DUNGLOE minor ladies manager Tony Boyle feels his team are fully focused on giving the Ulster Minor Championship a good go this year in their third attempt.
The Rosses Park side are three in-a-row winners of the Donegal minor championship, but they have fallen at the first hurdle the last two seasons when going into the provincial competition.
Two years ago, defending Ulster champions Carrickmore were winners in the quarter-final over Boyle’s young side, while Omagh St Enda’s got the better of them last year, but many had eyes on bigger things, with an Ulster Junior final coming up for the senior team.
“Last year when we got to the Junior final we were out five weeks in-a-row so we hadn’t a chance to prepare for the minor championship, our game was stuck in the middle of an Ulster semi-final and final but we feel this time round, it’s basically the same minor team that won the last three in Donegal but the bulk of them now are in their last year which absolutely helps.
“The age profile is good and we’re hoping to give this minor championship a crack.
“We haven’t really gotten a chance to do that but our full focus now is on the minors.”
The squad from last year’s minors is almost unchanged, with just Tara Geoghegan, Aoife McGee and Sarah O’Donnell overage, but they still have a wealth of quality and they had five minors start against Mullahoran in their Ulster Intermediate quarter-final, while a further five came off the bench.
The likes of Ulitah Boyle, who captains the minors, Ava Caulfield, Rhianna McCready and Ellie Ward have all been key players for the senior side, as has goalkeeper Ellie McGarvey.
“Last year’s team is the same as the one that won it the year before so we have 90% of the squad still there from two years ago when we were very inexperienced.
“Last year we had a good side but it was just sandwiched in between the two games.
“You have eight or nine from the starting 15 who are in their last year at minor and we’ve had a successful under 16 team and the likes of Mia O’Donnell, Nicole Gillespie and my own youngest girl Toni have got a taste of senior experience so it probably is the strongest squad we’ve had in the last three years.”
It’s been almost two months since this side had a competitive game as they easily disposed of Naomh Conaill by 5-10 to 0-8 in the Donegal final, but a large chunk of the squad have been involved with the senior side that took the Donegal Intermediate title.
They lost their Ulster quarter-final narrowly to an impressive Mullahoran side that wiped the floor with their opponents in the preliminary and the semi-finals, so full focus for this side is now on the minor championship this time.
“It is a real long break and running the minor competition through the senior competition is difficult for minors who are playing in the senior team.
“You see Clann Eireann are still in the minor competition and they’re in the senior final then Lurgan had their minor team win as well so there is that crossover.
“We were unfortunate to lose last week (at senior level) but it has given us a two week break leading into this game and in the long run hopefully it will have helped us.
“We had about 13 minors involved in the senior squad and they would have been training right through.”
Looking at the draw, Dungloe may be on the more favourable side of it, as last year’s champions Carryduff are on the other side of the draw.
Ulster senior finalists Lurgan and Clann Eireann met in the preliminary round and the Armagh side came out on top, with them set to meet Carryduff next.
It’s Monaghan champions Magheracloone that travel to Rosses Park on Sunday and while Boyle admits he doesn’t know too much about his opponents, he is hopeful they can get through the first round and set up a tie against Magherafelt (Derry) or Moortown (Tyrone).
“They won their championship about six or eight weeks ago and their seniors were beat in the Monaghan (senior) final, we’re going in a bit blind on it but I said to our girls that we just need to focus on what we need to do and the result will hopefully look after itself.
“It’s going to be a battle because you’re playing the best minor teams in Ulster but hopefully the fact we have the game at home will be an advantage to us.
“It’s a very prestigious competition and we were beat in the first round the last two years but we were a bit inexperienced.
“This year I said to the girls I wanted to win the county minor title to get another crack at Ulster and thankfully we won it.
“Whether we’re strong enough to get over the first round then we’ll see but hopefully we can and go far in the competition.
“We saw last year in the Junior championship what happens if you get that wee bit of momentum and hopefully that run will stand to them.”
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