TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final: Dublin (holders) v Donegal (Today, Pairc Sean MacDiarmada, 4pm live on TG4)
DONEGAL captain Niamh McLaughlin says they have nothing to fear as they prepare to meet defending champions Dublin in this afternoon’s TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final at Pairc Sean MacDiarmada.
Dublin are going for five Brendan Martin Cup titles in-a-row and they will be hard to stop but Maxi Curran’s side certainly have the potential to cause an upset with a semi-final place against either Galway or Mayo.
They haven’t been in this stage of the competition since 2018 when they reached the semi-finals before losing to Cork and that is the furthest they have reached. They also came up against Dublin in the last eight in 2016, losing by a goal and when the sides met in the group stages of the 2020 championship back in October, only three points separated them at the end of game remembered for a freak Sinead Aherne goal that saw her attempted point bounce down off the upright and into the net that turned the game in the champions’ favour.
McLaughlin knows they can push their opponents all the way especially with the weight of expectation all on Dublin shoulders.
“If you are going to win an All-Ireland you are going to have to beat Dublin somewhere along the way,” she said.
“We have nothing to fear and nothing to lose. There is no pressure on us and probably no-one outside our own circle expects us to win. That suits us. We can just concentrate on ourselves. We have pushed them close in the past, we have beaten them before as well and we are really looking forward the challenge again.”
Dublin came through their group relatively untroubled with wins over Tyrone and Waterford and weren’t in action last weekend, while Donegal after losing to Galway had to defeat Kerry last weekend to reach the knockout stages. Those differing degrees of difficulty to this last eight stage, McLaughlin is hoping, will also stand to them.
“It is probably the best time to get them. The way the groups fell they probably would have been happy and they came through their group without much bother while we have had tough games against Galway and Kerry, we’ve also had the Ulster championship game against Cavan too and all those games will stand to us and we can catch them out,” she said.
“Dublin are the most physical team of all. The intensity of their tackling, the pressure they put on opposition players, they are very good at what they do. Kerry was a very tough, physical battle and we are expecting that and more against Dublin and hopefully having come out on top against Kerry and experienced that level of physicality just a week ago that will help us them.”
Mayo and Galway need no introduction to one another and it is yet another instalment of the ongoing battle between them when they meet in this afternoon’s TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final at MacHale Park in Castlebar (1.45pm).
It’s home advantage for Mayo, who won the coin toss between the neighbouring counties and they will hope to make it count.
