Donegal ladies manager James Daly is aware of the quality of Saturday’s opponents Armagh but is hopeful that his side can get the job done and retain their senior status.

Last time out, Donegal ended up on the wrong side of a straight shootout against Tipperary in Bansha. Victory would’ve sealed an All-Ireland quarter-final but they suffered a two-point defeat which left them facing the upcoming relegation qualifier.

When speaking about the contest against the Premier county, manager James Daly was disappointed with it, feeling that the side got off to a slow start but was also aggrieved with a couple of decisions that referee Angela Gallagher gave against them.

“We definitely think it was a game that we could’ve won. We only really played for fifteen minutes if I’m being honest and we still only lost by two points. We were in the game right to the death but it was disappointing at the end of the day.”

“We found it difficult to get our game going, we got it going then in the second half but we struggled with what we felt were a couple of very poor refereeing decisions. We lost a player to a sin bin, they should’ve got a sin bin but it happened the other way around so it was disappointing.”

The Donegal Ladies now face Armagh in the first round of relegation qualifiers this Saturday in Stewartstown with a 2pm throw-in.

The loser of this clash will face the losers of Mayo vs Leitrim to determine which team will play their football in the intermediate championship for 2026.

Donegal faced Armagh back in May’s Ulster Final where the Orchard county got the better of them, running out 11-point winners at Clones.

Daly acknowledged the quality that Armagh possess but stated that they’re in the same situation as his side for a reason. He knows the task that awaits his outfit on Saturday but is hoping they can get the job done and survive the drop.

“We’re not kidding ourselves, Armagh are a very good team but they’re in the relegation qualifier for a reason. They didn’t do good enough so they’re in the same group as us. We know plenty about them, people are probably sick of listening to us talk about how young this team is but we are a very young side”, said Daly.

He continued, “Our goal coming into this was to survive and stay in senior football, we’ve a game against Armagh now at the weekend and if that doesn’t go our way then we have another game the following week. We’re still confident that we can stay in senior football so hopefully that’ll work out for us.”

After two games in two weeks, against Tipperary and Galway, James Daly and his side have had two weeks to get ready for the Orchard challenge this weekend.

He stated that they’re making full use of the fortnight and are working on various aspects of their game in preparation for this Saturday’s encounter.

“Yeah absolutely, we’re working on lots of different things. One part of our game that is good is our defensive structure, we work a lot on that and we’re even still working on it tonight. However, it’s the other parts of the game like the transition or getting better on the other end of the ball and getting our scores and taking the pressure off a match sometimes.”

Being involved in a fight for survival is a difficult experience for any team and will be no different for a youthful Donegal outfit.

The Donegal boss admits that it is difficult for them but feels that it is an experience that could stand to them later down the line.

“We know how young we are and it’s all about trying to bring these girls onto the next level. It is difficult for them but it will make them stronger when we finally do get to that level where these girls are winning trophies again.

“It’ll make it all the more sweeter because they’re a really good bunch of girls, they work their socks off every night they train and there’s never a bad word out of them. Look, our goal is to try and stay here and hopefully we’ll get away with that.”