CONOR McBrearty believes the time is now for Letterkenny Gaels.
After a couple of near misses in semi-finals, the Gaels reached a first ever Junior Championship final thanks to a win over Na Rossa yesterday.
The club was formed in 1996 and have waited until now for their big moment. They’ll be joined next weekend by their reserves in the Junior B final as part of a double-header.
“It’s brilliant,” McBrearty, who scored 1-7 in their win yesterday, told Donegal Daily/Donegal Sport Hub.
“We’ve lost three or four semi-finals and it’s been pretty horrible. It’s a longtime coming, but we’ve taken the step now and hopefully we can go one more.
“It’s huge. A lot of people expect big things from us. We’re in a big town with another club in it, but it is time for us to push on. We have to show the way, get into these finals and hopefully this is the start of it.”
Gaels rammed down their feet as they didn’t let Na Rossa get a sniff of an upset and it was a performance that contained the lessons of last year.
McBrearty said: “We went to Red Hughs and were 7-1 up and they went on to win Donegal and Ulster. Once we got the lead there, we weren’t letting go.
“Every year when you’re running silly in January, you’re thinking about it. Once you get to a semi-final, you have one chance. It’s very flimsy and if you start on a poor footing, the game can be over and that’s it.”
Listen to the full interview below …