Mac's View: Another good result for Donegal in Armagh

It was another very good result for Donegal in Armagh on Sunday, a place that is never easy to get a result. Donegal were always on top but it needed a good save from Gavin Mulreany at the end from the penalty to get there. I felt that the referee would have played for a draw if that penalty had been scored. And it was never a penalty in the first place.

But fair play to the ‘keeper; he had a very good game apart from one wayward kick-out. He has done really well and given that Jim (McGuinness) said afterwards that Shaun Patton is a bit away yet, it is good to have such a replacement. Indeed at the moment, it would be a difficult decision to move him, he has done so well.

The bottom line is that we are four from four in the league and are now very secure in Division 1. We have to push on now and make sure we make the final and I feel one more win will secure that.

We also have something special to look forward to with Galway coming to the Fr Tierney Park, Ballyshannon on Sunday next. Galway are a very good football team but they got caught last week by Roscommon and are now in need of points.

They are a team who have given us plenty of problems over the years but I remember getting one over on them back in 1986 at the Fr Tierney Park in Ballyshannon. I remember it was a frosty pitch and I thought the pitch was unplayable. The Galway crowd had phoned Sean Meade to look at the pitch as they were anxious to play and the game went ahead.

We won the match thanks to a late goal from Leslie McGettigan and I think Sylvester Maguire got our other goal in a 2-8 to 1-10 win which relegated Galway to Division 3.

That game was played on March 2nd in 1986 so it is almost exactly 40 years. Where have the years gone?

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I’m expecting another full house in Fr Tierney Park on Sunday and it is a very exciting time for the county with a great buzz at the moment.

But back to Sunday and what about the display of our man of the match, big Jason McGee at midfield. He was outstanding and also contributed four points from play. And there is more in the tank when he gets full up to speed, although he did cover a lot of ground on Sunday.

There were a lot of good performances, not just from McGee and our ‘keeper. The full-back, Brendan McCole, playing his 100th team, did his job again, this time on Oisin O’Neill, in his own quiet way. Then there was young Roarty, who is an unreal piece of talent.

I have to say Ryan McHugh also had a very good game and if he had got that goal that was just the width of a post wide, he would also have been in the running for man of the match.

Conor O’Donnell took his goal with a bullet like shot and what a return pass he got from Michael Langan; he didn’t have to break stride. You could go through the whole team. It is great to have them at that level as we come towards the business end of the league.

It is where you want to be now. Back in the day the heavy training wouldn’t start until the league was over but nowadays you have to be ready with the championship starting in April.

We were also missing a few players on Sunday. Michael Murphy didn’t travel; Dáire Ó Baoill is still out; Caolan McColgan and Mark Curran must have injuries as they haven’t featured in the match-day squads recently; Jamie Brennan and Eoin McHugh still haven’t featured this year although Brennan, I hear, is ready again. It was good to see Stephen McMenamin listed on Sunday. He is someone I really like and he should get some game time now before the end of the league.

McGuinness is tipping away introducing the younger lads and they will have learned a good bit playing before a full house at the Athletic Grounds on Sunday.

Looking forward to later in the year there could be another meeting with Armagh in an Ulster championship semi-final so it was good to get the win. We have it over them at the minute and that bit of psychology is useful.

I know both Donegal and Armagh have other hurdles to take before that possible semi-final meeting but looking at Tyrone at the moment, they are well off it with small crowds at their games and no buzz. The arse seems to have fallen out of them. They don’t seem to have footballers with any size.

U-20s

It won’t be long now also before the U-20s begin and Donegal have a very good chance of success this year. I see that they have four group games starting on March 18th.  It will also create a dilemma with at least six of the U-20s involved with the seniors. The Ulster U-20 semi-final and final are fixed for either side of the Donegal v Down senior championship clash. We’d be hoping that Donegal will be still involved at U-20 level and while it might be a headache if it occurs, it would be a nice headache.

Before that we should also be into our club season although I haven’t heard anything about club fixtures yet.

Finally this week my condolences to the McBrearty family, Killybegs on the sudden death of Conor McBrearty. Conor was a noted referee and his son, Joseph, gave a lot of time to coaching in Donegal and is still involved in Dublin. Ar dheis Dé ar a anam.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell