Nobody is getting carried away, insists Donegal ’keeper Durcan

THEIR supporters celebrated like they had won Sam Maguire but the Donegal players are keeping a lid on their emotions after victory over Armagh.

Hundreds of home supporters lingered on the terraces to celebrate Sunday’s toppling of the Ulster champions, more made a beeline for the town’s pubs, but the first order of business for the players themselves was a session in a nearby swimming pool.

The party line is very much ‘business as usual’.

“It was a good result but it’s only the first round and nobody is getting too excited,” said goalkeeper Paul Durcan. “It’s great to get that monkey off our back but everybody knows that there is a lot more work that needs to be done after a performance like that.

“I’ve lost two Ulster finals to Armagh so it was just great to get away with that one. Tyrone are next. It’s a tough side of the draw and you have the likes of Derry or Down to look to after that if we get past Tyrone.

“There’s a lot to think about.”

They have three weeks to ruminate over their display at the weekend. Though good enough to beat Armagh on the day, it shouldn’t have happened and they know it. Four scores from play in 70 minutes tells its own story, particularly when the last and most important of them — Brendan Devenney’s goal — owed more to fortune than anything else.

Armagh succeeded in dictating the style of game played, coaxing Donegal back into their old default setting of short passing moves and runs down cul de sacs and into contact.

The game was the claustrophobic affair that has been so prevalent in the Ulster Championship but Durcan rejected the notion that Armagh’s tactics were aided by the setting.

“We know from going out in Clones that it is exactly the same size as the pitch here in Ballybofey. It just looks tighter in Ballybofey with the stands in tight around it. That was never a factor in our heads.”

Maybe, but the Armagh factor certainly was and this win means that Donegal can now concentrate on the summer ahead having exorcised their orange demons and ended their trophy drought in the space of five short weeks.

“The way we look at it is we’ve been working since last October to get this far so it doesn’t seem like we’ve made a huge jump this past few weeks.

“We’ve been getting victories all year but we’ve a lot more to do despite what we’ve achieved.”

Sunday’s success was arguably more important than the NFL title. With five victories in the past five years, Armagh’s hegemony in this fixture was well established but a sixth reversal would have cut the deepest.

Armagh might have been reigning provincial champions, but Donegal entered the game holding all the aces and with most to lose. League form, home advantage and player availability all leaned heavily in their favour.

“It’s a massive psychological boost because you have to beat teams like Armagh in the championship,” said midfielder Kevin Cassidy.

“They were missing a few players but that was nothing to do with us. We have Tyrone now in three weeks’ time and we will have to up our performance 100%. That performance just wasn’t good enough.”

McIver will at least know that there is scope for change, personnel wise. The depth in their panel has been a factor all season and was in evidence again when their subs contributed 1-1 to turn the game on its head in the last 20 minutes.

Their stutters against Armagh should also temper expectations against a Tyrone side that displayed similar failings in its defeat of Fermanagh the week before.

“Maybe, but I don’t think it’s going to dampen the hype too much, especially with it being Tyrone up next,” said Durcan. “You saw what it meant to those supporters to beat Armagh. It was a great atmosphere and we’ll be counting on them again against Tyrone.”