CHARLES McGuinness carries the name well.
His uncle, his namesake, was a talented footballer in his own right. “A sure thing for the county minors,” Jim McGuinness recalled his brother’s friend Eoin McConnell telling him.
But tragedy struck when he was just 16, when Charles passed away suddenly at home from an undetected heart condition in 1986.
Young Charles – who often goes by Charlie – was born 26 years ago yesterday, October 18, 1996, a decade after his uncle had passed away.
On Saturday he did the name proud as Naomh Conaill won their third Donegal title in four years.
McGuinness got through relentless work. He lined up at midfield for the throw-in and then migrated to full-forward. On every single one of his team’s kickouts, he’d get himself back out to the middle. His hands graced most of them, turning them down for the waiting blue shirts beneath. Then he’d head back to base camp on the edge of the square. In, out, in, out for an hour.
When he was in nine minutes after half-time, he was the coolest man in MacCumhaill Park.
Odhran Doherty’s diagonal ball had the perfect weight and trajectory. High enough to make Caolan Ward lose it in the sun. By the time he was backpedaling, McGuinness, who’d waited so calmly for the ball to reach him, was gone. The finish was perfection, and the moment pivotal.
As a teenager, young Charlie was exposed to the inner workings of Donegal football. He would travel to intense training sessions and unforgettable games with uncle Jim in his branded gear, and he’d gather footballs and hand out the uisce in Ballybofey.
When Naomh Conaill won the Dr Maguire Cup in 2015, he was just out of minor, part of the squad and worthy of his medal.
But then he lost his way a bit. When Martin Regan took over, he was number 22 on the reserve team.
“We won the reserves this day five years ago,” he smiles.
“I was always a wee bit heavy. Martin and Michael McLaughlin from Derry and Shay Murrin were in charge at the time, and they just said ‘we’ve a role for you if you get yourself in shape.’
“I trusted the process and got into good shape, lost a bit of the weight and got into a bit of shape. They gave me my opportunity and I took it from there.”
So he’s ended up in Ballybofey two, three, four times a week of his own accord this year, loving all of it bar being asked to chase Eoghan Bán Gallagher in training.
Donegal is not a step too far for him either. Standing beside him, he doesn’t quite fit the imposing figure that he looks from a distance. His 6’3” frame was matched by St Eunan’s Sean McGettigan, but it was a non-contest in the skies. McGuinness’s hands were like a magnet to the ball.
They’d carried the hurt of twelve months previous through all that time. Eunan’s walked into a beartrap, where the hits were hard. Every turnover reverberated.
And that had the imprint of uncle Jim.
He’d come on board after the semi-final and helped them perfect a defensive system that is nothing new to them, least of all the more experienced hands.
Jim McGuinness wasn’t present at the homecoming, instead staying home where he now resides in Creeslough, the small town devastated by the unthinkable deaths of ten people almost two weeks ago now.
Standing on the open side of a trailer in the middle of Inniskeel with his players at his back, Martin Regan could only pay tribute.
“There’s a man who is not with us tonight. He brought us to the next level and he’s had a tough week and that’s Jim McGuinness.
“Jim came on board with us there in the last three weeks and he was needed in Creeslough since. The level that Jim brought these lads to, we would not have won this championship without Jim in place.
“We can’t let this night pass without mentioning him and what he's done with us these last few weeks.”
Regan has proven himself in his own right. He’s the man who couldn’t get away.
Appointed in December 2014, he won a championship the following year and then indicated that he would step down. No such luck.
He would take them to further back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020 before making the decision to quit last Christmas. Again he was convinced to stay and again he and the club have been rewarded.
“I know we’ve lost a lot of finals but we’ve been there. Go back this last fifteen years, they’re always in the last one or two every year. They’ve been in finals six years in a row. Donegal’s a really, really hard championship.”
Every team enjoys being written off but few revel so piggishly in the mud of expert views.
They know why people say it. Stephen McGrath, 33. AJ Gallagher, 33. Anthony Thompson, 36. Eoin Wade, 34. Leo McLoone, 33. Marty Boyle, 38. Dermot Molloy, 31. Brendan McDyer, 35. Jason Campbell, 31.
How could they not say it?
“I enjoy hearing it, it’s music to their ears in a lot of cases,” says Regan.
“When you look at the numbers on the age of some of those players, you can see why some people think it. Martin [Boyle]’s 38 there but you see him down in training… It’s easy to say it.
“If those people were down in training watching those boys train, watching the way they never miss, how they apply themselves, how they live their lives, they wouldn’t be saying it then.
“But when you’re looking in from the outside, it’s an easy thing to say – ‘that’s an old team, an ageing team’. We see them at training and every one of them is a credit.”
The music and dancing starts up again, and Regan starts to creep away from the dictaphone, itching to go and enjoy it. It’s only right to let him.
Back on the pitch, Charlie McGuinness’ teeth chatter as the cold starts to bite. A plump of rain is about to fall, sending the last few stragglers desperately shuffling across the field towards the exit, trying to find the perfect balance between getting there quick and not falling on their faces.
“Nobody in Donegal has done what this group of players have done. We are by far…” he says, and then he stops himself.
“Look, I’ve four championships now since I started in 2015, I don’t think there’s too many other players in the county that have four championship medals.
“We don’t listen to it. We hear it, it’s noise, but we know what we’re all about. There’s a lot of nonsense been spoke about us, we’re too old, this or that, but success breeds success.
“We were here in 2005, I was a kid watching Anthony Thompson, Marty Boyle, Leo [McLoone] and them boys lift the Doctor,” which is what they all call the Dr Maguire Cup.
“That’s where we aspired to be. I remember being in Ballybofey that night and the cup coming home, I was on the bus and I said ‘I’m gonna do this some day’.
“You just get down and work at it. There’s a great club ethos, the club’s the heart of the community and this will mean an awful lot to the people of the parish of Inniskeel.”
