By Niall Gartland

Lidl Ladies National League Division One

Mayo v Donegal

Sunday, Swinford Amenity Park, 12.30pm

IT’S hard to say that it’s a schedule from hell – they’d be playing the same seven teams one way or the other – but the fixtures makers could have been a little kinder to the Donegal ladies.

Maxi Curran points out that they have four away matches, while their three home matches are against “the three best teams in Ireland” – namely, Dublin, Donegal and Galway.

They can’t afford to get off to a slow start either as their round one fixture is against Mayo, who dumped Donegal out of the All-Ireland championship last year, so Curran recognises that they’ll be doing well to stay afloat in Division One when everything’s done and dusted.

“The fixtures haven’t been kind to us. We’ve four away games and our three home matches are against Dublin, Cork and Galway, the three best teams in Ireland.

“We’re going to be put to the pins of our collars. Realistically, Donegal is heading for a period of transition and it’s inevitable that there’s going to be a changing of the guard.

“At the same time we still think we can be a match for anybody. We’ve had reasonable success at underage level in the last number of years and players have been coming through.”

This time last season little was expected of Donegal as a number of key players had made themselves unavailable. They managed to offset those losses, starting their campaign with a shock win over Ladies titans Dublin and securing Division One status with something to spare, losing a league semi-final to Galway.

It’s tempting fate to suggest they can achieve something similar again this season. Karen Guthrie, Niamh Hegarty, Anna Marie McGlynn, Treasa Doherty and Shannon McGroddy are unavailable, while Katy Herron has joined the expanding list of ladies’ players who have giving Aussie Rules a go. Curran says they’ll do their best to cope with the extensive losses.

“You have to get on with it but we haven’t regained anyone that we’ve lost and we’ve lost another five from our starting 15.

“The league isn’t life and death, it’s about development and trying to improve players. Last year a couple of fringe players stepped up and nailed down their place on the team and fair play to them, that’s what we’re trying to do again. One or two players have retained, you always hope you’ll regain a couple but you just never know.”

Katy Herron isn’t the first Donegal player to be recruited by the AFWL. Yvonne Bonner did likewise last season, but Curran says it doesn’t affect a county to quite the same degree as in the men’s game as the players can usually return in time for the championship.

“It’s probably more common than in the men’s football to be honest. It’s all happened in the last couple of years. We’re fortunate that the majority come back in April or May, so they’re able to play in the championship.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for anybody but it’s difficult for the men as they’re lost to the game. It’s still a great opp for young people to have that option to travel and see the world.”