Carndonagh determined to make up for 2022 disappointment and clinch Donegal JFC

Micheal O’Donnell is firmly of the belief that winning is a good habit and one he hopes Carndonagh continue with when they face Naomh Padraig, Uisce Chaoin in the Donegal Junior A championship final this weekend.  

The former League of Ireland footballer and an IFC winner with Carndonagh takes his team to MacCumhaill Park on Saturday off the back of an unbeaten run in the championship and only one defeat in the league.   

That amounts to five games in the championship and 11 wins in 12 outings in the league which includes a Division 3 League final win over St Mary’s, Convoy.  

“We’ve had a good run and the season has gone very well for us so far,” said O’Donnell, who has John Gibbon and Niall McLaughlin on his backroom team. “We only lost one game in the league, that was away to Burt in the later stages. 

“We’ve got a response from the players and we have, between the seniors and the reserves, up to 35 players are at training most nights. 

“We have a few lads in Dublin, between students and fellas working, and they train collectively during the week in Dublin but are home for Friday night training.  

“We probably learned more from the Burt game we lost than we did from any other games. And a couple weeks later we beat Convoy in the league final before we got into the championship.”  

Carndonagh got the championship up and running with big wins over Pettigo away and Robert Emmets at home.  

They next put Red Hughs to the sword before clinching the top spot in Group A of the championship with a big win over Naomh Brid in Foden.   

They advanced to the final following a semi-final win over a highly fancied St Mary’s, Convoy two weeks ago. 

But O’Donnell points to the Robert Emmets game as a significant moment in their season, in that it marked the return of county ace and star footballer Conor O’Donnell.  

“We brought Conor on in the second half and thankfully he has been ever present since and has made a return to full fitness after being more or less out of football for the best part of a year.  

“Conor is not only a fabulous footballer, he is much more to us. He is also a great leader. All the players, young and old, look up to him.  

“We knew we were not going to have him for the league due to his commitment to Donegal. Unfortunately, he was injured and did not see much action with them either. 

“But even though he was rehabbing and working his way back to fitness, he was down with us most nights at training and talking to the lads.  

“We are glad to have him back and flying in training and like all of us he is really looking forward to the final and making up for the disappointment of two years ago and that defeat by Letterkenny Gaels.”