BY DÁIRE BONNAR
THE Donegal hurlers took a huge win on Sunday and they will have to put in another big performance if they are to do similar down in Kildare this weekend.
A four-point win over established Joe McDonagh side Kerry in O’Donnell Park was a result very few would have predicted.
And in tough conditions, Donegal trailed by six at the break against the elements but immediately halved that deficit through a Peter Kelly goal.
They went ahead by four but Kerry levelled before two goals in as many minutes from Liam McKinney and Ruairi Campbell helped to seal the win which vice-captain Steven McBride admits is probably a career highlight to date.
“It has to be the best one, it was the best feeling in the world to win that game. Everyone played well and goals win games too which showed.
“There’s nothing worse than conceding a three-pointer but to hit five of them, then you’re always going to be on the right track.
“There was a tight breeze out there too in the first half, we were trying to play smart and keep the ball to limit the damage because we knew it was probably a six-point breeze.
“Kerry got level again but we kept going, stuck to it and it was comfortable enough in the end, they got a late goal so to come out with a four point win was some buzz.
“It’s nice to get a big scalp like that, especially when everyone writes you off before the game starts, it’s great to show we can play a bit of hurling and I don’t think we got lucky either, we hurled with them as well and it was a very good performance.
“But it’s great for us, we’re working hard, always looking to improve and it’s showing when you get a big result like that, it’s definitely the best ever (result) for Donegal and it’s not often you get the chance to play a Munster team and to get a result was unbelievable.
“We backed ourselves and kept chipping away and it’s some confidence lift for the boys.”
McBride’s campaign to date has been stop-start, appearing just twice so far this year. With the Conor McGurk Cup being scrapped, Donegal went straight into a first competitive game against Meath on week one as they lost by the minimum.
The Setanta club man missed out that day but appeared in the ten point win over Tyrone before again missing out away to Down.
But he returned for the Kerry match and played the full game for the second time.
“It was just a minor hamstring injury but I got a full two weeks of training before getting the 70 minutes at the weekend and it has held up well so I’m happy out.
“It was a hectic start after pre-season, we played Roscommon and Derry in friendlies but I personally liked the McGurk Cup because you just have to go out and look for friendlies instead of it being set in stone.”
It gets no easier this weekend for Donegal as they face Kildare in St Conleth’s Park on Sunday.
They were defeated in their opening game by Down in Ballycran, but the Lilywhites showed their quality in the last two games as they beat Kerry by 17 points and Derry by 14.
The Leinster side had five men in the Champion 15 last year and all but Conan Boran featured against the Oak Leaf County, with eleven of their Christy Ring winning team starting at the weekend.
And once again Mickey McCann’s men will go into the game as big underdogs, but McBride and the Donegal side will go down without fear after Sunday’s heroics.
“We know this weekend will again be a lot tougher, Kildare are Christy Ring champions and they will no doubt hold their own in the Joe McDonagh.
“They had a very big win over Kerry and there wasn’t much in their game against a strong Down side.
“But we’ll go down and give it all we’ve got, it’s a great chance to test ourselves against great opposition again and it’s what we want to try bring us up to the next level.
“It’ll be a whole different ball game playing down there rather than in Letterkenny and we watched them in the Christy Ring final last year so they’re a good team.”
Staying up was always going to be a challenge and one that would have been a huge achievement for this side, but as they sit on four points, it is now becoming more of a possibility.
With Derry still to play in their final game at home, a win there would guarantee survival regardless of this weekend’s result, but the feeling in the camp is that survival is still in their own hands.
“We aren’t looking at points difference or anything like that, we just want to go out and win games and hopefully we can beat Derry.
“We want as many points on the board as we can and we were probably unlucky that first day against Meath to lose by a point, we could be home and hosed sitting in second.
“But that’s done now, it is all falling into the right place, Decky (Coulter) is good to have back, Josh (McGee Cronolly) has an injury but it’s nothing too serious then Gavin Browne and Ryan Hilferty are coming back into the mix so we’re looking good.
“We’ve shown that the boys off the bench can make big impacts so it’s a tough team to get into at the minute, there are 26 to 30 players that are all good enough for a jersey.”
Related posts:
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)