Mac's View: Donegal picked ideal week for warm-weather training camp

Donegal picked an ideal week to get away for their pre-championship warm-weather training camp as they wouldn’t have had much joy training at home during Storm Dave at the weekend.

The atrocious weather meant that few club games took place over the weekend due to waterlogged pitches and storm force winds.

The Donegal senior training camp should work out well, coming at an ideal distance in time from their opening game in the Ulster championship on April 26th. Some might feel it is a bit of a luxury but I know Jim (McGuinness) will put every effort into it and nothing will be left to chance.

Back in the day we had a smaller version of the training camp which was a weekend in Bundoran two weeks before a championship game and it was something I always enjoyed, getting the lads into my own back yard. They were great times and the boys would still talk about it. Staying in a hotel was something special back then.

One thing I would like to emphasise this week is that there is a feeling abroad that it will only be a matter of turning up for this game against Down. We could perish on that rock. Down always have this capacity to score goals and they have given us plenty of problems in recent years. When you think that Monaghan, who would not be in the top four in Ulster just now, punched holes in our defence very easily in our league game in Clones, we have to be extra vigilant when dealing with Down.

Otherwise, it is going to be a great day to look forward to in O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny with a full house and tickets are going to be a premium. It looks as if clubs will only get a handful but that is something we have to deal with. MacCumhaill Park will be badly missed.

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It has been a good couple of weeks for the GAA in Donegal with the U-20s qualifying for the Ulster semi-final by virtue of their one point win over Derry in Celtic Park on Wednesday of last week. It is not easy to go to Celtic Park at any time and Derry are always strong at that age group. But Donegal coped well and when the fat was in the fire in the final minute they had the composure to turn the ball over and go up the field and kick the winning score with Shane Callaghan showing remarkable calmness kicking with his right.

We all know that success breeds success and although the win means that Donegal will be playing an U-20 semi-final just days before the Down championship game and hopefully a final on the Wednesday before a possible Ulster semi-final against Armagh or Tyrone, it is something we have to deal with.

This Sunday we have the opening game in the Ulster Championship for 2026 with Armagh hosting Tyrone in the Athletic Grounds and I would have to fancy Armagh playing at home. Tyrone seem to have a lot of small men and it’s a big man’s game at the moment and that’s one of the reasons why we are doing well.

Still it’s a local derby but it seems strange that Tyrone are finding it hard to bring their young talent through at senior level. They are not getting the success they should be getting and they don’t seem to be getting the support of the Tyrone public in recent years also, which is strange.

But Ulster is a tight province and there was just a point between these teams last year. Tyrone have been average in the league but you would expect that there would be a kick in them.

There are rumpus that Oisin O’Neill is carrying an injury and I was sorry to see Soupy Campbell retire. He was always someone who could do a job off the bench; could always get a score.

Armagh have Kieran McGeeney as manager and ‘Geezer’ is the most driven man I ever met. I managed him at provincial level and I remember him making his debut for Armagh against Donegal in 1989 in MacCumhaill Park.

I’m really looking forward to Sunday as the game is on RTE and it is one of 35 games they will be showing throughout the summer.

Good luck to the Donegal hurlers who begin their Christy Ring campaign this Sunday with a home game against Wicklow in O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny. It should be a good match and a chance for Donegal to gain some revenge after losing out in the final seconds of their league final against the same opposition in Aughrim two weeks ago. Good luck to manager Mickey McCann and his panel, who are putting Donegal hurling on the map in recent years.

Good luck also to James Daly and the Donegal Ladies who take on Cavan in the Division 2 Ladies final in Clones on Sunday. They have the chance also to avenge a narrow defeat when the sides met in Fr Tierney Park, Ballyshannon earlier in the year.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell