Donegal may have marked their return to the top tier by finishing top of the table, but manager Michéal Naughton insists nothing has been won yet, as they prepare for a Division One semi-final against Galway on Sunday.
Five wins from seven, including a historic first win over defending champions Cork, in their own back yard too, saw the Tir Chonaill girls claim top spot to step up this last four clash with fourth placed Galway while Cork and Dublin lock horns together in a repeat of last year’s semi-final.
Naughton admits that at the start of the league campaign their immediate focus and concern lay with survival, but as the wins kept coming (although there were defeats to Kerry and Dublin midway through), the belief and confidence in the side grew, helped too by the return of Yvonne McMonagle from Australia.
“The objective at the start of the year was to retain our Division One status and taking every game as it came,” said the Sligo native.
“We just kept going at it. When you go down to Cork and beat them for the first time, and in their own back yard, that’s a big boost too. That gave the girls a lot of belief but at the same time it is important that we don’t get carried away and the girls know that.”
Donegal and Galway met back in round 2 with the Ulster side carving out a one point win, 2-10 to 1-13, in a game that Naughton admits they stole, with two points from captain Geraldine McLaughlin in injury-time to win that game.
“It could have gone either way and to be honest we probably did steal it on the day.
“We are expecting Sunday to be another tight game. Division One games can go either way and we have seen that this year. It will come down to who wants it more and who makes the less mistakes. Errors will change the game and it’s important that we cut down on those as much as possible.
“When we played them before, they cut through us too easily sometimes and that has been something we have been working hard on, tightening up so we don’t allow them to do that again.”
Naughton has drawn on his side’s performances in their last two games – against Monaghan and Mayo – as the standard they need to reach once again.
“That is what we are looking for. Against Monaghan we stuck to our game plan and ground out the win,” he said. and last day out against Mayo we played very well,” he said.
“We have finished top of the Division One after being promoted just last year – you can’t ask for more than that, but we have won nothing yet. There have been no medals or trophies handed out.
“When you get to a league semi-final you want to win it. We have relished the opportunities in Division One so far. If we can go on and get to a final, that is our immediate target. The belief is certainly there but we need to make sure the performance is too.”
Donegal have a few injury concerns ahead of Sunday. Eilish Ward is struggling with a hamstring injury picked up against Mayo, while Aoife McDonnell is still slowly making her return and midfielder Katy Herron, who missed the win over Mayo with a back injury, should be available once again.
However, while McLaughlin and McMonagle are sharing the scoring plaudits among them, it has been Donegal’s ability to come together as a team that sees them reach these pivotal knockout stages.
“Yvonne and Geraldine are probably the top two forwards in the country and they complement one another and it is great to have two target people up front,” Naughton said.
“But if the ball is not going into them then they are not going to the get scores. You need players all over the field, the defence and midfield winning ball, building attacks and getting the ball into our forward line. It starts there and this is very much a team effort.”
