Donegal IFC: Cloughaneely and Buncrana renew semi-final rivalry

The second semi-final in the Michael Murphy Sports Intermediate championship will take place in MacCumhaill Park on Sunday evening (5 pm) when Cloughaneely take on Buncrana.

It is a repeat of last year’s Intermediate semi-final and also the sides have already met in this year’s campaign.

Cloughanely won both of those games but manager, Michael Lynch is playing down the wins, saying that they were caught in the final last year after beating Aodh Ruadh early on.

The Falcarragh-based boys had to recover from a first round defeat to Naomh Columba.

“It was hard to to take at the time. But we just didn’t perform against Naomh Columba the first day out which was disappointing.

“But that result mean there was no comfort zone for the remaining three group games.

“In the second game against Fanad down in Fanad we came good in the second half and came from being a couple of points down at half-time we won well in the end.

“We beat Burt and Buncrana in the next two games. There was very little between us and Buncrana down in Buncrana. There was only a couple of points in it in the end and either of us could have won it.

“And we are not reading too much into that game. We beat Aodh Ruadh, in the group last year and they came back and beat us in the final.

I expect it to be close again on Sunday.

Star forward and top scorer John Fitgerald missed last Saturday’s quarter-final win over Malin with an ankle injury. And the Clouganeely boss has concerns too about the fitness of midfielder Darren McGeever.

“John went over on his ankle in the game against Burt and has been having treatment ever since. We will monitor him this week and see how he is progressing before making a call on his fitness.

“And Darren came off last week against Malin complaining of a tight hamstring so we will monitor him too this week,” said Lynch.

Buncrana came through to the quarter-finals in a tough group, losing to Naomh Columba and Cloughaneely, but they have the chance now to turn the tables and reach the final.

Buncrana veteran defender Adrian McColgan feels Buncrana are in good shape for this game.

“They beat us in the group stages in Buncrana,” he said. “But there were only two points in it at the end and we missed a couple of goal chances and it was a game that could have gone either way

“Overall I feel we are in good shape and I believe it is the best squad of players Buncrana have had for a long time. We had a good run in the league and we won promotion and we had good wins in the championship against Burt and Convoy though we lost away to Naomh Columba. But there was not much between us.

“I played on a number of good Buncrana teams in the past but I honestly think the best squad I have played with in my years with the club. We are going into the game quietly confident.”

On form Cloughaneely go into the game as favourites and they also have the experience and hurt from losing last year’s final.

Verdict: Cloughaneely.