ARDARA manager Damian Devaney is pleased with the character his team have shown.
After losing their first two outings, the confidence could have drained out of the team.
However, a 4-5 to 0-11 win away against Aodh Ruadh has put them on two points, and they are hoping to get another win today against Four Masters.
“I would be happy with the character the boys showed against Aodh Ruadh.
“We were disappointed with the first two games. We conceded an early goal against MacCumhaill’s and we were always chasing the match after that.
“Against St Michael’s we had it back to two points with twelve minutes to go.
“Then we missed a scoreable free and they went up the field and got a goal and got another one straight away after that which put it to bed.
“I thought our boys probably didn’t get the credit they deserved against Ballyshannon.
“There was a lot of talk of two soft goals but we also created three goal chances that we didn’t take and missed a penalty so we were good value for four goals in my opinion.
“That gives us a fighting chance going into the final game and it’s a home match as well which is the same as we had last year so hopefully we can get through to the knock-out stages.”
Devaney knows plenty about the Four Masters side, who beat his team by 3-16 to 1-14 during the league.
“I know them well.
“I was involved with the county Under 20 team this year and Seanan Carr, Conor Reid, Callum McCrea and David Monaghan were up and they are all very good footballers.
“At the Under 16 final against MacCumhaill’s (on Sunday), their senior players were all there supporting the team which is a really good sign.
“We had a good win over them in the league last year and then they beat us easier than we would have liked this season.
“It should be a good game between two teams who like to play good football.”
Four Masters began the championship with two wins and were in pole position to make that three against Glenswilly before losing by 2-9 to 2-7 at home.
Team manager Kevin Sinclair isn’t getting too worked up about that and feels the response has been good over the last fortnight.
“It’s been positive.
“Obviously we were disappointed with how the second half went against Glenswilly.
“They played the better football but they didn’t score in the final 15 minutes and we felt we had enough chances. We were beat well in the middle third too.
“In fairness, it was probably the first time we had to pull up the boys on a few things so will try to learn from that.
“We will look to give it a rattle against Ardara this week.
“We’re not believing the hype and we know they are a team around our level.”
Sinclair is expecting a tough challenge against a seasoned side at Pearse Memorial Park.
“They put it right up to Gaoth Dobhair last year.
“Like Glenswilly, they are a team with a high footballing IQ.
“The likes of (Conor) Classon and CJ (Molloy) are physical players but they are smart as well.
“And they have speed too. I’ve been very impressed with Cailum Malley this year.
“Ardara know how to win senior championship games. They have a lot of ex-county players and have that experience to lean out while we are learning on the job.”
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