Teammates reunite after 39 years and discover their sons faced off in Croke Park

It was about 10 weeks now when two old teammates who hadn’t seen each other in 39 years stumbled into a moment that felt written in the stars.  

Sean Gallen’s hairdressers in Ballybofey in Donegal is a hub of local stories, but even he couldn’t have scripted the moment his former teammate from Galway Garvan McDaid walked through the door.  

It was a chance meeting, almost 40 years in the making, between two men who once played GAA together for Dulwich Gaels in London. 

“When Garvan would come to Donegal in the past, he’d usually pass through Ballybofey on a Monday when going back to Galway from seeing his family in Ramelton,” Gallen explained.  

“But the shop is always closed on Mondays, so we never met. This year, though, he came up on a Monday and stayed until Friday. So, on his way back to Galway, he walked up the street and into the hairdressers.” 

McDaid had no inkling he was about to meet a familiar face. Standing before Gallen, he said, “Are you Sean Farrah?” The name jogged no memories until Garvan clarified: “I was your full-back in London for two years back in the 1980s.” 

The penny dropped when Garvan added, “I used to always slag you about the big goalkeeper gloves you wore at the time.” That’s when Gallen realised: “It was Garvan McDaid!” 

The reunion was already remarkable, but the conversation soon turned extraordinary. 

“He started asking me about my family,” Gallen said. “Then he spotted the photo of Oisín, my son, on the wall and asked, ‘Why do you have a photo of Oisín Gallen up there?’ When I told him Oisín was my son, he looked shocked. 

“Garvan said, ‘I thought your name was Sean Farrah?’ It turned out that, even though we played together for two years, he never knew my last name was Gallen!” 

The surprises kept coming. 

“Garvan picked up the program from last July’s All-Ireland semi-final between Donegal and Galway, which I still had on the table. He flicked through it, pointed to Galway’s Cillian McDaid, and said, ‘That’s my son.’ 

“So, in that match at Croke Park, two former teammates who hadn’t seen each other since 1985 had their sons playing against each other - and neither of us knew!” 

“During the match, I was sitting in section 333, and Garvan was in section 332,” Gallen added. 

The two families connected weeks later at the All-Star awards. Both Oisín and Cillian had been nominated, and Oisín ultimately claimed one of the coveted awards in the full-forward line. 

“We met a few weeks later when Garvan’s son Cillian was nominated for an All-Star, as was Oisin. The four of us got a photo together at the event, which was brilliant.”