McCann confirms Conor McGurk Cup final put on ice as Donegal eye London

Donegal manager Mickey McCann has confirmed that the scheduled Conor McGurk final against Ulster University has been postponed.

The Ulster curtain-raiser was scheduled for this Tuesday at the Dub in Belfast but this does not suit Donegal as they have an away match against London this coming weekend. A new date is yet to be set.

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.

“We explained the situation and the game will not now go ahead on Tuesday as we have the London game next week and we will be totally focusing on that game,” McCann said. “So hopefully we will get to play that match in a week where we don’t have another game at the weekend.

Meanwhile a slightly relieved McCann said he was happy to pick up two points against a most wasteful Sligo side in O’Donnell Park, winning on a 1-16 to 0-15 scoreline in their opening fixture in the NHL Division 2B. The Yeats County hit a staggering 16 wides and Donegal had a lucky goal in a game where ice cool veteran Declan Coulter’s accuracy from frees was so crucial.

“You can talk about Sligo’s frees, a lot of their frees were off and while they also hit wides from play, I felt that we put pressure on them,” McCann said. “I felt they certainly missed their free-taker from last year, Gerard O’Kelly Lynch, who is a very good ball striker, and he usually hits nine out of 10.

“They missed a lot, and we were more clinical, but we ended up with a very young forward line and that is what it is all about. We wanted a win and we fought hard. But we have a lot of stuff that we need to work on, and we had a lot of unforced errors”.

Donegal off and running in NHL Division 2B with victory over Sligo

Gerry Gilmore's goal and eight points from Declan Coulter helped Mickey McCann's side over the line against Sligo in their first fixture in this season's Allianz NHL Division 2B

Gerard Gilmore managed to score the only goal of the contest, although there had been some confusion over whether Ruairí Campbell got the finishing touch.

“I think Gerard Gilmore’s shot carried on into the goal and we felt their goalie was a bit nervy,” McCann added. “Ruairi Campbell was in there too and he may have distracted the keeper and Ruairi was giving the score to Gerard Gilmore. That was certainly a crucial score coming just before half-time.”