'Our boys will take a lot learnings for the next round' - Maxi Curran

Despite acknowledging his side were second best to their Leeside opponents on the night, ATU Donegal manager Maxi Curran was able to take some positives from a Sigerson Cup round one defeat to MTU Cork in Abbotstown on Friday night.

In a game that was initially set to take place two days earlier in the National Games Development Centre, ATU found themselves 1-6 to 0-0 adrift after facing into a stiff breeze for the duration of the opening half.

The Donegal college gave themselves a fighting chance on the resumption with three unanswered points from Luke McGlynn, Reid Kelly, and Daniel Marley before their Cork counterparts ultimately prevailed on a score of 1-10 to 0-6.

Curran felt their Munster rivals were the more ‘physically mature’ of the two sides on show in Abbotstown, but with the likes of McGlynn and Fionnan Coyle enjoying a considerable impact off the bench, he remained upbeat ahead of his charges entering the Sigerson Cup round two losers section next week.

“Our boys will take a lot out of that tonight, there will be a right bit of learning as we head for round two now next week," Curran remarked after the game.

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"Luke McGlynn played the second half there and made a massive difference when he came on. He and Fionnan Coyle added a real injection of pace in our half-forward line.

“That definitely caused Cork a few problems. I just think ultimately we left ourselves with too much of a mountain to climb after going 1-6 down and they just put us to the sword as the game went on then. There was a very, very clear difference in the physique level of the two teams.

“They were a much bigger, more physically mature team. We just watched them coming out here and there’s an awful lot of huge men, whereas we have a lot of kids.

They [ATU Donegal] are first and second years in college and that. They [MTU Cork] are maybe second and third year, so it doesn’t help matters. Listen, the best team won on the night, we’ve no complaints.”