BY RYAN FERRY

DONEGAL defender Paul Brennan concedes that last year’s Ulster final defeat to Cavan was hard to take, but says his team have moved on and are not dwelling on it.

Brennan and his teammates went into that match as massive favourites but they didn’t deliver on the big day when the Anglo Celt Cup was handed out.

The Donegal players looked shell-shocked after the match, and there was huge disappointment in the county in the weeks that followed.

However, Brennan said they just had to accept that they were second best and move on.

“Obviously it was a hard one to take. Every game you lose is.

“At the start of the year, it was one of our goals to retain the Ulster title but we just came up short.

“The best thing we can do is just get the heads back down again. There’s no point dwelling on it too much.

“It is what it was. Cavan definitely deserved to win the game. They were just that wee bit more hungrier.

“A week later I was back at it again by myself, keeping myself right for the next year.”

It has been a very different start to the season for Brennan, who previously played for Leitrim, and has been part of the Donegal senior set-up since 2017.

There were no collective gym sessions over the winter, and the tough, wet slogs in January had to be done individually.

“Of course, there was a different approach from what we would be used to.

“Before the S&Cs (Strength and Conditioning coaches) would have had everything laid out for you, and all you had to do was get in your car.

“All of a sudden you were forced into doing your own S&C at home, and following the programmes given to you within five kilometres of the house.

“I did see the mental strength side to it. Nobody was there saying you had to get to this level.

“You had to do it yourself, and when we came back in Declan (Bonner) was able to see that people were fit to do what was asked of them outside of being whipped at or whatever you want to call it.

“You had to have that mental strength to go and run on your own and get to that level.”

Brennan said he was in regular contact with Bonner and his coaches during Level Five lockdown, but they weren’t there to see him putting in the hard yards on his lonesome.

The Bundoran clubman had to keep himself motivated to make sure he returned to the panel in good condition.

“You’re doing six or seven hundred metre runs and you’re thinking who is watching me here?

“But you have the goal, of getting back to where we want to be, so you just say to yourself, this is the reason why you are doing it.

“The lads were asking how were you getting on, and my answer was ‘I’m not sure. I’m just running as hard as I can for as long as I can.’

“When you get back in then, the S&C boys monitor you and you see where you are at, if you are slightly behind or slightly ahead. They don’t be long bringing you up to speed.”