NAOMH Muire and Milford will meet in a tasty IFC quarter-final on Sunday.

Danny O’Donnell was Milford bainisteoir when they won the Cathal McLaughlin Cup in 2017 but is now back in charge of his home club Naomh Muire.

Naomh Muire were underdogs last season when they got the better of Milford at the same stage by 1-9 to 0-8 on a damp afternoon in Falcarragh.

It is flipped somewhat this week as while Milford finished third in the standings, Naomh Muire have been considered as a strong contender all season for the Intermediate silverware.

“Milford won three of their four group games and they know how to win this championship. They have a lot of experienced players in through their group,” said O’Donnell.

“I know they have lost players through injury which definitely weakens their squad but it doesn’t necessarily weaken their first fifteen.

“We beat them last year and they will be out to avenge that defeat.

“They will probably see us as favourites based on us getting promoted this year and beating them last season but that’s not the way we see it.

“We see it very much as a 50-50 game as it was last year.

“You have to bring championship football to it this weekend and I’m sure the Milford boys will be saying the same thing this weekend.

“I think it will be a fantastic match. It will be good and tight like the other three quarter-finals.”

Naomh Muire had comfortable wins over Na Rossa and Cloughaneely but lost to Red Hughs and Naomh Columba.

A 2-15 to 0-9 defeat against Glen was a surprise but Ferdia Doherty didn’t play while regulars such as Eoin Martin, Shaun Burns and Paddy McCafferty were all subs.

O’Donnell reflected on that match saying: “To be honest, it was an opportunity to use our squad.

“Now we wouldn’t be happy with our performance. No point in saying otherwise.

“But that was a collective – it wasn’t down to the fact we changed players in the team.

“Maybe psychologically with players when they know it’s not all on the line, maybe there’s a bit of switch off.

“We have seen that in the Senior Championship as well with teams that were already secure in the preliminary quarter-finals. Did they go at it hammer and tongs last weekend? Possibly not.

“It wouldn’t be something we would have spoken about but it might be in players’ minds that they know the following week and this weekend coming is the one that you have to lift it and perform.

“If that’s what happens then we will accept the Naomh Columba result but we’re going to have to produce something.”

That defeat last year still lingers for Milford manager James McGinley but it’s not his primary focus.

Conor Coll, Finn Coll, and Conor McHugh are all out with cruciate injuries, while Kane Barrett hasn’t featured in the championship so far and Rory O’Donnell and Darragh Black have been carrying knocks, so McGinley is trying to patch up things as best as he can.

“We would be telling lies if we said we haven’t talked about it (last year’s defeat) but it’s not to the forefront of our minds.

“It’s knock-out football now and we have to get a result.

“We have kind of limped through the group stages.

“It’s no secret that we are down a few bodies, long-term and short-term. You only have to look at the team sheets we have had out to see where we are at.

“But we’re definitely not going down there to make up the numbers.

“We’re going to go and try and get the result that we had hoped we would get last year, and hopefully it comes this time.”

Naomh Muire edged out Milford on the opening day of the league season in a cracking tussle.

McGinley said: “They have tough boys at the back like Ferdia, who is a former Donegal Under 20 captain.

“The likes of Jack O’Donnell and Joey Gillespie are good players who work hard and give every drop of themselves on the pitch.

“The two boys up front (Eoin Martin and Cathal Fee) are top quality and Fintan (Doherty) on his day could destroy any team on his own so we will have to be very careful or one thing will happen and that will be a repeat of last year.”