'Division 2 is probably the most competitive league in the county' - Loughney

Four Masters captain Caolan Loughney believes his side learned a lot of lessons from last week’s result when they conceded two late goals against Naomh Padraig that saw the Muff side snatch a point from the Donegal Town men. 

But it was a different story yesterday evening as Kevin Sinclair’s side cruised to a seven-point win over Dungloe in Tír Conaill Park on a 2-8 to 0-7 point scoreline. 

Reflecting on last week’s performance the Four Masters captain notes that the result was a wakeup call for his team as they were forced to quickly reach the tempo required in Division 2. 

“I think it was a bit of an awakening after the result last week and we badly needed a response,” Loughney said.  

“Look we would never take a team for granted, that’s not what happened last week, I think we may have gone in a bit undercooked. I always feel that it can take a few games to get up to the standard of the league, we just needed to find our feet. 

“Division 2 isn’t the top division in Donegal, but it is one of the most competitive, there’s never an easy game or you’re never going to get an easy result. Every team is capable of beating each other.  

“There are upsets all the time and I think for us last week it was just about trying to get up to the pace of the league and we’re a bit closer today after that result. 

“You can be punished very easily in Division 2, whereas I find if you’re in Division 1 and you’re just trying to stay in the league or maintain your position, you can probably afford to slip up now and again, but for us who are trying to get out of Division 2, you have to be on the ball in every game.” 

Despite controlling the game throughout, it was the two second-half goals from Killian Faulkner and Jason Duignan that placed Four Masters into a comfortable lead, one which Dungloe had no response for. 

And while the Donegal Town men can take huge positives from the result, Loughney notes how better off the club is this year in the league compared to where they stood last season. 

“Look we have three points from two games which we’re very happy with because last year after our first two games we were on zero, so it’s about building all the time and improving as the year goes on,” he admitted. 

“There are a few areas we know we have to work on, I think as the matches go on, we will get better, particularly in terms of our sharpness and our ball skills. But I think we played better today than we probably did last year in terms of moving the ball quicker and getting out of our defense. 

“We saw in the second half that Dungloe had a purple patch, that’s going to happen to every team, I think it’s about how we manage our game by not losing our heads, particularly when Dungloe pushed up on us, that was really important. 

“Obviously, we had a tough breeze to deal with which forced us to work it through the hands a bit more than we’d like, but to come away with two points today is really positive.”