Wandering Gael O'Donoghue looking to end Grangenolvin's dreams

Josh O’Donoghue will surely set up some kind of record when he runs out for Barcelona Gaels as they take on Grangenolvin in the Leinster Junior Football Championship semi-final in Manguard Park on Saturday.

After helping Johnstownbridge to a Kildare Senior Football Championship quarter-final and Broadford to a Senior ‘B’ Hurling Championship semi-final, Barcelona Gaels will be the third club that he has represented in championship action in Kildare in just a matter of months.

“I’m not sure how it is allowed, but it is allowed!” laughed O’Donoghue.

“Johnstownbridge manager Aidan Dunne got on to me to tell me that it better be legal, and he actually got on to somebody in Leinster GAA to check and it is, everything is above board,” he added.

Now into final year of a Business and Accounting degree in Maynooth, O’Donoghue spent the third year of his course in Barcelona and availed of the European Student Permit which allows full-time students studying in a country under the jurisdiction of the European Board to play with a club in Europe and with the player’s own Club.

After the recommendation of his Johnstownbridge team-mate Aaron McNally he arrived in Barcelona in September 2024 but was too late to link up with the team as they became the first European side outside of Ireland to win a Leinster Championship game against Kilkenny’s Conahy Shamrocks.

His student transfer went through at the start of this year and he was able to represent the Catalan club.

“We were training then from January and we had our first tournament in February. Basically, we play three tournaments around Spain, in Madrid and Valencia, so first in Madrid, second in Valencia and third in Barcelona. The best two team from that go forward to the final in May. It was us and Madrid that came through and there was a final weekend in Salou with the winners going forward to the European Championship. We won that so went forward to play Amsterdam but by then I was back home and playing for Johnstownbridge, but the lads won that to go forward into the Leinster competition, and here we are today,” said O’Donoghue.

He is not the only Kildare man on the team as Kilcock’s Cameron Nairn also plays.

“We went over together, we lived together over there and eventually went up to train together. He’s carrying a bit of a knock and had to go off early enough in the last game but he’s a very good footballer,” said O’Donoghue.

Indeed, the standards throughout the well established club are high, as proved by the 1-10 to 0-10 quarter-final win over Westmeath side Ballinagor.

“We’d have some serious players, same as Madrid and Valencia would too. They are the same as us in that they have players constantly moving so their teams are always changing. We played Madrid three or four times earlier in the year, they had Oliver Birch from Leixlip who was with the Kildare under 20s who won the All-Ireland. There would have been a couple of lads who played under 20 for Dublin as well. Our team ranges from lads who are 18.19 to their late 30s and there is some serious talent there. Conor Murphy plays in the middle of the park and is from Fermangh, he played underage for Fermanagh. Aidan McLoughlin played centre back last weekend and was man of the match. We have Tomas Sheehy, who actually went off with a hamstring injury last week, but he is from Dingle in Kerry and would have played with the Geaneys so he is a very good footballer as well,” said O’Donoghue.

He finished his time in Barcelona at the start of June and hadn’t met up with the team again until the day of that game against Ballinagor.

“I haven’t actually trained with them since I came at the start of June. Tiernan (Kennedy, manager of the team) has a group for us who were over there and have moved back so we are chatting away in that. He knows we do be training with our own clubs but I haven’t been training with them directly. It’s been a few months since that but it didn’t seem to matter last week thank God,” he said.

O’Donoghue goes into the game knowing that defeat would the end of his time with Barcelona but said it has been a brilliant experience, and he’s hoping it will last a little longer at Grangenolvin’s expense.

“This would be the last hurrah if we don’t win the game. There’s probably about four or five of us who were over there last year and if we lose it will be our last game but hopefully we get another couple of weeks out of it.

“The whole experience had been unreal. There was the college part of it, the nightlife was great, and then the GAA as well. There was always soccer going on as well, 5-a-side, 6-a-side, 7-a-side. I never would have thought a few years ago that college would lead to playing GAA all across Spain. It’s been a great experience and I can’t knock it all,” he said.