Manager Christy McDaid praises young guns as Carn U21s make winning start

Carndonagh manager Christy McDaid was full of praise for his young side after they opened their U21B football championship campaign with an impressive 2-12 to 0-13 win over Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin in O’Doherty Park on Saturday.

“With the wind against us, we tried to sit in deep in the first half and force them to take shots from distance,” McDaid said. “It worked well - we were four points down at half time, but we knew we’d have the wind in the second half and we got our scores and worked them well.”

Carn trailed 0-7 to 0-3 at the break but turned the game around after the restart with goals from Kyran Cantwell and Daire Tully, while Kalvin McLaughlin led by example with a string of fine scores.

“The win is a good start for us in this U21 competition,” McDaid added. “The seniors are in the Ulster quarter-final next week, so we were missing four or five lads with that. But the boys we had today were more than capable - we’ve a good panel.”

Read more: Carn win with five points to spare over Muff

McDaid, who has been coaching many of Carn’s under-age over recent years, was especially pleased to see them step up to championship level.

“I've been coaching some of these boys, the likes of Kalvin, since they were ten years old. And they're really starting to come to the fore now,” he said. “It's good for the club that we’re showing well at senior level and at U21.”

The Carn boss also paid tribute to the strong connection between the two teams, with some crossover among players and plenty of shared focus.

“The seniors were training before our match there today. They’re going well, going hard,” McDaid said. “We want to give the Ulster Club championship as good a shot as we can. We know it’s going to be a tough test against the Monaghan champions Emyvale, but we’re in it to win, and that's what we're trying to do. Senior is the priority.”

A couple of Urris men, Patrick Doherty and Lorcan McGonigle, also lined out for Carn on Saturday, both having represented Donegal at underage level.

“Patrick and Lorcan both played with Donegal at under-age,” McDaid noted. “The players all know one another through school and one thing and another, so it’s all good.”

With the seniors eyeing Ulster success, the reserves winning the Donegal Junior B championship and the U21s off to a winning start, there’s a real sense of momentum building around O’Doherty Park - and McDaid and his fellow coaches Conor Fagan and Cian Doherty will be doing all they can to uphold the U21s side of the bargain.