Ronan McDermott can’t wait for New Year to cure the ills of 2021

 Unfinished business is definitely on the radar of Burt and Donegal flying machine Ronan McDermott as he looks forward to the new season. Last year was very much one of ‘what if’ for the very well-built McDermott and his colleagues.

For, while Division 2 status was retained, and that was a clear positive, Mickey McCann’s men slumped in the Nickey Rackard Cup - a competition they last won in 2020 with a great comeback against Mayo in the final in Croke Park.

It looked good for the Tir Conaill men when they had a big win over Mayo early on in last year’s NHL campaign, but a heavy defeat to Kildare and a game they should have won in Derry was not good for their chances. To cap it all Tyrone turned them over in Carrickmore to book end a bad season.

Speaking at the launch of the new Donegal jersey in the Convoy Centre, McDermott said: “Last year in the League we were definitely not too far away from the final. The Derry game away was a big one and we had a big shout for a penalty in the last minute and did not get it which might have got us through.

“Derry then scored in the next play, and they only beat us by one point, so it was that fine of a margin. We had a great win over Mayo to start off the League, but when it came to it then, they got the better of us in the championship.

“But we hope to give it a good rattle this year and we have loads of motivation from last year”.

Hurling has improved dramatically in the past decade and McDermott is approaching the veteran stage in a squad that just keeps on growing.

“The interest is huge and there is a big panel of players, and all are pushing to make the squad and the team ultimately and there is real competition for places and that can only be healthy,” he said. “The players are now coming from all over the county and that is great”.

“We are doing our own training at present, but we will be back up here in Convoy next week for full squad training and it is a great facility. We have no excuses for not being fit and I do a bit of weights in the off season to stay in shape”.

Currently, Donegal are in 2B of the NHL, but the goal is always to advance higher, according to McDermott.

“Kildare have gone up so it could be Mayo and Derry who are our biggest rivals and not forgetting Tyrone who have gone up as well and you saw what they did to us last year in the Nicky Rackard Cup,” he added. “The main objective is obviously to stay up in this League but if we could get a few early results, we could give it a real go. And we will be targeting the Rackard Cup again this year after last year’s disappointment.

“Mayo beat us, and I am not actually sure about what happened against Tyrone in Carrickmore. It was one of those days when everything Tyrone hit seemed to go over the bar. They were very hard to stop, and we can have no complaints as Tyrone were the better side that day.

“But we will need to have a lot more hunger for the coming year and hopefully bring the cup back with us. But there is good news for McDermott and Co as the multi gifted Tipp native Davin Flynn is back on board next year.

“We did not have him last year and he will be a huge help to us with his all- round ability and scoring threat. We will be delighted to see him back and he can be the difference up front”.

And, even though they bombed against Craobh Rua in the Ulster JHC, McDermott feels that St Eunan’s recent county hurling title will give great encouragement to all other clubs in Donegal, including his own Burt.

“It gives hurling a lift for all clubs in the county and us included,” he said. “We beat them in the Group stage of the championship, but they came back when it mattered and beat us in a very close county semi final and we have a pretty young team coming through.

“That game could have gone either way and young Liam McKinney of our club had hard luck with a shot for goal which could have gone in on another day”.

But there is definitely a sense of unfinished business for McDermott and his county colleagues.

“Yes, it would be great to win the Rackard Cup and push on to the Christy Ring Cup and to see where we are at”.

For the club, McDemott would love to be back in another county final where you “never know what might happen”.

“We have a young coming team with our minors which we have not had in a few years,” McDermott added. “And he finished with a tribute to Donegal team boss and his ex-team- mate Mickey McCann. Mickey has put so much into Donegal hurling and has had big results for us”

McDermott and Co are determined to get a few more this season.