Donegal's focus was not crowded

Ian O'Riordan talks to Mickey Moran manager about Sunday's game in Clones

The scant attendance at Sunday's Ulster football semi-final took nothing away from Donegal's victory over Derry, according to winning manager Mickey Moran. The 2.40 p.m. start in Clones conflicted directly with Ireland's World Cup shootout with Spain, and even after the conclusion of events in South Korea only around 5,000 people turned up for a game that was expected to approach the Clones capacity of 35,000.

"Of course we were aware of the empty terraces when we came out onto the pitch," said Moran. "I'd say by the end of the game there were no more than 5,000 people in Clones and for a venue that has a 35,000 capacity that was obviously a disappointing crowd. But we knew the game was on at that time and from the throw-in the players were totally focused on what was happening on the field and not up in the terraces. And I don't think the poor crowd took anything away from the victory because at the end every one of the players were absolutely delighted with the win over Derry."

Last week the Ulster Council declined requests to move the game to Saturday, including an offer from RTÉ to switch the live TV coverage to the Saturday evening. In contrast, the Leinster Council moved the Kildare-Offaly semi-final to 4.45 p.m. and managed to pull in a crowd of 13,000.

"It was unfortunate that the game couldn't be switched," added Moran, "but the decision was always out of our hands. Still, we were totally focused on the game. We knew the throw-in time and we just had to get on with it.

"And to tell you the truth I didn't even know how Ireland had done in the soccer until after our match was over, when someone pointed it out to me in the interviews. We were that focused on the game, and thankfully we got the victory which was the important thing."

The wet and windy conditions also didn't help the attendance figure, but again the Donegal manager had no complaints: "We only became aware of the wet conditions after the warm-up. But the playing sod itself was fine and there was certainly no surface water to worry about.

"So Donegal had no complaints at all about the day. We knew Derry were going to be a formidable team and the players were just so excited to have got the victory over them. Armagh will be another big battle now but the team has got this far and they know they have the chance, and they're certainly going to go for it."