BY MATTHEW WILSON

Ardara Ladies manager Martin Bennett is hoping his side can make up for the disappointment of last year’s Intermediate decider and face-up to the challenge of Gaeil Fhánada this Sunday.

The Ardara outfit have had a solid Championship campaign to date, coming out on top in two out of their three outings, with wins over Gaoth Dobhair in the group before overcoming Killybegs in the last four.

“We got a good win against Gaoth Dobhair and it was a tough battle then against Killybegs at the weekend. I think it was just pure grit and determination that got them through that because the conditions were so bad.”

The Pearse Memorial park residents are operating off a youthful panel this season, having lost a number of players since last year while Ciara McHugh is currently sidelined with an injury.

The Ardara boss praised the younger members of the panel, who are juggling Senior and Minor commitments, for their dedication and efforts this season.

“We’ve a very young team. We’ve lost a lot of players from last year, they’ve gone away and have gone in different directions. The young girls are stepping up to be fair. We’ve a lot of girls involved with Minor as well so there’s a lot of football played, two games a week over the last five or six weeks isn’t easy.”

This Sunday’s showpiece is set to be the pair’s fourth meeting this season and is also a repeat of the Junior Gaeltacht Final which saw Gaeil Fhánada secure the title following free-kicks.

They also came out on top in their League and Championship encounters so Bennett’s side will be aiming to right the wrongs from these contests this Sunday.

“It was a tight match in the Gaeltacht which ended up in a shootout but we went down there a week later and they gave us a good hiding in the league. In the Championship, we didn’t do ourselves justice at all in the first half.”

We fought back in the second half but Fanad were still the better team that day. We’ll just have to knuckle down and see what we can do. Fanad are a more experienced team than us, it’ll be an interesting game and there won’t be much in it I don’t think.”

Ardara lost out on the Intermediate crown last year when they were narrowly beaten by Dungloe in the decider.

Martin Bennett expressed that there was disappointment following that defeat and stated that it’d be nice to get a cup this Sunday to show for the year’s efforts.

“The girls have put in a lot of work every year and they’d a lot of disappointment last year, just coming up short against Dungloe. When you put in that much work then it’s nice to get something at the end of it.”