Donegal starlet ready to go 'full tilt' as season enters business end
Finnbarr Roarty says that Donegal have to go 'full tilt' at it now as the games stack up and knockout football kicks in.
A last-gasp win over Mayo on Sunday ensured that they finished second in Group 1, with Tyrone's head-to-head record against them seeing them top the group.
It means that Donegal now face a preliminary quarter-final at home to Louth next weekend and, if they progress as expected, they will have a quarter-final a week later, all of which makes for a demanding schedule as the season reaches its climax.
'You'd like the break but you have to take it in your stride,' said Roarty. 'You've got yourself in this position so we have to go head on into this game now.
'It's going to be a tough run now, but you have no choice. We can't be being down on ourselves, this is the position we're in, we're going to have to take it on the head and go full tilt at it.'
At just 19, Roarty is the youngest player on the Donegal team and he paid tribute to the one closest to him in age, Ciarán Moore, after he kicked the late winner to knock Mayo out of the Championship when a draw would have been sufficient for the Ulster champions.
'That's just the maturity in the group there - he's the second youngest player on that team, he was able to take the score like that, take on his man, take on nearly two men. Buzzer beater, everybody's running after him, he just took it in his stride.
'It settled the game there. Last play, some people just shoot it over the sideline but he backed himself, took the men on and got the score in the end.'
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