ALMOST years ago, Glenfin held sway in a relegation play-off in Ballybofey to send Cloughaneely zipping their bags and heading for the Intermediate Championship.
22 months on and their swords clang again on Sunday, this time again in the senior football championship in a game at Pairc Naomh Fionnan that is play-off-esque in its meaning (throw-in 3pm).
The teams both lost on the opening weekend of the championship campaign so defeat on Sunday would plunge the vanquished into severe trouble where their senior championship futures are concerned.
Glenfin have been play-off bound in each of the last two campaigns and Liam Ward is aiming to avoid that scenario again while Cloughaneely rose from the ashes by winning the Intermediate title last year.
Former player John Paul Gallagher has control in Falcarragh these days having taken over from Joe McGarvey.
“As our only home game, we need to get two points out of this one,” Gallagher told Donegal Sport Hub.
“It’s a game that both of us have to win. We wouldn’t have the Championship pedigree that Glenfin would have, but this is still a game we have to be targeting.”
Shaun Maguire (pictured above) is absent for Cloughaneely this weekend after picking up a hand injury in last weekend’s League defeat at Sean MacCumhaills, while John McGarvey and John Fitzgerald are in America for the summer and Kevin McFadden, who would’ve been the team captain, has emigrated to Canada.
The aims are modest for a side that has had a fairly solid League season.
Gallagher said: “A lot of our team are based on the under-21s and we’re very much dependent on them.
“Retaining the senior championship status is what we’re working towards so our aim at the start of the year was to win a championship game.
“We’re just up from the Intermediate Championship now and we’re reasonably happy with where we’re at.
“We’ve been having a decent season in the League and it’s just a matter of keeping that going.
“We’re only just up from Intermediate and there is a big gulf, but we’re hoping to survive.”
Glenfin are propping up Division 2, but Liam Ward, the manager of the An Gaeltacht Lár men, is hopeful that his men can stop the rot.
Gerard Ward, Mark McGinty and Ronan Gallagher picked up injuries last weekend and are doubts, but the manager is hoping that all three will be able to line out.
Gavin McDermott sustained an ankle injury in the Championship defeat to Four Masters at the end of May, but is back in contention for a spot against Cloughaneely.
“We’d actually hope to have everyone available to us,” Ward said.
“It’s been a bit of a stop-start season for us. We were eight weeks without a game of any kind, so we’ve basically been getting lads started back at it again.
“Our record is that we have been the team in the play-off in the last two years so we are very anxious to avoid that.”
In the opening game, Glenfin led by nine at one stage, but Four Masters came back to win 3-9 to 2-9, with Michael Doherty hitting 2-9 of the Donegal town side’s total
Ward said: “To concede those goals and the manner of them meant that was a freak of a game because it was well and truly in our control. The goals just nicked the confidence out of the team.
“The way that game went was just incredible.
“We’re not going well in the League, there are no two ways about it, so we need a game on Sunday. Hopefully a good, positive performance and result will kick start us.”
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