By John Harrington

Martin O’Reilly is just 24, but he already feels like a veteran when he looks around the fresh-faced Donegal football team dressing-room.

The retirement of a host of long-serving household names after last year’s Championship and emergence of a new generation has radically changed the complexion of the Donegal panel.

That process has promoted O’Reilly through the ranks, and he now feels a greater responsibility to show some leadership within the group.

“Four years ago I remember going to the gym along with Paul Durcan and Declan Walsh and Paddy McGrath and I was by far the youngest,” he told GAA.ie.

“Now I was standing in the gym the last day and myself and Martin McElhinney were the two oldest. It's changed so much, there were eight or nine lads there younger than us.

“For a long time you were probably just thinking I'm still young yet, but now you have to step up and try to take on whatever leadership role you can.”

Few inter-county teams have suffered a talent drain as severe as Donegal’s in the space of a single off-season.

Rory Kavanagh, Christy Toye, Eamon McGee, Colm McFadden, Leo McLoone, David Walsh, Odhran MacNiallais, and Anthony Thompson all either retired or decided to opt out of the 2017 season.

Much of the punditry surrounding Donegal’s 2017 prospects predicted they’d struggle without so many big names, but instead they’ve flourished.

Since losing their first match of the League, they’ve gone five games unbeaten and played some really high quality football.

Young players like Ciaran Thompson, Eoin Ban Gallagher, Michael Carroll, and Cian Mulligan have come into the team and impressed, while others like Ryan McHugh, Eoin McHugh, and O’Reilly himself have elevated their game to a new level.

2017 was meant to be a period of transition for Donegal, and possibly a painful one at that, but O’Reilly insists the players are not surprised by how well they’ve performed this year despite losing such experienced players.

“It was around January or February when the media heard that the lads had left.

“But when we met in November we knew who was on board. Those players had the respect for Rory to tell him that they wouldn't be back.

“From November on we knew who was on board. It didn't come as any surprise to us and we were well prepared.”

If one player best sums up the youthful vigour and high quality of Donegal’s displays so far this year, it’s surely been midfielder Ciaran Thompson.

He has scored 17 points from play in just six matches while operating mainly as a midfielder, and has a good shout for being the best footballer in the country so far this year.

“He's been brilliant,” says O’Reilly. “Some of his scores have just been out of the world. But it doesn't come as a surprise to any of us because we see it week in, week out.

“He's just got a fantastic left-peg, you could only dream of having it yourself really.”

O’Reilly insists that this young Donegal team is “by no means the finished article”.

They still have a lot to learn, but that process would surely be accelerated were they to beat Mayo on Sunday and secure a place in the Allianz Football League Final.

You learn more from playing big matches in Croke Park than anything else, and O’Reilly admits it would do this Donegal team a lot of good were they to get there.

“We set out at the start of the year looking to try to get to the League Final as every team did,” he says.

“We have this opportunity on Sunday and it's definitely not going to be easy against Mayo because it's a huge game for them and there's a huge amount at stake for them as well.

“To get to play in Croke Park would be great now for this team. We played Dublin at home so obviously we haven't been in Croke Park yet this year.

“Any time you get to play in a League Final is something to look forward to. But obviously we'll just try to take care of things on Sunday evening first because Mayo will have something to say about that.

“It'll be tough because they're a great side and they won't go down without a fight."

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