Donegal must ‘seize their chance’
03.06.11
by
Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
DUBLIN hurling manager Anthony Daly has been drafted in
to help Donegal in their bid to win a first hurling
championship title. Daly, who captained Clare to
All-Ireland victory in 1995 and 1997, was in Letterkenny
this week to put Donegal through their paces ahead of
Saturday’s Lory Meagher Cup final meeting with Tyrone in
Croke Park (throw-in 12 noon).
Managed by Andrew Wallace, Donegal will be seeking to
end a string of five final defeats on Saturday: Donegal
lost the Meagher Cup finals to Tyrone (2009) and
Longford (2010), the Rackard Cup final to Derry (2006),
and All-Ireland Junior finals to Roscommon (2001) and
Mayo (2003).
“It’s time to set the record straight,” Wallace said
yesterday. “Getting to Croke Park for a final is no
longer good enough. We’ve been there and lost out. We
need to win it this time.
Wallace estimates that up to seven of his starting 15 on
Saturday may well be playing their last match for
Donegal and this is the last roll of the dice for this
team.
“I’ve been drumming it into the boys all season,” he
said.
“You have to seize the chance when it comes your way.
We’ve missed out before and now’s the time to win it.
Players think that there’s always next year and that
they have plenty of time, but good teams don’t last for
ever and while you might think you’ll always be
contesting finals it could be a long time before another
20 good players come along again.”
Wallace has a full squad to pick from and was due to
announce his team after training last night. The
injuries that disrupted Donegal’s league campaign have
cleared up and Sean McVeigh, who was red carded against
Fermanagh in April, is available again after suspension.
“We struggled through the league a bit, but maintaining
our position in Division 3B was the objective and we
achieved that.
“And reaching the Meagher final was our first objective
in the championship. We’ve done that, now we just have
to go on and win it.
With his usual frankness, Wallace described his side’s
1-15 to 1-12 extra time win over South Down in Newry a
fortnight ago as “atrocious”.
“We couldn’t pick Saturday’s team based on that display,
because if we did we’d have chosen a completely
different 15.
“They were atrocious. I can’t put my finger on it;
perhaps it was nervousness over losing it and not
reaching the final.
“But to their credit the boys never stopped trying.
They’ve grown very close as a group and they just never
gave up. Last year’s team would have lost to South Down,
but this year’s squad digs deeper.
Wallace says that he’s not even thinking about his Red
Hand opponents on Saturday.
“Tyrone have a good few handy hurlers, but I’m
concentrating on our own team. Every man will have to
win his own individual battle and if we focus on that
we’ll be all right.
Having defeated Donegal in the 2009 decider and won the
Division 4 League title this year already, Tyrone enter
Saturday’s final as favourites, but Wallace is bullish
about Donegal’s prospects.
“We’ve nothing to be afraid of at all. We’re used to
getting beaten in finals so we have no fear of that. All
the preparation has been done since January and now we
just have to do it on the field on Saturday.”
“We have to seize this chance.”
Donegal’s path to the final:
23 April: Warwickshire 1-13, Donegal 3-16
30 April: Donegal 3-18, Fermanagh 2-8
21 May: Donegal 1-15, South Down 1-12 AET |
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