IT IS not quite three months since some of the most joyous scenes that have been witnessed at the Aviva Stadium in a long time.
Against the odds, Drogheda United beat Derry City 2-0 in the 2024 FAI Cup final.
Kevin Doherty’s side were among the most unlikely winners of the trophy in recent memory — the fact that the Premier Division strugglers were involved in a relegation-promotion playoff days later said it all about the inconsistent nature of their campaign.
Photos from that memorable day show three Drogheda players — James Bolger, Aaron McNally and Andrew Quinn — who could not look any happier after the final whistle.
McNally may have had to settle for a place on the bench, but he describes being involved in the famous win as “definitely the best achievement I’ve ever had in football”.
So why, at 24, has he decided to “step away” from the game after just enjoying his greatest moment?
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McNally has been an important player for Drogheda and made over 50 Premier Division appearances in total.
Last season, however, was a frustrating one. A serious ankle injury restricted him to just 12 league games.
Growing up, he had dreamed of making his grandfather proud.
The late Johnny Fullam, an ex-Ireland international, and a legendary figure at Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians, brought McNally to his first training session.
“To be able to just play in the League of Ireland like he did, it’s probably the thing I’d be most proud of,” McNally tells The 42.
“He’s the whole reason I would have played football in the first place. To be able to make him proud is probably the proudest thing I’ve ever done.”
McNally started at Dundalk and made his first-team breakthrough at Longford before joining Drogheda ahead of the 2023 campaign.
In 2022, he also had a short-lived spell in America. He was supposed to go on a scholarship to do a master’s degree.
“I went to Texas originally for two and a half months to play USL League Two just to keep fit,” he explains.
“I couldn’t sign back for Longford because I committed to college. So they sent me for the summer to get game time.
“And then I went over to Old Dominion University in Virginia, but I hadn’t had my eligibility sorted. They wanted me to go over and get it all sorted there. And then there were a few bumps.
“After about six weeks, the governing body of the College Football Association concluded that I wasn’t an amateur player, and said I couldn’t play in the college setup for a year, and I only had two years of eligibility. So I decided to come home, and that’s when Drogheda came in.
“I didn’t get my masters in the end, because I didn’t get to go to class.”
Initially, he balanced football for Drogheda with working at the financial services company PTSB. For a year and a half, he juggled the two.
Last year, the training schedule got heavier and McNally decided to focus purely on playing the game he loved.
But the injury kept him out for 13 weeks and the player struggled to get significant game time after returning towards the end of the season.
Once the campaign finished, McNally spoke at length with his manager Kevin Doherty.
Both individuals came to the same conclusion — that he needed a break.
It was partly because McNally wanted to focus on opportunities outside of football.
Since May, he has been running his own business.
“I do custom shin guards, it’s doing quite well,” he says. “That’s kind of taken over and kept me going for the time being.”
McNally is also “hoping to start a new job soon enough” and put his business marketing degree from Maynooth University to good use.
The fact that Drogheda are going full-time this year and effectively operated as a professional club for longer means he could not have balanced both careers.
McNally, though, believes the League of Ireland will get “bigger and bigger” over the next 10 years and is hopeful of returning to play someday, though acknowledges getting back into it will be a challenge now that he has decided to step away.
However, it is not a decision he believes he will regret.
In addition to the alternative career opportunities, there were psychological reasons for this choice.
“I just started to lose a bit of confidence in myself in the last couple of seasons,” he explains.
McNally had offers from clubs in the south and north of Ireland after leaving Drogheda, but he has turned them all down.
He has played football his whole life and won’t stop entirely, citing the Leinster Senior League as his likeliest destination.
Yet he will miss the camaraderie of League of Ireland dressing rooms and Drogheda’s particularly.
“I’ve been on loads of teams in the past. The Drogheda group we had there was the best I’ve been involved with.”
When McNally was struggling, people at the club did not hesitate to offer help.
“I’d say the worst thing for myself is the pressure I put on myself,” he adds.
Other players in the League of Ireland have spoken about dealing with performance anxiety and seeking psychological support via the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland. Has McNally gone down this route?
“I have tried a couple of things in the past. Now they help a little bit. But at the end of the day, it’s in my head, and I need to have a bit more belief in myself, and we know that. So I will be seeking help to try to regain that confidence in myself so that hopefully, in a couple of years, I can go back and be a better player than I was.
“I enjoyed a lot of it. But the anxiety that it caused me was a bit overwhelming.
So if I can sort all that out, I think I can get back to enjoying it more than I did last season and the season before that.
“I think just stepping back and looking at the bigger picture is the most important thing.”
McNally says enjoyment is the most crucial factor in football, no matter what level you play it at.
“90% of the players in the league now, it’s their [full-time] job. If you really love it and you’re enjoying it, well then it’s not a job.”
Fair play to him. He’s a quality player
Well done Lad.