DONEGAL’S FOOTBALLERS RETURNED from a five-day training camp in Tenerife last night with manager Rory Gallagher wanting to see instant dividends.
Donegal jetted off on Sunday on the back of two wins from their opening two Allianz League games against Down and Cork.
Gallagher and a panel of 33 players spend five days at a training complex in La Caleta.
Their Allianz League campaign resumes on Sunday-week when they face Mayo at Sean MacCumhaill Park.
“We’re looking to push on right away from it,” Gallagher told Donegal Sport Hub.
“We’re looking for short-term and long-term gains from the trip.
“It was a really good week away. The pitch and the facilities at the hotel were top class.
“It’s the way we’re able to train twice a day and get the proper recovery in that really makes it worthwhile. We can meet a couple of times a day and the players aren’t under pressure with work.
“From Sunday to Thursday, we crammed a good bit in.
“We trained like professionals and lived like professionals for the few days we were away.”
Donegal have started 2016 brightly with a 3-15 to 0-7 win over Down in Newry on the opening night followed by a 2-14 to 1-7 success against Cork in Ballyshannon.
Although top of the Division with a points difference of 27 points, Gallagher hasn’t changed his goals for the spring.
The Donegal manager said: “We’re still not really looking at the semi-finals. We just want to win as many games as possible.
“We’ll get back into it now at the weekend with a get-together and we’ll train again on Tuesday and Thursday night.
Colm McFadden will be back playing ‘in a week or two’, according to his manager, with the St Michael’s man shaking off a calf injury, while Christy Toye is ‘ready to rock’.
Gallagher says he is ‘holding’ Karl Lacey, although the four-time All-Star is fully-fit, but has yet to be integrated back into collective training.
It will be towards the end of the League before David Walsh returns to the fold, having had toe surgery while Mark Anthony McGinley will be sidelined for another month because of a re-occurrence of a quad muscle injury.
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