'They’ve learned things that will stand to them for the rest of their careers'

The Buncrana Cup final didn’t go Donegal’s way with Tyrone running out winners, although manager Barry Ward stressed the bigger picture is what needs to be looked at.

Tyrone were 4-10 to 0-15 victors with Ruairí McCullagh in fantastic form for the Red Hands with a personal haul of 4-2 and his opportunistic goal on three minutes from a free-kick with Donegal not protecting the goalline set the tone.

“We didn’t start well and were playing catch-up from the off and tried to press before getting caught out by a couple of scores trying to get back into the game,” Ward said afterwards at the Scarvey.

“But that’s football. If you’re conceding four goals then you’re giving yourself an uphill battle and the way the goals came about, we wouldn’t be happy with them. It’s something to work on. You’re looking at the big picture. Nobody promised these lads that they weren’t going to lose a game here for the rest of their careers. It’s all about building resilience and then working on from there. These situations will come up again.”

McCullagh magic seals Buncrana Cup for Tyrone against Donegal

Donegal played well enough in spells but Tyrone were ruthless and in Ruairí McCullagh had an ace finisher to lift the Buncrana Cup

“Ultimately, it’s about giving lads a chance to pull on a Donegal senior jersey. Under-16s, minors and 20’s, it’s all a process and these lads can all go to their club football now and there’s a very competitive championship in Donegal. All in all the year was a fantastic experience for all, working in the academy with the expertise of what’s there and we’re only in the early stages of
it. They will develop physically and mentally so we’re not going to judge them solely on today.”