‘The players are very aware of the huge challenge we face’ Donnelly
NFL Division Two
IT may be only March but Saturday’s crunch clash between Fermanagh and Louth in Ardee has a real championship feel. For, if Kieran Donnelly’s young men come away with two points, they will have survived in Division Two for another year which would be quite a feat. A defeat would mean Fermanagh would have to beat Cavan but even if they did it is unlikely that Louth would lose their last away tie to a disorganized Kildare side so relegation back to Division Three would ensue.
And that’s why next Saturday’s match is a real do-or-die affair.
Fermanagh have lost Ryan and Conall Jones while Jonny Cassidy, Ryan Lyons and Darragh Mcgurn will not be fit until the championship.
Those are five major gaps to be filled. But Donnelly’s young got off to a great start by drawing with Meath and beating Kildare to take three out of a possible four points.
Against Donegal, a freak goal was the turning point and they should have beaten Cork in Ederney as a killer 72nd minute goal undone some great work and Armagh had just too much power and panache for them a fortnight ago.
Despite the defeats and the tough test on Saturday, Donnelly is very proud of his charges. We started off well and we knew that Division Two was a massive step up, but we have a real good young group of players and we have been missing key players from last year.
“But it’s a credit to the young squad the way they have acquitted themselves and the Donegal one was the goal that was scored, and the experienced team kicked on.
“But I felt we played some great football in the first half of that game, and we played some wonderful football against Cork and we were hit with a very late goal.
“Big games sway on key moments as we missed our goal chance and they scored theirs. Looking back, we dominated for long periods, but we just could not get our just rewards.
“We came up against a very experienced Armagh team, but I felt that we had good game management and had control for certain periods but at key points Stefan Campbell stepped up and got key scores for them and that is a learning for us.
“Our performance levels have been good, and the players are very aware of the huge challenge we face on Saturday.”
Ryan Lyons, Jonny Cassidy and Darragh Mcgurn will not be featuring until the championship which places a big responsibility on the younger players against a Louth team that are an established Division Two side that lost three of their games by a point and tested Donegal until a freak goal was the turning point in that match.
“But the likes of Sean Cassidy and Garvan Jones have really stepped up for us and we are building a squad.”
Donnelly has videos of all of Louth’s matches and is keenly aware of the challenge they will present.
“Louth will be one of the best-organized teams we will have played.
“They will also be one of the most physical teams and they are very good at running the ball and are very much a counter-attacking team.
“Tommy Durnin at midfield is a key operator for them and he drives from the middle and we know the quality he brings and Sam Mulroy is their marksman and Ryan Burns and Conor Grimes are all big strong players. They are all very experienced players too and their 15 has not changed all that much in the past three years.
“They will be a huge challenge for us.” And, while there is an element of do or die about this game, Donnelly and his men are really looking forward to this toughest of tests.
“It feels like a championship and the players are well aware of the stakes, but it is exactly what you want as a player and as a manager.
“You want to play big games on big occasions and that is something that our boys feel that we have a real chance of staying up in Division Two and at the start of the year you would really have taken that as come the last two games that you were still in the hunt.
“Louth should have beaten Cavan and only lost two more matches by just one point.
“They also played very well against Armagh who struggled hard to break them down.
“Louth are a very defensive team but have great runners from deep and Leonard Grey is very effective at this from right half back and Anthony Williams at centre back brings them real energy from deep.
“Their full-back Cormac Campbell scored from distance with his left foot so they have shooters all over the place.”
He added: “They can run the ball and can also kick points from long range.
“If we win, we will be safe as we are on three points, and they are on two so that is a huge incentive in going to Ardee”.