Meehan admits Gaeil Fhánada will need to 'tidy things up' against Dungloe

Gaeil Fhánada face a tricky second round fixture in the Donegal IFC this evening at Rosses Park, although the hill could’ve been even steeper had it not been for their late salvage act against Termon last Saturday.

At 0-13 to 0-7 down in Portsalon, Gaeil Fhánada looked to be running out of time with only 10 minutes to play before a Michael Sweeney goal and points from Oisin Shiels and Liam McGrenaghan sealed an unlikely 1-11 to 0-14 draw for the home side.

“We would’ve taken it, definitely,” Gaeil Fhánada mentor Barry Meehan said afterwards. “We showed great character and they were hard to break down with 15 men behind the ball. We had to come at them and got a bit of joy out of it with the goal and were very composed in the latter stages from the 45 in.

“We gave away a lot of easy scores in the first half, like five out of their six scores came from turnovers. They weren’t even that pressurised of turnovers. They were just bad balls on our part. We’d like to tidy that up for Dungloe.”

At Hibernian Park the evening beforehand, Friday last, Dessie Gallagher’s Dungloe ran out comfortable 3-10 to 0-9 winners in the end against a Burt team who made life awkward for long stages. 

“Dungloe were very impressive against Burt in their opening game and it was back to the drawing board for us then as we prepared for that,” Meehan, who managed St Naul’s to the IFC in 2019, added. “We’ve a point on the board and it’ll be very tough at Dungloe but first of all we want a performance and then we will see if that’s enough to get something out of the game. 

“It’s always a tight championship. Maybe four points will get you through? In other years you’d probably be looking at less but from our point of view getting the point against Termon was something we were happy enough with. The margins are always very small in the Intermediate Championship so this year will be no different.”