BY MATTHEW WILSON

DONEGAL joint-captain Michael Langan was delighted to have got his hands on the Division One National League title at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.

Jim McGuinness’ outfit produced a superb display at GAA Headquarters at the weekend to secure a convincing 13-point win over Kerry. although there was controversy with the decision of David Gough not to send off Michael Murphy.

Speaking after the match, Langan expressed that it was a performance that they were pleased with having come into the encounter with a bit of “fire in the belly.”

“We’re happy with it. The goals probably flattered the scoreline a little bit but we’re happy with the performance, it was a good team performance.

“We probably had a bit of fire in the belly from the All-Ireland final. We were able to get a good performance out there and we’re happy to come away with a national title.”

Donegal showed dominance around the middle third in Act One which helped them to take an eight-point lead into the interval.

This was an important spell but they killed the game off after the restart as three goals in the space of three second-half minutes saw them go 14 points clear which Langan thought was key.

“We finished the first half strongly. We probably didn’t start the first half as well as we’d have liked but we ended it strongly.

“We’d a strong second half too which was key to the performance out there so we’re happy.”

The St Michael’s clubman has recently been named as the joint-captain of the Donegal senior footballers alongside Shane O’Donnell.

Not many Donegal men have climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand to raise a title in the past and having managed to do it so soon into his tenure as joint-captain, Langan described it as an honour.

“It’s a huge honour. Myself and Shane are delighted with the dynamic of it. There’s pictures in Convoy of Neil Gallgher going up to lift the title so it’s nice that myself and Shane have those memories now.”

Sunday’s triumph has capped off a fantastic league campaign for McGuinness’ side, winning six games out of eight while also getting experience into a number of fresh faces.

They’re in a positive place ahead of the start of their defence of the Anglo Celt Cup in a few weeks and the Donegal midfielder stated that it’s great to keep their momentum going.

“It’s just nice to keep the momentum going. The league was very beneficial to us, we blooded a lot of players, and got lads game-time that are coming into the squad.

“We’re missing a lot of players that would’ve started for us last year in Ciaran Thompson, Daire O Baoill, Ciaran Moore and a couple of these other lads.

“It was beneficial, to win as many games as we did was nice and to top it off with a win here in Croke Park is nice too.”