Donegal hurling manager Ray Durack admits that he didn't think they would reach the division 3A final.

The Ulster side looked very impressive throughout the campaign and suffered just one defeat, losing to Sunday's final opponents Fingal in the last round of league games.

However, Durack opted to field an understrength side for that match and he stressed to the Donegal Democrat that the hard work of the players has paid off.

"We far exceeded our expectations to be honest and we would have been happy with a mid table finish," stated the Galway native.

"But the lads have put in a big effort and have worked really hard since last October and we have been playing very well and won all first three games fairly convincingly.

"We are not reading too much into our performance against Fingal the last day other than we were not at full strength and they probably were at full tilt. But it will be a different game altogether on Saturday; it's a final and games like that take on a life of their own." Tweet

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