Any day you head into Celtic park and come away with a win is a good day. Against a genuine AI contender makes it even sweeter. After a shakey first 10 minutes we settled into the game really well and I thought our younger lads showed great composure and courage throughout. Ciaran Moore was brilliant at full back; McCole, McGonagle and O'Baoill have some engines; Niall O'Donnell and Ryan McHugh are so good on the ball and able to take on their men 121.
Our MF was up against one of the strongest in the country and honestly made Rogers and Glass look very ordinary - that's where the game was won for me. We coped with the black card and the loss of Patton fairly well too which was great to see.
Jim said it afterwards - we had 6 months to prepare for that game and one week to prepare for the next one, so not a surprise that we had our setup right. Tactically, it reminded me of Dublin in 2014. Lots of space left in behind by Derry and we made hay off our long kickouts.
This is a great boost for this team and for the whole county. Always important to enjoy days like this before turning the mind to the next challenge. So I'm away to have another beer.
Up Donegal!
Our MF was up against one of the strongest in the country and honestly made Rogers and Glass look very ordinary - that's where the game was won for me. We coped with the black card and the loss of Patton fairly well too which was great to see.
Jim said it afterwards - we had 6 months to prepare for that game and one week to prepare for the next one, so not a surprise that we had our setup right. Tactically, it reminded me of Dublin in 2014. Lots of space left in behind by Derry and we made hay off our long kickouts.
This is a great boost for this team and for the whole county. Always important to enjoy days like this before turning the mind to the next challenge. So I'm away to have another beer.
Up Donegal!