WE ALWAYS WANT TO WIN
think losing those games can set you up well for the rest of the year.
“I’ve lost provincial finals before and it takes a long time to recover from them — if you do recover from them. It’s really, really hard to get back on the horse.
“In terms of if we win or lose, I’ve haven’t put much heed on it — it’s all about Armagh now.”
Armagh defender Paddy Burns is so focused on playing in his first Ulster final, after injury ruled him out of last year’s decider against Derry, that no side-shows are going to disturb him.
“Is it (All-Ireland series draw) a distraction? No. Would it make sense? Logically, yes,” Burns admitted.
“But logistically, they have to sort things out I’m sure, so that they have an idea of who’s doing what and who’s going where.
“I see the merit in it, but I do think it would make more sense to put it after the provincial finals. But I think regardless of the draw, you just want to go out and try to do your best, and try to win Ulster.
“It’s a bit of an irrelevance in a way, because you’re not going to base how you perform in an Ulster final on what’s happening next.”
McBrearty was taken off at half time in Sunday’s Ulster semifinal win over Tyrone but came back on for the start of extra time and scored two of the last three points to drag Donegal over the line.
He was delighted to get the chance to come back on to redeem himself after a sluggish first half.
“Every forward prides themselves on scoring, you need to be scoring. I wouldn’t say I’m in the team for my defensive capabilities anyway!
“Things weren’t going well for myself in front of the posts and then the last one just came — it’s a shot that I’ve practiced a lot and there’s a high probability of scoring really.
Moment
“You don’t really think in the moment — you’re in the pocket and there’s two yards of space so you just kick it over. There’s not much thinking about it but it sets you up well for going into training the following Tuesday.
“When it goes over it’s great for a millisecond and then you’re thinking; ‘What’s my job now in terms of kick-outs and pressing the ball or whatever’.”
McBrearty was 17 when Jim McGuinness took over the Donegal job in 2011.
Now he’s the only survivor of the 2012 All-Ireland-winning team and alongside his Kilcar team-mate Ryan McHugh, they want to cash in on having McGuinness back.
“He (McHugh) is playing 10 years now and he’s 30, same age as myself.
“Probably the break away last year did him the world of good mentally and physically and Jim coming back, well it’s given Ryan a really good stepping stone this year.”