McGuinness: 'We threw the kitchen sink at it and it was the test we wanted'

Jim McGuinness felt there was plenty to take from his side’s 1-18 to 1-16 Dr McKenna Cup semi-final win over Derry at Celtic Park.

Derry shaded the first half and went in 0-10 to 0-7 in front at half-time and extended that out to a four-point lead when Conor McAteer put over the first point of the second half.

But then, Donegal, who had shown some positive sprinklings in the opening period, clicked into gear and spun off 1-7 without reply to go 1-14 to 0-11 in front, with Daire Ó Baoill scoring the goal. Derry did make inroads late on, although referee Mark Loughran blew for time seconds after Ryan Mulholland tucked in an injury-time goal.

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Donegal will take on Monaghan in Saturday’s final at Healy Park in Omagh at 5pm, seven days out before facing Dublin in their National Football League opener.

“Happy, I suppose we're in that phase of the season where you're trying period, to get ready for the first league match,” Donegal manager McGuinness said afterwards. “From that point of view, it was great. Derry came out hard in the first half. We threw the kitchen sink at it and it was the test we wanted. We're 10 days out from the first league game, so it was perfect.

There were nine Donegal debuts against Antrim on Sunday in the Section C clash in Cargin, where McGuinness saw his team win 1-15 to 0-7.

Ultan Doherty, Kieran Gallagher, Max Campbell and Shea Malone from Naomh Conaill, Paul O'Hare of Naomh Columba and the Four Masters duo Turlough Carr and Conor McCahill all started, with another Donegal Town native, Kevin Muldoon, Cormac Gallagher from Termon and St Eunan’s Eoin McGeehin all appearing in the second half.

Against Derry, Carr made his first start, as did McGeehin, whilst Muldoon and McCahill, in particular, from the new faces, made telling contributions from the bench.

McGuinness added: “The level of competition as well and the players that are out there and the questions we're asking. You need that under your belt going into the game. We're happy with that.

“We had a new player in every line going into the game. Then we had more players coming off the bench as well. As I said last week, we're looking to do that. We're looking to try and develop a wee bit of depth in the squad and develop the younger players. They did very well again tonight.”