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Croker Clash

Donegal still smarting from league defeat, says Laois boss McNulty

Justin McNulty expects Donegal to come to Croke Park for Sunday’s Division 2 final with “a point to prove.”

WITH PROMOTION TO Division 1 of the Allianz National Football League secured, Laois manager Justin McNulty has plenty to smile about after just eight months in charge of the O’Moore County.

The former Armagh All-Ireland winner became the county’s third senior football manager in the space of four years when he was appointed as Sean Dempsey’s replacement last August.

Though he had no managerial experience at inter-county level to his name at the time, McNulty has wasted little time in vindicating his selection, leading Laois back to the National Football League’s top tier and setting up a Division 2 showdown with table-toppers Donegal in Croke Park on Sunday.

When the sides met two weeks ago in their final league game in Portlaoise, it was the hosts who took the spoils, blotting Donegal’s copybook with a first seasonal loss. While the Laois boss is understandably delighted with a win over the division’s in-form side, he is convinced that the result will count for little come two o’clock on Sunday afternoon.

“Realistically, the result two weeks ago is of little consequence,” he said. ”It’s a whole new set of circumstances. Past results and past performances are going to be totally irrelevant.”

If anything, McNulty appears to feel that result may actually give Sunday’s opposition a slight psychological edge, fuelling their determination as they set out to avenge their only league defeat.

Donegal will be coming with a point to prove.

They probably feel that they didn’t perform to the level that they’re capable of. They missed several goal chances. The result probably could have gone the other way given a few breaks of the ball, literally.

In the aftermath of his side securing promotion two weekends ago, McNulty described promotion as  a bonus and stepping stone in terms of the overall season. With the opportunity to claim a national title now just days away, he remains on message, extending his focus beyond Sunday’s showdown at headquarters to the game against Longford in the first round of the Leinster Championship on May 22.

“So far, it’s been a successful season, but it’s still early days. This is where the real stuff starts – the Championship starts four weeks from Sunday.”

He knows, however, that the drive for Leinster glory cannot be considered in isolation from the rest of the season and is pleased with the week-on-week improvements that his team have shown since February.

“We’ve decided to take every game as it comes and seek a higher level of performance in every game,” McNulty said, adding that “as for aspirations, we did talk about promotion but we put it in the context of improving with every game.”

A realist, he is the first to admit that Laois “have a little bit of catching up to do” before they are at the same level as Dublin and other traditional Leinster heavyweights such as Meath and Kildare. In the context of this season, promotion may have been a bonus but the experience of playing regular top-tier football next spring will be central to any long-term ambitions which McNulty has within the province.

It’s a whole new set of teams playing at the top level, it’s a whole new challenge. It’s the best position to be in, up with the big boys trying to compete with them week in, week out.

It’s something to be very excited about and something to look forward to.

A win on Sunday might not be the county’s number one target this year, but after a couple of dismal seasons since the distant memory of 2003′s Leinster title, the O’Moore’s finally seem to have something to look forward to.