Carndonagh looking to upset the odds in the IHC final this weekend

Carndonagh may be seasoned veterans when it comes to playing in Intermediate Hurling finals, but the reigning second-tier county champions know they have a mammoth of a challenge on their hands in the county final against Buncrana this Saturday in O’Donnell Park. 

After reforming the senior hurling team in the club six years ago, the Inishowen side has gone from strength to strength as they prepare for what is now their fifth county final in six years having already appeared in two junior and two intermediate finals previously. 

But accompanying this 2024 hurling final has been the long four-week break since the semi-final due to the ongoing football championship period.  

It’s something that would irritate most managers, but Carndonagh’s player/manager Cathal Doherty feels it’s something he just had to get on with. 

“It’s been a weird kind of build up to the final because our last game was four weeks ago and we’ve been playing football with Carn since,” he told Donegal Live.  

“We’ve obviously been doing our two sessions a week but you can’t really go into too much about the game when you have lads doing other things. 

“But we’ve been still working away and getting the touch up. Of course, there hasn’t been too much hard training because we’ve been keeping lads fresh for the football, so it’s been a funny kind of build up. 

“I remember last year, our semi-final was on a Friday, and then we were out playing the county final the following Saturday, so we only had a week build-up, which was great because you were flying right into the final, whereas four weeks, I think is too long, but we won’t really know that until we play on Saturday.” 

Most noteworthy about this final is that, Buncrana, who are normally used to playing their championship matches at senior level rather than intermediate, were stunned earlier this season when they were beaten for the first time by the very club they will face in Letterkenny this weekend. 

But Doherty feels that Buncrana didn’t really show their hand that day, and he doesn’t want people to take too much from their victory that day. 

“The only thing about that was, yes we beat them but I think both sides were playing a bit of ‘Silly Buggers’ that night. We knew we were going to be playing each other later in the season. We had our full team out, whereas I don’t think Buncrana played a full squad, so, I wouldn’t read too much into that,” Doherty said. 

“Buncrana are a really strong team and have been a senior side for a long time. I remember the first year they went up to senior level, I was playing with them and that was nine years ago, and since then, they’ve been competing in senior semi-finals since, so this is the first year they’ve dropped down to this level and no doubt they’ll be strong favourites. 

“All year we’ve been living off hard work and basics, and we believe that will equal to a solid performance, so from 1-20 on the team, we’ll be aiming to do that this weekend and hope we can get a result out of it.” 

“This is our fifth final since the hurling team reformed six years ago. We got to the Junior final in 2019 and 2020, and then we’ve been in the last two Intermediate finals, so this is our fifth final now, which is kind of a blessing because boys are so comfortable with the occasion now.” 

Buncrana may be going into this final as strong favourties but Carndonagh will not be relinquishing their county title without a fight.