BALLYBODEN ST ENDA’S and Donegal goalkeeper Paul Durcan has been busy clocking up the air miles.
The 2012 All-Ireland SFC medallist flew in from the Middle East on Friday night before helping his club collect an historic Leinster club title on Sunday.
It’s the third time that Durcan has embarked on the gruelling trip recently but he jets back with another medal deposited.
Durcan is a former Donegal SFC winner with Four Masters and added a Dublin crown with ‘Boden before landing provincial glory.
He’s unsure, however, about his commitments for the New Year with club and county as his wife Edel has been teaching in Doha since September, while Durcan is a quantity surveyor based in Qatar.
“We’ll look at it in the New Year, enjoy this tonight and we’ll see what happens then,” Durcan told Oisin Langan on Newstalk’s Rewind podcast after Sunday’s victory over Portlaoise.
“It’s brilliant, I’m delighted for the boys, they put a big effort in. I’ve been away for the last few months so I suppose it’s been an easy one for me, just doing the travelling whereas the lads are working hard week by week.
“In fairness to them, they deserve it and I’m very happy to be part of it. I’d like to thank Ballyboden especially for giving me the chance.”
Durcan played his part in Tullamore with a brilliant save to deny Brian McCormack in the second half.
“He hit it well enough but I was lucky enough to get a hand to it.
“I think it bounced out well for us then, off the post. We were lucky enough and then they missed two chances at the end that they wouldn’t normally miss so we were lucky enough in that way.
“In fairness, the boys worked hard and the score they put over to win the game was a serious one.”
As luckless Paul Cahillane stood over an injury-time free that would have levelled the game for Portlaoise had it gone over, Durcan was already preparing for one last assault on a winner.
“Get the ball out, get it up the pitch and give it a good, long kick. We had said to the boys on the line, maybe break it the other way and get it up the pitch and get a score off it.
“It was close in there, very hard to handle the ball with the conditions but I thought the referee was exceptional, he let the game go and there was a bit of physicality in it so it was a good spectacle.”
