Mickey McCann urges Donegal to stay grounded ahead of Kildare challenge

Donegal senior hurling manager Mickey McCann says his team will need to get their feet back on the ground after their historic win over Kerry as they prepare for the trip to Kildare this weekend. 

The manager's pleasure at the quality of Donegal's performance in the 5-14 to 3-16 win over Kerry is tempered by the scale of the challenge they'll face in St Conleth's Park in Newbridge on Sunday. 

“The main thing is keeping the players grounded,” McCann said on Tuesday. “There's been a lot of publicity after that Kerry result, but we could go from hero to zero very quick and nobody knows that more than me. 

“Our progress is built on a high work rate and having a good attitude and we'll have to bring that again for Kildare.” 

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Donegal have lost both their previous league meetings to Kildare, in 2019 and 2021, and the 4-29 to 0-13 defeat on the hurlers' last visit to Newbridge lingers in the manager's mind.  

“We were going well enough at the time, but their strength and condition, their fitness and physicality was well ahead of us, they were at a completely different level,” he recalled adding that, if anything, the Lilywhites have improved in the meantime.

“They beat Derry last week without getting out of second gear,” McCann noted. “We've put ourselves out there with that result against Kerry, and Kildare will be waiting on us. 

“We have to carry the tag and keep performing consistently at the level we did on Sunday. 

“Maintaining consistency is the hard part of it. We must keep the boys' feet on the ground – you could get a wake-up call this weekend that could snap us back to reality.  

“We'll give it a rattle, give it our best, and try to keep Kildare out, but I do think they're heading for Division 1B and that's a serious standard of hurling.” 

Mickey McCann and his backroom team are diligent in researching and assessing their opponents, but he has failed to detect any weaknesses in Sunday's opposition. 

“Going through the Kildare team, I don't see any weaknesses at all,” he admitted ruefully. “Their cornerbacks are as sticky as hell and can hurl like corner forwards. 

“It's going to be a day where we have to get in around them and get as many bodies around the ball as possible. If the game opens up, they could hit you for goals. 

“It's probably a free shot for us,” he continued. “We're away from home, but we'll be looking to keep our performance at a decent level and go into the last match [against Derry on 22 March] with things going good.” 

Reflecting on Sunday's four-point win over Kerry, the manager emphasised that he was more focused on getting a performance to benchmark his side against a top-quality Joe McDonagh Cup side. 

“We always intended to throw the kitchen sink at Kerry, but worried we wouldn't have enough,” he said. “But once you get a bit of momentum, anything can happen.  

“Twenty minutes in, we really started to believe we were in with a great chance. 

“We'd seen from previous games that while they had a very good forward line there were some weaknesses in defence and we exploited that in the second half when we had the breeze, creating space for our fast men to get into. 

“We always play better against good teams who come out and hurl. 

“Sunday was one of those days where our tactics worked for us, and we got a good lift from the bench too.” 

Mickey, who has managed the senior hurlers since 2017, is particularly pleased that his squad is 'made in Donegal' and, unlike in some periods in the past is back-boned by natives rather than imports from traditional hurling counties. 

“The most pleasing thing about it is that they're all home-grown players,” he said. “You have McKinney, Gartland, Oisin Kelly from Burt, Peter Kelly from St Eunan's, Ruairi Campbell, and Stephen McBride from Setanta. They all came into our panel at 18 years of age and have grown into it. 

“If we'd won promotion to this division with six or seven boys from down south, it wouldn't be the same. 

“We really just have Mick Donoghue there now, and he's been in Donegal a long time.  

“The rest have all come through the clubs, which is pleasing.” 

While there's a feel-good factor around Donegal hurling at the moment, the senior manager sounded a note of caution as regards the conveyor belt of talent coming through. 

Donegal's development squads at U17 and U20 have struggled to emulate the strides the senior team has made and he frets over where the next Conor Gartland, Peter Kelly or Stephen McBride will come from.

“We've put in hard work over the past six or seven years and the senior set up is going well, but if you look at the results at under-age, Donegal are still getting beaten by the Tyrones and Armaghs,” he says. “There needs to be a lot of work put in below us.”