Late last year, a Swedish film crew travelled to Donegal to shoot footage of Dunlewey Celtic for Discovery+ football documentary series Leriga Rötter (Muddy Roots).
A trailer for the episode about the club was released this week. Their Glentornan Park pitch, which sits at the foot of Mount Errigal overlooking Lough Nacung Upper, is the star of the show during a game against Glencar Celtic but it is the supporting cast which makes the four minutes so captivating.
There's Leo Devenney, a referee unwilling to accommodate any nonsense from players. There's Donegal All-Ireland winner Neil McGee struggling to take throw-ins. There are crunching tackles. There's a supporter, with a child in his arms, exiled to watch the game from the side of the road. There's the team using fluent Irish to their advantage. There's learning about everyone's familial connections. And there's swearing, a lot of swearing.
READ HERE: Wrexham Director Drove Hollywood Pair Away From League Of Ireland
Långt upp i nordvästra Irland finns ett fotbollslag som är en familj på riktigt. De talar till och med ett språk som inte motståndarna förstår. På lördagseftermiddagarna spelar de match, för vad skulle de annars göra?
📲 Se första avsnittet av Leriga Rötter på discovery+ pic.twitter.com/D8bDBaHRoF
— discovery+ sport 🇸🇪 (@dplus_sportSE) October 20, 2023
"It's fairly doing the rounds on social media. Everyone you meet during the day, they're all talking about it. They got a good laugh out of it anyway," Manus Cannon, the Dunlewey Celtic secretary, manager, and holder of a "few other roles" tells Balls.
"I haven't actually watched the full episode yet. We're planning on watching it together as a team just for a bit of craic and team bonding. Still a bit nervy as to what's going to come up.
"If it's anything like the movie trailers, I'm hoping the best and most entertaining bits [have already been shown] and we're more subdued in the rest!"
Two years ago, the club began to attract international attention after a group from the magazine Football Is Everywhere spent some time in Donegal for an issue about Ireland.
"They came across an image of our grounds somewhere online," Cannon explains.
"They then decided that they'd head up to Dunlewey to get a match up there and meet the people, get to know the grassroots side of things. They went to another club in Inishowen and on the Sunday then to the FAI Cup final. They shared all their stuff online.
View this post on Instagram
"433 magazine, they have over 60 million followers on Instagram, came across the Football is Everywhere footage and pictures and shared the image [of our pitch]. After that, it took off and everyone started messaging the club.
"[The Discovery+ crew] sent through a request to see when we play and what was the best time of year to come. They happened to come for our last game before Christmas last year. You can see in the footage that the snow was on the hills.
"It was unreal. It was a perfect time for them. I went over that morning to see if the pitch was actually playable because there was so much frost. The pitch was frozen when I went over. Thankfully, it thawed before the one o'clock kick-off.
"The stillness of the lake, it was just ideal conditions for them. I'd say they couldn't believe how lucky they were about how it worked out. The roads were pretty dodgy as well. The other team had to travel.
"They shot over two days of footage so they got plenty. I'm sure they left out a lot of funny material. They were in the bar with us after and the camera was still rolling!"
Theres an all Ireland winner taking two throw ins and it looks like he never touched a soccer ball in his life.
— Eamon Mc Gee (@EamonMcGee) October 23, 2023
The game, which Dunlewey Celtic lost 1-0, was one of Neil McGee's first for the club.
"My brother, you'll see him at the start of the clip, he was trying to tell him how to [take throw-ins]" says Cannon.
"That was one of Neil's first games with us. He was thrust into the action straight away. Bar the throw-ins, he did well.
"He said himself that he hadn't played soccer since he was in secondary school. I don't think we'll be having him on throw-in duty time soon! We've always had issues with our right backs and foul throws. It's a curse of the position.
"He's signed with us this year but Gaoth Dobhair got to the county final on Sunday past. He's been tied up with the Gaelic and now he's in the backroom staff with Jim McGuinness this year.
"I'm not sure how much of him we'll see this season but he's on the books with us anyway. It would be great to have him if we got him for a couple of games.
"He's a fine unit of a man. He's good on the ball as well. It was surprising considering he hadn't played soccer in so long. He had a great touch."
22 October 2023; Neil Mac Aoidh of Gaoth Dobhair during the Donegal County Senior Club Football Championship final between Gaoth Dobhair and Naomh Conaill at MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey, Donegal. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Dunlewey Celtic finished third from bottom of the league that season and were relegated. This season's campaign for promotion is going well. They're top of Division 2 and unbeaten with five wins from seven games.
Like many clubs in rural areas, keeping the lights on, the grass cut, and fees paid requires constant work.
'We're actually 50 years in the Donegal League'
"We don't have any major funding coming in," says Cannon.
"I have put through an application this year for a sports capital grant. Hopefully, we'll get a bit more equipment into the place and tidy things up a little bit. It's difficult.
"You still struggle on the side of getting volunteers in as well, being such a small area. So many people have families now and it ties everybody up. It's hard to get people to chip in on all the small jobs, fundraisers and things like that. We keep going.
"We're lucky that we have a great community that are supporting us. They are a fantastic help to us. Every fundraiser that we have, they come out in their droves.
"The insurance costs are never going to go down. They are always going up. It is a costly thing to run a club with all the maintenance costs and things like that as well. It's kind of tricky but we're ticking over."
10 August 2020; An aerial view of Glentornan Park, home of Donegal soccer club Dunlewey Celtic. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
The documentary being released this year is timely as it's the 50th anniversary of the club joining the Donegal League.
"The pitch has been there since '73 and it's had a couple of upgrades here and there over the last 20 - 30 years," says Cannon.
"I think the clubhouse was built in the early '90s. Before that, it was a little prefab.
"We're actually 50 years this year in the Donegal League. We'd be hoping to have a little celebration to mark that at the end of the year.
"The episode was filmed last year but the fact it's released this year... It's weird, the timing of it.
"There was another lad around there three weeks ago, a YouTuber from Clare. At the minute, he's editing a video to be released in the coming weeks.
"I'm hoping that one is going to be a bit more PG than the [Discovery+ episode]. I think they couldn't afford the bleep machine! They would have had to pay out too much for it."
SEE ALSO: GAA on TV: All The County Finals Available To Watch Live This Weekend
