Niamh McLaughlin’s high praise for Donegal’s new batch

Niamh McLaughlin says Donegal’s new young guns are having to learn on their feet but the captain is very encouraged by what she’s seen so far. 

John McNulty’s side picked up their second league win in three outings against Westmeath after suffering their first loss, last time out, against Kildare in Letterkenny. 

Back in O’Donnell Park once more on Sunday, McLaughlin says the group brought learnings from that Lilywhite defeat and applied it in their 1-9 to 1-3 win.

“It was nice to get another win,” she said. “It was hard-fought and you never expect anything less from Westmeath. The defeat to Kildare at home, we wanted to bounce back. Like last weekend, the wind and weather were again factors.

“We’d a good first-half last time out but Kildare just made less mistakes than us in the second-half. Today, we knew at half-time being ahead that we’d to come out and really fight hard. 

“But I thought the girls did brilliantly in terms of support and running. We still have plenty to work on but, three games in, in the transition we’re in, we’re content enough. Girls are getting game time.

“John has come in, with a new backroom team, and it’s a fresh start, a different voice. So the aim is to push on. We’re happy with where we’re at. We haven’t looked to far down the line in terms of promotion or whatever. 

“We’re aiming to win every game we play in, to be competitive. And we’ll see where that takes us. Division 2 is competitive - it's a very hard tier to get out of. It’s a different type of football where you have to grind out wins”.

Donegal now have two weeks respite before they head to Monaghan in their fourth Division 2 outing. McLaughlin says the break is welcome as they look to get some good work done on the training field in between. 

“We’ll go away and have a look at video and just see how that’s all coming along. We are away to Monaghan in two weeks who - like us - are probably also in a little bit of transition. But the aim definitely will be to build on this win”.