BY MATTHEW WILSON

Realt na Mara and Red Hughs will go to battle this Sunday at Tir Conaill Park with a place in the last four of the Donegal Intermediate Football Championship at stake.

The Pairc Aodh Rua residents have enjoyed a strong championship campaign to date, recording wins over Cloughaneely, Naomh Muire and Na Rossa to finish second in the standings.

Following promotion from Division 3 earlier in the campaign, manager Darren O’Leary feels as though the group is in a positive place at the minute.

However, Sunday presents a different test in the form of knockout football. This is something that O’Leary is aware of and is expecting a tough test when they meet the Bundoran men this weekend.

“There’s nothing easy when you get to the quarter-finals in the championship, it’s knock-out football. We’re going to have to get our homework done on Bundoran now this week.

“We’ve watched them once or twice throughout the league and championship. Ciaran McCaughey and Barry McGowan have them going well and they’ve got a few boys back like Gary Clancy, Jamie Brennan, the McEniffs (Cian and Mikey), they’re all great players and if you’re not at it then you’ll be found out,” said O’Leary.

He continued: “We’re looking forward to it, we want to go a step further. Red Hughs unfortunately haven’t gotten past the quarter-finals in the last two years, they’ve been beaten by the two previous champions.

“It’ll be a tough game, Realt na Mara are a seasoned team. It’s not that long ago that they were playing Division 1 football and Senior Championship. There’ll be nothing easy but we’ll put our heads down this week and we’ll look forward to it.”

Realt na Mara concluded their group phase with a loss on the road to Malin last Sunday to finish seventh in the standings following earlier victories over Gaeil Fhánada and Burt.

However, joint-manager Ciaran McCaughey stated that they’re down a number of players for the this weekend’s clash with Niall Carr (PCL), Oisin Walsh (ACL), Matthew Duffy (potential PCL) all ruled out while Adam McGlone has also been sidelined for the past number of weeks.

McCaughey heaped praise on Red Hughs in the lead up to their last eight clash and like O’Leary, he is also anticipating a big challenge when the pair meet in Donegal Town.

“They’re an impressive side. At the start of the year, nobody was mentioning Red Hughs but I would’ve said that they’d be dark horses for the Intermediate.

“They’ve a very good team between the McMenamins, the Carlins, Jack Gillespie in midfield. They’re definitely a team that needs to be taken seriously in my opinion.”

McCaughey is hopeful that his outfit can turn up and put in a performance when the two teams take to the field this Sunday, feeling confident of getting a result if they can manage this.

“If you can get past the quarters then you can build momentum and once you get to the semi-finals then it’s anyone’s Championship. We’ve a big challenge now this weekend with Red Hughs, given the injuries and everything.”

“However, I know it’s a cliche but if every man can perform to their capability then you’d be confident of getting a result on Sunday,”