Mac's View: Historic win for Donegal in Killarney on Saturday

It was worth the wait. What a performance from Donegal in getting the win in Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney on Saturday last against Kerry, our first win on Kerry soil since 1988. While early in the season is the best time to get Kerry in the league, they are always hard to beat in Killarney.

And it was not just the win, it was the way it was achieved, never headed and being able to pull away again when Kerry threatened in the final quarter.

It was a long journey for Donegal and they were not helped with the loss of Michael Langan in the opening few minutes. The St Michael’s man will probably miss the next game or two and I don’t know what the situation is with big Jason McGee, but he is needed now more than ever, especially with Armagh coming to Ballybofey on Sunday next.

I know Jim (McGuinness) mentioned that Michael Murphy was in good shape and would be introduced soon. It would be a big boost too if he were included in the 26 for next Sunday. Imagine the reaction of the home crowd if the Glenswilly man were to take the field in the final quarter.

But back to Killarney first of all. I watched the highlights on Sunday night and it was heartwarming to see the way that Donegal played under the new rules. Ryan McHugh stood out with some great scores, especially the first, a two pointer. Congratulations to Ryan on being selected as the Player of the Week.

It wouldn’t be fair to single out other players as they all did really well but I was especially pleased for our own clubman Jamie Brennan who came in and kicked two very vital points under pressure when they were needed at the very end. That will do a world of good to Jamie’s confidence and he has the engine and capacity to be a vital asset under the new rules.

The win in Kerry puts Donegal in a very comfortable position in the league and if they could add another two this Sunday against Armagh they could relax a little and it would allow Jim to have a real look at the talent on the bench in the following weeks. They have Galway away in Pearse Stadium and Derry in Fr Tierney Park, Ballyshannon before there is a weekend off.

The league is always the most competitive of all the competitions and Division 1 has the top eight teams in the country this year. Fair play to Jim McGuinness as he has his side well versed in the new rules and scores of 0-20 and 0-23 are impressive. It would be nice to see Donegal create a few more goal opportunities but that’s being picky. They have the firepower, especially with the two pointers and the fitness levels are also impressive.

We will know even more about Donegal after Sunday because Kieran McGeeney will want Armagh to lay down a marker for the Ulster championship. Donegal have been Armagh and McGeeney’s bogey team in the last few years and that won’t sit well with McGeeney. Indeed, I heard on the grapevine that Armagh were relieved when Galway knocked out Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final last year because they didn’t want to meet Donegal in the All-Ireland decider.

There were over 12,500 at the Donegal-Dublin league game so we can expect a record attendance in MacCumhaill Park on Sunday as Armagh will bring a lot more supporters than Dublin did. I won’t be surprised if it is almost full. It will surely set a new attendance record for a league game in the county. It seems that the new rules are bringing supporters back to the grounds.

Donegal supporters need to get there early and get behind Donegal. It will all be needed. It’s a game I’m really looking forward to.

MacRory Cup final

Commisserations to Abbey VS, Donegal Town on losing out by just a point in the MacRory final against St Pat’s, Maghera. They gave it a real go and it is always hard to take when the margin is so small. I read that Maghera had well over 100 training sessions and they had the likes of Sean Marty Lockhart and Chrissy McKaigue in their management structure, as well as a strength and conditioning coach. That is the level that the northern schools take the MacRory Cup to. But when you look at Abbey with just three clubs supplying them, getting to the final was a wonderful achievement and they can hold their heads high.

Congratulations to Aodh Ruadh on honouring their four in-a-row minor teams from the early 1980s and there some great players that went on to county success from those teams including the late Pauric Gallagher, Matt Gallagher, Tommy McDermott, Brian Tuohy, Gary Walsh, Brian Murray, Gerry Curran, Eunan Gallagher and Sylvester Maguire, who was also honoured last week after retiring from teaching.

Those fellas have plenty of Ulster and All-Ireland medals between them and I was very privileged to work with them at county level.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell