Rory Gallagher says that he wants a ‘united and focussed’ Donegal ahead of tomorrow evening’s Round 3A qualifier against Meath at Pairc Tailteann.
Donegal head for Navan following an underwhelming 0-12 to 0-7 win over Longford last weekend in Ballybofey.
They take on a Meath side that scraped to a 0-14 to 1-9 win over Sligo that was the Royals’ first qualifier win in some six years.
Gallagher still has his gaze on a lasting Championship run for Donegal but knows that the lives are out now following their exit from the Ulster race.
“We need a very united and very focussed group,” he says.
“Saturday will be very much the same in that it won’t go our way all of the time –
“The biggest challenge after Tyrone was getting a run.
“You can’t get a run unless you win the first one.
“Look at Meath, Mayo, for instance, playing teams from divisions from below them and they all had struggles. We were coming off the back of a very poor performance in the Tyrone game so we knew we needed to tighten up. Defensively, we were much tighter and on another day we could have kicked 19 or 20 points.”
Donegal were nervous for long spells against Longford and they were actually behind, 0-4 to 0-3, at half-time when the Midlanders were very much eyeing up a scalp.
Gallagher says: “We wouldn’t have been happy at all at half-time. We knew that we were in control of the game, but we missed a number of easy chances that, in Championship football, you have to stick away. We needed to up the ante – and we did that. It took us a while. The introduction of Martin (McElhinney) definitely helped and a number of other guys who came off the bench did well.”
McElhinney kicked two points and helped give Donegal a foothold in the game, but the St Michael’s man has not been named in the starting XV that has been released ahead of the trip to Navan.
That is not to say that the Donegal team will line out as named, though, and McElhinney certainly put his hand in the air with a dominant display last weekend.
While Donegal will be targeted an improved display, a win, at this stage, is the primary and sole focus for a side still scarred from the crushing Ulster semi-final loss to Tyrone.
Gallagher says: “We knew that Longford are a team who embrace the qualifiers and who have an excellent pedigree in them. We had to make sue that we didn’t give them a foothold in the game and kept them at arm’s length. We had to polish our chances, but there were a lot of times where we didn’t do that.
“They came to get a lead, they were physical and they didn’t let us get our running game up. You have to be prepared for set-backs. Look at the number of set-backs Mayo have had, they stayed strong and produced big plays.”
Eoin McHugh has overcome a minor leg injury to retain his spot in the side but there is no place in the squad for Cian Mulligan, who remains absent because of a quad injury.
Almost 10,000 turned up last week to Sean Mac Cumhaill Park and Gallagher is hoping that a big Donegal support will converge on Pairc Tailteann.
The Donegal boss says: “There was a magnificent Donegal crowd in Ballybofey. I think Saturday evening suits a lot of people and Navan isn’t the worst journey to be making. The games are coming thick and fast but we’d love to get a run now over the next few weeks.”
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