Goal-hungry Naomh Pádraig keen to book All-Ireland final spot

By Shaun Casey

ULSTER Junior champions Naomh Pádraig, Uisce Chaoin have rattled off eight goals in their last three championship outings and manager Daniel McCauley has been delighted with their attacking play as they reached the final four of the All-Ireland series.

The Donegal side claimed four three-pointers in their twinning final win over Tara of London last Sunday afternoon to set up an All-Ireland semi-final date this weekend with Cork and Munster champions Kilmurry.

Earlier on in the year, raising green flags and creating chances in the attacking third of the pitch was a problem area for the Muff men, but they have worked on it since and are now excelling in front of the goal.

“At the start of the year to be honest, from the league in Donegal, we weren’t scoring enough,” explained manager McCauley.

“We were getting over the line, but we were just hitting maybe 10 or 11 points, and we were seeing the games out defensively.

“We did put a bit of emphasis on it towards the tail end of the league to try and create more scoring opportunities. The added bonus then was when Caolan (McColgan) came back in after Donegal finished up.

“The pace he provides in there, he creates so much space, and then when you’ve got big Kevin (Lynch) alongside him, you’ve got those two options, you’ve got the big option, the small option, and it’s really worked for us.

“They’re not really what we’re about, we’ve got more runners coming from deep. I think between the Ulster Championship and All-Ireland Championship, Drew McKinney’s got four or five goals.”

The individual performances from those three key players have earned plenty of credit from their manager.

“It’s just Drew’s all-round game, his awareness of where to be on the pitch is unbelievable,” added McCauley.

“That’s what makes him such a special talent because he wouldn’t be blessed with the greatest of pace but it’s his tactical awareness of the game. For a young fella at 20 years of age, it’s unreal.

“Kevin and Caolan, they’re absolutely frightening at the minute, the two of them.

“I think Kevin was really unmarkable last week, I think he won every ball that was hit into him, and Caolan was very similar.

“Caolan’s absolutely got himself into super shape, it’s the best shape I’ve seen him in in two years. He’s just getting back what he puts in because the young fella is so dedicated, he’s so focused, and everything he does is so meticulous.

“His preparation is unreal, and Kevin Lynch is the same. Kevin’s just a younger version of Caolan. I’d say Kevin looks up to Caolan, and the two of them, they have some careers ahead of them I would imagine with Donegal and Muff.”

Sunday’s semi-final is a sharp turnaround, but Naomh Pádraig aren’t in any mood to complain. Full-back Caolán Harkin picked up a knock in London last weekend but should be fit to feature against Kilmurry.

“Thankfully the rest of the boys all came through unscathed, so it’s a matter of recovery this week and running through a few systems of play later on in the week, and just preparing then for Kilmurry.

“It’ll just be a walk-through session on Thursday night, and we’ll have our analysis done on Kilmurry by then, so we’ll do a run-through of what we want at the weekend, and then we’ll do the same again when we get to the hotel on Saturday night.

“We’ll run through it all again with the players just on the screen and prepare as best we can. We’ll leave no stone unturned at this stage.

“We have a few people in our club from Kerry, so they would have known Kilmurry through the Munster Championship, and they would have got us some info.

“It’s hard when it’s the other end of the country.

“We’ve got as much as we can, we have a few videos of them and a few YouTube clips of the Cork Championship, so we’ll analyse that as best we can and read match reports.

“You pick up whatever you can and then it’s on the day; it’s a semi-final, anything can happen.”