O’Donnell’s Bar Golfing Society hits Portugal

The O’Donnell Golfing crew on the Algarve

Saturday the 30th September, ‘06, saw the O’Donnell Golfing Society embark on their overseas tour to Portugal. As the bus pulled out of Lidl car-park, goodbyes were said and hugs and kisses exchanged with wives and girlfriends (some taking longer than others, I might add).
On arrival in Portugal we were met by a welcoming committee headed by a well known overseas property developer. John McDyer and wife Una assured us that the locals were friendly and looking forward to meeting the famous Donegal clan. We then headed to our accommodation in the knowledge that a tough competitive week of golf lay ahead on four of the nicest courses in the area.
After playing the first three very competitive rounds in wonderful warm sunshine, we had some memorable evenings by the pool. Danny modelled his beautiful new brown wet-suit and dispelled any doubt as to whether it was totally waterproof by swimming ten lengths of the pool wearing his Footjoy flippers, and managed to come out bone dry. Other members of the tour competed in the local Karaoke competition. The overall winners on the night with a song called ‘Footsteps Through My Door’ was our very own Elvis, accompanied by the Man from Mayo. Yet another wonderful performance by both individuals.
The tour manager allowed us one day of rest and relaxation on which some of the group went fishing. While baiting our hooks, an interesting conversation was overheard between the captain of the boat and the man from the Salmon Inn, with Martin explaining how they catch rabbits on the sea-bed in Mullinasole.
On returning, we were informed by Davy that his trip to Fatima was a wonderful spiritual experience, that he was a changed man - and would be eternally grateful to Justin for suggesting he went. On the other hand, Grisley’s experience was not so spiritual. Not even mad Jack and No 7 could save him, but at least he had the change of two euro to phone a taxi.
On the final day of play, Shane proved that he is not so foolish by carding a score of 36 points thereby winning the overall prize of the tour. But his pride soon evaporated when word got out of John’s magnificent victory in the local dance competition. Performing an outstanding version of “The Maggie Pickey”, he beat an Icelandic pair into second place. Well done, John, we’re all proud of you.
To finish I would like to express gratitude to our sponsors, Phonsie O’Donnell, Jimmy Melly, John McCafferty, Liam McCrea, Colm Campbell, Tom Gallagher and Darren Williamson. Thanks one and all for your company and co-operation - I am already looking forward to our trip later this year.
Dylan Devitt

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Rampant Donegal come from behind to defeat

All Ireland champions in cracker

L-R, Dara O Shea, Kevin Cassidy, Mossie Lyons[K] Neil Gallagher, and Barry Monaghan, all look on as the ball breaks loose. Photo Michael O’Donnell.

Donegal 1-15 Kerry 0-13
Brendan Devenney was on fire as Donegal maintained their extraordinary 100% league record with a magnificent 1-15 to 0-13 dismantling of Kerry at Letterkenny on Sunday. Donegal now have five wins from as many outings in Division 1A and their powerful fourth-quarter surge suggests that they could be real contenders in Ulster and beyond, come summertime.
They are certainly amongst the favourites for outright league honours now, while the holders’ grip on the trophy has been severely loosened by this result.
Kerry led by 0-9 to 1-5 at the break, with the Donegal goal coming from Kevin Cassidy – a stunning strike two minutes before the short whistle. That score - against the light breeze - gave the northerners hope and they were level soon after the restart. The scores would have been closer at the break had not Kerry keeper Diarmuid Murphy made two superb stops to deny Brian Roper goals. Brendan Devenney almost added a second Donegal major on the resumption but his shot flew inches wide. The outstanding Donegal attacker then swivelled to kick a superb point.
With the sides level for the first time since the opening score, Declan Quill restored the Kerry advantage. When Ciaran Bonner replied for the hosts again, the Kingdom surged two clear, thanks to a brace of excellent points from the boot of raiding right-half-back Tomas O Sé making the score 0-12 to 1-7. That was as good as it got for the visitors, however, as they were outscored by 0-8 to 0-1 in the final quarter. A huge roar went up when Devenney fired over the next score of the match 17 minutes into the second half. Amazingly, Michael Hegarty landed the equalising point seconds after replacing Roper as a fourth-quarter substitute. The excellent Devenney edged Donegal ahead and then earned a free, which he converted himself. Quill and Devenney traded points before Bonner made it 1-14 to 0-13 - a magnificent victory for Donegal, who add the All-Ireland champions’ to the prize scalps of Mayo, Tyrone, Dublin and Cork. There was time for Man of the Match Devenney to tap over the last point of the game deep into stoppage time.