Sport

Tyrone and Donegal clash is the highlight of U21 quarter-finals

Donegal’s Michael Carroll goes flying over Tyrone’s Michael McKernan during the counties’ Ulster U21 FC semi-final clash last year Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
Donegal’s Michael Carroll goes flying over Tyrone’s Michael McKernan during the counties’ Ulster U21 FC semi-final clash last year Picture by Margaret McLaughlin Donegal’s Michael Carroll goes flying over Tyrone’s Michael McKernan during the counties’ Ulster U21 FC semi-final clash last year Picture by Margaret McLaughlin

Eirgrid Ulster U21 Football Championship quarter-finals

Tyrone v Donegal (Wednesday, Healy Park, 8pm)

ANTHONY McGrath has insisted that there’s a healthy rivalry between Donegal and Tyrone, and he doesn’t expect any fall-out from last year’s acrimonious Ulster U21 Football Championship semi-final when the sides meet in tonight’s quarter-final tie in Omagh.

Donegal had two men sent off, and the game was marred by a late melee as Tyrone shaded a tight Celtic Park contest last March.

“There’s a healthy rivalry between the two counties, rather than the two teams. There’s a lot of parallels between the two counties, there’s a lot of respect for both counties, we’d have a lot of respect for Tyrone,” said assistant manager McGrath.

“Is there rivalry? There absolutely is, so the challenge now is to go out and be competitive, it’s about being as competitive as we possibly can to maximise our chances of winning the game.”

The Red Hands were denied back-to-back titles by Monaghan in the 2016 final, and McGrath rates them as the premier force in this year’s competition.

“The bottom line is that we’re playing the best team in Ulster in their back yard. We’re very aware of that, but we’ve done our homework, we know exactly what to expect.

“Tyrone have played 11 games over the last six weeks and they’ve won them all. So we know what we’re up against, although I know in Championship they’ll probably throw a few curveballs at us too, but we’re ready for that. We’re very excited about the challenge.

“Tyrone are the most dominant team in this tournament over the last couple of years. They have beaten us this last couple of years comprehensively, so they’re the team to beat.”

The talented Jason McGee has been ruled out of the Healy Park tie by injury, but Declan Bonner’s side have an abundance of quality players, with Jamie Brennan, Michael Carroll, Eoghan Gallagher and Stephen McBrearty having also progressed to Rory Gallagher’s senior squad.

Ulster champions three years ago at minor level, this group of players have experienced of winning together.

“They know what winning is, they know what it takes to win, which is very important,” said McGrath.

“In saying that, a lot of things have changed over the last three years. We have players now who hadn’t been involved three years ago, and they have come in and developed late or whatever.

“So it is all about developing players and trying to get a conveyor belt together for the senior team. That’s what minor and U21 ultimately is, but it’s also about trying to get success along the way.

“So these boys have tasted success, but they’ve only tasted it, and at the end of the day it’s about U21 and senior success to follow that, and they haven’t experienced that yet. That’s the challenge this year.”

However, logistical arrangements have become more complicated, with many of the players now based outside the county.

“This last couple of weeks, it’s about bringing the senior players back in and integrating the whole thing together,” said McGrath.

“It has been difficult, very challenging. Our players are based all over the country, and a county like Donegal will always have that challenge, but at the end of the day, it’s about trying to pull everything together for the championship.

“We have nine players in Dublin, and we have 11 in the west, between Galway and Limerick.”

Armagh v Down (Wednesday, Athletic Grounds, 8pm)

A MAULING in the Marshes provides an unpleasant backdrop to Down’s derby engagement with Armagh tonight.

When the sides met last year at Pairc Esler, the Mournemen slumped to an embarrassing 5-16 to 0-9 defeat.

Tonight, Conor Deegan (left) takes his side to the Athletic Grounds with the primary aim of restoring pride, and he’s hoping for much more than that.

“What happened last year obviously hurt the county and the age group,” said Deegan.

“It was humiliating, but these things happen in football and we just have to get up and get on with it.

“We can’t look beyond our first game. In championship, it’s about who turns up on the night and plays the best.”

Double All-Ireland winner Deegan shares the concerns of all Down GAA people at the county’s dip in fortunes, and he has taken on the U21 job to do his bit in developing football talent capable of bringing the county back to the top in the seasons ahead.

“Our role is to try to start generating footballers who can step up quite quickly to senior level, and hopefully by doing so, the seniors can kick on a wee bit.”

Ronan Millar and James Guinness, along with senior panellists Mark Reid and Conor Francis, are among those who will carry the challenge to the Orchard.

“I think what we have in the panel is a very honest group of young lads. They have all put their shoulder to the wheel and are pushing hard,” said Deegan.

“Obviously there are a few lads that we’re looking at that we believe can take a step up, and there a couple that will make that step up in the very near future.”

Down opted not to participate in a pre-season tournament this year, arranging a sequence of challenge games instead, and the manager believes that has been the correct approach.

“We didn’t go into the tournaments,” said Deegan. “We had a straw poll with a few of the players that were involved last year, and I think they did an awful lot of travelling all over the country, and that possibly took its toll.

“So we have picked games when we have needed them, and we have got out of them what we think we needed out of them. Sometimes we have played well, sometimes we haven’t.”

Monaghan v Derry (Wednesday, Inniskeen, 8pm)

PREPARATIONS have been far from ideal for Derry, but they’re ready to take on Ulster U21 football champions Monaghan at Inniskeen.

A sizeable contingent of players have had to commit to the senior squad in recent weeks, hampering the preparations for tonight’s quarter-final.

Captain Niall Keenan is one of those who has been torn between the seniors and U21s, a predicament also faced by Conor McGrogan, Oisin Duffin, Michael McEvoy, Peter Hagan, Danny Tallon, Jack Doherty and Barry Grant.

“It’s hard to get going when you have so many players on the senior team, but this last few weeks, we have really got together, and we have been building from there, concentrating on ourselves first,” said Keenan.

But he’s looking forward to the challenge, as the Oak Leafers target a first provincial U21 title since 1997.

He had a good look at the Farney side in their hard-fought preliminary round win over Antrim last week.

“You’ve got to just focus on your own game. You’re always going to come up against the best team at some stage, but we have plenty of quality players ourselves, so we don’t feel that any team is unbeatable.

“We have seen Monaghan, and we know how to set up and where we can target, as regards our strengths and their weaknesses.

“We feel like we can put it up to them and we definitely have a good enough team to beat them.”

Derry and Monaghan met in the Shamrock Cup final a few weeks ago, with the Farney county coming out on top at Cremartin, but Castledawson club-man Keenan insists that clash will have no bearing on tonight’s tie.

“We lost the final of the Shamrock Cup to Monaghan, and since that we have got a couple of friendlies in recently.

“At the start of the Shamrock Cup, a lot of the boys were playing with the seniors, so they missed the group stage games, but near the end it was a good indicator and helped us to see which players can play where.

“It helped us to shape our team together, and gets you prepared a lot quicker, for you’re playing competitive games, so you can see how your team’s looking and how it’s shaping up.”

Members of Derry’s Ulster MFC title winning side of two years ago will be heavily involved in the county’s bid to win a first U21 title in two decades.

“Our record at minor level has been pretty good in the last few years. We won Ulster two years ago, so those players are coming through in the U21s.

“A lot of the basis of this U21 team this year would be that minor team, so we definitely have the players to do it. It’s just the focus we need, and it’s coming together at the minute.”

Fermanagh v Cavan (Wednesday, Brewster Park, 8pm)

CAVAN’S golden era at U21 level saw them win four provincial titles on the spin between 2011 and 2014.

Those impressive triumphs are still fresh in the memory down Breffni way, and current captain Caoimhin O’Reilly feels it’s time to make an impact once again.

Tyrone and Monaghan have intervened to bring an end to Cavan’s dominance, but a vibrant under-age scene continues to thrive.

“That’s our ambition, to get back to that level, to try and win an Ulster title,” said full-forward O’Reilly.

“We want to push on and be like the other teams that have won titles, we don’t want to be the ones to let the county down.”

Cavan travel to Brewster Park to take on neighbours Fermanagh in this evening’s quarter-final tie.

On paper, the visitors look strong enough to secure a semi-final spot, but O’Reilly will take nothing for granted.

“Any game is tough in Ulster, and Fermanagh will be a very tough task down in Brewster,” he said.

“Pete McGrath is over them and they will be well set up, like the senior team.”

A solid platform has been laid during the Hastings Cup campaign, during with Niall Lynch’s side defeated Westmeath and Roscommon and, despite defeat to Longford, they reached the semi-final but lost out to a strong Meath side.

“We had a big squad of players and we were trying to narrow it down, so we had a lot of boys fighting for positions. It’s very hard to get in the first 15, everybody is fighting and chomping at the bit,” said O’Reilly.

Unusually, not a single member of the U21 squad has received a call-up to Mattie McGleenan’s senior set-up, but O’Reilly sees that as an advantage.

“I think it’s very good that we’re all together for the whole way through, we have no boys going off with the seniors or going to try out with the seniors,” he said.

“We’re all at training every night and there are no distractions.”