THE pain of last year’s shock defeat to Derry will be a powerful motivator for Donegal minors as they lock horns with the Oak Leafers in Sunday’s Ulster MFC final.
Last year, a Conor Glass and Shea Downey-inspired Derry deservedly defeated a hotly fancied Tir Chonaill side, who had contested the All-Ireland final against Kerry in 2014. To compound their woes, Donegal had a chance to snatch an undeserved win, but the late penalty flew over the bar in the Ulster semi-final.
On Sunday, the counties collide again in Clones and there is still a lot of “hurt” in Donegal, according to team manager Shaun Paul Barrett: “We had five players involved last year, three starters against Derry. There’s a lot of hurt there," he said.
“I suppose the expectation was huge last year and it didn’t work out. We played Derry three times last year, beat them comprehensively in the first two games and they turned us over in the game that counted. That is good motivation for Sunday.”
On a personal level, this is Barrett’s first ever Ulster final, so the stakes are pretty high on a number of fronts: “Yeah, it’s a big occasion for me as manager, but we came in at the start and that’s what we were looking for, to get the team ready and make the Ulster final,” he said.
“There’s an awful lot of work going on in Donegal everywhere, between club coaching, schools coaching and then the development squads. There’s an awful lot of work going on in development squads for a good number of years now. The one thing that made a huge transition for Donegal was the introduction of an U17 competition.
“There was a break from the U16 Buncrana Cup, while other counties in the north were playing college football in MacRory and MacLarnon competitions, our lads weren’t. But now there is a transition there as they’re playing U17 and a huge gap has been closed.”
Barrett has been heavily involved in that vital transition: “I have been involved at U17 level and I think that has been crucial for Donegal in the last few years,” he said.
“It’s massive having two Donegal teams in the Ulster final. There is a great buzz, there should be a massive crowd from Donegal with the two teams there and they will all be coming early. It is a huge boost to the lads. They have been working really hard all year and we would feel that they deserve the support as they have worked hard all year.”
Donegal are reigning Ulster Minor League champions and have already defeated Derry this season, but Barrett remains very wary of the context of that victory: “The minor league went well. It was just building for the Championship,” he said.
“The minor league counts for nothing on Sunday. It was a big building block, we were able to try out different players in different positions, but it was all geared for Championship. We would take nothing from it and Derry are a very good team and I have seen Derry play three times this year.
“I think they have 11 players in the squad who were in the victorious panel last year. Shea Downey, son of Seamus, is a very influential player for them and they will pose a huge threat. That’s a huge bit of experience to bring to any final. I think they also have four who played on the St Pat’s, Maghera MacRory Cup-winning team. We have been preparing well, trying to get the players focused for the final. It’s about winning, that’s it”
Donegal have real match winners in towering midfielders Jason McGee and Ciaran Gallagher, while Neil O’Donnell and Eoghan McGettigan are superb up front. Donegal have had two testing encounters with Antrim and Monaghan en route to Sunday’s decider.
“We were well tested and had to come from five points down against Antrim with 11 minutes to go, but the lads have great character and great belief in what they are doing,” said Barrett.
