Downings’ McBride chasing yet another first

By Shaun Casey

IT’S been a historic season full of first-time success for Downings, but attacker Lauren McBride says the club aren’t ready for the year to end just yet.

With that in mind, they are eyeing up a spot in the All-Ireland Junior final and yet another slice of history.

Extra-time was required in their provincial decider two weeks ago against Warrenpoint, and the one-point victory was well worth the wait in the end. Shannon McGroddy kicked the winner in the first half of extra-time, a result that ensured their place in the All-Ireland race.

Downings will face Kildare side Kilcock, who defeated Wexford’s Baile Dubh Tire by three points in the Leinster final and balancing the feel-good factor around the Donegal club along with concentrating on the task at hand is the challenge for Downings, said McBride.

“There’s a huge buzz around the club at the minute,” said sharpshooter McBride. “Everyone’s just so excited for what’s to come, obviously we’ve made history and it’s the first time for the club to be in an All-Ireland semi-final.

“Everywhere you go, you are meeting people and they are congratulating you and wishing you good luck. It’s just amazing around the club at the minute. You want to keep celebrating but then you have to put your foot down and focus on the next step.

“We’re trying to get into the All-Ireland final and we’re trying to balance out the celebrating with the work on the field. We’re trying to figure that out but it’s working at the minute anyway.”

Downings will enjoy the comforts of home advantage on Sunday and McBride feels that may give the Donegal girls the edge, although they remain without Aoibhinn O’Connell, who suffered a dreaded ACL injury in their Ulster semi-final against Eoghan Rua.

“We have home advantage, which is great and it’s an added bonus,” said McBride who kicked 0-4 in the provincial showpiece. “We’re on our own territory and we know what the conditions can be like down there, so it’ll hopefully work to our advantage.”

While McBride admits that Barney Curran’s girls are heading into the unknown somewhat and they don’t have too much detail on their Kildare opponents, they did source a video of Kilcock’s 0-15 to 1-9 victory in the Leinster final, which gave them an inside into the upcoming challenge.

“We did watch a video of them, our management are trying to break down their game. Their final was online so management were looking at that and seeing any threats or dangers they have that we can look at and work on in training.

“We don’t know too much about them because that’s only one game that we’ve seen, and the conditions could have altered how they played or anything on the day, so it is stepping into the unknown.

“We don’t know how they play, they might have had a different game plan than what they usually would have in that final.”