out of his depth. Anyone who saw last year’s game in Clones knew this one would need tight control. Mr McPolin could hardly handle schoolboys. And the scenes afterwards, amongst the Donegal team and its supporters, were to say the least, a disgrace.”

Bars in Ballybofey closed to avoid further confrontation and away fans were accused of causing trouble in Castlefin on the way home. Muldoon called Ulster Council Secretary Gerry Arthurs the next morning, seeking an investigation and said: “Donegal County Board officials were very worried about the danger to their players in games with teams from across the border, because of the attitude of the six counties’ spectators and indeed, some of their players and officials.”

Forbes later received a ban, while Curran was warned about his future behaviour, as was Muldoon for his comments. Tyrone won Ulster before losing to Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Nothing ever became of Donegal’s threat to join Connacht. In 1974, still under McEniff, they reclaimed Ulster with a replayed victory over Down. Donegal had won 1-9 to 0-8 at Healy Park in the first round, although the scars remained. They togged out in Ballybofey, travelled to Omagh to play the match before returning home to shower afterwards.

“It came out of the blue,” Keeney concludes of 1973. “There was no great rivalry between Donegal and Tyrone but there was certainly an unsavoury atmosphere at MacCumhaill Park that day. I’d never experienced the like of it before or thankfully ever since.”