Ronan McDermott back on board as Donegal make the trip to London in Division 2B

Donegal’s somewhat patchy display against wasteful Sligo in their opening Allianz League Division 2B will not be good enough as they lock horns with a physically powerful London side in Ruislip on Sunday at 1pm. 

That is the firm view of team boss Mickey McCann as he reflected on his side’s 1-16 to 0-15 against the youthful Yeats County who hit an astonishing 16 wides. And McCann was a very interested spectator as London were just edged out by Tyrone in a great game of hurling in Dungannon,last Saturday evening on a 1-126 to 3-18.

“It was a brilliant game of hurling between two very good teams,” he said. “London went in front with 10 minutes to go but Tyrone came back, and they had that wee bit of momentum and they drove on and won it for Damian Casey, so it was quite emotional. 

“London scored 3-18 which is some shooting for early February. They have some really quality players in Sean Glynn at midfield, Conor O’Carroll on the 40 who is from Kilkenny. They also have wing forward Eoin McHugh, full-forward Conor McCormack and corner forward Jack Golding from Kerry who hit 2-3 and he is very clinical. Conor Nelson from Kilburn Gaels who beat Setanta, is at centre back and they are a very physically powerful team. 

“They are much stronger than they were last year, and Tyrone’s fitness helped see them through. But we know we are up against a very strong test on Sunday. They are very strong in the half forward line and their puck-outs are aimed at this sector” 

Meanwhile McCann is boosted by the return of bustling forward Ronan McDermott while injured keeper Luke White is on the mend in an otherwise full- strength squad that also has the returned Bernard Lafferty. 

But Sligo had 12 frees against Donegal and this is one of a few areas of concern for the straight- talking McCann. 

“They got a few what I felt were soft frees but we gave the ball away a lot around our half-backline against the breeze,” he said. “And when you are turned over there, sometimes players make some silly fouls. 

“I think we did foul a bit too much and on a different day, if Sligo had a consistent free taker we could have been in bother”. 

Richie Ryan was taken off as “things were not going great for him, and we felt like we needed a change, and you get those days”. 

McCann said: “The game by-passed him and we needed fresh legs. He is an out and out full-forward so no doubt we will be putting him back in there at some stage on Saturday and his physicality will be important against London. Subs go on to win the game for you but that did not pay off for us last week apart from Gavin Browne in defence, but we did not get much return from the changes we made up front. 

“We were seven points up and I thought we were going to push on, but it did not happen and Sligo came back very strongly and Diarmuid Hannify made a big difference. Sligo finished with a stronger team than they started with, and they started closing in on us”. 

But those two home points could be precious in a very tight division. 

“Two more points will be very hard to pick up in this division, just watching Tyrone and London and Wicklow and Meath will be very good so Saturday is a really big game for us,” McCann added. “Last week’s display might not be good enough and we need to improve”. 

Still the experience of Declan Coulter who hit some great frees and Danny Cullen’s defensive qualities were key in the final moments. 

“It is great to have that but we sat back in the last 10 minutes and let Sligo come on to us and we can’t let that happen against London,” McCann said.