'I don’t mind grinding my teeth if it means getting that win' - Langan

When Michael Langan finished his media duties following Sunday’s victory over Tyrone, he made his way back over to a group of supporters for photos and autographs. His final message to the press was simple; “we can’t wait to see all these supporters again in two weeks in Clones”. 

There seems to be a rejuvenated connection between the Donegal fans and the team they follow, but that always helps when the team is grinding out victories like they did in Celtic Park over the last week and a half. 

Considering this is the same county and team that experienced the turmoil 2023 season, you would almost think that the world has been turned on its head. 

It hasn’t been an easy road either. With a plague of injuries still haunting the team, Jim McGuinness’s side have now overcome the two previous Ulster champions following their 0-18 to 0-16 point win over Brian Dooher’s Red Hand County team. 

Tyrone challenged Donegal like a cryptic crossword every step of the way, but if modern football has taught the public one thing it’s that tolerating mental and physical hardship is key to breaking down defensive systems.  

And that’s exactly what McGuinness and his side did. 

“I’m ecstatic after that win, I’m also a bit sore to be honest but it’s days like this you realise why we’ve been working so hard over the last few months, so I don’t mind grinding my teeth in pain if it means getting a win like that,” said Langan following his side’s win. 

“I think when you win a game in the Ulster championship, it’s all about relief, it probably shouldn’t really be that but you’re just happy to get over the line. I’m so proud of the boys on how we all dug in, and now we have an Ulster final to look forward to, we just can’t wait for it.” 

Entering into injury time in the second-half, Donegal looked in a difficult position. Needing an equaliser to send the game to extra-time, it never looked like the shot would be fired until a dropping ball from Ryan McHugh fell to the hands of Brendan McCole who slotted off his left to level matters. 

“I think the overall feeling in getting the equalising point on the 70th minute was just relief,” Langan said. “At the same time, there was probably a bit of frustration too because we didn’t play the game we wanted to play and credit to Tyrone, they didn’t let us, but we felt we had the legs in extra time. 

“We probably needed a few more runners towards the end to carry us over the line because when we got tired towards the end, we were looking for easy ball an awful lot around the 45-metre line. The boys that came on really made an impact and we got up the pitch and thankfully chipped over the scores we needed to win.” 

But despite Donegal’s strong-headedness and will to bend the game to their will, Langan points out that massive credit must go to Tyrone in their attempt to stop Donegal.  

“Credit to Tyrone on how they played, they probably watched our game against Derry and saw that we were very good in the transition, so they got numbers back and didn’t let us play the game we wanted to play, but we analysed it all at half-time and we spoke about how we could get the runners through and on the ball,” admitted Langan. 

“Sometimes semi-finals are for winning, they don’t always have to be pretty. We were getting shots off, but they were in the wrong positions, mainly in the first half. They were rushed and not in the scoring zone, it was probably a bit of panic and we felt that panic building a little bit when things weren’t going our way, but we got them in the end.” 

Like his midfield partner Jason McGee, Langan is now back fully fit and is in no position to give his starting jersey up any time soon. 

“The body is sore at the minute but thankfully the injuries are cleared up. Jason (McGee) and myself have been doing a lot of training since we’ve come back from injury. I think there’s plenty of running in the legs and the last two championship games can only help us in terms of match fitness.”