Ian Campbell: 'Survival in the senior championship is now our main aim'

The last few weeks may have been disappointing for St Naul’s with regards to results in the championship, but team captain Ian Campbell hopes his side can turn things around this weekend against Dungloe to avoid a senior relegation play-off. 

The Mountcharles club were beaten by Killybegs last Saturday in their own backyard on a 0-13 to 1-7 scoreline, resulting in St Naul’s third championship defeat on the trot. 

Despite starting the better of the two sides with an early goal, Naul’s failed to register the scores needed to keep them in contention, with the Fisherman’s Club pulling away in the second half.  

With one group game to go in the championship, Naul’s will travel to face Dungloe who were extremely unfortunate not to make it three wins in-a-row after losing to St Michael’s by one point at the Bridge. 

“It was disappointing because we started well against Killybegs, we got a goal early on but then we just went pure flat for some reason,” Campbell said. 

“We were kicking ourselves because we missed a good few chances and at the same time Killybegs took their scores well and came away with two points on the board. So, for us now, we have to go down to Dungloe and throw everything at that game.” 

With a host of other teams fighting for two points this weekend to avoid a relegation play-off, this weekend could result in score differences between who advances in the championship and who doesn’t, but Campbell and his Naul’s side will not be taking Sunday’s game lightly. 

“A win against Dungloe would give us two points and that could possibly keep you up depending on the score difference with other teams,” he said.  

“The way the round 4 draw has gone, there are teams in our position who are playing big clubs this weekend which could favour us in the score difference, but really, we can only focus on ourselves and on our match this weekend. 

“We played Dungloe in the league this year and actually got well beaten by them. I think they kicked four goals past us too.  

“They’re a good outfit and are able to set themselves up in a way that will frustrate teams. I think they have a solid group and then you add Mark Curran from the county panel to that and that adds further strength to their game.” 

St Naul’s difficult spell has been severely heightened this season with the loss of key players all over the pitch, including county full-back Brendan McCole. 

“Obviously losing Brendan is massive for us. We actually didn’t know that he wouldn't be available for us until about two weeks before the start of the championship when he said he needed to get surgery,” Campbell told Donegal Live. 

“Then on top of that we’re missing about four other key players; Kyle (Campbell) broke his ankle, Stuart (Johnson) is out with his ACL injury, and then Thomas White is out too, so it’s hard at the moment, but survival is now the main aim. 

“It’s come to the crunch time now where if we don’t win this weekend, then we’re going to be in a relegation play-off, so we have to be confident going into this weekend, otherwise, you’re only going to get beat. It’s a big championship game and we’re going to have to stand up and make ourselves count."