Barry Ward proud of his minor team for the resilience they showed

“You have to be proud of the lads the way they fought today. They put in a huge effort. Twice there they really fought to get back in the game,” said manager, Barry Ward, after the Donegal minors lost out to Kildare.

Ward mentioned an effort from Conor McCahill which would have levelled the game in the closing stages as being a turning point. “If that had happened we had all the momentum at that stage.

“We missed a few opportunities in the first half which could have had us really in the game. You need to take those chances and that will be big learnings for us,” said Ward.

The Donegal boss had to plan without a number of first choice players and then lost captain, Jordi Gribbin in the warm-up. “The loss of Jordi, our captain, was a massive loss at the start of the game. It took us a while to settle and his loss can’t be measured in those circumstances,” said Ward, who said the two goals they gave away were cheap enough.

“I think we left a number of scores behind us in the first half which could have left it a whole lot tighter.”

The manager praised the efforts of Patrick  McGonigle and Dallan O’Baoill, who came in as replacements, who were also missing Elliot Friel, Turlough Carr and Colm O Dochartaigh on the day. Thomas McDevitt was also missing because of a family bereavement.

“Those boys got their chance today. Dallan chipped in with a point and Patrick looked so comfortable out there.”

Ward pointed out that the loss of Turlough Carr and Colm O Dochartaigh was a huge loss. “They were two of our most consistent performers. That’s football and it’s great character building for these lads and they showed great resilience in the way they bounced back twice. I’m very proud of them.”

The manager said that there were plenty of learnings for both the team and management. “Look, we weren’t soundly beaten in any game. There were always ifs and buts. We were chatting the lads in there and there are learnings for us as a management team and a learning for them as a group,” said Ward, who said there were five of the group who were underage again next year including three starters - Cathal Mac Aoidh, Tomás Carr and Kalvin McLaughlin.

“They are three players up the middle and they are good lads and we wished them luck in the Buncrana Cup game coming up now at the beginning of July.”

Ward commended the panel. “That’s the end of the journey now but they were a great bunch of lads to work with. We will debrief with the lads in the next couple of weeks to make sure we round off the season.”