Proud new dad Gerard Gilmore sees bright future for Donegal

There are just some things that are much more important than hurling, even for a noted ash artist like Gerry Gilmore.
Gerry (32) did not travel to Trim for Donegal hurlers fine away win over Meath on Saturday because of a much greater event nearer home.

For at 12.45 am on Sunday morning Daithí Eamon Gilmore arrived in the world and Gerry and his wife Aoife could not be prouder.

“We liked the name Daithí and Eamon is the name of Aoife’s late grandfather Eamon Campbell.” said Gerry.

“Mother and baby are doing very well, and we are absolutely delighted as we are a year married now and it all fell into place.”

“And with my family and the Campbell family, he will have no choice but to be a hurler.”

Meanwhile Gerry’s colleagues had an historic first-ever victory over Meath by 0-28 to 3-14 in a game where rising star Liam Óg McKinney hit 0-16, with 0-13 coming from frees.

“It was a great win, and the team went down with no pressure and try and get a win over Meath for the first time in their history and they did just that.

“They played very well, and it showed that we do have strength in depth in the squad.

“There were a few regulars missing from the line-up and a few lads stepped up and did the job for us which is great to see and will only improve Donegal hurling for the future.

“Liam McKinney is a great young player and an absolute gentleman and if you give him time and space, he will punish you and I am delighted for him.”

Gilmore said Donegal could take a lot of positives from a Christy Ring Cup campaign where they took their first ever four pointless having finished pointless in 2019.

“We were very close, and we picked up our first four points in Christy Ring hurling this year which is a huge positive.

“We ran Derry very close and maybe ran out of steam a bit in the last ten minutes and we should have beaten Wicklow, but London was the better team on the day, and we beat Tyrone which was an important win.

“There is a lot to play for next season and I am sure we will put in a hard pre-season in preparation.”

Asked how he found the standard of hurling in the Christy Ring Cup, he said:

“You are going up a level and everything is faster and the conditioning of all the teams is immense, and we were not far away.

“We now know that so hopefully we can have a real go next year.”

“We are a very experienced team and there are a lot of younger players pushing us on and the rise in St Eunan’s has helped Donegal as well and that will only improve hurling in the county and the standard of hurling has really improved in the past decade.

“It is getting better every year.”