Championship football is not for the purist - Aodh Ruadh boss John McNulty

Aodh Ruadh had five points to spare at the end of the opening round of the Donegal SFC clash with neighbours Bundoran, but the large crowd in Munday's Field on Sunday were given little to cheer about in the first half.

Peter Boyle, the Aodh Ruadh 'keeper, was the top scorer with two points as Aodh Ruadh lead 0-3 to 0-2 at the break. The game opened up a little in the second half with the home team surging ahead thanks to a fortuitous goal from Shane McGrath to win 1-8 to 0-6.

"A lot of time in the championship, you are not going to get that game for the purist,” said Aodh Ruadh manager John McNulty. “It is going to be tense, especially derby matches. A local derby like that, it was 38 years since they met, you were always going to be tense in the first 30 minutes anyway.

“Both teams were feeling each other out to see what was happening. Ourselves, we probably missed more in the first half, we probably should have been more ahead at half-time, which would have made a different complexion on things.

"I suppose we sat down at half-time and had a wee chat about it and sorted things out a bit. I thought we started well in the second half and in the first 15-20 minutes we controlled the game in that time and probably put enough on the board to win the game."

Aodh Ruadh were gifted a goal chance early in the second half which they only managed a point from but then came McGrath's lucky goal, which dipped in under the crossbar.

"There's always swings and roundabouts and a wee bit of luck goes a long way.,” McNulty added. “You take it and in a big derby match like that, you take it anyway. We pushed on and got a few more scores and I felt we played well in that spell."

The game was very defensive in the opening half and McNulty says that it was natural for both teams to be cautious.

"You try to score but when the opposition sets up defensively, you have to try and break that down too without being turned over and them going up and getting an easy score,” he said. “It's a matter of trying to get the two things right at times.”

The game was a reflection of many of Aodh Ruadh's games this year where they have played their better football in the second half.

"I would agree with that,” McNulty added. “Sometimes it takes a wee while to get into a game. Things maybe don't go for you. I felt in the first half we had a few shots which we forced or took wrong options. I think we had a total of 14 wides altogether, so there is room for improvement there."

The Ballyshannon side head to Ardara next Saturday evening for the second round and on form they will be favourites to make it two from two. Ardara lost out to Gaoth Dobhair in their opening game 2-13 to 0-8.

"I don't care too much about the favourites' tag,” McNulty added. “I just care about what we have to do. Ardara obviously went to Magheragallon and it was a kind of free shot for them. To get anything out of Magheragallon was going to be hard.

"I think it's next week that they will put their focus on and they will be hard to beat down at home in the championship. It's important because you don't know what the next draw will be. So you have to put your full focus on what's ahead of you, which is Ardara. I'm sure they will be getting ready for us the same way we'll be getting ready for them."
McNulty explained that Aodh Ruadh didn't start one of their best performers this year, Nathan Boyle.

"It was just one of those things,” McNulty said. “We didn't start him today; he had a wee niggle during the week so we decided maybe we would start without him and if we needed to bring him in, we would.

"I thought he did very well when he came in.  He was very good in that time (at the start of the second half). Nathan is a good player and he takes a bit of watching. They knew that. He did very well with the ball that went in and caused a bit of havoc. Overall, the team played well. Shooting would be the only thing, and we have a week to work on that.”