Donegal determined to prove a point - Hugh McFadden

Hugh McFadden admits that it’s been a frustrating six months for Donegal players as they continue to stew over what was a turbulent 2022.

Efforts to find Declan Bonner’s successor became a protracted saga and just when the dust was finally settling on all that drama, Michael Murphy dropped an absolute bombshell by announcing his retirement from intercounty football.

However, the time for talking is now almost done as Donegal get Paddy Carr’s new regime under way this Sunday when they go to Newry to take on Down in the McKenna Cup.

McFadden - who debuted for Donegal back in 2014 under Jim McGuinness - is now very much one of the group’s senior and most authoritative voices. And he says the squad’s initial interactions with Carr and his managerial team of Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley have been really encouraging.

“We genuinely cannot wait to get going,” said the Killybegs clubman. “We have a seriously hungry and motivated group. There is a lot of young talent that’s really emerging. And to a man, we have all a massive desire to be successful with Donegal.

“There are a few older lads there now like myself and we’re as hungry as ever. It’s been a long six months since we lost to Armagh. And there has been a huge amount of soul searching done in that time.

“But there finally is the opportunity there now to go again. We are very clear, as a group, what we want to achieve. And we are all determined to drive Donegal on to the highest level we possibly can”.

McFadden, a holder of three Ulster medals, says there is still so much frustration and regret attached to the manner in which they were edged out by Derry in last term’s provincial decider.

Still, he sees no reason why Donegal, despite the recent upheaval on and off the pitch, can’t remain contenders for the big prizes out there.

“When I look around the dressing room, there is so much talent there. And I’m excited with how training has gone so far under Paddy and the management team. We’ve got through some really good work in the last number of weeks.

“We’re more aware than anyone that we’ve come up short in some big games in recent seasons. So we’re not short on motivation. As well as Armagh, the Ulster final loss to Derry still stings really hard. The margins were so thin that day.

“So the aim now is to look to get better and the only way you do that is to focus in on it and prepare ourselves as best we can”.

He added: “It’s exciting - looking ahead to the new season. People sometimes forget that we do this because, for the most part, we absolutely love it. There is no doubt that the tough days are tough. But the rewards are also amazing.

“Making the Donegal supporters proud, and we’ve seen this in the past, it lifts absolutely everyone. And that’s the motivation now ahead of 2023”.

Donegal have drawn Down in the Ulster SFC. But that’s too far down the track to have any bearing on the weekend’s cobweb-shaker outing against Conor Laverty’s men. Still, McFadden says because of the condensed split season, competitive minutes on the pitch, even in the McKenna Cup, are valuable.

“Players want to play games and all the lads will be itching to get going. Personally speaking, unless there were niggles or an injury, any other year I’d have been mad to get going straight away.

“At the end of the day, considering the amount of training we do, when you look at the number of games we actually play at inter-county level, there aren’t that many. So any chance that is there for action, you want to be involved.

“I’m certainly mad to go and I know the rest of the boys are as well. And that all starts on Sunday against Down”.