Maxi Curran pays tribute to Donegal's young guns following league opener

Maxi Curran, the Donegal manager, paid tribute to his side’s young guns - particularly Katie Dowds - following their Lidl LGFA NFL Division 1 fixture in Tuam.

Donegal went down 0-11 to 0-6 against Galway, with a host of new faces in the team. Saskia Boyle from Dungloe started at corner-back, with Ciara McGarvey of Termon, St Eunan’s Laoise Ryan, Aodh Ruadh’s Cait Gillespie also all in from the off, with Dowds of Sean MacCumhaill’s.

Shannon McGroddy of Downing and St Eunan’s Catherine Boyle were back on the panel and back in action as second half substitutes, while teens like Termon forward Jodie McFadden, Codie Walsh of St Mary’s Convoy, Ava Walsh from Naomh Padraig Uisce Chaoin and St Eunan’s Shauna Higgins all came on.

Experimental Donegal lose out to Galway in LGFA Division 1 opener in Tuam

Susanne White from Killybegs top-scored for Maci Curran's Donegal in their first competitive outing of 2023 against Galway at Tuam Stadium

“We knew that this was going to be a very tough game,” he said. “There’s a lot of inexperience there and we had a girl who made her debut there at 16 years of age and she was probably the player of the match. Katie Dowds was just immense and Ava Walsh came on there - also 16 - and Codie Walsh and Jodie McFadden, who were minors last year.”

Donegal are opening Division 1 without established forwards like Niamh McLaughlin, Geraldine McLaughlin, Yvonne Bonner, Karen Guthrie and Niamh Hegarty, while All-Star nominees Nicole McLaghlin and Tanya Kennedy played in last year's All-Ireland semi-final against Meath. All in all though, Curran was reasonably pleased with Donegal’s showing against the Connacht champions.

“That’s where we are right now and we did ourselves proud there,” he added. “To hold that Galway team to 11 points was something. It was a tough lesson for us but we’ll be better for it. They were still plugging away. We haven’t got our A-list of forwards there and that’s probably where we fell down. Good teams will punish you but we’re very happy, considering the age profile.”