Donegal "present a formidable challenge" - O'Neill

July 19, 2016

Donegal's Eoin McHugh in action against Ian Maguire of Cork during the NFL Div 1 clash in Ballyshannon

Selector Eoin O'Neill says Donegal is the toughest fourth-round Qualifier draw Cork could have got.

The Rebels and the Tir Chonail men will lock horns at Croke Park on Saturday week for a place in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals and O'Neill is relishing the prospect of facing such impressive opposition:

"They are the proven team over the last couple of years, in terms of the draw that was out there. They are probably the toughest draw," he comments in The Irish Examiner. "That is the challenge in front of us. We look forward to taking these guys on and it is going to be a very big game for both teams.

"When you get to this stage of the championship you have to be expecting to meet teams of such calibre. It is where we want to be. We have had two tricky fixtures the last two fixtures. We showed a bit of guts on Saturday to get over the last one. We will have to show even more for this one. Our guys are up for it. Our guys are working very hard. Bring it on.

"We didn't have a very good league outing against them this year. But I think when you play the likes of Donegal and the way they play, the more you actually play them, the more you understand them. Every time you play a system like that you learn a little more. That does inform your preparation.

"We watched the Ulster final on Sunday and Donegal were very unlucky. They present a formidable challenge. We have to keep our feet on the ground. We are after getting a little bit of momentum ourselves. Hopefully, we will bring that into training for the next two weeks and prepare as best we can."


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