Odhran Doherty puts ‘difficult few days’ behind him as Naomh Conaill prevail

Odhran Doherty admits it was nice to get back to winning ways as Naomh Conaill added the latest bit of silverware to the cabinet at Davy Brennan Park. 

Martin Regan’s double champions are holding onto their league title after a fine 2-11 to 1-7 win over Gaoth Dobhair in O’Donnell Park on Saturday. 

Doherty was superb over the hour in Letterkenny and was on the scoresheet with a second-half goal. 

Doherty was, of course, a late substitute in last weekend’s All-Ireland semi-final where Donegal were squeezed out by Galway. 

The player says it’s been a long week but Saturday’s win with Naomh Conaill certainly helped lift spirits. 

“Ah, listen, it’s still pretty tough to look back at,” he said. “When you get that far you get greedy and you want to go to the next step. 

“It was heartbreaking to be honest - it’s been a difficult few days. But today is nice, lovely to see the supporters back out and giving them something to cheer about. So it’s just about getting back down to business now and moving forward”.

Moving forward for Martin Regan’s men now is a successful defence of their SFC and that begins with an away encounter with Cloughaneely. 

After that, there is a huge clash with their main rivals for the Dr Maguire, St Eunan’s. 

However, Doherty says no one at Davy Brennan Park is daring to look past their opening challenge.  

“It was good to get the win and we’re just happy to go into championship with a bit of momentum,” said Doherty on their league final win. 

“We’re bringing young talent in there and the likes of Leo Dunphy and Finnbarr Roarty were really good today. 

“We’re just settled in on Cloughaneely first day down right now. We wouldn’t dream of taking anything for granted there. We’ll enjoy this now and then look towards that”.