Even just being on the pitch in Carrick-on-Shannon last Saturday was a triumph for Emer Gallagher, her 100th appearance for Donegal and her first since the cruciate knee ligament injury she sustained a year previously.

But to cap what was already a memorable day for the 27-year-old, she and her team-mates produced arguably the county’s finest ever result when they beat Dublin by six points to reach the All Ireland semi-finals for only the second time.

Now, Gallagher is dreaming of Donegal ‘doing a Meath’, but if they are to reach their first senior final they’re going to have to beat the reigning All-Ireland champions themselves, the counties meeting in Croke Park on Saturday after the other semi-final between Kerry and Mayo.

Donegal ran Meath close in April’s National League final, losing by just two points, but that was another game that Gallagher had to watch from the sidelines.

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It was in the final minutes of Donegal’s championship game against Kerry last July that she sustained her injury.

“I knew straight away, there was a very obvious crack,” she says. “The pain actually went away after five or 10 minutes, but unfortunately that was a negative thing when I thought it was a positive at the time.

“It was a long road back. There was a huge amount of individual work, and that’s definitely something that I wouldn’t have been used to beforehand. I’m a team player, I’ve played team sports all my life, so that sense of individualism, doing things by myself, outside of the group, I definitely found tough.

“I remember when I first got back on to the pitch to do straight-line running by myself, I was part of the training, but I was still so separate from it. So close, yet so far. It felt like I had such a long way to go before I’d actually be back involved.”

But after an operation and a gruelling recovery, Donegal manager Maxi Curran didn’t hesitate in selecting her for the game against Dublin, not least because he wanted Dublin forward Hannah Tyrrell ‘man-marked’ – and he knew Gallagher would be up for the job.

Tyrrell managed just one point from play, so Curran’s faith in Gallagher was handsomely rewarded.

“It was fantastic to be back,” she says. “I never had any fear about the knee itself, my only fear was that I wouldn’t be able to get up to the level that I needed to get to. I had a clear goal all along, to be back at some stage in this year’s championship. That’s what got me up in the mornings and made me do my rehab five or six days a week. I’m back where I want to be now.”

The secondary schoolteacher filled some of her free time last year by working as an analyst for TG4 on the championship, so she was a witness to some of Meath’s journey en route to their remarkable success.

“For them to be totally in control against Dublin in the final and to come out as All-Ireland champions, it really inspired every other county into believing that they can do it too. You can see it this year, ourselves, Kerry, Mayo, I think we’ve all been inspired by them. They’ve given everyone the kickstart that maybe they needed.”

Since reaching their first semi-final back in 2018, where they lost to Cork, Donegal, while a force, failed to really kick on, not reaching the last four again until this year.

With seven of the team, now including Gallagher, having made 100 or more appearances for their county, Donegal have a core of hugely experienced and gifted players, and while it’s not quite a case of ‘now or never’, she admits there’s a feeling that this group need to be reaching their goal soon enough.

“That’s one of the big driving factors now, many of us are running out of time; if we don’t do it now there is that sense that maybe there’ll be a rebuilding period in the next few years, so that is definitely something that has made us hungrier.”

Eleven years on the panel and 100 appearances later, what keeps her coming back for more?

“All my friends play,” she laughs, reckoning she’d be friendless if she packed it in.

“We’ve had a great sense of family in the squad for many years, a real camaraderie. There’s just a great love for football here in Donegal, we all have a great sense of pride in our jersey. We just love it. Love the friendships we have, going through the good times and the bad times together.

“There are girls in our team who have had great personal losses, so that sense of community and family has helped them through those times.”

“It keeps us young too,” she smiles.

“There’s plenty of silliness there in training, but we know when to be serious and when to have our fun. Whenever we all finally do hang up the boots that’s what we’ll really miss, being with our friends, having the best days of your life without knowing it. But when that day comes, we’ll be able to look back with the fondest of memories.”

Before then, though, the mission is to create the fondest memory of all: to ‘do a Meath’.