Eyebrows would be raised if we beat Kilcar - Cloughaneely manager Lynch

For Cloughaneely manager Michael Lynch, it was a mixed reaction after their draw with Four Masters in the opening round of the Donegal SFC at Tirconaill Park on Saturday evening.

The match finished in a 2-7 to 1-10 draw and for last year’s Intermediate champions, it was more a case of a point gained rather than one dropped.

"We could have won it and we could have lost it as easily. We had the character to come back. We have done that plenty of times. A point is better than the last time we were up here," Lynch said. "We're happy and we'll move on."

Moving on for Lynch and Cloughaneely is a shot at one of the favourites for the championship, as they welcome Kilcar to Pairc Naomh Fhionnain on Saturday evening.

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"We will try and get something out of it for ourselves,” he added. “There would be a lot of eyebrows raised if we beat Kilcar next week. There will be nobody expecting too much from us next week. You have to test yourself against them. Nobody will be expecting anything except ourselves. We will go and see what we can get from them."

Cloughaneely picked up a few injuries during the game with with Shaun Curran, Conor Coll and Martin Maguire forced off, but Lynch is hopeful that they will be okay.

"Hopefully, we will get the physios at them and see what happens,” he added. “We haven't much time between games," he added, but he was happy to get Mark Harley and Cillian Gallagher onto the field in the second half and both made their mark with captain Harley hitting a point and Gallagher finishing their goal.

With the conditions very hot at the weekend, the Cloughaneely boss was expecting that he would need to use their bench.

He said: "We said that going out, in that heat, it was going to be 20 men today and that was always going to be the way. We knew the boys, if we needed them, we could count on them. We're under the stand in the shade, but if you're out there up and down for 60 minutes it is hard going. In fairness, both teams coped well with it."

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Cloughaneely came back after conceding a first half goal and in the second half they went three points up.

"We left a few scores behind,” Lynch added. “We knew there wouldn't be much in it. When we went three up we should have been closing it out, but it was our first day up in the senior championship again.”