Familiar faces back for Donegal but some injury and departure setbacks as well

As Donegal senior hurlers prepare to take part in the highest NHL Grade in their history, manager Mickey McCann is welcoming the return of two vastly experienced players to the squad.

Michael Donaghue and Christopher McDermott are back in training as McCann counts down to a tough opener in Division 2 with an away match in Meath, a team who beat them in the Division 2B final two seasons ago, on January 25.

“It is hard to believe that for the first time in our history Donegal are just two divisions below the top teams in the land.

Donegal finished second to Derry in Division 2B last year and are now in a very tough tier which also features Kerry, Kildare, Down, Derry and Tyrone.

“It is great to have Mick and Christopher back training as both of them will bring vast experience to the table and we have a pretty strong squad this year with younger players like Ciaran Porter and Ciaran and Kevin Curran also in the squad.

“Mick has played hurling in Galway while Christopher has won a few Nickey Rackard Cups with Donegal and they are big additions to the squad”.

On a less positive note, star forward and Limerick native Richie Ryan had returned after a serious back injury but suffered a recent setback in training.

Ryan has picked up some sort of knee injury and while the player and boss are awaiting results of a scan there, it doesn’t look good right now. Another real loss for Donegal is that Oisin Grant has gone to Australia.

Meanwhile, McCann, who is in his seventh year as boss, said it was the prospect of winning the Christy Ring Cup that once again lured him back for another season in charge.

But first things first, Donegal’s initial aim is to retain their league status.

“We are in new territory and are under no illusions about how hard the league is going to be as you have three Joe McDonagh teams in Kerry, Kildare and Down.

“But there are two teams going down, so it is going to be a real dogfight. It could be a close-run thing between us, Derry and Tyrone so we are going to have to try and take points off teams we have never beaten before.

“We have beaten Down and beaten Derry once before and they have beaten us by a point a few times and it has been pretty even between us and Tyrone.”

The manager admits that he took some time to decide his own future over the winter but when it came to the crunch, he just couldn’t step away at such a crucial time in Donegal’s hurling history. 

“I did some serious thinking, and the biggest factor was the chance to have a go at the Christy Ring Cup.

“It is a competition in which we are well capable of getting results; of course Derry and Meath are in it too and you also have Meath and London and Tyrone.

“It is a target for us and that was the main aim in winning the Nickey Rackard Cup last year which was very important to us.

“On any given day we would have the beating of any of the other teams and it is one of those things were you could be in the final or be relegated out of it.

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“Mayo was in the Christy Ring final in 2022, and they were our opposition in last year’s Nickey Rackard final.

“It is fine margins and we could have beaten Meath in the NHL Division 2B final in 2023. We were down bodies that day so we are capable of beating any of them on our day.”

McCann also had a special year with his club Burt as they took their first Donegal SHC title since 2018 with victory over recent kingpins Setanta. 

And, even though he was in the background there, you could still see his fingerprints on that major win.

“Fair play to Setanta, as they have raised the bar in Donegal and were going for three-in-row and they were also Ulster Intermediate champions, so it was a big target for us to try and achieve.

“Getting to the final is not easy in Donegal as St Eunan’s are pretty strong too and we were underdogs. 

“But we had a firm belief in ourselves that we could do it and we went man for man and thankfully it worked.

“On the day, we had some great displays and any of the three teams could take the title”.