Moore back where it all started

By Ryan Ferry

CIARÁN Moore says the Dr McKenna Cup was ‘a great benefit’ to him when finding his feet at senior inter-county level and it will present an opportunity to a cohort of promising young stars once again this January, starting with a meeting against Derry in O’Donnell Park on Sunday afternoon.

Moore made his debut against Armagh in the pre-season competition and it proved as a good launchpad as Donegal reached the final that season against Derry and were road-tested ahead of the league.

The McKenna Cup was shelved last year but returns now and a large crowd is expected at the Letterkenny venue for the 1.30pm throw-in.

Donegal fans are keen to see their team in action once more and it has been more than five months since the All-Ireland Final defeat to Kerry.

Moore and his teammates start back again at the foot of the mountain and while captain Patrick McBrearty has retired, they still have a strong panel.

The St Eunan’s man thinks there is scope for improvement for Donegal, and the Derry match as well as the Antrim one the following week allow players a chance to impress.

Moore said: “I suppose you go into every year trying to improve what we did last year and we’ll take it day by day, we’ll start with the McKenna Cup and head into the league and we’ll take it from there.

“It’s a good competition for getting game time into boys. That’s where I started.

“I got my first minutes in the McKenna Cup and it was a great benefit for me and to have it back is nice to have games straight after Christmas. So we’re looking forward to it.”

Donegal have been playing challenge games in recent weeks and the likes of Kieran Gallagher (Naomh Conaill), Conor McCahill (Four Masters), Shea Malone (Naomh Conaill), Kevin Muldoon (Four Masters) and Eoin McGeehin (St Eunan’s) have been involved.

Others such as Sean Martin (Sean MacCumhaills), Oisin Caulfield (Na Rossa) and Seanan Carr (Four Masters) have played before and will be hoping to play a part in 2026.

Derry are under new management with Ciarán Meenagh taking charge.

Luke Barrett, who coached Donegal for the last two seasons, has joined Meenagh’s management team and that will provide an interesting sub-plot the Milford man heads for the away dressing room on Sunday.

Derry failed to win a game in 2025 but they are expected to be better under Meenagh and Moore is anticipating another good outing with the Oakleaf County.

“We have had a couple of massive battles against Derry in the last couple of years and the McKenna Cup will be no different.”

A crowd of in and around three to four thousand is anticipated for the McKenna Cup opener.

There will be some Derry folk making the journey to see how they are shaping up under Ciarán Meenagh.

However, the vast majority will be from Donegal and fans are itching to get back following the team.

The new Donegal jersey was said to be selling very well in the lead up to Christmas and Moore is looking forward to having good backing as he begins his third season at senior level.

“We get unbelievable support from all around the county.

“It’s great to see when you’re going to games that the stands are packed out with Donegal jerseys and I’m sure it will be no different this year.

“The excitement and the support we had around the county all year was great so hopefully we can bring that onto this year and I’m sure we’ll have the same support again.”

St Eunan’s went out of the Senior Championship earlier than they would have liked this year but that did allow Moore an opportunity to take a break and get his body right for another busy campaign.

“I got a good couple of weeks off but I’m glad to start getting back to the run of things. I’m looking forward to the season ahead.

“I was out in Portugal for a few days and we were in Mexico with the team.

“It was nice to get a bit of down time with all the lads. I suppose it was well needed after a long year. It was a good end to the year as a whole and now we’re ready to get back at it again.”

The All-Ireland Final was shown on TG4 once again over the festive period and it won’t have made for great viewing for Donegal supporters.

There was a great build-up for a fortnight and the anticipation around Croke Park on July 27 was super.

However, it just didn’t go the way that Moore and Donegal wanted.

They fell behind early on and while the lead was cut to four points during the second half, Kerry were able to kick on.

Moore admits that he hasn’t given too much thought to the defeat but it’s likely to be reviewed at different times of the 2026 season.

“It’s hard to know. I don’t think you ever move on from an All-Ireland Final but when you look back it was a successful year and to do Ulster back to back is a huge achievement. I haven’t reflected on it too much but I suppose it was definitely a successful year.”

The McKenna Cup will take the focus this week but the national league is not that far away.

Donegal begin away to Dublin in Croke Park on January 24 and that will be a big occasion.

“It’s a nice thing to look forward to. Playing in Croke Park against Dublin is always going to be a good day out. I’m looking forward to it.”

Staying up in Division 1 will be a priority but it’s championship football where Donegal will be judged this season.

There’s always intense competition in Ulster and Donegal have been drawn at home to Down.

Donegal defeated the Mourne county by six points in the Ulster semi-final last year, but they posed plenty of questions at times.

“You’re never going to have an easy draw in the Ulster Championship and it’s no different this year so we’ll take it game by game and we’ll go at Down and do as best we can.

“They are a really strong team with a couple of great players. They put it up to us last year and it will be no different this year. So it will definitely be a good game.”