GERRY Gilmore is happy to carry the favourite’s tag into today’s Nickey Rackard Final but he says it will be a 50/50 game between Donegal and Mayo.
Gilmore was excellent when Donegal beat Mayo back in April.
However, he doesn’t think they saw the best of Mayo that day.
The Donegal camp know plenty about the Connacht side, and Gilmore says they will have to dig deep to pull out the result.
“We got it spot on in Letterkenny.
“There was talk that their forwards didn’t perform that day which they didn’t and we know they are capable of more.
“Everyone is tagging us as the favourites which is probably rightly so because we beat them in Letterkenny.
“But all the players know it’s 50/50. It will come down to whoever wants it most on the day.
“Anything goes in a final. It’s whoever wants it more, whoever is going to get on the ball more, whoever is going to break the tackles more.
“It all comes down to who puts the body on the line the most.
“We are all prepared to do that and we know what Mayo are about.
“We have met them a few times over the last few years and it has been nip-and-tuck. It’s gone our way, and it’s gone their way.
“They will come gunning for us and we will be doing the same for them.”
Gilmore is the Donegal team’s free-taker and will make sure he stays sharp ahead of the outing in Headquarters.
“I would be over at the pitch nearly every day.
“Everyone says practise makes perfect, and I would have a routine.
“I would just go over to the pitch every day after work and I would take twenty or thirty sliotars with me, and I would just fire them out the pitch and wherever they land, I’ll hit them from there.
“The catch nets do the job for me and I go back in and get them after.”
There is pressure attached for Gilmore but his main concern is the outcome for the team and not how many points he ends up scoring.
“If I miss a free, we have plenty of boys on the panel that can hit them as well.
“Every man knows that if it’s not their day then they step aside.
“I would have no issue doing that if Sunday doesn’t go my way because at the end of the day, it’s not about me, it’s about the team.
“If I put one wide in a game, there are boys behind me saying ‘next ball, next ball’ and that’s what it’s all about.
“As Conor (Gartland) says, it’s always positive. There’s no negativity in this team at all.
“If it’s not my day on Sunday someone else will step up.”
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)