McDONNELL STAYS COOL
MIDFIELD star Aoife McDonnell says Donegal are determined to claim a first TG4 senior All-Ireland title for the county — but insists they’re not getting carried away by a strong Championship start. Donegal blitzed their way to back-to-back Ulster titles and bagged a mammoth 12-38 over their two games, while they got their TG4 All-Ireland Series off to a winning start against Tipperary last weekend in Castlerea. And while they were pushed all the way by Tipp in a threepoint win, McDonnell says they are keen to back it up today in Hyde Park at 3pm with another triumph against Kerry — despite being guaranteed their place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. ‘I actually think everyone else is getting excited apart from ourselves. I keep having to tell people that,’ said McDonnell. ‘From our point of view, we know there is a lot that we have done wrong so far. ‘I know that might sound a bit crazy looking at the scorelines, but we have things to fix too.’ Donegal needed a 12-point haul from Geraldine McLaughlin to take the win last weekend, but they’ll need a tight performance to silence Kerry, who worked a 3-13 to 2-10 win over Tipperary a fortnight ago. But this is a very driven squad under the leadership of Maxi Curran. Last year’s quarterfinal defeat to Mayo is still fresh in Donegal minds and McDonnell says the squad has their eyes set on ultimate glory. ‘At the end of the day that’s what we set out for at the start of the year — like every other team I’m sure. It’s nice to be seen to be up there in other people’s eyes, but we know we had two games in Ulster where we had very good form. ‘It’d be lovely to be in Croke Park in September and that’s what we’re all aiming for, but at the end of the day there is a lot of tough games to get through before we get there.’ TODAY’S ALL IRELAND CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES Group 4 Rd 3 Mayo v Dublin, 1pm, Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon, Live on TG4 The sides met in the 2017 TG4 All-Ireland final at Croke Park, in front of a record 46,286 attendance, before locking horns again in May’s Lidl NFL Division 1 final. Dublin won both of those clashes, and also edged the Westerners under lights in Castlebar during the group stages of the League. Dublin boss Mick Bohan has made three changes to the side that accounted for Cavan last weekend, as Sinéad Goldrick, Leah Caffrey and Lyndsey Davey come in to the team. Mayo manager Peter Leahy has opted for the same starting 15 that accounted for Cavan in round 1.
DUBLIN: C Trant; M Byrne, S Finnegan, L Caffrey; S Goldrick, N Collins, O Carey; S McGrath, L Magee; L Davey, N McEvoy, C Rowe; N Owens, N Healy, S Aherne.
MAYO: S Murphy; E Lowther, N O’Malley, D Caldwell; R Kearns, C McManamon, K Sullivan; N Moran, D Finn; S Mulvihill, F Doherty, S Cafferky; N Kelly, S Rowe, G Kelly. Group 1 Rd 3
Kerry v Donegal, 3.00pm, Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon, Live on Spórt TG4 YouTube, deferred on TG4 at 7pm. This fixture will decide who tops Group 1. With Dublin or Mayo potential quarter-final opponents, Donegal and Kerry will be
eager to top their pool and potentially avoid reigning AllIreland champions Dublin. DONEGAL: L Gallagher; T Doherty, N McLaughlin, D Foley; T McCafferty, C Hegarty, E Gallagher; K Herron, A McDonnell; K Guthrie, N Hegarty, SJ McDonald; G McLaughlin, Y Bonner, E Ward.
KERRY: L Fitzgerald; L Coughlan, S Murphy, E Lynch; D Kearney, A Desmond, A O’Connell; L Scanlon, A Brosnan; E Dineen, L Ni Mhuircheartaigh, A Foley; A Murphy, E O’Leary, S Houlihan.
Group 3 Rd 3 Westmeath v Galway, 2.00pm, Duggan Park, Ballinasloe, Galway Galway and Westmeath are also safely through to the quarter-finals — and this tie will determine who finishes on top of Group 3, with the winners facing either Mayo or Dublin in the last eight — depending on who finishes second from Group 4.
GALWAY: L Murphy; F Cooney, S Lynch, S Burke; E Flaherty, N Ward, C Cooney; L Ward, A Davoren; O Divilly, T Leonard, A McDonagh; M Seoighe, R Leonard, L Coen.
WESTMEATH: K Walsh; L Power, R Dillon, N Feery; F Coyle, J Rogers, C Clarke McMahon; K McDermott, M A Foley; F Claffey, L Slevin, A Dolan; A Connolly, L McCartan, L Walsh. Group 2 Rd 3 Cork v Armagh, 3.45pm, Duggan Park, Ballinasloe Even a defeat by 15 points would take Armagh through to the last eight on scoring difference, after Cork beat Monaghan by 16 last weekend. ARMAGH: C O’Hare; S Marley, C Morgan, S Reel; M Tennyson, T Grimes, M McGuinness; C McCambridge, C O’Hanlon; M Moriarty, F McKenna, L McConville; A Mackin, A McCoy, K Mallon.
CORK: M O’Brien; C Collins, R Phelan, M Duggan; M O’Callaghan, S Kelly, E Spillane; A Hutchings, H Looney; C O’Sullivan, L Coppinger, O Farmer; A O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan, O Finn.