BY FRANK CRAIG
IT’S been a hectic week for Donegal ladies custodian Aoife McColgan. As well as preparing for her county’s huge Ulster SFC semi-final tangle with Cavan this coming Saturday the Malin girl, like thousands of others from the Inishowen Peninsula, departed Donegal on Tuesday morning bound for Dublin.
They, along with home owners from Mayo, Sligo and Clare then gathered outside the Convention Centre in Dublin before heading to the Dáil asking for a 100 percent redress for those affected by the Mica scandal.
She said it was a powerful and emotional undertaking, and she hopes it will have the kind of impact and influence that will finally bring some solace and hope to the many affected friends and family members that have had to sit back and watch helplessly, as their homes continue to deteriorate and crumble around them.
She explained: “It was a massive turnout – thousands upon thousands were there. For there to be such a big crowd, there was no trouble whatsoever. Everyone was there for the one reason, to get their point and message across. I hope we did that. It was a really emotional thing. It really was something else.”
As for matters on the pitch, McColgan says that Donegal are excited about getting back down to business in the Ulster Championship.
Armagh might well have lifted the provincial title last term but the fact is that Maxi Curran’s girls, winners in the three previous seasons, were never actually relieved of their crown.
Last year’s disrupted season meant that the LGFA restructured their All-Ireland Championship and left the four provincial bodies to decide if and when they were going to roll out their respective competitions.
In the end, Ulster was the only one of those championships that actually went ahead. But the final wasn’t held until mid December where Armagh eventually toppled Monaghan.
Because of the uncertainty that surrounded last term, Donegal decided not to participate. But that isn’t the case this time out. And following a very good National League campaign, they’ll be most people’s favourites to snatch back the Ulster title from the Orchard girls.
Standing in their way on Saturday are a dangerous Cavan outfit. The Breffni ladies eliminated the then defending champions Donegal back in 2016. And with AFLW star Aisling Sheridan back in their midst, Donegal stopper McColgan has warned her teammates to take nothing for granted at Kingspan Breffni.
“Last year, a decision was taken, there was just too much uncertainty. But things are different this year. And it’s great to be looking forward to the Ulster Championship again. We’re completely focused on Cavan.
“We haven’t lost a game in Ulster since 2016. We really enjoy the battle there. And a good performance and right result at the weekend would be a great boost ahead of the All-Ireland series. The games are coming back-to-back but we as players are loving that. There is momentum there. And we’ve had some good results. We absolutely slogged for the winter months. We have the hard training done. So the games now are the reward for that.
“Football is all about playing. It’s what you look forward to. Cavan are a quality side. We lost to them in 2016 and even two seasons ago we found ourselves six points adrift against them.
“We’d to dig so deep in the final 10 minutes to force the game to extra-time. We thankfully managed to get over the line there. It’s going to be another really close and competitive game. Ulster, across the board, is like that. We have a serious challenge on our hands.”
Donegal scored league wins over Westmeath, Galway and Mayo in the run-up to last Saturday’s Division One semi-final clash with Cork.
In a blistering contest, the Rebelettes edged Donegal out on a scoreline of 5-10 to 3-13. McColgan says that while her side was disappointed with the three-point loss, the fact that they shipped five majors was the most annoying thing about the defeat.
“Yeah – and it’s something we’re looking at. As a goalkeeper you are there to keep the ball out of the net. That’s your primary job. That didn’t happen on five occasions against Cork. As a defensive unit, we hold our hands up. It just wasn’t good enough. At least three of the five goals came from our own mistakes. But the league is the place to iron out those kind of things. We have to learn from that now.”
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