BY DÁIRE BONNAR
AFTER a convincing win over Cavan in the semi-final, Donegal U20 goalkeeper Pádraig Mac Giolla Bhríde is expecting a different game against Tyrone in the final.
When the pair met in the final Group A game in MacCumhaill Park at the beginning of April, it was a straight shoot out to see who would top the group and it looked a 50/50 tie on paper.
But Donegal led by eight at half-time and that was the margin after the final whistle as Donegal took another big win.
However, with both teams back to a full panel to choose from, Mac Giolla Bhríde is expecting a much closer battle this time against the reigning Ulster and All-Ireland champions.
“We have Tyrone in the final and they were missing a couple of good players when we played them in the group stages, you see the names missing like Eoin McElholm and some others so obviously it will be a hard game but hopefully we can see it through.
“Cian (McMenamin) and Finnbarr (Roarty) are back which is great and we have a tight group there, we’ve been training hard and whenever the final comes we’ll be ready.
“It’s our first year at Under-20 for a lot of players so we’re doing well, to get to the final is very good in our first year, there’s only five or six lads overage next year but we’ll focus on this year.
“We have the confidence in ourselves but we know that Tyrone will give us a very good game.
“It’ll be a different game and anything can happen in a final, it will be a tough battle but we’ll get back into training and see what happens next week.
“We started training in January and we have a lot of work done so we just want to get over the line on Wednesday.”
The goalkeeper has had to adjust to the new rules and the initial changes suited the Gaoth Dobhair man, who enjoys a run forward and shot with his impressive long range kicking, but he feels the newest changes give him a bit less freedom to go into attack, although that didn’t stop him from making a move forward on Wednesday night.
“The new ‘old’ rules probably suited me but now that you have to keep four back it probably hasn’t helped me but I still enjoy going up a few times.
“But it’s not about the scorers it’s about getting the scores, that’s what really matters.”
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