PADDY McBrearty returned from a trip to the USA yesterday and could return to the Donegal forward line for Sunday’s Division One clash with Meath in Navan.
The Kilcar attacker, who missed Saturday night’s League opener against Mayo, will be a valuable addition to Declan Bonner’s squad. Bonner will welcome Niall O’Donnell back to training tonight but is sweating over the fitness of Ryan McHugh, Caolan McGonagle and Neil McGee, all of whom limped off with injuries in the hard-fought draw against James Horan’s side in Ballybofey.
“We did ship a couple of knocks in the last quarter,” said Bonner.
“We’ll have to assess whether they’re fit to go and we’ll know more after training on Tuesday night.”
On the possibility of McBrearty’s involvement in Navan, Bonner added: “You never know.
“We’ll wait and see, a week is a long time in football.”
One player who has returned to the fold and looked right back to his old self on Saturday night is Eoghan Ban Gallagher who broke his ankle at training in preparation for last summer’s Super 8 clash with Kerry. The pace was there, the workrate was there and the Killybegs wing-back took a few solid hits to prove his fitness beyond doubt.
“He has worked really hard,” said Donegal captain Michael Murphy.
“He has had a tough time in the off season with injuries but Eoghan is very meticulous with everything he does and he was working away throughout the whole off season.
“When we came back to training he was still working away and over the last four to six weeks he has taken really huge strides. Having him back was a lift straight away, from day one, and he was brilliant tonight taking ball, carrying ball in difficult situations.
“He took some big hits and got forward for us and defended quite well too.”
Murphy top-scored with eight points on Saturday night but even he couldn’t keep out James Durcan’s last-gasp goal at MacCumhaill Park. The Glenswilly clubman got fingertips to Durcan’s drive but could only deflect it into the top corner of the Donegal net in the eighth minute of injury-time. After the final whistle, Murphy checked with referee David Coldrick to see how long had been added on – ‘at least’ six minutes had been signalled.
“It seemed like it was an eternity,” he said.
“Just after the game it’s a wee bit raw but we should have defended a bit better. It was a great goal from them but they got up the field a bit too easy for our liking.
“But we’re up and running and it was a great game to be part of. That’s the nature of the League. There’s no point in being too elated and no point in getting too down in the dumps. You brush yourself down and you get stuck into Meath next Sunday. League football is brilliant, it’s class. You’re playing the cream of the crop and I thought we played some very, very good stuff.
“We played some excellent stuff in the first half but we were wasteful with the ball and wasteful with our chances.”
He added: “We blooded another couple of young lads who came in there. Jack McKelvey came in and acquitted himself quite well and Andrew McClean kicked a great score for us. Brendan McCole came in and was really brave. Michael Langan worked hard and fronted up and Jamie (Brennan) was great inside.
“The games come week-on-week, thick and fast and we’ll get ready for another big one in Navan on Sunday.”
Durcan’s equalising goal meant Donegal were denied the win they deserved against the reigning League champions. Murphy says the Tir Chonaill men need to bank the experience as they build towards their Ulster Championship opener against early pace-setters Tyrone in May.
“Mayo are a fantastic team with great character and they showed that in abundance at the end of the game,” he said.
“They keep hanging in and we need to learn from that. We need to go into the Meath game on Sunday and learn from that and then go to the Galway game and learn from that and the big picture is Tyrone here in May.
“We need to become more rounded, we need to get a more rounded squad and the condensed nature of the Ulster Championship and, if we’re lucky enough to reach them, the Super 8s means you have to play every week or every two weeks and this (the League) is a great opportunity to build up the resilient nature to keep performing week-on-week with a view of the Ulster Championship down the line.”
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