By Ryan Ferry

Donegal minor manager Luke Barrett believes his side have an ‘unbreakable bond’.

Barrett and his side are this week preparing for an Ulster final clash against Tyrone and they have shown an abundance of character to make it this far in the championship.

After easing past Antrim in the preliminary round, they then encountered big tests from Monaghan and Armagh. Donegal showed tremendous grit and determination to win those matches.

They have grown as a team over the last three months but Barrett isn’t surprised with what he has witnessed.

“From the outset they are an exceptional bunch of young men who give absolutely everything to the cause of the Donegal jersey – every time they come out to training and every time they go to perform. They have an unbreakable bond in that they are completely together in every single thing that they do.

“The team is the most important thing and the one thing that the team has shown in the last three games is that fighting spirit and character. When they are tested they never give up, never drop their heads and keep going until the very end.”

The Red Hands haven’t had to dig deep in their games as Donegal have but they will still be high on confidence going into the match.

“If you look at the level that Tyrone are playing at in the last two games, to score 9-37 in two championship games is absolutely something else. Unreal shooting no matter who the opposition are. In my time I’ve never heard of something like it.

“They’re very well organised and people might say that maybe Fermanagh or Down on the night were poor, but we’ve done a serious bit of studying on them and they’re phenomenal all over the pitch. A serious outfit.

“Maybe they would have liked to have been tested more but they beat what was put in front of them and they went about their business in an exceptionally ruthless and professional manner.”

Donegal generally play with an orthodox formation. Luke McGlynn tends to drift out from corner-forward, while Conor Reid and Conor McGinty are hard-working wing-forwards, but they haven’t employed any full-time sweepers.

There may be a temptation to go more defensive given the scores Tyrone have been putting up, but Barrett says they will stick to a game-plan that plays to their own strengths.

“We have a set of principles that we have used to get this far and we want to stick to those. Nothing too much will change. The reality is that you can set up whatever way you want and with whatever tactics you want but minor football is about pure raw emotion and passion sometimes.”

One of the notable aspects of the squad of 32 players that Donegal have assembled is that there are no players from the so-called big four of senior football – Kilcar, St Eunan’s, Naomh Conaill, and Gaoth Dobhair.

However, club allegiances didn’t come into it when the management team selected their panel.

“The first thing when setting up a squad, our opinion would be that you play a style that suits the players you have in, rather than the other way around.

“We cast the net quite far. We had trials and we had players in for three, four and five weeks on trials. We had a fairly extended squad for the first couple of weeks with 45 to 50 players.

“With the selection process, we picked the players that we felt were ahead at that time.

“We also kept a close eye on club football and we brought in another two or three players that performed well at club minor football as well.

“We have kept the door open. There have been players that have left the squad for one reason or another, be that de-selection or maybe injury or whatever the case may be.”