An Tearmann – Termon

2019 started of in the worst possible way with the sad and sudden passing of our Chairman Danny O Donnell. Since Danny’s return from Chicago in 2010 he had made a huge contribution to our Club and his death sent shock waves through the GAA community in Termon, in Donegal and in Chicago where he had also made a huge contribution with his beloved Wolfe Tones and with Chicago GAA. His great love was for ladies football and it was only fitting that his nephew Sean and niece Maureen would have a major influence in the remarkable success our Ladies team earned on the pitch in 2019. Our Senior ladies winning the Donegal Championship for the first time in 4 years was the highlight of another very successful year. Our Minor boys won the Donegal Div 1 Championship after an epic battle with Gaoth Dobhair and are the first Termon team to win this competition – they also had an exciting campaign in Ulster making it all the way to the provincial final. The U21s qualified for the Donegal U21B Final.

All in all another successful year for our senior men with League Div 2 status secured with somewhat of a stuggle it has to be said and Senior Championship status secured for 2020. The league campaign started well but in a very competitive league a run of narrow defeats meant relegation was on the back of minds until a win over Glenfin late in the season secured Div 2 status. Senior Championship status was secured with a good win away to Malin. Thanks to Paddy McDaid and Francie Friel for their hard work with our Seniors in 2019.

Our senior Reserves had a great League campaign with an injection of youth boosting the team who had a strong top half finish in the league. This team won two Championship games before being eliminated by a strong St Eunans team in the Q/F’s. Well done to Paddy McMenamin and Trevor Alcorn for the progress they made with our reserves this year. Our u21s defeated Cloughaneely, Fanad Gaels and Naomh Mhuire to reach the Donegal u21B Final which is yet to be played.

Our Senior Ladies saw great succes this year first winning the county Gaeltacht title under the guidance of manager Sean O’Donnell and Coach Nathan McElwaine. They followed this up by winning the Divsion 1 league title in August before lifting the Senior County Championship in September with no less than 22 of the panel winning a senior championship medal for the first time. They did not rest long as two home Ulster club games against Clann Eireann of Armagh and St. Macartans of Tyrone saw them face old foes Donaghmoyne in the Ulster club final in October, falling just short at the final hurdle, losing out by two points. The club is confident the succes and coaching from Nathan and Sean will see them back competeing for county honours again next year.

With record numbers registered at underage our coaches were busy at all age groups in 2019. Trevor Alcorn managed our Minor boys to the club’s first Minor boys Div 1 Championship title with an amazing second half comeback in the final led by Captain Ryan McFadden. These boys represented Donegal superbly in the Ulster Minor tournament lsoing out in the final to … In the Division 1 Minor League …. Our U16 boys also competed in Div 1 and finished 5th in Donegal by winning the Shield final with a last gasp goal from Manus O Connell the defining score.

Our U14 boys finished 6th in Donegal after losing out in their Div 1 Shield final but will look back on a very successful season. The u13 boys also competed in the top Division and made it to the NRB final where they were beaten by Cloughaneely but again won many admirers with their performances. James Cassidy and Paddy Gallagher acoached our U12 boys who fielded 2 teams throughout their 2019 campaign. Liam Cunningham and Aidan McGrenra took our U11 boys for their end of season coaching which is really the start of their 2020 U12 preperations. Jim Boner led a great team of coaches with a great bunch of U9 and U10 boys who had a super year. Daireann Gibson led a team of hardworking coaches at U8 level with huge numbers attending the weekly coaching and games. Johnny McCafferty and Anthony McGrenra had the envieable task of entertaining our U6s and they did so from March to October with the children really enjoying their introduction to Gaelic football.

Adrian McGettigan and Nicole McLaughlin coached our u-14 ladies to Div 3 success, a first underage win for Termon in a number of years. The same managment team, with the addition of Shauna Kelly, followed that up with a win at U-13 Division 4 and go forward to represent Donegal in Feile at this level. Our u12 ladies had a wildy succesful year under the tutealage of Lucy O’Flynn and Shauna Kelly winning all bar one game during the season. Our u10’s had an eventful year under Caroline Gallagher, taking part in the Gaelic4Girls initiative they have grown in confindence putting on fine preformances during Termon ladies Ulster club home games at half-time. Our u6-8 ladies under Lisa McCafferty and Hannah McSharry are a real succes story for the ladies club this year, creating a fun enviorment which has lead to huge numbers as 28 girls now playing at this level the future looks bright for the club. Our Minor girls were coached by Joanne Russell and Kieran Gallagher and our U16s girls had Geraldine McLaughlin and Roisin Friel in charge and both teams showed significant improvement and contributed several new players to our Senior Ladies team.