DONEGAL MANAGER RORY GALLAGHER will put no pressure on Paul Durcan to make a decision regarding his inter-county future, but the pair will discuss the matter in the coming weeks.
Eleven weeks from this Sunday, Donegal will take on Fermanagh or Antrim in an Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final on June 12.
Double All-Star Durcan has not played for Donegal since last August’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Mayo in Croke Park.
Now based in Qatar, where he is working, Durcan flew home to line out for Ballyboden St Enda’s and won an All-Ireland club title on St Patrick’s Day when they defeated Castlebar Mitchells.
Durcan has won Dublin, Leinster and All-Ireland club medals with Ballyboden, but there has yet to be confirmation on whether the Donegal town native will be available for his county.
“We’ve exchanged a couple of quick text messages, but that’s about the height of it so far,” Gallagher told Donegal Sport Hub.
“We’ll let him celebrate his win for now and we’ll have a conversation at the start of April sometime.”
It seems more unlikely than likely that Durcan will return to the fold.
Termon’s Michael Boyle is currently recovering from a cruciate injury and is on track to be ready for the Ulster SFC.
Peter Boyle of Aodh Ruadh is the man currently in possession of the number 1 shirt and will retain the slot tomorrow evening when Donegal take on Dublin in their latest Allianz Football League game at Croke Park.
“This weekend is a wee bit different – it’s a step up,” is how Gallagher describes the prospect of meeting the current League and All-Ireland champions.
“We’d like to be as consistent as Dublin have been. At times we have managed to produce exceptionally high performances, but Dublin are doing that regularly.
“They got to that standard under Pat Gilroy and stayed at that consistent level. The likes of ourselves, Kerry, Cork, Mayo, Tyrone and Monaghan produce those displays now and again but Dublin do it so often.”
