BY RYAN FERRY
THE Donegal Masters are vying to reach the All-Ireland Masters Final for the second successive year when they take on Kerry this Saturday.
It’s been a great campaign so far for Eddie Crawford’s Donegal as they have won their six games to date.
That has sent them back to the last four but they know that things will step up from here.
Last year Donegal needed two games before eventually defeating Sligo.
However, they came up short against a strong Tyrone side in the final.
Donegal avenged that defeat to the Red Hands in the group phase this year and that win has helped to push them on.
“We have done well so far and we have played against some strong sides,” Crawford told the Donegal News.
“Tyrone were All-Ireland champions and Sligo were beaten in the final.
“They are all good teams and Roscommon were in the All-Ireland Final two years ago.
“They were tough teams so to win those games was good and it means we go in confident now.
“We train hard and the boys have put the work in since January and hopefully that will stand to us now.”
Crawford has a large panel and there has been good buy-in this year with Ruairi ‘Archie’ McLaughlin from MacCumhaills putting the players through their paces.
One issue is that the latter stages of the Masters Championship coincides with the Club Championship in Donegal.
A host of players are still lining out at reserve level while Donnacha Gallagher, who has played in the forward line for the Masters, is the goalkeeper for Glenswilly and a fixture clash is expected to rule him out this week.
“We have a couple of men with bangs and injuries after the club games.
“Championship football is tough going and we have the physio coming to training this week to see if we can get men ready.
“Donnacha (Gallagher) is going to be a big loss for us this week. He won’t be with us because Glenswilly are playing on Saturday.
“That’s the way it goes and it’s just next man up with us. We have 35 men training and we have a strong squad.”
Crawford and his management team have been doing their homework over the last while to get ready for Kerry.
“One of our selectors John Joe O’Shea is from Kerry and he was down home last weekend and he was gathering a bit of information for us.
“By all accounts they have a lot of good club players who line out at a strong standard.
“They have had a very good run this year and will be confident.
“As you can imagine, when you pull on the Kerry jersey, it’s going to be precious to a lot of men no matter what age you are.
“We are expecting a really tough game but we are going to be up for it and I have good faith in our men.
“If we can keep performing like we have been then hopefully we will get over the line.”
Dublin take on Waterford in the other semi-final this Saturday but any talk about a potential final isn’t on the agenda just yet.
Donegal’s match takes place in Claregalway at 2pm and the long travel does create a challenge.
“It’s a long trip.
“We will go down in cars and some of the boys are talking about going down the night before and staying on afterwards and making a weekend of it before the kids go back to school.
“The journey doesn’t help but it will be the same for both teams so we won’t use that as an excuse.”