BACK winning matches, Donegal boss Jim McGuinness has been boosted further by the prospect of the return of two young stars during the National League.
The Glenties man is hopeful that Conor O’Donnell and Caolan McColgan will be able to play parts in a competitive Division Two which also includes Ulster revivals Armagh, Cavan, and Fermanagh.
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“Conor O’Donnell will hopefully be back running in the next two weeks,” said the Glenties man. “He’s an exciting prospect for us and we’re looking forward to getting him back into the group.
“Caolan McColgan the same, a very exciting young player, good pace. He’s heading on the right trajectory as well.
“Both of them got good news from the surgeon so we’re hopefully that they can kick on over the next four to six weeks and try to get back into the squad.”
Carndonagh attacker O’Donnell last featured in the All-Ireland series win over Monaghan, forced out of the eventual exit against Tyrone when he got injured in the warm-up.
“Conor had quite a serious injury, one that if not looked after properly could have been a career-ending injury. So we had to be very careful with him and get him the best care possible. It’s been small steps with him.
“He was on the anti-gravity [treadmill] during the week and that’s the start of putting weight through it now. Hopefully a week or two weeks of that and he’ll be back on the pitch and then it’ll be return to play, ball work, non-contact, and then build from there.
“Conor obviously has been very important to the team over the last couple of years so we’ll be looking forward to working with him. I haven’t worked with him at all up to this point. It’s always nice that, it’s like finding a new player when fellas return like that.”
The versatile McColgan, from the Naomh Padraig club in Muff, suffered a bad hamstring tear, but has followed a couple of senior stars in receiving effective treatment in London to aid his recovery:
“Caolan is the same, he had the same injury as Patrick McBrearty and Michael Langan. He’s doing really well, his numbers are really good, he’s heading very much in the right direction.
“Patrick was 16 weeks, Michael was 18 maybe. Caolan I think is week 14, so he’s getting there.”
In the shorter term, Donegal should have key defender Eoghan ‘Ban’ Gallagher available for their next game, after he was named to start Sunday’s McKenna Cup win over Tyrone but then rested as a precaution.
“We were just managing him a wee bit,” explained. “He’s done a good bit in pre-season and he’s in good shape but he’s just had wee niggles over the past week; we just felt it would be better not to risk him. Hopefully over the next seven days getting him in playing again – depending on how the fixtures fall for us.”
Dara O Baoill is in a similar timeframe, having suffered a ‘dead leg’ in training on Friday night, while Caolan Ward pulled his hamstring about a month ago, McGuinness noting “it was a Grade 2, so he’s still on that road to recovery.”
Donegal also have to manage the fitness of back-up goalkeeper Gavin Mulreany as first choice Shaun Patton is suspended for the first game in the League following his late dismissal in that Championship loss to Tyrone last summer.
St Naul’s clubman Mulreany, formerly with local soccer side Finn Harps, has “been carrying a knock too,” says McGuinness, adding: “He’s been training but he’s not been able to do everything, so we haven’t risked him in games, just in case he would hurt it again.”