Naomh Padraig’s dream run continues with All-Ireland quarter-final clash in London

For Daniel McCauley, the past few weeks must feel like a hallucination. Naomh Padraig, Uisce Chaoin, are suddenly living a story nobody dared to imagine.   

In the space of a fortnight, a club that hadn’t tasted glory for 35 years has written its name into Ulster football history, and now they stand one win away from facing into an All-Ireland semi-final.  

You’d forgive McCauley for struggling to process it all.  

“I’ve never felt anything like it in my life,” he tells Donegal Live. “When that final whistle went in the Ulster final, my heart just sank. Tears of joy, everything - it was like all the emotions I’d ever felt hit me at once. It’s hard to explain. Just an incredible moment.”  

And so, they celebrated perhaps one of their greatest days as the Inishowen club took the Ulster crown after a 3-7 to 1-12 victory over Craigbane at Celtic Park. The magnitude of the achievement is hard to overstate - only the third Donegal junior team to lift the Ulster crown.  

This wasn’t part of the plan, though. At the start of the season, Naomh Padraig’s ambitions were firmly rooted in finally winning a county title. Ulster was an afterthought, and an All-Ireland semi-final? That was pure fantasy.  

“We’re a small club who’ve won nothing in 35 years,” McCauley says with a laugh. “Now we’re Ulster champions. It’s unbelievable. The boys have been through everything this season, but every time they go out there, they seem to raise their level again.  

“Talking about an All-Ireland semi-final? That would’ve been unheard of in Donegal club football not so long ago, especially in Inishowen.”  

And yet, here they are, preparing for a journey into the great unknown. Naomh Padraig is heading for McGovern Park in London to take on Tara, champions of Britain.  

McCauley, like any good coach, has done his homework.  

“I’ve watched Tara’s British final and their semi-final. They’re a very physical team, and they’ve got Shay Rafter, a top-class player who’s lined out for London and even Connacht in Croke Park during those inter-provincial matches. He scored 0-6 against Mayo earlier this year, so we know what he’s capable of,” said McCauley.  

“They’re a big side, not afraid to throw their weight around, so we’ll need to be ready for that. No complacency, we’ll have to stand up for ourselves.”  

“Ciaran McMenamin and Roisin McColgan have taken on the role of sorting the logistics for us going to London. We’re flying Friday afternoon, then we’re getting our bus from the airport to the hotel, we’ll have a team meeting, a bite to eat, and then away to bed early so we can be up early on Saturday morning and ready for McGovern Park.  

And what if they win?  

“If we win on Saturday, I have no doubt there will be a few lads having a mad one around the town in London. I don’t mind that. Once the final whistle goes on Saturday, the boys can do what they want as long as they’re on the bus to the airport at 10am Sunday morning.”