BY DÁIRE BONNAR
CIAN McMenamin made an impressive return to the Donegal U20 side on Wednesday night as he returns to competitive action.
The Termon man had an injury hit 2024 which saw him miss out on some of the club season, as well as some of the Donegal U20s campaign last year.
He has made a couple of appearances for the Burn Road men in the league this calendar year, but it was a first game of this U20 championship for the half forward.
“It’s my first 20s game this season, I’ve had a couple of setbacks and I’ve been eager to get back playing and I am and thank god, it’s good timing to come back in.
“Nobody wants to get injured but it’s part of the game and it’s more and more common now with the new rules, you’re running more and sprinting more so you need to look after your body.
“Luckily with Donegal they’re looking after me, it was frustrating when I had my setbacks but it’s great to get back into Championship football with Donegal.
“I have to thank Gary for the trust, last year with the U20s I had the same, a bit of a niggle and I couldn’t get rid of them and I was disappointed to miss out on getting game time but thankfully I’ve got a good bit of training done this year. Nothing was rushed and there was no pressure to get back and hopefully I can get a good run at it.”
He slotted seamlessly back into an impressive Donegal side in their 4-19 to 2-7 win over Cavan and hit 1-3 in the first half, including a goal and a two-pointer for the last two scores of the opening half an hour.
“We were very disappointed with how we started and giving them the goal, they took a shot and it just dropped down, Pádraig nearly had it but we reacted well from tat and got a point straight away and we were comfortable from there.
“I don’t really score goals too much, I nearly mishit the goal, I tried to go low and I was lucky it went in at all.
“I don’t think I’ve even shot for a two-pointer before, I had two wides before that so I was probably almost a bit too eager, I haven’t played a full game under the new rules but the two-pointer is a big help, especially for teams trying to come back.”
While Donegal have a young teams, McMenamin is one of a number of players that it’s a final season at this level for and he is hoping to make the few appearances left count.
And with an Ulster final against Tyrone on the horizon and a spot in the All-Ireland semi-final also up for grabs, there’s a lot at stake on Wednesday in Owenbeg.
“When we were at minor it was all the one age group but when you look at this team now, boys like Conor McCahill who are in their first year and a first year playing senior football for club, he’s never even played a senior game.
“Turlough Carr came off the bench and he’ll be looking for a starting place in the Ulster final and he kicked an unbelievable point.
“I don’t even know where to start with them young lads, I nearly feel old in this team!
“We’ll get our homework done, we played Tyrone here and everyone knows who they were missing but there’s nothing else in the head apart from this Ulster final.
“Any day you get to play for Donegal is a very proud day, Wednesday might be the last day that some of these lads might get to put on the Donegal jersey and play for the county so we’ll give it our best shot.
“Ulster finals don’t come around too often and the last time we got to a final it was against Tyrone in the minor final. We were well beaten that day so we’ll be expecting nothing less again from then, we expected them and Derry to have a close game and we weren’t proven wrong.”
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