Sean MacCumhaills prepare for historic Ulster Minor final clash

Sean MacCumhaills have already created Donegal history by making it into the Ulster Minor final, but manager Jamesie Donnelly is hoping they can end the year on a high against the odds.

The Donegal Minor champions face Antrim Champions Ruairi Óg, Cushendall, in Ballinascreen this Sunday (throw-in 1pm), having already overcome the underdog tag twice.

They became Ulster Shield champions by defeating Éire Óg, Carrickmore with a depleted squad, they did so again last Sunday against Down champions Ballygalget in the semi-final.

“To be honest, nobody gave us much of a chance in any of the games in Ballinascreen,” MacCumhaills manager Jamesie Donelly said.

“We never started the competition with a full team, and we certainly haven’t had one in the middle or towards the end of it.

“But we just keep going to the well and credit where credit is due, they’ve worked hard, and that has probably been the difference between us and the teams we’ve played, our work rate has been off the charts.

“We targeted the Shield, myself and Anthony Patton, we knew we had the capabilities to win that and we never really looked past that.

“There has never been a Donegal team in an A final, and that is mad because there have been a lot of good minor teams over the last 15-20 years.

“The Eire Óg win was massive and rightly so. They would have been targeting to get to an A final and challenging for it. They were a very strong team, and we had our homework done, and the work rate set the tone for us.

“But that’s the luxury when your underage system is going really well, you have quality players within the squad that might be a wee bit young and can’t get into the squad, but they took their chance on Sunday.

“We still felt we could go up and give a good account of ourselves, and the character of our young boys was phenomenal, they never bend and they keep going. We had two suckerpunch goals against us (against Ballygalget), either side of the half time, and things could have folded, but we settled and replied each time.”

With no Donegal team ever making the final before, the Twin-Towns men were always expected to be up against it in Ballinascreen, but having been so successful in the county in recent years, Donnelly felt they had a good chance despite being down a lot of key men.

“We were quietly confident this year. Strangely, the Down final was recorded and it can be very hard to get video analysis on underage teams, but we had a right bit of homework done on Ballygalget.

“We lost Tomas McNulty very late on before the game, and Jamie Gallen to a bad bug and they couldn’t even travel.

“Adam Byrne, our fullback, was missing. Jacob (Malone), our centre back and one of our leaders and best players, and he’s probably one of the best minor players in Ulster, was also missing.

“Pauric Kelly, our midfielder, was suspended from the previous game, so the spine of our team was gone, but it’s remarkable that the young boys who came in did what they did and the boys who came off the bench at 15/16 years old really stood up.

“Adam’s still struggling with a hamstring injury and Jacob will not be back, but we’re hoping to have the other two lads back. Tomas has an Achilles problem, and we’re less confident on him being back, but we’re hoping about Jamie, then Pauric will be back from suspension.

“But the boys put their hands up last Sunday, and it’ll be a difficult task picking the team this week.”

Cushendall have a rich history in Ulster and Antrim hurling, winning the county title four times in the last decade, along with three provincial championships in that time.

They are also the most successful side in Ulster, winning the title twelve times in total, so they are a club steeped in hurling tradition, and Donnelly expects that they will be given that underdog tag once again this Sunday.

“Cushendall is going to be a savage task, and we’re under no illusions. We watched the first half of their game on Sunday, and some of the management stayed on to watch the second half. They’re a serious outfit and they’re very physical.

“But our boys won’t fear it, they’ll not be found wanting.

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“We’re here on merit, we’re in uncharted territory but we’ll go to Ballinascreen and give it one hell of a lash, we’re not going up to take part in the occasion, we’re going up to play hurling and we might never get this chance again, so we’ll give as good an account of ourselves as we possibly can.

It’ll be the last chance for some of them (at minor level), Dan Donnelly, Jacob Malone, Jamie Gallen, Fionn Mac An Ultaigh and Rory Doherty, but after that, the rest are still underage and we’d be hoping to be there or thereabouts again but we’ll focus on Sunday first.”