Donegal captain McLaughlin: Nobody is ever dead set to win Ulster

When Donegal exited the TG4 Ladies Senior Championship last year following a freakish loss to Dublin at Breffni Park, Niamh McLaughlin admits she couldn’t bring herself to watch the recording back.

That night in Cavan, Halloween of all nights, Dublin’s Sinead Aherne curled a right-footed strike towards the posts but the ball struck the upright and somehow spun past Denise McElhinney for one of the most unusual goals you’re likely to see. McLaughlin, eventually, had a peek.

With Dublin winning 1-13 to 1-10, that result gnawed at the Donegal panel over the winter. And although this year’s All-Ireland series ended with another loss to the Metropolitans earlier this month, 2-12 to 2-7 on bank Holiday Monday at the quarter-final stage at Carrick-on-Shannon, the make-up of the 2021 calendar means Donegal have an opportunity to concludethe year on a high.

Maxi Curran’s team have a chance to regain the Ulster title against an Armagh side who are out to retain it at Healy Park on Saturday.

Donegal didn’t compete in the provincial competition in the peculiar year that was 2020 and Armagh took it home.
“We’ve had a bit of time since the loss to Dublin three weeks ago and looking back there’s a few things you notice about it,” McLaughlin said this week.

“We made a great start and Amy Boyle-Carr struck the crossbar early on and that would’ve put us eight points up. Dublin, though, are a really good team and have so many players that have the potential to make an impact.

“Hindsight is a great thing and there will always be ifs and buts so all we can do as a team is learn from it and move on.
“We didn’t compete in Ulster last year and Armagh won it so for us now it’s a matter of trying to win that title back. As a group we’d like to do it for Maxi and the management team. They’ve put in great work. We lost Emer Gallagher to a serious knee injury last month, too, and she will undergo surgery so it would be nice to win it for her too.”

Moville’s McLaughlin, a physio with the HSE in Letterkenny, has been part of the county set-up since she was 16 in 2010, when Donegal defeated Waterford to become All-Ireland intermediate champions.

It’s only since their maiden success in 2015 that Donegal have grabbed control of the province, adding an Ulster three-in-a-row between 2017 and 2019.

In June, there was an early scare back at Breffni Park in the Ulster semi-final. With Donegal facing into the wind in the first period, they struggled to get out of their own half and before they caught breath, were 1-5 to 0-1 in arrears early on. However, having clicked into gear, Donegal ran out 6-16 to 2-17 winners.

“We’ve performed well in Ulster over the last few years, but like in men’s football, it’s a very open championship,” McLaughlin added.

“Nobody is dead set to win it. We know that although we’ve had a good run in recent seasons that doesn’t count for anything come Saturday. After the Dublin game it’s good to have the opportunity to win something and it would be a good end to the year.”