Donegal slowly building up to championship level

ALLIANZ FL DIVISION 1:

Jim McGuinness’s side were given a week off following their last outing — a 1-10 to 0-9 loss against Mayo in Castlebar. And while the cameras and focus of the footballing fraternity will be on Donegal’s climatic league fixture against high-flying Dublin tomorrow, the county senior panel quietly stepped up their training on the dimly-lit Castlefin pitch this week with the more obvious focus being the Ulster championship opener against Tyrone in Ballybofey on May 26.

The maths and permutations are not so simple, but one thing is for sure, if Donegal defeat Jim Gavin’s team Division 1 survival will be guaranteed. Otherwise, it’s Russian roulette with Cork, Mayo, Down and Kerry.

“It’s not ideal but that’s the position we’re in,” said All Star defender Frank McGlynn. “At the start of the year the aim was to stay in Division 1 and that’s what we are hoping to achieve come Sunday. We’ve learned from the previous few games so hopefully things will click into place.

McGuinness has long since maintained he will only be judged on championship football and like their manager the Donegal players are putting their eggs in that basket.

“It’s about getting up the level you want to be at,” McGlynn said of Tyrone.

“It’s an enjoyable time and one where most of the work is done. In between the games, you’re ticking over. If you don’t put in the work in springtime it’s hard to recover when you’re going through the championship campaign. We hope to see the benefits of that come May, June and July.

“In the longer run hopefully things will work out for us and come the summer we’d like to be at our peak. That’s where you want to be.”

Another McGuinness springtime commonplace utterance is the need to unearth players who can make a championship impact and in Ross Wherity and Ryan McHugh, there are two more possibilities. Marty O’Reilly was reintroduced against Mayo, having been on the periphery since the Tyrone Ulster semi-final last June due to a hamstring injury and then grounded with glandular fever.

“We’ve brought in a few young players and that will stand to them ahead of the summer, so they’re not going in to play their first competitive game in the championship,” McGlynn added. “All those things help. Ross has fitted in well.

“Even with the U21s reaching the Ulster final, that will stand to the likes of Marty and Ryan and Patrick McBrearty. ”

The marketers might tell us to expect the unexpected in the Allianz League but the progress of Dublin under Gavin has seen a continuation in the form that has seen back-to-back U21 All-Irelands. But unlike McGuinness, who lost out to Gavin’s team in the 2010 U21 All-Ireland final, Dublin have hit the ground running.

“Dublin have been impressive,” McGlynn said. “They’ve used a lot of players and there seems to be a freshness coming from the U21s and minors they’ve introduced. Their fitness levels look high so we’ll know exactly where we’re at on Sunday.

“Every year, the first round of the Ulster championship is always the target date. It’s something we are building to.”