IT’S hard to believe the sweet-striking Lee Henderson is now in his ninth year with the Donegal hurlers.
The 26-year-old Sean Mac Cumhaill's star made his debut at the tender age of 17, but has been at the heart of the team ever since. Last Saturday, he was once again the county’s top marksman, finishing up with a tally of six pointed frees.
But the very grounded Henderson says that is just his job and points out there are a number of other good free-takers in the Tir Conaill side that a got a badly needed victory over a feisty Fermanagh side.
“I learned a lot from Kevin Campbell and he made a big difference to us when he came on as he has loads of ability,” Henderson said.
But Henderson and his colleagues were well off the mark in an opening half where the smaller Ernesiders deservedly led by 2-5 to 1-6 at the interval. Donegal also lost full-back Justin McGhee to a second yellow card, but the Tir Conaill men made light of his absence in a much- improved, wind-assisted second-half.
“We were just not up with them in the first-half and our manager was not too happy at half-time," Henderson added.
“But he just told us to relax and stick to the game plan and up the work rate and, thankfully, we did that and got a result. We kept the scoreboard ticking and it looked like we had an extra man because we worked so hard.
“Kevin Campbell came in and got a great goal after good work from Ronan McDermott and Sean McVeigh and we also got a few scores after half-time, which gave us a bit of a platform. But every time we looked like pulling clear, Fermanagh kept coming back and they had a great never-say-die attitude, which is a great credit to them.”
But Henderson was not surprised at the deep resilience of his neighbours: “I was not surprised at all as we have played Fermanagh a lot over the years and we know what to expect from them as they never give up until the final whistle.
“There was loads of goalmouth scrambles towards the end and we were just holding out against them.”
Henderson was part of the Donegal team that won a Rackard Cup a few years ago, but is just happy his team is now in a quarter- final. Donegal ran their old nemeses from Armagh very close in the last match and this should have been a good basis going in against underdogs Fermanagh. But derbies are always different and this was one match that Ardal McDermott and Co simply could not afford to lose after an injury-ravaged season where they went seven games without a victory.
But big guns like Danny Cullen, Ronan McDermott, Jamesie Donnelly and Kevin Campbell are back to boost Henderson in their continuing quest for glory: “We beat Roscommon in the final in 2012 and my club mate Ciaran Matthewson was very good that day.
“He got a good goal against Fermanagh out there today and he will be happy with that and he did a lot of unselfish running for us out the field as well.”
And that’s Henderson, modest and focused for the green-and-gold and deadly accurate in front of the posts.
