Donegal to seek Conor McGurk Cup final deferral amid fixture jam

Donegal manager Mickey McCann has confirmed that Donegal will be looking for a deferral of the Conor McGurk Cup final.

McCann’s team are due to play Ulster University at the Dub in Belfast next Tuesday, following their opening fixture against Sligo in the Allianz NFL Division 2B in Letterkenny on Saturday, 2pm. Donegal hammered Monaghan in their McGurk Cup quarter-final 3-31 to 0-8 but their semi-final against Antrim fell foul of the weather twice, before the Saffrons withdrew from the competition. Now, the curtain is about to be raised on the league.

“It’s good to be in that final and it would be nice to win it, but the League is very important to us as Division Two B is a real group of death,” McCann said, with Meath, Tyrone, London and Wicklow also in the Division.

“We are playing Sligo in Letterkenny on Saturday and then we are away to London on the following weekend, so the very least we will need from those two games will be two points. So, we will be looking to have that final put back and we would be keen to play in it as it would be very good preparation and winning a trophy is never a bad habit”. 

Donegal are coming off the back of a very tough challenge match with Derry last week which they lost narrowly, although it was ideal preparation for Sligo. 

“We are at full strength, and we had a good test against Derry who gave us quite a physical challenge,” McCann said. “The young lads stepped up on a wet old day and it was definitely a good outing for us”. 

McCann has good reason to remember this flying youthful Sligo team who came from eight points down to pip Donegal by 1-20 to 1-19 in a play-off for a place in the final last season. And Padraig Mannion’s men ran Derry to three points in a mighty final. 

“They are a young and very fit team, and they have a great will to win so you have to battle to the very end with them,” McCann said of Saturday’s opponents. “We have to match their fitness and legs. Fair play to them as they have really come on so much in the past three or four years. 

“Their hard work has paid off and they have been in the Christy Ring Cup for a few seasons as well, so they are quite formidable. We beat them by three points last year away and then they beat us by a point after we were eight points up. There is nothing between us and it could be a point or two either way”. 

And even though this is only the first game, both sides will be revved to get those precious two points. 

“This league is like a championship for us all year and we need to get points on the board to keep our status,” McCann added. “There are no easy games, and this is a game we need to be winning. It’s a big two weeks for us as London is quite a big game too and we will need two points at least.”

McCann has signalled out centre-back Rory McHugh and accurate full-forward Andy Kilcullen and two as the Yeats County’s main threats. 

“Rory is a top player with serious pace, and he was a major figure for Easkey in their run to the All-Ireland final,” McCann added. “He breaks out of defence and breaks up a lot of attacks and is a top player. And if Andy Kilcullen gets quality ball at full-forward he is lethal. 

“It is something we will have to stop, and he is capable of hitting nine or ten points at his ease. He is not the biggest and it is the quality ball he gets so we will have to cut down the space in front of him and then you have the three Hannify brothers from Galway and one of them is on the Galway U-21 team and they are also big strong men. 

Sligo are minus Finian Cawley and Gerard O’Kelly Lynch and Donegal have extra physique and panache in the towering Liam McKinney, Conor Gartland, Oisin Marley, Steven McBride and Shaun Ward.