Donegal pray for change in fortune

WHAT Christy Toye and Donegal wouldn’t give for a simple change of luck.

Tomorrow’s Ulster championship game in Ballybofey against Down (4pm, RTÉ) would be as nice a place as possible for the tide to turn.

It’s not so long ago since Donegal were widely touted as the ‘next big thing’ in Ulster football. With the attacking talents of Brendan Devenney, Brian Roper, Adrian Sweeney and Toye himself, it seemed only a matter of time before they ended the dual hegemony of Tyrone and Armagh.

The breakthrough never came. In 2002 and again two years later, Armagh defeated them in Ulster finals and, in 2003, it was their orange nemeses who again softened their cough in an All-Ireland semi-final.

With so many setbacks, their momentum gradually stalled and went into a full-blown retreat last year.

Firstly, they got relegated from the league, losing three games by a single point. Such frustrations carried over into the summer where they lost to Armagh (again) after a replay and to Cavan in the qualifiers by, you guessed, a single point.

“Aye, it was hugely disappointing because we were losing by a point or two in games, which is actually harder to take than getting hammered,” said Toye who is captain tomorrow.

“We actually went well in the league even though we were relegated.

“This year, we drew the first game with Leitrim, but every other game went well. When the chips were down against Roscommon in the last game with promotion up for grabs we stood up to be counted and that was the most satisfying game of all.”

Toye could never have predicted the downward spiral the county’s fortunes would take when he made his senior debut four seasons — against Down — in Ballybofey.

“I’ve been involved in two Ulster finals and lost them both to Armagh. I’ve lost an All-Ireland semi-final to them as well. There was always that hurdle there that we couldn’t get over.

“It is disappointing when you get that far and you can’t do the business in the big game. It’s hard to explain why that is. You just keep at it and try to do it that bit better every year.”

They’ve done everything they could so far this year, rectifying last spring’s drop into Division Two by bouncing straight back up. Rubbing shoulders with Leitrim, Longford and London is one thing though, competing in the Ulster Championship is quite another.

With the likes of Devenney and John Gildea no longer leading the line and Brian McIver slipping into McEniff’s shoes, Donegal are very much a work in progress, but at least the graph seems to be pointing in the right direction.

“We feel we’ve got as good a chance as anyone else,” said the St Michael’s man. “We’re going into the Ulster Championship with high hopes. A couple of years ago Donegal were being talked about as the team that was going to break the Tyrone-Armagh dominance.

“Now it’s Derry as well. They’re coming on strong and look like they’ll do big things this year. As long as we approach it with a good attitude, we’ll do well. We all believe that.”