BY HARRY WALSH

RORY Kavanagh excelled for Donegal last year. The St Eunan's clubman chipped in with 1-8 from play in the Championship, making him one of the team's most dependable scorers.

Having proved his fitness during St Eunan's Senior Football Championship play-off clash against Glenswilly two weeks ago - Rory scored 2-1 - he is hoping to get a place in the starting fifteen on Sunday.

His return to fitness is a major boost to Brian McIver who is toying with the idea of playing Kavanagh at centrefield.

Educated at St Eunan's College, Rory was part of the victorious college team that brought the McLarnon Cup back to the school for a third time in 2000. He would make his inter-county debut under Mickey Moran two years later.

He played a pivotal part in Donegal's comfortable win against Derry (1-13 to 0-11) two years ago but he expects things to be different this time around.

"Derry are League champions and they're flying at the moment. I suppose they're a bit like we were this time last year. Everyone is talking about them but hopefully we'll upset them come Sunday," he said.

Unlike many of his colleagues, Rory didn't disappear in the humiliating defeat to Monaghan in the Qualifiers last year.

That defeat, coupled with the set-back against Tyrone in the Ulster Championship, opened up many old wounds and forced the Donegal players to conduct yet another soul-searching exercise.

"We had a talk about it at the time and while it was hard to pin point what went wrong we all felt that we were drifting a bit. We were winning games in the League and our League campaign didn't finish until two weeks before Armagh.

Physical

"Maybe we hadn't that hard physical training done that you need for the Championship. Usually, you have three or four weeks and you are really buzzing before going into the Championship. Were we fit enough? Mentally ready?" he asked.

A teacher at Scoil Colmcille in Letterkenny, Rory has missed much of the training build up to Sunday's game through injury.

"| had a wee operation to sort out the groin injury and it's good to be fit again," he admitted.

When asked about his return of two goals and a point for St Eunan's in a club Championship match two weeks earlier, he said it would matter little come Sunday.

Off guard

"I don't think they (Glenswilly) were expecting either Brendan (Devenney) or myself to be playing that day. We caught them off guard and they weren't prepared for us. However, that was a club Championship game and this is an Ulster Championship game - there's no comparison," he stressed.

Looking forward to this weekend's game, Rory said that he was expecting a tough, physical battle.

Over the winter months, Donegal team trainer Ryan Porter has provided the players with a weights programme designed to beef them up and Rory believes that will stand to them.

"We were at our peak in April last year winning the League and were probably a bit flat come the Championship. This year has been different. We're building up towards the Derry game and we're hoping to peak for the Ulster Championship. That's our goal," he said.

"We will let other people do the talking and hopefully we'll be allowed to go about our business quietly and maybe we'll surprise them," he added.

Rory played a vital part in Donegal's winning of their first National League title in 2007. Having spent much of the campaign on the bench, he came on as a substitute in the final against Mayo.

This year his attention is solely geared towards getting his hands on the Anglo Celt Cup.

"We've a good, strong squad of players. We've some new players like David Walsh and Michael Murphy who are going well in training.

"On Sunday it's all about each and every player concentrating on their own game. If we all do that we shouldn't be too far away," he said.