MORE OFTEN THAN not on the week of the County Hurling final, Ardal McDermott would’ve had butterflies in his stomach.
This week, though, the 38-year-old (pictured above with Donegal County Board chairman Sean Dunnion, courtesy of @officialdonegal) can sit in the stand at O’Donnell Park and take in the action between his native Burt and Sean MacCumhaill’s.
On Monday night he was ratified as the new Donegal manager having worn the county colours for some 15 years before hanging out his boots – his inter-county boots – in 2012. A year later he was a selector for Ray Durack as Donegal lifted the Nicky Rackard Cup, following a Croke Park win over Roscommon.
“It’s a great opportunity and something I wanted,” McDermott says of his appointment.
And although the sport on the rise in the county, with Donegal last year securing survival in Division 2B in the Allianz Hurling League and Paddy Flood’s U-21 side winning the All-Ireland C competition, McDermott is more interested in the rule than the exception.
“Everyone is saying that hurling in Donegal is progressing and while it is, the challenge for us is to take it to the next level,” he continues. “We’ve been beating the same teams and losing to the same teams so we want to get the better of sides like Armagh and Mayo and be in with a chance of adding to the silverware.
“The players are there and we want to add to that quality. We’ve been watching them already and we want them not only to come into the panel but to add to the team. First you need development and then with that hopefully comes success.”
From early discussions, McDermott feels as though there won’t be any retirements within the current senior panel.
“Well, nobody has said to me that they won’t come back,” he adds. “I don’t envisage too many and the feedback thus far has been positive. With a new start maybe some that might’ve considered retiring won’t. I’ve played with and against almost all of them and managed with and against them too. As a group, they’re top notch and they want to train, play and represent Donegal.”
Only last season, McDermott, whose county championships medals are in the teens, player-managed Burt to a fourth successive county championship and although that would indicate a certain dominance on the local scene, he feels there’s plenty out there.
“It was very close between Burt, MacCumhaill’s and Setanta and there are some good players at the other clubs, who are working their way up,” he says.
On a two-year term, McDermott will work alongside trainer Adrian Gaffey, who was also part of the 2013 set-up, as well as clubmate Sean Murphy and Eunan O’Donnell from St Eunan’s.
He adds: “Next season there’s talk that whoever finishes bottom of Division 2B will not be afforded a promotion-relegation play-off – although that won’t be decided till later in the year – so it’s a matter of getting the panel together and hitting the ground running.”
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