Danny Brown really happy to be playing at MacRory Cup level

It was a good day for the elite college footballers from Gaoth Dobhair to Glencolmcille as Donegal Southwest remain unbeaten in the maiden voyage in the MacRory Cup competition.

The five school amalgamation came good in the final quarter to defeat Our Lady’s, Castleblayney on Friday afternoon in Killyclogher with five points to spare (1-12 to 1-7).

Their chief marksman was Danny Brown from Glenties Comprehensive who chipped in with 1-3, the goal putting the final nail in the Monaghan side’s coffin.

It was their second win on the trot and Brown was very happy with the outcome.

“Two wins but we’ll not get too far ahead of ourselves. Coming into it we didn’t know what to expect. We have just been taking it game by game and thankfully we won there again today.

“Look, it’s been going well and we’ll keep training and look forward to the next game.”

The team are sporting a unique jersey for the competition with the MacRory logo emblazoned on it and the players are really embracing the competition.

“It’s a new thing. But a lot of us boys would have played together at county level so we would all know each other. It’s a good bunch and to be playing at a level like this is exciting. Hopefully now we will push on and go further.”

On Friday they were cagey in the opening quarter with six points being shared before Castleblayney took a two point lead to the dressing room at half-time.

“There was a bit of a wind there and we were playing against the wind in the first half. It was hard to take shots and you had to be smart with the ball too. A team like Castleblayney, they will punish you if they turn you over. It was just about being patient in the first half.

“We knew come the second half as the game went on it would open up and thankfully it did and the boys took their chances.”

There was a moment when Castleblayney got their goal eight minutes into the second half to go four clear and things didn’t look too rosy for the Donegal side.

“The management would always be telling us, no matter what the score, keep the heads up. That’s what we did. When we conceded  the goal a lot of teams would have folded. But we stayed together and we kept tagging on the scores.”

Donegal Southwest were helped by a great contribution from their bench, not least Pobalscoil Gaoth Dobhair’s Colm Doherty, who was a real threat up front when he came in.

“Colm is unreal. He hadn’t played for us yet. To bring on the likes of him, Shane Sweeney, Gavin Sweeney, Eoghan Ban (McNelis) and there many boys who didn’t get on. We have an unbelievable team and squad. It’s unreal.

“We were  short Luke Clerkin and Aaron Neely. They would be big losses too.”

And the team also had to deal with midfielder Shane Callaghan having to go off a couple of minutes before the break with a hamstring problem.

“It’s nice to have other boys to step up when we lose someone like Shane, because Shane is an unbelievable player.”

After the first two wins over Holy Trinity, Cookstown and now Our Lady’s, Castleblayney, Donegal Southwest can look forward to another big game when they play St Colman’s of Newry in round three, but it is something Danny Brown is looking forward to.

“It’s a big challenge, but we will look forward to it,” said Brown.