BY RYAN FERRY

MARK and Alison Ferry are die-hard Donegal supporters who have loved every minute of following the county footballers throughout Ireland this year.

The couple come from Newtowncunningham and are season ticket holders.

Donegal matches dominate their weekend schedule and their thoughts in the lead-up to the game.

The return of Jim McGuinness brought huge enthusiasm and Mark and Alison had the coats and woolly hats ready for the first glimpse of the team in a challenge game against Roscommon at Fr Tierney Park before Christmas.

“Back in mid-December in Ballyshannon was an exciting day,” Mark explained to the Donegal News.

“Even though it was a challenge game, we were nervous to see how the team would do against Roscommon under Jim’s new reign.

“For me it was an unknown as to how they would perform based on all that happened last year. But I was pleasantly surprised as to the energy and pace that was in the team. The game started at full pelt and finished at full pelt.

“We left there with positive vibes and were very much looking forward to the McKenna cup in January, thinking give it a rattle and see how it goes.”

Armagh opted to field an Under 20 side against Donegal in front of four thousand people in Donegal’s competitive opener and Tyrone and Monaghan were then put to the sword.

A six-point defeat against Derry in the McKenna Cup Final wasn’t a huge worry as Ferry felt there was a chance Donegal were keeping their cards close to the chest.

“The rest of the season for me (at that stage) and probably every other Donegal supporter was about getting out of Division 2 and trying to keep the Derry game as close as we can and see how we get on in the All-Ireland series. I was thinking at that time maybe another quarter-final and maybe a wee run to Croke Park.

“But how wrong could I have been. Each game in the league we seemed to have different players shining through and for me young Ciaran Moore was everywhere. Again the pace we carried in the games was exceptional and was giving us more hope. The fixtures for the league fell nicely for me in that the Kildare game (which was played Carlow) was as far as we needed to go.

“With each game in the league I got more and more excited and we were playing way better football than last year in the league when we only scored 76 points in the whole campaign – two more than Waterford. But this year we nearly doubled that to 128. Even though ones would say it’s Division 2, we never lost a game and went on to take Armagh by a point in the Division 2 Final.

“But that day in Croke Park watching us take Armagh there was so much contrast then when we watched Derry take on Dublin and there was a realisation that the next game against Derry in April was going to be a hard game and even possibly a devastating game for us.

“No-one and I mean no-one thought that what happened in Derry was possible but you would have thought we won Ulster already. Jim had gone and done it. His ability to instil belief in the team is unbelievable and there was the real belief then that winning Ulster was a strong possibility even though leaving Celtic Park that day the Derry supporters where suggesting Mickey (Harte) didn’t want to win as his eyes were on bigger prizes.”

Donegal backed up the win over Derry with a great victory against Tyrone and then set up a cracking contest with Armagh in the provincial final on May 12.

“What a buzz there was in Clones that day. Armagh were there in huge numbers and the hill the whole way from the hotel at the bottom to the grounds every inch was covered in a sea of yellow, green and orange.

“We all knew that based on the other games that the final was going down to the wire and again we dug deep to keep it going. I never thought it would have went to penalties again but what a feeling on Shaun Patton stopping that shot to make us Ulster champions for 2024.”

When the team returned to Donegal Town, McGuinness urged the supporters to keep with the team for the All-Ireland Series and the momentum continued with a fine win over Tyrone but then the first stumbling block arrived with a shock two-point defeat against Cork at Páirc Uí Rinn.

“Every mistake we made Cork punished us. By half-time, we thought we could still carry this if we made no more mistakes. We made plenty and again we were well back.

“But as we did in Celtic Park against Tyrone we clawed it back and nearly saw it out. But unfortunately we did not get the result. So this made the last game very nervous.

“The group was close and we could be out, be runners-up or even win the group. So it all was to play for.

“We needed the win and for Tyrone to beat Cork we could top the group. To be honest the Clare game was over not long into the game and there was more focus on Twitter to see how Tyrone and Cork were doing as topping the group meant we would have a longer break to then play the winners of the quarter final qualifier. There we had it, back in Croke Park which for me was just phenomenal.”

Mark and Alison were down good and early to enjoy the win over Louth, and the buzz has been building over the last two weeks.

“Here we are now in an All-Ireland semi-final against Galway.

“With Galway beating Dublin, one has to say that Galway will be favourites but with all that has gone on this year and what the team has done then we head to Croke Park for third time with a great belief that we can do it again and get ourselves through to an All- Ireland final. With this group of lads with the direction of Jim we can pull it off again.

“From the Ulster final in 2022 and the following 12 months it’s just been great as a fan and the county.

“This is just what the county needs at the moment to give us something positive to look forward to.

“What a turnaround for the team and it’s been a while that there has been such a buzz in the county. Let’s hope that ‘Jimmy’s Winning Matches’ continues for a long time to come. Up Donegal.”