Mhuire can beat drop

NAOMH Mhuire have just four games left to secure their status in division two in Donegal, but their manager Danny O’Donnell is confident that they can achieve this feat.

Twelve years ago, Naomh Mhuire were playing in the top flight, but they fell from grace quickly and in recent years have been regarded as a junior team.

However, a concerted effort to improve their underage structure, and some hard work at senior level, led to their promotion to division two last year.

This year they struggled to compete, but they won four of their last five matches, and O’Donnell says his team are capable of beating the drop.

“At the minute, we are in a relegation battle, but that is something that we have prepared for,” he said.

“We made the step up last year, and we are hopeful that we can stay up this year.
“At the start of the year results weren’t going our way. We had tough matches against better opposition, and we were hit hard by injuries at the start of the year.”

Naomh Mhuire have beaten Cloughaneely, Fanad Gaels, Malin and MacCumhaill’s in their last five matches since the start of June. Their only defeat was against Bundoran, a team who are bidding for promotion to division one.

Those results are in contrast to the start of the year, when they lost six of their first seven games. The only point they picked up in that time was a draw with Killybegs
So how have they managed to turn their fortunes around this year?

“We just managed to get a bit of belief in the lads,” O’Donnell said.
“The senior team is relatively young, and they have put in a lot of hard work.”

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published on Thursday August 2. Buy your copy now in your local newsagent, or you can purchase the online version – for only 90p – by clicking here