Club football returns this weekend after a period of absence due to Donegal facing Derry last Sunday.
There will be four matches played across division one, all taking place on Friday or Saturday due to the Donegal U20 team facing Derry on Sunday morning. For most teams this will be their ninth fixtures of the league so far marking the mid-point of the campaign.
St Eunan’s and Dungloe will kick off the action in O’Donnell Park on Friday night. This is a battle of two sides going through very different fortunes.
St Eunan’s sit joint top of the league on 12 points with Gaoth Dohair and Naomh Conaill. Although Gaoth Dobhair do have a game in hand on the other two as their match with Kilcar has yet to be rescheduled.
Dungloe on the other hand sit bottom of the division, but their one solitary victory did come in the recent match with Aodh Ruadh. This will give them a big confidence boost moving on and they are now very much in a position to avoid relegation.
O’Donnell Park can be an intimidating place to travel to for any team but Dungloe will probably view Friday as good a chance as any given that Eunan’s will be without their county players. Throw in will be at 19:45 on Friday evening.
The focus will then switch to Saturday where three matches will go ahead in division one. Each of the three contests as important as the next with the teams hovering above the relegation spots all involved.
Aodh Ruadh welcome Glenswilly to Father Tierney Park looking to get back on form after losing two consecutive games on the bounce. Four points separate the sides at the minute with Aodh Ruadh sitting just above Dungloe.
Glenswilly had to rally in their last game and actually went into injury time against Milford level. The experienced and reliable campaigners of Ciaran Bonner and Niall Gallagher came up trumps and guided the Glen men to a vital victory.
That victory put Glenswilly in fifth position, but a win for Aodh Ruadh at the weekend could drag the Glen men back into trouble. Only a point separates Aodh Ruadh and Milford so there’s a massive amount to play for. Both sides will desperately be looking for the points.
The meeting of the league’s highest scores also takes place with St Michael’s making the long trip to Towney. Both sides have accumulated 117 points this year to date with it looking likely that many more scores will be added on to that tally at the weekend.
A win for Kilcar would put them into second place at minimum as Gaoth Dobhair and Naomh Conaill have a free weekend. St Michael’s are currently fourth from bottom but joint on points with Cloughaneely above them.
A win would be a massive result for the bridge men as they look to get clear of the relegation zone. They will be without talisman Michael Langan, but Christy Toye has returned to fitness and Colm McFadden is still as accurate as ever.
The third clash taking place on Saturday is probably the biggest of them all as Cloughaneely travel to Milford in a fixture that could really decide the paths that their respective seasons take. Cloughaneely sit on 6 points with Milford two spots behind on five.
A win for either is massive as it could move them a few further steps ahead of both Aodh Ruadh and Dungloe. The two sides have been promoted to division one in recent years and staying up will be seen as key for progression. Whatever side claims the two points on Saturday will have a massive advantage in avoiding relegation.
Cloughaneely will be without Donegal U20 pair Jason McGee and Ciaran McFadden whilst Milford will have to plan for the fixture minus Ronan Docherty who is also a member of the U20 panel.
