McDaid hoping for a full championship hand

By Michael McMullan

GLENSWILLY manager Gary McDaid is hoping for a clean bill of health ahead of their championship opener with Naomh Conaill.

Friday’s win over league leaders and previously unbeaten Termon left Glenswilly in fourth place, their highest ever finishing spot in Division One.

Currently in a four-week training block, McDaid’s side start at home to Naomh Conaill followed by a trip to MacCumhaills.

Each club plays four group games. The draws for rounds three and four will be made after the previous round.

The points are tallied up with the top four straight into the quarter-finals, the next eight go into a preliminary quarter-final round with the bottom four then facing a relegation battle.

“A nice handy one,” McDaid said, tongue in cheek, of their tough opener against the Glenties men, winners four times in the last six seasons.

“It’s all about the luck of the draw. You could get a very favourable draw or you could get very, very tough draw like obviously we’ve got at the start with Naomh Conaill followed up by MacCumhaills.”

McDaid has had to plan without Michael Murphy following his return to the Donegal camp, with manager Jim McGuinness confirming at Tuesday’s press event in Convoy that his talisman is good to go for the final despite being replaced early in the second half on Sunday.

Glenswilly’s league campaign began well with five points from their first four league games, including victory over Kilcar and a draw with Naomh Conaill.

It left them well-placed going into the rest if the season that finished with three successive victories over neighbours St Eunan’s, away in Buncrana and at home to Termon in front of a bumper crowd on Friday night.

”A derby brings people out,” McDaid said. “Termon had topped the league already and they were already in the league final and thankfully we were safe.

“It was the last competitive game, we were four weeks out from the championship and there’s players fighting for places.”

McDaid had up to 10 u-21s in many of their games during the season and can recall that climbing to a dozen. Over the season, he tots up 31 names who have experienced senior football.

Below that, the club are fielding two teams at every grade, with the first team always at the cutting end of Division One.

“We’re just young at the minute and it’s a bedding in process,” McDaid said of the current season, his second year of a sixth stint at the helm.

“It’s been good in the sense that we’ve been able to blood a lot of players, and we’ve used a lot of players and we have good strength and depth.

“We’ve a lot of boys putting their hand up for game time, so we’re happy where we’re at now but the big thing is now that this four-week block,” he said of the buildup to their Naomh Conaill opener.

“You’re just hoping that everyone stays injury-free and that you have a full squad to choose from. For me that’s key coming into championship, trying to stay injury-free.

“You’re giving yourself a chance every time that you go out on the field if you have a squad to pick from.

“It can be difficult because you play the first three rounds, three weekends in a row and that can be testing on the body and then you get a week’s break before the last round then.”

Check out this week’s Gaelic Lives podcast as Gary McDaid looks at the picture in the county ahead of Sunday week’s All-Ireland final.