ULSTER champions Donegal meet Dublin for the third consecutive year at the quarter-final stage with the Leinster side making the trip north west for this mouth-watering tie.
Maxi Curran’s charges defeated defending champions Meath by a single point, 1-10 to 0-12, in Pairc Tailteann on Saturday past, in their final round-robin game to top the group and claim that home quarter-final.
Donegal vice-captain Emer Gallagher said getting the win over Meath was great but knowing that it guaranteed them a home knockout game tweaks preparations over the next 10 days.
The Ulster champions with home advantage after that win over the Royals. Connacht champions Mayo will travel to Galway in a repeat of that provincial final while Kerry will have home advantage over Meath.
“It’s a huge advantage for us to have the home draw, to have the home crowd and a pitch that we are familiar will hopefully give us that bit of a boost and maybe a bit of a head start on the day as well,” said Gallagher.
“It’s nice to know we will be able to stay in our own beds the night before, not have to worry about a journey that morning, to keep the game as low key as possible and enjoy the build-up in the morning instead of having to travel the night before and overthink the game before it’s even played.”
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Regardless of who they were drawn against any quarter-final is always going to be tough when the competition reaches this juncture and Gallagher knows Dublin will be coming looking for the win, especially after last year’s corresponding fixture that saw Donegal shock their opponents with a last-gasp victory.
“We are not in any way doubting the fact that Dublin are going to be coming up the road to Donegal full steam ahead and would be hoping to go back down with thoughts of an All-Ireland semi-final on the horizon.
“We have loads of work to do before then. It was a good performance against Meath but plenty of mistakes made as well. It’s a great position to be in. We know we still have plenty of improvements to make in our performance and it’s great to have the fortnight to focus in on that,” she added.
