Orchard well aware of Donegal threat says manager McKeegan

IT’S top versus bottom at O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny on Saturday afternoon as Division Three league leaders Donegal host Armagh, with Karl McKeegan’s side hoping to earn their first points of the season.

They Orchard County have suffered three defeats on the trot to Louth, Wicklow and Roscommon, while Donegal have collected back-to-back victories against fellow Ulster foes Tyrone and Fermanagh.

McKeegan knows his side could be in for a long afternoon.

“I know it’s a massive task. Donegal were probably unlucky to come down last year and I would say they’re a cut above everybody else in the league at the minute,” said the Cushendall native.

“Donegal have a club team (Setanta) playing in the Ulster SHC which is massive and obviously they’ve been doing a lot of good work. We know the task, but we’ll relish it.

“Donegal are up there at the minute, and they put in a lot of good performances last year so it’s a good base for us to see where we’re really at.

“I think we’ve got better as the games have gone on this year.”

Despite losing all three of their league encounters so far, and staring relegation in the face, McKeegan has been pleased with certain aspects of their play.

“We were right in the game in the first half and then the last couple of minutes we conceded six or seven points and we were nine down at half time and there’s no way there was nine points in that game,” he said of the Roscommon loss.

“We gave away a soft goal and if we had of went in four or five down, it’s a different mindset. We battled hard in the second half, and we only lost the second half but tw -points and we had a lot of chances.

“We only scored two points from play and that’s not good enough at any level, and we had enough possession to get scores so that’s one thing we definitely have to look at but the battling spirit was encouraging so we have to filter the other aspects into it.

“There are good signs and especially with it being a relatively new panel. We’ve had a turnaround of 19 players so it’s about boys getting to know each other as well.

“We’re disappointed with three loses but we showed good signs against Wicklow for 50 minutes and for the whole 70 minutes against Roscommon. I think we showed enough for us to be competitive.”