ARMAGH VS DONEGAL: PADDY MCBREARTY BRACED FOR ANOTHER TIGHT DUEL AGAINST 'EXPERIENCED' ORCHARD SIDE

Paddy McBrearty remembers the tears after too many Donegal defeats by Armagh in the noughties. Living in Dublin until the age of 10, it’s the losses in Croke Park which still resonate with the Donegal captain, who leads the county into another Ulster final battle with Armagh at Clones this Sunday.

The All-Ireland semi-final defeat by the then reigning champions Armagh in 2003 followed by a heavy Ulster final loss also at HQ the following year, are the ones that hurt.

“We were living in Dublin at the time and supporting Donegal obviously,” says McBrearty. I left Croke Park a lot of days with tears in my eyes with Donegal losing, but that was a great Armagh team, they obviously went on to dominate Ulster until 2008.

“I remember those games a lot. Mickey Hegarty from my own club would have been playing and Armagh would have an upper hand on Donegal back then.”

Once the family made the move back to the north west, the young McBrearty was focused on just one thing.

“I always wanted to play for Donegal,” he admits. "I thrown straight into Kilcar when we moved back and it was all about wanting to play for Kilcar and hoping one day to play for Donegal.

“Luckily Jim (McGuinness) gave me the call when he did and there was no real negotiation about it. I jumped at the opportunity. Donegal hadn’t won an Ulster title in 20 years at that point and thankfully we’ve gone on to win a few now. Donegal is a different place now to when I started playing.”

McBrearty was just 17 when McGuinness gave him the call in 2011 and they won three Ulster titles in a four-spell including the All-Ireland in 2012.

He describes McGuinness’ second coming, returning to inter-county management for the first time since 2014, as a “seamless transition” and is just glad the Glenties man answered the desperate pleas of the players to come back.

“We have left a lot of big days behind us as players and we always thought if we had Jim in, we could win those big games. Thankfully he did come back.

“There were a lot of conversations and we had to convince him this group was good enough and that we would do whatever he said if he did come back.

“Standards and expectations in terms of what he demands of you as a player is the same. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 2011 or 2024, it’s the same messages that he is trying to drill across.

“Me being captain, it’s just a title really – Jim is the main voice in the dressing room and he covers everything and makes everyone else’s job easy.”

In recent years, there were signs that Armagh were beginning to change the narrative of their meetings with Donegal, culminating in 10-point win for Kieran McGeeney’s side in the 2022 All-Ireland qualifiers.

McBrearty knows the gap between the sides is not a lot these days, given they’ve already contested two very close games with them under McGuinness this year.

They drew in a Division Two league match in the Athletic Grounds and then beat them by a point in the league final in Croke Park a few weeks later.

“We had a bit of a run on them but Armagh would probably see themselves as a different team now, as are we. They’ve been close to getting to an All-Ireland semi-final and All-Ireland finals, so I think they’re more experience under their belts in terms of big games.

“Armagh have been a top team for the last 14 years really. Every time you play them, they are tough opposition. They’ve yet to get over the line in terms of the Ulster Championship, but I’m sure there’s big motivation there now.”

Donegal have been a regular feature of Ulster final days for a long time. Sunday’s game will be their 11th time in the final in the last 14 years since the start McGuinness’ first stint in charge in 2011.

The perception might be that they’ve won a lot – but McBrearty remembers the losses just as much.

“Listen, this might be our 11th final but we’ve won five of them and lost five of them and haven’t won an Ulster Championship since 2019,” said the 30 year old, who is chasing a sixth provincial medal and kicked the insurance point in the extra-time semi final win over Tyrone.

“We’ve had great days in Clones and a lot of bad days in Clones. There’s a lot of lads there that are going for their third (Ulster medal), a lot of boys going for their fourth and then there’s a lot of lads going for their first.

“There are different motivations, but I think within the group there’s massive motivation to win another one.”

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2024-05-07T16:46:54Z dg43tfdfdgfd