In one of his recent press briefings, Donegal manager Declan Bonner touched on how his players are ‘enjoying’ the ride this year.
Jamie Brennan is a case in point.
Jamie Brennan celebrates his goal during Sunday’s semi final. Photo Evan Logan
In two weeks’ time, Brennan will play in his first ever Ulster senior final having won provincial titles at every grade from his Buncrana Cup success at Under-16 level.
“It’s definitely enjoyable in that full-forward line,” Brennan said, “ with the ball coming in plenty to those boys and it’s about getting into the right positions and getting off their shoulders.
“We mixed things up. It was a really good team performance. Even the subs who came in brought a great lift.”
Even with an eight-point lead at half-time, Donegal didn’t let Down up for air and you wouldn’t have guessed that Donegal played an hour with 14 men after Neil McGee’s sending off.
Brennan said: “I suppose we got off to a good start and then they had a good spell and took their scores after Neil was sent off.
“But we stepped again and we were in a good positions at halftime. In previous games we took the foot off the pedal in the second half but we didn’t today and it was a full performance for 70 minutes.
“The game opened up after Neil’s sending off and there was plenty of space in the forward line which was nice to see.”
Ten minutes into the second half, Brennan tucked in his goal after getting on the end of a clever pass from Ryan McHugh.
Brennan said: “Ryan did all the work for the goal I only had to palm it in but it is always nice to get a goal in Clones and I should have scored another.
Jamie Brennan finishes a slick Donegal move to the net. pic.twitter.com/btGWBD29U6
— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 10, 2018
“To be Ulster champions you have to out in the hard yards. Hopefully in two weeks time we can regroup. We’ll be up for a real battle.”
Donegal’s named full-forward line of Brennan, Patrick McBrearty and Michael Murphy scored a combined 1-14 against Down.
He said: “It’s about taking it to other teams going forward and trying to limit the amount of defending we have to do – it worked out well today.”
