 So it's time to talk at Ladies' Skillic Football. Donegal are, of course, heading into their final divisional game this coming weekend in Galway. Maxi Kern, Donegal Senior Manager joins us to look ahead to that one. You're welcome to hide in sport once again, Maxi. Thanks, Arjun. I suppose, Maxi, first of all, before we actually look at that game, two home ones that was your target at the start. The girls successfully done that. Have you been impressed with how they have conducted themselves and through those two matches and picking up the two victories? Yeah, I looked at the West Meath game. First of all, it was always going to be a tricky one, a bit of a potential banana skin. We have a difficulty with West Meath in the past. They'd be just in the league last year. So that was when we were just kind of worried enough, because you just don't know where you're at for the first game out. So we finished the game well. We were probably quite wasteful in the first half and gave away a lot of possession unnecessarily, and that put a disappointment to us. But I looked, kind of stuck at it and kind of grew into the game and got better as the game went on. And then we're quite convincing in the end. Probably the score didn't even do them justice. You know, West Meath got a penalty in the last minute or two. But we would have shined on it for them. But look, you know, going out of the Meath game, then that was always going to be a battle for us. And it was a game we were taking very seriously, because we felt that in the past, our girls have played a lot of games against the bigger teams, you know, with the big four. Goalways, Meaths, Corks and Dublin's. And we've come away with morale victories and being valiant losers. And, you know, that's something that these girls have got to sort out. You know, they've got to start going win in these games. And that was the big thing about the Meath game. You know, having the game at home was a good advantage to start with. And then after a game, after a shaky and off-start, we worked ourselves into the game and grew as the game went on and then finished the game very strong and probably full value for the victory. So that put was very, very pleasing, you know, in terms of, you know, it's great to get the points in. After West Meath, they were probably safe from relegation. But, you know, then you turn your attention to the other side of the table and maybe making a lead semi-final again. And we, you know, we definitely put ourselves in a good position by beating Neil. Yeah. Have you been happy with the progression of the squad, Maxi, because listen, there's been a lot of change. A few big names have gone out. There's a lot of younger girls have come in. Have they hit the level that you wanted them to hit over the last two games? Yeah, look, it's something I've spoken about a lot, you know, having, you know, a bit of experience. The county under 21s over the, you know, the middle years there of the, of the team, he's there, you know, you kind of had a different team coming every year. And, you know, you were starting from scratching, you know, you get to a senior under county team and you think you won't have that. But, you know, the, the, the, the, the transients of players as, as mad, you know, we had, you know, of the team players we used against Dublin last year. There's, there's eight of them, not with us anymore. So that's a huge number to try and replace them. But it does give other guarantees opportunities, as we say, but you just maybe don't get the, the chance to have the continuity that you would have liked and involved on it, you know, year after year. So, you know, but look, some of the younger girls that come in the likes of Roger and Roger has been a, been a revelation. She's a two great game. She was on after 10 minutes against West Meath when Amy Boyle-Carrie got injured. And she started the last against me. Oh, and she looked, she's been very good. Annie Lokes are two very good games, two solid games so far. Suzie White has come off the bench and scored on, you know, on each occasion. So, you know, other people are getting their chance and they're, you know, they're, they're, they're really making a goal of it. And that's making the thing competitive. And, you know, fresh blood does revitalize everybody. And we feel we have a good balance, the amount of younger girls and older girls. And it's a, it's a good combination. Yeah, it's a good place to run, get into the next game against Galway, first match on, on the road. Galway, of course, one of the, seen as one of the top four in the country. Maxi, what are you expecting this weekend? Obviously, Galway have won one. They've lost one. They're going to make changes for the game. They're not 100% got everybody available. But what's on the cards? What do you think for going to Galway's coming weekend when they head to Chim? Well, look, it's, you know, Galway have just got such a, such a dearth of talent. They have, you know, the minor titles and underage titles, you know, over the, over the years. So they're, they're, they're, they're very strong at underage and they've brought a lot of players through and they're probably in a situation where they have, you know, they probably don't know what their best team is of that many fubblers. But look, for us, it's a game that, it's a game that we just need to win. There's no two ways about it. And that's going to be our approach. You know, some of our greatest days over the last three or four years have been sharply followed by some of our greatest failings. And, you know, that's something that we need to sort out. You know, we need to, we can't be on this continuous, you know, peaks and trucks approach, you know, where we were brilliant one day and we fall down the next and then have to go back up again the next day. You know, that's just not what good teams do. And, you know, it's a, so there's a lot, there's a bit of pressure on us. There's a bit of pressure on the guards up to, you know, big performances back to back against two big teams. And, you know, as you mentioned, Galway, you know, while they have a lot of really good players, as I say, there's a wee maybe absence of experience in this team at the minute, you know, based on what they've used so far in the league. So we feel it's a great opportunity for us. And, you know, as we consider ourselves to be in that top run with the Dublin's Corks and Meows and Galways. And, you know, we feel that we keep up eating anybody on our given day. But as I say, there's a bit of pressure on. We've had a lot of good days followed by, you know, bad days and days that we didn't deliver when, you know, when we were, you know, expected to do so. And I think that's the situation we've gone down the road on Saturday. It's not so much, you know, about the league points or the qualification, but it's more to, you know, just to show a bit of character and show that we can put performances back to back. And we're not just, you know, we're just not going to be flaky. And, you know, have a good day followed by a bad day and then rise up again. So, yeah, the guards are of an understanding of that. Actually, they're in the same sort of understanding level as you and what is really needed. How do the next game, then? Yeah, yeah, look, obviously, qualification for a league semi-finals will be great. And, you know, it'll be really unfortunate, trust, you know, to win your two games as convincing as we did and then end up not qualifying. But that's the situation we're in, you know, Galway had a handsome victory over Westmeath last week. So, they're now ahead of us and score a difference. So, if Galway would have to win the game, by virtue of them losing to Mayo and beating us and us losing to Galway and beating Mayo, we'll all end up on six points. And then it'll come down to score a difference. So, that'll be the second time in three years we lost out in the semi-finals and score a difference. But, you know, that's one aspect of it. And, you know, you'll be facing, you know, a really good semi-finals against Cork, you know, another really good challenge. So, that's what you want at this stage. You know, the championships coming very, very fast down the track. So, you know, you want to be playing teams that are at the top end and really, you know, challenge yourself and see where you're at. You know, the one in the losing probably isn't all that important at this stage, but it's playing against good players and that's where you find out about yourself. So, we know coming down the road on Sunday, you know, when a loser draws, we'll know more than we did going down the road and as I say, it's like it's just a big one for the girls. They need to step up and they need to start showing a wee bit of stealing. They need to show that they can do this week in, week out and not just have these great days very late, you know. Huge positives, obviously, Maxi from the opening two ones, but if there's improvement needed in what areas do you think you need to improve on if you are going to take that one? Yeah, look, our on-force turnovers is killing us. You know, we're just giving the ball away, you know, very foolishly. And, you know, we'll go through patches of the games. We show great maturity. We keep the ball really well and then somebody will just get a rush of blood to the head and possession is lost and the good teams don't do that either and that's the message that we're preaching all the time. Possibly our conversion rate up front doesn't what it should be either, you know. The average in Liddy's football over the last three or four years has been a conversion rate of about 58% and, you know, double on last year's dollar and finally we're at 70%. You know, in the couple of games so far, we've been in the four days and that's just not good enough. And again, you know, for a team like us that, you know, that are in the chasing pack, you know, we need to nail those things down and we need to take the percentages back in our favour and, you know, when we're doing those things foolishly, we're not going to get to where we need to be. So, but look, the positive of that is that we know what we need to do. So, you know, that's the gears of a very clear understanding of what's needed on Sunday to get over the line against Galway. And, you know, and I think it's, again, a great opportunity for us to see what we're made of. Yeah, Gareth stepped up to the plate last week, at Maxi against Mayo, without Geraldine McLaughlin. Well, Geraldine didn't be fit this week to play Galway, you know that change? We're not sure, you know, she's more chance of playing this week than she did last week. Ethan McAlgen picked up a bit of a hip injury early in the game and, you know, it was quite remarkable. She's naturally left forward and she played three quarters of the game, kicking the ball with her weak foot and she had 100% retention on her kick-out, which is a fair achievement. It's my goalkeepers can look and get through a game like that. So that's one we're concerned for, but hopefully people make it. And Geraldine, with just a matter of time, she's just got a very severe dead leg, so she'll have to just fingers cross. It heals well in the next couple of days. But, you know, a lot's made of it, Geraldine. And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, no team should be reliant on anyone player. You know, you've got to give the boys great credit over the last couple of weeks. There's, you know, that deliver two big performances without Michael Murphy and, you know, managed to avoid defeat in both days and qualify. So, you know, we would feel like we need to do the similar type thing. You know, we feel we're quite lucky in our forward department. The likes of Neve Higgardy and Karen Goddrey and Neve McLaughlin, these guys, you know, we're not just a one-man band, as they say. And while a lot of the tension goes on, Geraldine, you know, there's an onus and everybody has to step up on, you know, if we're to depend on one player to get us over the line, we're never going to get where we need to get them. OK, listen, Max, we wish you all the best in Galway at the weekend. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, Aus, thank you.