Under-21 win will give Milford a push towards ‘big boys’ - McGinley

James McGinley believes Milford’s winning of the Under-21 ‘B’ Championship will stand to the club in the coming years.

It’s a third such title for the Moyle View Park honours list in the last seven years.

The Milford squad that beat Malin 0-15 to 2-8 on Saturday is littered with players who have been in Donegal minor or under-21 panels while midfielder Rory O’Donnell has joined the Donegal senior squad.

“We’re trying to get up to the big boys,” McGinley told Donegal Live.

“We’re only losing three of that team and two the following year. It’s a young group of players.

“If we can keep pushing on and developing players it will put us in good stead to be in the senior championship.

“We probably should have been in the ‘A’ competition, but it’s good that we played in the ‘B’ competition.

“ It’s a massive springboard to compete well at this level. It’s been a great feeling within the club with this going on. Nine of them have played county minor, seven have been involved in county under-20 panels and Rory is up with the county seniors.”

Milford were 2-2 to 0-6 behind after a wasteful first half, but they did enough in the second half.

That wasn’t before a late scare when Sean O’Neill saw a shot saved by Eoin McGettigan and was left to settle for a point with his follow-up.

McGinley said: “Malin played more or less how we expected. They have some very good footballers and they were always going to get their chances.

“We had nine wide and three short in the first half, but they got the right focus and had none in the second half.

“We were pressing up. Our motto was to squeeze high, press high and force the turnovers.

“We brought Matty McLaughlin out and it left us with a bit more room inside. We put a serious squeeze on their kick-out and it paid dividends. Matty got a couple of massive scores that lifted the whole team.”