By Paul Keane

If you count the Dr McKenna Cup - and there's no reason not to - then Maxi Curran has managed Donegal male football teams at every level from U-14 upwards.

But it all began for the experienced Curran almost 20 years ago in the ladies game when he took charge of the Donegal juniors, leading them to All-Ireland success in 2003.

There have been various club successes too for Curran who is on the verge now of guiding the Donegal ladies to a first ever Lidl National League Division 1 title. It will be some achievement if they do it and will mean that along the way they have beaten the last two All-Ireland winners; Dublin and Meath.

They overcame Dublin with a couple of late goals in a remarkable semi-final and will face Meath, the Brendan Martin Cup holders, at Croke Park on Sunday.

All in all, it's a considerable CV that Curran possesses and a remarkable commitment that he has shown to the county.

"In 2013, I was with the (Donegal) U-21s and would have taken the McKenna Cup team that year," said Curran. "So I've been through all the teams with the boys. I actually started off with the girls back in 2003, we won an All-Ireland junior against Kildare, and a couple of Ulster championships around that time, before I would have gone across to the men. So too many years to mention! Look, it's been a big part of my life."

Curran was involved in the Jim McGuinness led management team in 2012 when Donegal won the All-Ireland, as a video analyst. So he has been to the very top of the male game and is now breathing in the thin air at the summit of the ladies game. As much as he respects the devotion of the male players to Donegal teams, he is in awe of the current ladies players that he is managing.

"We have girls all over the country, in Belfast, Dublin, Sligo, a couple of girls in Limerick this year," explained Curran. "It's a day's work for them to get to Donegal most days, never mind for a training session. We meet in Omagh. It's about a two-hour trek for the girls coming from the far side of Donegal and about two and a half hours for the girls coming from Dublin.

"To compete with the top teams, we just feel we have to do that, it's not a complaint, it's not a whinge - it's just a matter of life for the likes of Dublin that the girls don't have to go that far for college or to work. Lots of Meath people work in Dublin and commute on a daily basis. It's the same in Cork, a lot go to Limerick or the Galway girls go to Galway or down to Limerick. For us, geography is a hurdle."

A maiden league title win would represent a significant pay off for all of that dedication. Beating Dublin and Meath would also augur well ahead of the Championship.

"That's something probably very legitimately that could have been levelled at us over the last couple of years, that we have been knocking on the door, running teams close and had many a glorious failure but we haven't actually managed to get over the line too many times so that was one of the most pleasing things about beating Dublin, that we did manage to take one of the big guns out," said Curran.

"And I think you are going from the frying pan into the fire going in against Meath. Even with the Croke Park factor, they have been here six times in the last couple of years but it'll be some of our girls' first time in Croke Park, let alone playing in the place, so you are going into the lion's den playing a team of Meath's experience, they are on a high at the minute and their football is just flattening everyone at the minute.

"It's a step up for us in the overall scheme of the season and to get a game against a team as good as Meath in a setting like this is brilliant for us and if we get over the line it will be a massive lift for us."

Two late goals from Donegal floored Dublin last time out. A repeat would do the trick nicely on Sunday.

"Aye, two goals in 23 seconds," smiled Curran. "I think the fact that they were so late in the game meant people viewed them as being fortuitous but I don't think the goals themselves were lucky. We have been on the receiving end of goals in the past that were fortuitous but I think both goals were very well worked and the proximity of the second goal to the first, it was good work from our full-forward line to run the ball backwards and then Yvonne Bonner was bang on the money to intercept it. I think the fact we kept going showed the girls don't have any fear of the bigger teams.

"We haven't gotten over the line as many times as we would have wanted but we kept going and that's the most pleasing thing for us, that we showed bottle to see things out."