DONEGAL minor manager Karl Lacey was delighted with the character his side showed during Saturday evening’s meeting with Louth to land the Paul McGirr Cup.

Donegal defeated the Wee County at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, running out narrow one-point winners on the day.

It was a battling encounter where Louth rallied back from a deficit on a number of occasions and Lacey stated that he was expecting no different heading into the match.

“Absolutely and we didn’t expect anything different, maybe the scoreboard in the first twenty minutes flatters us a bit.

“But then Louth had a bit of a purple patch where they caught us on our kickouts and penned us in.

“That’s the way Gaelic football has gone now, they got a bit of momentum off that and there was only two points in it at half-time.

“It was the same in the second half, we had a good start and they came back into it as well.

This showpiece was finely balanced as we entered the closing five minutes at the Armagh venue, with the teams on level terms.

However, Donegal substitute Mark Wilkinson stepped up with a massive score in the form of a major which helped his side to get over the line.

Speaking after the match, the Donegal Town man praised the contribution that Wilkinson and the rest of the substitutes made when they were called upon on Saturday.

“The story with our boys all year has been that the heads never drop. They always believe in themselves and they keep going until the final whistle.

“We brought in Mark Wilkinson and he was superb. It’s been another trait with this group this year, the squad we’ve had has always come in and have added impact.

“That was no different today. The four or five subs that came in there all contributed, especially Mark Wilkinson so I’m just delighted for them.”

This is a significant achievement for these young Donegal footballers, getting their hands on a piece of silverware.

The group will have been disappointed having gone out of the Ulster Championship at the semi-final stage following a defeat to Derry.

However, they’ve bounced back with three superb wins in the Tier 2 All-Ireland competition to come out on top.

The players were on it from minute one in Saturday’s decider and they didn’t let the occasion get the better of them which was one of the pleasing things for Lacey and his management team.

“That’s probably the most pleasing thing for us, on an occasion like this and a final like this can be very daunting for young boys copying with the nerves and the pressure that goes behind it.

“The most pleasing thing for us was that they came in, they put all that aside and they just played football, believed in themselves and had the confidence in themselves to go and win the game.”