By Matthew Wilson
Donegal camogie manager Eunan O’Donnell heaped praise on his side’s commitment this term as their 2026 campaign came to an end on Saturday afternoon.
Donegal suffered a 14-point defeat to Monaghan in the All-Ireland Junior Camogie semi-final at Brewster Park on Saturday.
The contest was finely balanced at the midway point, with only two points separating the sides, but the Farney outfit pulled away after the restart which left Donegal disappointed.
“We were disappointed with the second half there to be honest. We were well in it in the first half, we went in 0-5-0-7 down and we’d a couple of goal chances that we were hoping that we were going to develop again in the second half.
“But that wind is stronger than you’d think and we just found it hard to break out with the ball in the midfield area up to our forwards.”
Being two points adrift at the break, Donegal were well in contention and will have discussed their plan of action ahead of the second stanza at the Enniskillen venue.
However, they suffered a blow immediately after the restart as Monaghan landed the first of their three Act Two majors.
This will have caused a spanner in the works for Eunan O’Donnell’s side’s plans for the second half and he stated that it left his group on the back foot.
“Yeah, the girls were piped up with a plan and that plan immediately changes and they’re on the back foot.
“It took us a bit of time to get around that and you saw there that our goalkeeper found it hard to get that primary ball out.
“We were practicing away at getting the ball out into spaces but Monaghan were able to condense those spaces easily when we were against the wind.”
Despite the defeat in the last four of the competition on Saturday, it’s been a memorable campaign for Donegal camogie as they got back competing at senior level for the first time in over two decades.
There were big celebrations after they recorded their first championship victory over Mayo at the end of May which displays what it means to all involved.
There’s great foundations in place for them going forward and speaking after the match, the Donegal camogie boss had nothing but praise for the dedication that his group of players have shown this term.
“Absolutely, those girls have changed their lives around so that they’re senior players.
“It’s a brand new experience for these people. Some of these girls have kids, full-time jobs and part-time jobs and they’re moving their whole lives around just to play county camogie.
“The effort that they’re putting in is just immense.”