Donegal boss expects big challenge

Ryan McHugh has returned for the Donegal minor team

DONEGAL minor manager Stephen Friel believes that his team have a massive challenge ahead of them on Sunday as they attempt to dethrone Ulster Minor Champions, Cavan.

Friel’s team had a disappointing run in the Ulster Minor League when they lost two group games, yet they managed to go on to reach the shield final where they lost to Armagh.

“We have a very tough game ahead of us as we are facing the defending champions, and we haven’t had a great league campaign,” said Friel.

“We had players missing throughout the league and we weren’t able to put out a consistent team. For that reason we struggled.”

However, Friel did admit that their performances against Tyrone and Derry weren’t bad.
They were only five points behind Tyrone in the group stages, only Cavan got closer to the Red Hands, when they lost by three in the league semis.

That’s not to say that Friel has written off his team’s chances, he maintains league form has no bearing on the championship.

Unfortunately for Friel he has been able to do little homework on their opponents, bar watching some of them playing in vocational schools football.

“They have Gary Donohoe and Dermot McCabe who have done a great job with the team,” he said.

“I know they are big physical team and they have some experienced players back from last year. We will have to be at our very best.”

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published on Thursday May 17. Buy your copy now either online; by clicking the subscribe button on this page, or in your local newsagent