BY RYAN FERRY

ULTAN Doherty is keen to make up for lost time and help Naomh Conaill back to another county final appearance this season.

Doherty picked up an ACL injury on the eve of last season’s championship and was sidelined as his club were eventually put out at the quarter-final stage.

It was a cruel blow as he also missed the 2022 campaign.

The 27-year-old was diligent with his rehab and returned in good time to fight for his position in the side this term.

“I hurt the knee last year so I didn’t play at all. That was the second time I did it.

“I’m just glad to get back in this year and get playing again.

“It was a long winter and just watching the championship last year was very frustrating.

“It was just two weeks before the championship that I did it so it was bad timing.

“I’m glad to get back in and I’m just trying to run off the ring rust now.

“There’s a lot of competition and you could see that with the players that came off the bench – ‘Brick’ (Dermot Molloy), Leo (McLoone), NF Boyle and Mark McDevitt.

“We didn’t have Eoghan McGettigan either and of course Ciaran (Thompson) is out with a long-term injury, so it was a good win for us.”

Naomh Conaill lost to Glenswilly and St Michael’s in the group phase but looked to be back on track when they made light work of Killybegs in the preliminary quarter-final.

However, they appeared to be in real trouble against Termon last week as they were six down with 56 minutes played but finished strongly to win by one.

Doherty said: “It wasn’t looking good now!

“But I still felt we would have a bit of a chance.

“We have some quality forwards and if the ball goes in high or across the square, there’s always a chance you’ll get a goal.

“You always had that hope that you’d get a chance and get through in the end.”

What was striking about the Naomh Conaill comeback was that it was their youngsters leading the charge.

Over the last decade, it has been really challenging for young players to break into Martin Regan’s team, but the inexperienced Shea Malone and Max Campbell came up with massive plays before teenage county star Finnbarr Roarty notched a dramatic winner.

“You can see the quality those young boys have.

“It’s something like Finnbarr last year. He just came in all guns blazing and the two boys have done that as well.

“It really lifts the rest of the team. They give good energy and they are committed.

“It was those boys that got us over the line. Usually we are relying on the older players!”

Naomh Conaill’s next assignment is against Four Masters and Doherty is likely to have a busy hour marking either Conor McCahill or Seanan Carr.

He feels all the teams remaining in the championship will go into the weekend with confidence.

“You look at Four Masters and they had a massive win over a good Dungloe team. They’ll take a lot from that.

“St Michael’s looked good against MacCumhaills and Gaoth Dobhair knocked out Kilcar.

“Everyone has had decent results and all the teams left will fancy their chances.

“It’s a short turnaround. Hopefully we won’t pick up any more injuries.

“We will just look forward to the semi-final and we won’t look ahead of that.”