James Daly has high hopes for the future of Donegal ladies football after league win

Donegal ladies manager James Daly is excited for the future of Donegal football after his young guns impressed to win the Division 2 title.

Donegal had been in the second tier for three seasons and went through a bit of a rebuild in recent years, but they are back in the top tier of the league after earning promotion.

And the cherry on top of the cake was picking up the title on Saturday evening with a 2-7 to 0-8 win over table toppers Cavan in the final in Clones.

After a strong first half against a heavy breeze, Donegal were just 0-4 to 0-2 behind, and goals from teenagers Mia Bennett and Katie Dowds put them on their way to lifting the cup.

“We won the toss, but we decided we wanted to play against the wind,” Daly explained after the game.

“Our strength in the middle eight and back three, we know how good we are, and our game plan was to try and contain them.

“We knew then our quality coming off the bench in young forwards. We were two points down going into half-time, and we were confident. When you have the likes of Katie Dowds, Sue White, Ciara McGarvey, and then Ulitah Boyle, Eva Gallagher coming off the bench.

“Katie Dowds is a first-year student at university, and it’s her fourth year as a county player, and the same with Eva Gallagher. Mia Bennett is in her second year with the county, and the same with a lot of these girls, they’re young kids, and as forwards, they’re only going to get better.

“I love the idea of what this Donegal team is going to become in the next four or five years. “We have so much quality, and we’re trying to get the most out of them.”

“Eva Gallagher is as good a shooter in the country. Mia Bennett for me could be the next Geraldine McLaughlin, and that’s a big, big statement. Ciara McGarvey is unbelievable, and “Sue White is the older one of the group, and she’s only 24. She keeps the scoreboard ticking for us, and that was her job today, and she did that.

“We have one of the best forwards this country has seen in Karen Guthrie in our backroom team, and she’s coaching them night in, night out to try and be a better forward.”

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Promotion was always the aim from the end of last year when the group got together for this season, and that goal has been achieved.

And now Donegal head into the Ulster Championship, which for the first time since 2023 will not just be a final against Armagh, with Tyrone winning the Intermediate Championship last year.

It’s just two weeks until the start of that, so celebrations will be had, but they will be short as the attention turns towards Ulster.

“The goal at the start was to get promotion, but it’s always good to go up as champions, and we spoke about that for the last two weeks. We got promotion, and the pressure was off, so it was about going out and having a bit of fun and seeing if we could bring the silverware home.

There’s a lot of guts in this team, and our girls definitely were so good and so solid. We were a bit naive in the first half, carrying the ball into the tackle, and Cavan did really well to turn us over.”

On Ulster, Daly added: “It’s all about belief now. We’ve come here, and Cavan are an Intermediate team, but they’re a good side, and they’ve been pushing everyone all year, but we have to contain the girls now, put it aside, and get the video out on Armagh, then Tyrone the following week.

“It’s up to us to pull out the good stuff, show the girls what they could have done better, and move on from there.”