Donegal Hurling Manager Mickey McCann said a nineteen-point defeat to Wicklow earlier this month was a great learning point for the team as they rose to the challenge today.
His team had a hard-earned but deserved victory against Wicklow in Aughrim in the Division 2B League semi-final. A final meeting is unheard of for Donegal hurlers, until today.
FULL-TIME: Wicklow 0-16 Donegal 0-17
See match report here: https://www.donegaldaily.com/2023/03/25/donegal-hurlers-clinch-league-final-spot/
Mickey McCann, speaking after today’s one-point win, told Charlie Collins that after two good weeks, there is plenty to look forward to.
Donegal also beat neighbours Tyrone by 1-18 to 1-17 last week, and now face table toppers Meath in the league final next weekend.
“It’s a place that’s unheard of for us to have a place in the league final,” McCann said.
The massive turnaround came despite six or seven injuries.
“Considering the injuries we have, you couldn’t have thought this but we knew in ourselves that we weren’t that far away from Wicklow”
McCann said the heavy home defeat to Wicklow in O’Donnell Park earlier in March was a shot in the arm for the squad. The game brought them back to the drawing board, but showed the players what they needed to do to reach the level they wanted.
“On the day we were very flat but we learned from it, we learned about them (Wicklow), we took it down today we asked questions of them today and it proved a great performance for us,” McCann said.
“These one point victories are great for morale, you ask questions from players under pressure and there’s nothing nicer than a one point game.”
McCann added that the upcoming weeks will be another massive ask of the players. With a chance of promotion, he’ll not be risking anyone carrying an injury.
“You feel you are in a good place but we’ll keep our feet on the ground. We know how from one week to the next you can drop off, we just need a level of consistency now to keep the performance up.
“We’ll give it a good shot next week and it’s put us in a good position to get into the Championship,” he said.
