Daire Ó Baoill revelling in trust Jim McGuinness is placing in him 

Daire Ó Baoill's superb 2-3 contribution was the highlight of Donegal’s 14-point win over Fermanagh in Letterkenny on Sunday. 

The Gaoth Dobhair man’s lob from out the park was the game’s standout moment where wandering Erne stopper Ross Bogue was chipped from close to 40m. 

“Michael Lagan did all the hard work with the press,” Ó Baoill explained after. “We turned over the ball and it was on. Bogue likes to come off his line and the greasy conditions, the ball skidded nicely along it and in”.

Ó Baoil’s second maximum was a well-worked team move but the player joking admits that he purposefully positioned himself where Ryan McHugh had no choice but to return the ball back to him in front of the net. 

“I made sure I gave it to Ryan where he was in the position where he’d to give it back to me! We were laughing about it there after.  But it doesn’t really matter who puts it in. At the end of the day, it’s about creating the chances and making them count”.

Donegal are now three from three and top of the pile in Division 2. But something will have to give when they take on Armagh at the Athletic Grounds next Sunday. 

Kieran McGeeney's charges are scheduled to take on Kildare today, Sunday, and Ó Baoill says Donegal will be very interested spectators during that broadcast.

“We set out to win the game and thankfully that’s what we did. We’ve taken it game by game, and three in, it’s working well for us. 

“It leaves us top of the table so we can have a look at Armagh now in Kildare. And, at the beginning of the week, we can shift the focus to Armagh at the Athletic Grounds.”

On his own stunning performance, he said: “There is real energy in the group and we’re all feeding off that. And you take confidence from the trust the management places in you. We’re enjoying this process right now”. 

Donegal’s turbulent 2023 seen them lose out to Armagh at the same venue with both sides eventually making the drop to the second tier. However, Ó Baoill says it’s a very different team that makes that same journey this time out. 

“In terms of the approach, it’s different in how we’re playing and it’s different in how we’re training.  I know for a fact they’ll have been watching us as well so it’ll be interesting to see how next Sunday goes”.