Daly’s Donegal out to protect their unbeaten record in Roscommon

By Shaun Casey

JAMES Daly’s unbeaten Donegal will hope to make it four games without a loss when they travel to Roscommon this weekend.

The Tir Chonaill ladies drew their opening two games before beating Monaghan in their last outing in a dramatic finale with captain Roisin Rodgers nabbing a last-gasp winning goal.

Like their northern opponents, the Rossies only have one win to their name as well, although they have lost their other two outings. A round-two win over Clare has been sandwiched between losses to Monaghan and Galway.

Donegal are aiming high this season and Daly’s immediate ambition is to guide his side back to Division One football.

“We know that these are the games that we need to be competitive in and we need to win,” said the Armagh native.

“We’re a very young team and we’re still learning but the girls are going well, and they’re taken everything on board. It’s all about improving and preparing for a possible league final and that’s where our goal is right now.

“In every game we just try to improve and get a wee bit better and so far, it’s going alright for us. A team like Donegal who are used to dining at the top table, there’s a lot of talent here so you’ve got to set your stall out that you want to get the ultimate every time that you go out.

“We go out to win every game. I know we’ve got Galway and Cork to come, and they have to come to Donegal, so we set our stall out to win every game and all being well we’ll be in a league final.

“We want to be at the top table because ultimately that will make the girls learn quicker. We may have a few tough days and a few hard days along the way but it’s about playing the best in the country all the time.”

While all away day trips are difficult, Daly is particularly upset by the venue choice for this week’s encounter, which is due to take place in Clann na nGael, Roscommon, which is a little over two and a half hours away from Donegal town.

“It shouldn’t be as far as it is,” Daly added. “The rule of thumb is that you usually play it as close to the border of the other county as you can, but they’ve taken us as far away as possible and it’s just bad manners.

“We know Roscommon are a good team and they’ve beat Clare convincingly and we only drew with Clare, but we think we’ve improved since then and we’ve done a lot of work with the girls and we’re still finding our feet.”

Donegal should have a full hand to pick from, with Rodgers being the only concern.

“We have a few niggles; Roisin Rodgers has an ankle strain but it’s nothing that we are overly concerned about. We have no concerns at the minute and hopefully it’ll stay that way.”