Termon celebrate their win over Glenfin in Convoy yesterday. Picture: Declan Doherty.
BY CHRIS MCNULTY
TERMON manager Francie Friel says his girls only started to think about the Ulster Championship campaign after defeating Glenfin in the Donegal final last month.
Termon won the Ulster title in 2010 and have been beaten by Monaghan queens Donaghmoyne in the last two Ulster deciders. Their designs on getting back the Ulster crown are well known, but Friel insists that the focus has only turned to the province since they trumped Glenfin.
Battling Glenfin just couldn’t match the Burn Road side, who took a 4-18 to 1-11 win and they now travel to face Fermanagh champion Newtownbutler in Newtownbutler on Sunday (throw-in 2pm).
As tends to be the case these days, Geraldine McLaughlin was the tormentor-in-chief in the county final, the Donegal star helping herself to 3-10 of her team’s total.
“I was very wary of Glenfin,” Friel says.
“In football you just don’t know some days. I could see that Glenfin were putting in a massive effort into the Championship. We never mentioned Ulster until we had Glenfin beaten in the county final. We put everything that we had into the county final.’
Friel, joined on the sideline by Trevor Alcorn and Paul McDaid, is aiming to guide the Donegal aces back to provincial glory, but he’s well aware of the trecherous route that awaits.
He says: “Now it has to be one game at a time because we are into the unknown.
“We know very little about them but they’ll probably know quite a bit about us.”
Therese McCafferty seems set to miss out because of a back injury, sustained in a challenge game in July, but Olive McCafferty and Roisin McCafferty will fly in from Edinburgh and Coventry – where they are stationed for college – to line out for Termon.
Friel says: “It’s the first time we have had all the panel together since the county final. We have girls in Galway, girls in Dublin, Nicole McLaughlin is in Tipperary and then we have Olive in Edinburgh and Roisin in Coventry.
“We played st Eunan’s in the League at the weekend to get games for some of the girls who haven’t played much. We’ve found that teams don’t want to play us and it’s been a bit of a nightmare in the League for us – we still have three games left.”
Termon have added the talents of Lucy O’Flynn, Lauren McElwaine, Holly McDaid and Anna Gallagher to their senior ranks from the club’s minor team. Dara Kelly has returned from a year’s lay-off with a cruciate injury and with McLaughlin continuing her deadly exploits Termon have a mean look about them again. Their greater firepower, experience and big game knowhow should see them through.
JUNIOR/INTERMEDIATE
DONEGAL Junior Champions Carndonagh start their provincial assault on Saturday with a home game against Derry outfit Faughanvale (2pm).
In the Intermediate Championship on Sunday Four Masters – who were awarded the Donegal title after Ardara’s no-show – will travel away to Down’s Ballymartin (2pm).
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