Declan Coulter excited about Donegal’s Championship potential

It was the year that Donegal’s young hurlers became men and helped bring the county to an historic Division 2B final.

That was an unexpected bonus as they beat Tyrone and Wicklow without stellar figures like Danny Cullen, Declan Coulter, Bernard Lafferty, Gavin Browne, Stephen Gillespie, Conor Gartland and Gerry Gllmore.

But Liam McKinney, Stephen McBride, Ruairi Campbell, Ciaran Bradley, Oisin Marley and Sean Ward really walked tall when it mattered.

Meath just pipped them in that decider, but for veteran Coulter, the real stuff begins on Sunday when they take on neighbours Fermanagh in the Nickey Rackard Cup in O’Donnell Park.

Manager Mickey McCann has made no secret that he wants to win this competition which they last claimed back in 2020. They also won it in 2018 and 2013 and have the most titles of any county.

And, after two miserable under-performing exits to Tyrone in the past two years, Coulter and Co are determined to go all the way this year.

Coulter (35) has been carrying an injury but is coming back to full fitness and came on in the second half as did Danny Cullen and Stephen Gillespie, so McCann will have a real headache picking his first XV on Sunday.

“I’m getting there and hoping to be part of the squad again on Sunday,” said Armagh native. “I was just happy enough to get on against Meath and we could have taken it after we went a point up in the second half.

“We took a lot of pot shots and missed something like 1-5. Meath then took their chances late on and that was the difference.”

On Sunday Donegakl met neighbours Fermanagh who will be smarting from getting relegated to Division 3B after a wafer thin defeat to Armagh.

These sides met in Maguiresbridge last year in the Nickey Rackard Cup and it was a close encounter with Donegal only pulling clear towards the end.

So Coulter is well aware of the challenge they will bring.

“We need to be on our game for five or six weeks on the trot to get to the final. They gave us quite a battle and Mickey has reminded us how close they ran it. Fermanagh are a young, well knit, well organized team and they work hard for each other.

“They have players who can hurt you, so we will need to be on our game.”

Coulter believes the Ernesiders’ relegation could be a driving force for them to have a real cut at the championship and what better place to do it than against the neighbours and they did beat Mayo early on in the season.

Unlike the footballers, Donegal have turned O’Donnell Park into a bit of a fortress for the past three or four years. So the hosts will still be expected to take the win.

“We need to set a marker down on Sunday and one thing we said about Letterkenny was that we need to make ourselves as difficult to beat as possible there.

“We need to be organised, tight at the back with good communication levels and that means manning up and going for it and Sunday will be a good benchmark to see where we are at.”

There is also a sense of unfinished business over the manner of their exit to Tyrone in the past two years. And although Tyrone are now up in the Christy Ring Cup, the memory of those defeats will act as a spur for Donegal.

“Yes we let ourselves down and we did not perform to the level that we should have. Even our aggression levels and our performance levels were poor, and we hit far too many wides with rushed shots as well.

“Tyrone turned us over twice but that League win over them in Letterkenny was a real tonic as we were down quite a few players. It was a real test of the young lads and we were not going to be beaten three times on the trot.

“But there are five other teams in this competition, and they will all be thinking they have a chance of winning it so we will need to be at our best.”