Nice to win and keep unbeaten record - Oisin Gallen

With captain  Patrick McBrearty out injured, his partner in crime up front for Donegal, Oisin Gallen, had to shoulder more of the load in the Division 2 final in Croke Park against Armagh.

But the MacCumhaill's man was up to the task, winning his own ball, and getting in a huge shift for the understrength Donegal team.

In the end Donegal prevailed by a point to take home the title and afterwards Gallen was happy with many aspects of the performance.

"It's nice to get that win and keep that unbeaten record going. We are a few bodies down but that's the power of the squad. You need boys who are fit to step in, you need a strong squad. Fair play to the lads who stepped in today, we got the win and got over the line.

"It's nice to finish off the league season with that there," said Gallen.
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For Donegal the win was achieved without many of their regulars and with up to seven players making their Croke Park debut. Gallen was pleased to get back to headquarters and playing on a firm surface.

"It's always great to get up to the capital. We played in MacCumhaill Park last week and the ground was a bit soft. It was nice to get up here to the hard ground, just the thought of coming up here on a good sunny day, playing fast football, fast forward football, you are thinking about that all week at training and that brings a great buzz to the whole squad.

"And then getting up the road, getting on to the bus. Some lads hadn't been here before and even the setting and the changing rooms, they take it all in with the hope of getting back here later in the year.  It's a great experience."

Playing in the full-forward line and being one of the team's main shooters attracts plenty of attention, but it is something he is getting used to.

"I don't know if they are purposefully doubling up, I think teams are getting more and more bodies back and when you go to take on your man you might beat your man but you are running into another man, so you have to vary your game around and get used to it too. Teams play with a packed defence and stuff and you just have to get used to it."

Donegal looked comfortable with 20 minutes left being four points up but then  they hit a wall and they had to fight for the win in the end with Armagh coming back and going ahead.

"It was always going to go down the stretch but I thought at that stage we kinda forced them to take bad shots and I thought we were very good defensively

"We were four up and we were looking like we were cruising and then we had a bad spell, probably not getting our kick-outs away. We were punished and we went down the straight then and thankfully Doc (Aaron Doherty) stepped up and kicked that important point."

Apart from the win, the positives for Donegal were getting the likes of Jason McGee and Niall O'Donnell back in the starting team.

"Caolan McColgan came back in for his first start too today, just thrown into it and done very well on Conor Turbitt, kept him to a few points in the whole game. Jason (McGee) back in, Niall (O'Donnell) back in; so we lost one or two, but we're gaining three or four and hopefully gain a few more now in the next couple of weeks.

"And that's good, you need a full squad these days and that's great for these lads, who would have been regulars in previous seasons and finally get back to get playing and no better place to do it than in Croker."

Asked if they would be able to get a break tonight from preparations, Gallen laughed: "You might have a word with Jim to see if we could have a few."