THE Donegal Masters are on the hunt for silverware this weekend as they face London in the All-Ireland Plate final.

The side, managed by Francie Martin, have improved consistently as the season went on after early defeats to strong Tyrone and Derry sides.

Those defeats left them in the Plate competition but they have had wins against Antrim, Sligo, Monaghan since.

And a win over Kildare in the semi-final has them within an hour of winning the competition, but Martin has hailed their commitment this year.

“We met up for the first time around about February and we’re going since and gathering in Convoy every week, Martin said.

“They’re travelling from as far as Ballyshannon to Moville, there’s a handful in Inishowen, boys from Killybegs, there’s a big spread of players and they’re making a big commitment so it’s just rewards to get to a final and hopefully we can do the business when we get there.

“The standard is very good, our first competitive game was against Tyrone who are in the ‘A’ final against Roscommon on the same day as us.

“We have good players coming in this year, the likes of Eamon Ward coming in at full-back was a big bonus to get in, he’s a great man-marker.

“There are men throughout the field that can do a man marking job.

“The commitment is the big one. At this level a lot of boys would have niggly injuries coming from playing all their lives

“The likes of Damien Browne and Nigel McMonagle have come in and they’re just touching 40 so they still have the edge because they’re younger and fresher.

“But the likes of Gerard McBrearty has been there a long time and still going strong and we have a lot of experience with Eddie (Crawford) and John Joe (O’Shea), they are a class above and they study the game so I’m lucky to have them on board, it’s hard to get people to commit and manage.”

It’s a first year in charge for the Glenfin clubman, who has had a difficult 12 months following the passing of his mother, Mary Martin and his son Gareth Martin.

The Masters manager admits he was ready to step away from the managing but with a push from Liam Breen and Val Murray, he was convinced to take on the role and it has helped keep him busy.

“It gets you out and talking, I had a very difficult year this time last year with my son Gareth passing.

“You’re trying to reason what went wrong but all these fellas playing are all just gone 40 and Gareth was 44 so it kind of dawned on me that these boys need to get out and have a bit of fun and have a bit of sport with something to play for.

“Get their minds occupied because things like this get you out and enjoying it, it’s a very hard thing to understand what happened but more families than us have had it happen to them and there’s no end to it.

“The fellas that come to the football are around the same age as Gareth and maybe that outlet would have helped him too but it’s water under the bridge and you have to get on with life.

“What really impressed me was the committee with the likes of Paul Gallagher, Sean McDaid, Mark Cannon, Shaun McDaid, they’ve put in an enormous amount of work and Paul and Mark are on the All-Ireland Masters board so they’re doing some work, it’s a real professional set up more or less.

London are the opponents in Breffni Park this Saturday and the pair have already met this year in the English capital as the game ended in a draw and another tough game will be expected but Martin is hopeful his side can get the job done.

“Eddie and John Joe were in charge against London and they said they were a good strong side, they’re backboned by Donegal players with the likes of Michael Molloy, David Cannon and Gary O’Kane in the middle is captain.

“Vinny Murphy has plenty of All-Ireland medals and he’s still playing and you’ve got to admire him. Joe McMahon is in there too starting at corner forward and he’s hard to watch. Them boys are class footballers and people might think London in the final will be easy but not at this level, them boys have been there a long time in London and they’re working hard together.

“They’re coming with a good team and they’ll take a good bit of watching.

“It would be great for the lads involved because they’ve put in a big commitment and it would be a great reward for them to come home with the shield and to get an All-Ireland medal is nothing to be sneezed at, everyone wants to win medals no matter what age you are.

“Every county in Ireland has an over 40s team now and London and I think New York are going to enter a team next year so it’s a great spread and it would be a big thing to win and it would boost the boys.”