Donaghmoyne ‘satisfied’ with first year back in senior

By Kieran Lynch

HAVING been promoted from Intermediate to Senior last year, Donaghmoyne approached the 2022 season with the intention of putting an end to their ‘yo-yo’ status between the two grades.

With wins claimed over Ballybay, Castleblayney, Latton and Aughnamullen, it’s fair to say that they have more than held their own at the higher grade.

However, with one league game remaining, they sit fourth from bottom, with the bottom four in the league going into relegation play-offs, so they aren’t out of the woods just yet. Despite that, manager David Lennon is happy with how the team have played up until this point.

“We’re very satisfied with where we are sitting in the league,” he said.

“Obviously we have Scotstown to come on Friday night and that’s not going to be easy. If we lose that we’re into the relegation play-offs; but all in all, the management team are very happy with the way we have been competing this year.

“The way it’s shaping up, we would be going into the bottom four based on score difference, which is unfortunate, but at the start, if somebody had given us four wins and said that we just need a point to stay up, then we would have taken that with open arms.

“We’ve had some good performances, but we’ve also had some poor performances too. We’ve been missing four or five key men, and we can’t afford to be missing too many players.”

The Monaghan Senior Championship pitted Donaghmoyne in a group with Aughnamullen, Ballybay, Clontibret and Scotstown, and with it starting in a month’s time, Donaghmoyne are in a race to get up to championship speed.

“It’s a tough group, but there are definitely games there that we can win on any given day,” said Lennon.

“But at the minute, we’re probably not at championship speed at all, because as I said, we’ve missed a number of key players. In truth, it’s probably going to hinge on getting everyone available for the championship, because if we can do that, then we’re in with a fighting chance.

“We have tough games there’s no doubt about it, but if we can get our players back, we have Clontibret and Ballybay both at home, and I’d like to think that we would have a fighting chance in those games.”

If Donaghmoyne are to continue having a successful season they will look to their star man Davy Garland, who has had an outstanding season up until point – particularly in their recent win over Latton, where he scored 1-9, with all but two points coming from play.

Other men to watch out for are hot prospects Liam McDonald and Ciaran Finnegan, as well as hard-hitting defender James Mulcahy, who Lennon describes as an ‘unsung hero.’

Lennon, alongside Derek Walsh and Noel Marron are committed to the develop of Donaghmoyne as they manage the reserve team and u-19s as well as the seniors, and with the reserves in the Division One league final for the first time in 15 years, and the u-19s in Division One Championship semi-final, the future looks bright.