McNulty admits Aodh Ruadh must improve significantly to make inroads in SFC

If Aodh Ruadh are to have any ambitions of narrowing the gap between themselves and the existing big four of St Eunan’s, Kilcar, Naomh Conaill and Gaoth Dobhair, then the display against Ardara just won’t cut it.

That was the candid summation of Ballyshannon club’s manager John McNulty after watching his team - who finished third in the All-County Football League Division 1 - eke out an unimpressive win over an Ardara side who were relegated to Division 2.

“We need a big improvement for the next day,” McNulty admitted ahead of tomorrow’s draw for round three.
“We had a good league campaign, but today’s display would say that we are miles away from catching up with the big four. But a bad performance always leaves you room to improve so we will learn plenty from that match”

Aodh Ruadh seemed to be cruising when they led by 0-9 to 0-4 early in the second half but failed to hit the target for the remainder of the half as the hosts staged a late rally which left just two points in it - with Aodh Ruadh hanging on for a slender 0-9 to 0-7 win.

“But we came here to win and it’s the championship and its two points and it means nothing else,” McNulty added. “That was what we came here for.”

Aodh Ruadh had the wind, but had a choppy enough start as Ardara took an early initiative - something McNulty acknowledged.

He said: “I thought we started slowly, and we could have been much better. We were just a bit off the pace in terms of moving the ball. We should have moved the ball better than we did and there are things you would look at and say we could obviously do better on a different day.

“But today, that tricky wind was a strange one as it was swirling but Ardara had themselves well set up defensively and were hard to break down. We did not make the runs when we could have”.

McNulty was disappointed that his side did not kick on from those three swift points after the break.

“We should have gone for the jugular that time but did not do it and killed the game off and that was disappointing,” he said. “Ardara then got a score or two which left it a bit nervy when you go down to just two points in it. And in the last few minutes you are just keeping the ball and that can be detrimental at times so you would want to be going forward.

"We got caught over on the side-line as well, but it is our lads second year in the senior championship, and they are looking to progress and develop.”