Rodgers: 'Naomh Muire were never going to throw the towel in against us'

Danny Rodgers was the difference on Sunday as his Dungloe team managed to stave off a Naomh Muire fightback in the Donegal IFC.

The side from Rosses Park were in a strong position at 1-7 to 0-2 up approaching half-time, although their rival had sounded more than the one warning shot despite their arrears on the scoreboard.

With just over a minute played, Harry Harden’s searching ball in was fielded by Daniel Devlin at full-forward for Naomh Muire and his rasper came back off the Dungloe crossbar. The same player then drew two top-class saves from Rodgers before the interval. 

“It went my way today,” the Dungloe goalkeeper modestly put it. “Daniel caught that first one so well in the first couple of minutes and he had me well beaten. The others, I just got the luck of the draw on the day and managed to get behind them.”

Dungloe march onto semi-final as Naomh Muire wonder what might have been

A winning margin of eight points doesn't tell the story of an IFC quarter-final that was in the melting pot until the final seconds between Dungloe and Naomh Muire

Despite their eight-point deficit, Naomh Muire by and large controlled the second half and by the 57th minute were only one down at 1-9 to 0-11 and on the hunt to level things. However, Dungloe kept their cool and produced two late goals through Daire Gallagher and Christy Greene to seal a place in the semi-final.

“Naomh Muire definitely put it up to us,” Rodgers said. “We probably switched off a bit there in the second half and they got on top of us and brought it back to a point. But the lads have the work put in. The lads are doing huge training at home and you could see it there. 

“We know what we are capable of. Even if we were behind there late on, the lads have it in them. They can always bang in a goal or two. We stayed calm and the forwards are playing well. The scoring percentages are well up from where they were in the league. It was about being patient.”

Two Oisin Bonner goals sealed a 2-7 to 0-7 victory for Dungloe when the teams met to round off the group stages two weeks ago and on Saturday, the contest was played at a different level.

“When we played them last time we were slow starting and today we got off to a much better start. It didn’t matter so much last time. But even though we were well ahead, we knew Naomh Muire were never going to throw the towel in against us, their neighbours and they made a right go of it to get back to a point.”

Saturday’s win is Dungloe’s fifth in succession in the IFC as they bid to go one better in the competition than last year, when they lost out to Cloughaneely in a relayed final.

“It’s just one game at a time,” Rodgers said of 2022. “When we got the draw for the group, it was only a matter of looking at who you play next. We got to the final last year but we’ve moved on from that.”