McLaughlin: ‘I’m honoured to be captain, but this team has plenty of leaders’

It’s a case of lights, cameras, action for Donegal as they open their Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 1A against Galway on Saturday night, 7:30pm.

The side managed by Maxi Curran will be live on TG4 against the Tribeswomen, the side who knocked Donegal onto a speed wobble last year in the All-Ireland series.

A scarcely believable 111-second spell right at the start of the second half rendered three Galway goals against Donegal at a sizzling Markievicz Park to seal the Connacht side’s place in the last eight of the TG4 All Ireland Senior Championship following a 3-10 to 1-11 win.

Donegal did find their feet to reach the quarter-finals themselves, courtesy of a hard-fought victory over Kerry, only to lose out to Dublin on August Bank Holiday Weekend to Dublin and then falling tantalizingly short in the detached Ulster final against Armagh at Healy Park three weeks later.

Having trailed by nine points at a stage, Donegal stormed back and came within inches of the most unlikely of comebacks, only for the Orchard County to lift the trophy following a dramatic 3-12 to 3-11 win.

“Looking back now, it really was two minutes of madness against Galway,” captain Niamh McLaughlin says. The Moville player will lead the county for the second year on the bounce and take on the responsibilities of that role.

“It was our own fault and we just had to get on with it. Yes, I’m captain and honoured to be, but this team has plenty of leaders and we’re going to learn from the experience of last year and playing under the lights with the television cameras there is a nice way to start against a very good Galway team.”

Donegal’s home league fixtures last year, a 2-13 to 1-7 win over Westmeath where McLaughlin scored 2-1, was followed by a 1-11 to 0-11 win over Mayo again in Ballybofey, where the captain’s penalty separated the teams.

The other opening round fixture, away to Galway in Tuam, brought an excellent 4-21 to 2-11 over Galway. Donegal eventually went down to Cork in the semi-finals, 5-10 to 3-13.

A physiotherapist by trade, McLaughlin is a former Republic of Ireland under-19 international. Still only 28, but made her inter-county debut for Donegal back 2010 – when Micheál Naughton’s team won an All-Ireland intermediate crown.

McLaughlin had a stint where she played for Sunderland while studying in Northumbria, but is now back based at home again. She joins fellow Inishowen players on a “fresh” panel, sister Bláthnáid, clubmate Tara Hegarty, Aoife McColgan from Malin and the returning Carndonagh native Deirdre Foley.

“People talk about varying attitudes towards the league and I know this is alway said, we will just take it one game at a time,” McLaughlin said. “We’ll put everything into each game and we’re delighted to get back on the pitch, with a crowd to get playing again.

“Playing in front of no crowd didn’t make a huge difference to me personally, I tend to not hear too much that’s going on around me. But for the supporters, it’s great and brings an atmosphere and things are a bit more normal at last.

"This is our only home match and we’ve trips to Westmeath, who won the All-Ireland Intermediate title, and Mayo, in the exact opposite of last year’s fixtures, so it's not easy. “With the freshness we’ve brought in, there’s been a good buzz and pre-season has been enjoyable.”