Moran is looking forward to an intriguing encounter with Dublin

WHILE much of the hype surrounding Donegal and Dublin this week will be based on recollections of 92 and all that, Mickey Moran feels it is an intriguing encounter for a whole host of reasons.

The Donegal manager predicted that Donegal would meet Dublin last week, “weighing up the permutations, I anticipated this was the way the draw would turn out, I thought we would get Dublin and Kerry would get Galway,” and says the game offers the platform for two young teams to show what they can do.

“We are both young teams. We made changes from last year, brought a lot of youngsters into the team and Tommy did the same when he took over Dublin.

“Like ourselves, his emphasis was on bringing youngsters in, who have responded to Tommy’s enthusiasm. Given that it is at Croke Park, it’s two relatively new teams, this is going to be an intriguing game.”

Although the Donegal county board reportedly wanted the game switched from Monday to Sunday, the game remains on the Bank Holiday. It doesn’t really bother the manager, though.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me or the team whether it is on Sunday or Monday. The only day we didn’t want to play was Saturday because that would have made it difficult for Donegal people to travel up and a lot of our players work on a Saturday. Monday suits us grand.” While the picture of a delighted Moran, fists clenched and teeth gritted, after the Meath game is already a lasting image of this championship, he still sees for improvement ahead of the Dublin clash, saying: “It was a great victory for Donegal, but we know we aren’t the finished article yet. We could have conceded a last-minute goal which would have been disastrous. There are still things we have spent the last week working on. But, it was great for the county because they have been through so many barren years.”

Moran has been impressed by Dublin this year. “The enthusiasm Tommy Lyons brings to the team as well seems to have rubbed off on them. The whole city seems to be buzzing and they will be out-and-out favourites for the game. But it’s a two horse race and anything can happen.”

Revitalised wing-forward Colin Moran realises that. “There’s no easy ties left and Donegal looked particularly awesome when they beat Meath in their last game. To be honest I’ve never seen the All-Ireland as open as it is right now. There’s eight teams who could go on and win. But we’d see ourselves as realistic contenders too. There’s no doubting it would be the realisation of a life-long dream to win an All-Ireland.

“I’m happy with my game and the forwards are doing really well for us. I think that’s where the match is going to be won and lost against Donegal.” The last time the sides met in the championship was in 1992. Its a date no Dublin fan will ever forget as unfancied Donegal picked up their first ever All-Ireland title. Moran remembers the day. “Thankfully we picked up an All-Ireland in 1995 but the Donegal loss was a crushing one at the time. To lose to anyone in an All-Ireland final is devastating. It’s out of everyone’s systems at this stage though. Now it’s about two teams looking to progress in this year’s championship.”