Redemption on the cards for Donegal minors as they hunt for Tier 2 championship

Donegal manager Barry Ward said that while his team took time off to reflect on their Ulster defeat to Armagh two weeks ago, he said that loss has been put to one side with their focus now set on Sligo this Saturday in the Tier 2 minor championship. 

The U-17 Donegal side will take on the Yeats Men in Markievicz Park at 2pm with the winners progressing to the semi-final of the competition. 

It was a disappointing performance from Donegal in the Ulster semi-final in Ballyshannon a few weeks ago, which eliminated them from the Tier 1 All-Ireland series in a performance that never really saw the home side perform to the best of their ability.  

But Ward admits that his side are not resting on their laurels and that, after some reflection, they have put that period to one side as they now try to overcome Sligo this weekend. 

“We took a couple of days off after the semi-final before getting back at it again last Saturday,” said the Aodh Ruadh man. “We trained on Monday, and we trained on Wednesday so it’s all building towards this weekend against Sligo and it’s a game we’re looking forward to.”  

For the minor manager, this match in Sligo is about focusing on his team producing a performance for a full hour. 

“I think this weekend we have to make sure we’re focused on the task from the start. We worked on that in training and spoke about that. In these championship games, you can’t sit back, you have to go at it from the word go because any break in focus at this level, you’re going to be punished. 

“For me, it’s just about making sure the lads are relaxed going into the game and they show our true colours.” 

With Donegal entering this new format of a Tier 2 championship, there’s an element that the competition could be seen as anti-climactic, but Ward disregards those claims citing that his side are fully focused on winning any tournament they’re in, having now put the loss to Armagh behind them. 

“I suppose last week if you asked me about this Tier 2 competition, I probably would’ve given you a different answer, but look, you get over these things. For us as a squad, it’s about development and showing resilience. We want to get back at it now. The boys want to win, they’re showing that at training and we’re just looking forward to Saturday,” he said. 

“It’s a competition that’s going to be run off quite quickly, if we get over Sligo this weekend, we’ll have an open draw for the following Saturday. It’s going to be different too in a way that we get to play teams from outside of Ulster, which is great. 

“There’s also a sense that the boys want to redeem themselves after the loss to Armagh, so the shackles are going to be off, and it’ll be a case of just going at it on Saturday and seeing what we can get out of this tournament.”