I WANT ANOTHER TITLE
That winning feeling is all that matters to veteran Karl
BEING told he’s ‘finished’ isn’t what’s driving Karl Lacey to recapture the glory days with Donegal.
When you’ve been the Footballer of the Year, won the All-ireland plus three Ulster Championships and four All-stars, there is little or nothing left to prove. The reason he has returned for a 14th Ulster Championship campaign, while so many of his 2012 All-ireland winning team-mates have already retired, is quite simple. “My motivation is that I’ve had that taste of success with Donegal, and I want to climb those steps of Clones again and I want to lift that Anglo Celt,” he says. “I want to go into Croke Park and have that winning feeling walking down to the Hogan Stand dressing rooms, embracing your team-mates. “That’s what it’s all about for me. There’s no better feeling than that. “That’s what I think of when I’m training in Convoy being dogged around the pitch. That’s what goes through my head. “I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this year ‘I’m finished, I’m not going to get game time’. That’s fine. I don’t care. I’m still going to go to training and bust my ass for Donegal. “It’s not about the person who says you’re finished - it’s those memories about where you can go if you push yourself and deliver performances.” It says everything about their consistency that Donegal are bidding to reach the Ulster final this year for the seventh year in a row. The quest begins tomorrow at home against Antrim. There is a distinct lack of experience in their ranks these days but the younger players earned rave reviews during the league and Ulster U21-winning campaign. Lacey has been impressed, but urges caution. “In fairness they were being pulled and dragged between senior and U21 for a while, there was a lot of games going on, but there wasn’t one complaint out of them. “They just put their heads down and did what they were told. It’s a good sign. “They’re shaping up well and there’s plenty of confidence in them.” Since breaking down at the end of 2012, Lacey’s time on the pitch has been blighted by injury. “I’m dealing with it well. I can’t push my body the same as I could. If I do, I’m going to break down. That’s the reality of it.”