CIARAN Moore says the Dr McKenna Cup was ‘a great benefit’ to him when finding his feet at senior inter-county level and it will present an opportunity to a cohort of promising young stars once again this January, starting with a meeting against Derry in O’Donnell Park on Sunday afternoon.
Moore made his debut against Armagh in the pre-season competition and it proved as a good launchpad as Donegal reached the final that season against Derry and were road-tested ahead of the league.
The McKenna Cup was shelved last year but returns now and a large crowd is expected at the Letterkenny venue for the 1.30pm throw-in.
Donegal fans are keen to see their team in action once more and it has been more than five months since the All-Ireland Final defeat to Kerry.
Moore and his teammates start back again at the foot of the mountain and while captain Patrick McBrearty has retired, they still have a strong panel.
The St Eunan’s man thinks there is scope for improvement for Donegal, and the Derry match as well as the Antrim one the following week allow players a chance to impress.
Moore said: “I suppose you go into every year trying to improve what we did last year and we’ll take it day by day, we’ll start with the McKenna Cup and head into the league and we’ll take it from there.
“It’s a good competition for getting game time into boys. That’s where I started.
“I got my first minutes in the McKenna Cup and it was a great benefit for me and to have it back is nice to have games straight after Christmas. So we’re looking forward to it.”
Donegal have been playing challenge games in recent weeks and the likes of Kieran Gallagher (Naomh Conaill), Conor McCahill (Four Masters), Shea Malone (Naomh Conaill), Kevin Muldoon (Four Masters) and Eoin McGeehin (St Eunan’s) have been involved.
Others such as Sean Martin (Sean MacCumhaills), Oisin Caulfield (Na Rossa) and Seanan Carr (Four Masters) have played before and will be hoping to play a part in 2026.
Derry are under new management with Ciaran Meenagh taking charge.
Derry failed to win a game in 2025 but they are expected to be better under Meenagh and Moore is anticipating another good outing with the Oak Leaf county.
“We have had a couple of massive battles against Derry in the last couple of years and the McKenna Cup will be no different.”
