GAELIC GAMES:"WE ARE not turning up just to look good behind the brass band," vows Cathal Corey. The Naomh Conaill manager knows he is facing the best and worst scenarios when his Donegal champions face the mighty Crossmaglen in tomorrow's Ulster final.

“We playing one of the greatest club sides ever and we don’t know. But there is no point in us trying to match Crossmaglen for physical edge or knowledge or experience, so we are going to have to rely on the game that took us this far.

“It is going to have to be like the shoot-out at the OK Corral! Look, we might get slaughtered. I just hope we can show some of the skilful football that has got us here for some part of the match.”

The manager’s preview of tomorrow’s novel Ulster final seems about as accurate as you could get. Prior to this winter, the town of Glenties was probably best known as the home of the Magill Summer School and as the setting for the best of Brian Friel’s fictions. But the magical run by the senior team, who coasted to the Donegal championship with a 10- point win over bluebloods Killybegs, has transformed the pretty town into a beacon for football in the north west.

For years, Jim McGuinness was the man most identified with Naomh Conaill football and after his inspiring stewardship of the county under-21 team McGuinness was appointed as Donegal senior manager for the forthcoming season.

Those county commitments meant Corey, who had been working with McGuinness last season, was approached to take on the role of manager. Making the training sessions in Glenties has been a stiff commitment for the Tyrone man.

“That man deserves enormous credit,” says Leo McLoone, who first played for the club in 1953 and whose son Leo has been in terrific form this season.

“He is very dedicated and he has them all working together. There have been no fallouts. No alcohol. They all train here in the town. They are obviously enjoying the football and it is has given football in the county a great lift.”

Naomh Conaill pick from a population of 1,500. McLoone credits the underage work carried out by men like Martin Reagan and Connie Doherty as the main reason for this year’s successes: minor and U-21 successes at the beginning of the decade led to an historic county title in 2005.

“This year has been special. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing. People from England, Australia, even Ardara,” he says.

The team has lived dangerously. Ask Cathal Corey about the defining moment and his mind immediately races back to the closing minute of a championship round-robin game against Kilcar. They needed a win or they were out and, trailing by a point, Kilcar had a 13-yard free. Worse, the marksman was Patrick McBrearty, widely regarded as one of the most promising underage prospects in Donegal football for years. He just happened to hit one of those bad frees.

“It just went the wrong side of the post. There was the width of a football in it. But for that we were gone.”

Corey officially took on the post just before the beginning of the league and watched as his team lost the first three matches on the bounce. They ended up in a draining battle to avoid relegation.

“We decided we needed to change our style. We had become very defensive and it worked very well for us in 2005 but in the years afterwards, teams were able to predict how we would play. So we just went 14 on 14 and attacked and the players started to enjoy it and they responded to it,” Corey says.

So has the town of Glenties. McLoone reckons there won’t be many people left in the town on Sunday afternoon. When we spoke, voting for the Donegal by-election had begun but like everywhere, the general mood and forecast around Glenties is bleak. The football season has provided a welcome distraction but McLoone agrees that economic impoverishment may hasten the break-up of the senior team much too quickly.

“It is a worry, definitely. There is no work around the valley. It is that simple. As it stands, some of the players are staying around because of the football. We still have the under-21 championship to play yet and if they win on Sunday, they will be busy for a while. But of course it is a worry.”

That no Donegal club has featured in an Ulster club final since Killybegs in 1991 makes the achievement of the Glenties team all the more isolated and splendid. The night after winning the county title, the Naomh Conaill players were pressing Cathal Corey for the usual Tuesday night training session. Shortly after that, he organised a challenge match against Errigal Ciarán, which the Tyrone team won by a couple of points.

“That match really gave us a focus about what to expect in Ulster football.” Since then, they have been on a roll, dealing with Cavan champions Kingscourt and then absolutely bowling over a fancied Clontibret side in Ballybofey.

The semi-final against Coalisland was played in heavy fog and necessitated a return to the bread-and-butter qualities of last ditch defending. Through it all, Corey could recall earlier games – the 2-2 scored in the last five minutes against Glenswilly for a win that kept them in the championship.

“Moments like that and your entire football life flashes before your eyes,” he says.

They survived and they get to march behind the band with the most fabled team in Ulster football on the last Sunday in November – and to play in the biggest match in Naomh Conaill history.