If Anthony Molloy thought that Donegal’s success over the past decade or so would push him towards obscurity, it hasn’t proven to be the case.
After all, there’s nothing like the first. Michael Murphy, who became the second man from the county to lift the Sam Maguire Cup in 2012, 20 years after Molloy, has achieved iconic status in Donegal and beyond, but there’s plenty of room for both of them.
Molloy features on tonight’s edition of Laochra Gael on TG4 (9.30pm) and, among many things, it pores over the social demands that were placed on him in the aftermath of the 1992 success, ultimately leading to his developing a drink problem and the collapse of his marriage.
He has gotten his life back on track since though, and none of those hardships have coloured his perspective of that day in 1992.
“It is something I always look back on with pride and even today people will still come to you on the streets and talk to you about ‘92, even though we won it again in 2012, people are always likely to go back to our breakthrough in 1992,” he says.
“I suppose it was a fantastic time and they were a fantastic bunch of players to make the breakthrough at that time so, look it, any time I am on the street there is still young people who will mention ‘92 along the way.”
In many ways, Molloy’s struggles rhyme with those of Seamus Darby, Offaly’s goalscoring hero from the 1982 All-Ireland final who subsequently fell on hard times and someone who he is acquainted with.
“I know Seamus Darby very well. I'm lucky that I was taken on a trip with the GPA, a fundraiser in America, back a few years ago. Seamus was on the same trip.
“I'd have known Seamus before then. I know a good few of those Offaly lads - Pádraig Dunne, I met up with last week.
“Seamus's story, yeah... you know yourself, stories, they can be added to as well. That's the kind of characters we are. Seamus had a fantastic innings. Things have went really well for him since.
“We would have spoken about the olden days, there's no doubt about that. It wasn't all doom and gloom. We had great times, and great times with the supporters as well.
“We did pay a toll. I did pay a bit of a price for success but that happens. Thankfully, both of us came out through it all. I went through it for a couple of years, and so did Seamus, possibly. We came out through it, and we're thankful for that.”
If the culture around alcohol left the likes of Molloy vulnerable 30-odd years ago, there are more prevalent vices now like gambling and drugs.
“Aside from alcohol, which is taken openly, we have the scourge of drugs around all of our small towns and it’s probably in amongst teams as well, which is a worry.
“My advice to any young lad is to stay away. You don’t have to do these things. Stick to your training and stick to your playing and you’ll never go too far wrong.”
Molloy notes how inter-county players are now more disposed towards addressing their issues than in his day, with a much greater support structure around them to enable that.
“It was the culture at the time and people were more of a closed shop in those days and didn’t talk openly about what was going on in their heads. Now, when I see the entourages backing county teams – I think they need two coach loads between players, psychologists and all sorts of mentors. We didn’t have that in our day. People didn’t talk as openly about problems.
“I would have come across that when I took over the minor team in 1995. The problems that can lie at home at that age that people don’t know about – problems in the home place and problems in school. I witnessed some of that and would taken those lads into my own sitting room and advised them.
“Now things have moved on and there is more help with the GPA, who have done fabulous work in the last few years. There is help there for everybody.”
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