Kilcar may well be without two of the best players in the country but Matthew McClean insists the reigning champions won’t relinquish their SFC title without a fight.
Patrick McBrearty (ACL) and Ryan McHugh (concussion) – sidelined for the rest of the season – have hardly been missed to date as Barry Doherty’s side navigated through their group section with relative enough ease.
However, with the real business starting in earnest this weekend in the knockout stages against one of the championship’s real heavyweights in Naomh Conaill; McClean knows that their considerable absence will finallybegin to tell.
That, he says, is only natural considering the talent and the experience the deadly duo bring. Still, the player insists that Kilcar’s ambitions haven’t changed. More importantly, he explains that their belief in themselves has not been dented.
He told the Donegal News: “We were probably fortunate enough with the group we got. No disrespect to anyone but we probably would have been expected to win those games. Into the last eight now and there was always going to be jump in quality.
“The way the draw was… there was always a chance we were going to meet the second placed side in that so-called ‘Group of Death’. Naomh Conaill, we know all about. I think this is our fourth year in a row meeting them.”
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