BY RYAN FERRY
Glenswilly have qualified for the last two Donegal Under 21 ‘A’ Championship Finals, and team captain Donal Gallagher hopes they can make it through to another decider this weekend.
The silverware has eluded them with final defeats against Gaoth Dobhair in 2023 and Four Masters last year.
However, there is undoubtedly a good consistency to the Glenswilly side, most of whom will be underage again next season.
It’s all about the here and now, and Glenswilly edged out Naomh Conaill and Sean MacCumhaills in the group phase but lost to Termon by the minimum.
They then saw off Gaoth Dobhair in the quarter-finals last week and wing-back Gallagher is focused on the task ahead.
“Keep winning games and hopefully we can get there.
“Four Masters are a strong team and we know it will be tough.”
Glenswilly were rocked as Gaoth Dobhair hit two early goals in the quarter-final.
However, there was never any sense of panic from Neil Gallagher’s team.
They got back to within two at the break and then were outstanding in the second half as they dominated proceedings.
“We were down by five at one stage in the first half. They got an early goal and then they got another one about ten minutes later.
“If you lose that’s the season over and you want to keep the season going as long as possible, so we’re glad we responded well in the second half and got over the line.
“We got on top of their kick-outs. We’re always looking to improve. We kicked a lot of wides.
“Hopefully we can improve on that for the next day.”
Jake Kelly and Oisin McDaid are overage from last year’s team but Glenswilly do have a strong squad.
Paddy Ward and Matthew Enright have both lined out at full-forward for the county minors over the last two years but had to be content with a place on the bench against Gaoth Dobhair.
Both players came on and made an impact and Gallagher feels the competition for places helps the side.
“We have a good squad.
“We have 25-26 boys togged and you can trust whichever five to come on and do their job.
“You have Paddy and Matthew but there’s other boys there too like Mandy Kelly and Gary Kelly, who wasn’t there (on Saturday) but those boys come on and make the difference and we’re glad to have it.
He added: “You see in the last couple of games, that winter football isn’t pretty. It’s about that breaking ball and winning 50/50s and coming out on top.”
