Thanks for Reading

This is the first blog since previewing last year’s All Ireland Quarter-Final.  I had started writing once or twice after that game, but the will or the interest just wasn’t there to finish anything.  In some ways, what I saw that day in August was more depressing than the hammering at the same stage in 2013.

So, I am not at all hopeful for the year ahead.  There has been no turnover in players from 2015 (nobody has ruled themselves out for the year so far at any rate), and indeed with the return of Rory Kavanagh, we are back to where we were in 2014, if not 2013.  This group of players owe us supporters nothing, but without some fresh legs and indeed some fresh thinking, it’s hard to see how Donegal will be a better team in 2016 than they were in 2015. Maybe that will happen.  Some players have been given extended breaks, and there is a five day away trip to Tenerife planned for mid February.  We have seen some new faces during the McKenna Cup, and while nothing of any significance can be drawn from January football, it’s good to see the pick of the underage talent from recent years involved.  Hopefully that continues during the league.

An away game in the first round of the Ulster Championship against either Fermanagh or Antrim looks like as good an opportunity to build up gradually than we have had since 2011 or 2012.  So that’s something.  But even then, we have had some bad days in Enniskillen in the not too distant past.  If we get over that game, a potential semi-final against Monaghan looms.  At least that game might not be in Clones.  But if we manage to make it to the Ulster Final for a sixth year in a row, I just have a bad feeling that Tyrone will finally get the better of us in the Ulster Championship. It’s been coming and they seem like they are on the rise again whereas it’s not clear where we are going.

Donegal start their 2016 Division One League campaign on Saturday night in Newry and I won’t be there.  I haven’t missed many games in the last few years, but I will miss plenty in the league this year.  At some point, life just gets in the way.  I always felt that to make a decent fist of this I needed to see the majority of the games myself.  So, that’s it for now, probably forever.  I have really enjoyed writing and will probably miss it, but I’d rather give it the full gun than make a half assed effort at it.  Thanks for reading, for tweeting, for correcting spelling mistakes and dodgy facts and thanks to the players for providing all of us with great memories.

Thanks most of all to Jim.

Until Victory, Always.

A Little Hope

Just as I didn’t read too much into the win over Armagh, I’m trying not to get too excited about the 10 point win over Galway in Croke Park last Saturday.  For one thing, the margin of victory flatters us – from around the 15th to the 50th minute, it was tight enough going.  Donegal have yet to put together a quality 70 minutes this year.  To be fair, Rory Gallagher acknowledges this issue.  It’s something we have seen in every game.  I don’t know what the reason is for it.  I wonder if it is because opposition take time to get their defensive system set up – we started to struggle when Galway got everyone behind the ball.  It was a similar story against Tyrone, Derry and Monaghan – we are ‘on fire’ for around 10 or 15 minutes and then we seem to fall apart.  Our missed chances (14 wides and two dropped short) were also the continuation of a worrying trend, even if our overall return of 48% is an improvement.  It seemed too easy for Galway to run through us at times, with Ciaran Whelan showing examples on the Sunday Game.  It was in many ways a typical 2015 performance.

But, there was much that was good about Saturday.  And no harm that we celebrate the positives especially after my negative outlook on things following the Ulster Final.  Man of the match Odhran MacNiallais was brilliant, with three excellent points and a wonderful pass to Colm McFadden for the first goal the highlights.  There’s no doubt that he has the talent, it’s the consistency that is lacking at the moment.  Ryan McHugh was his dynamic best, covering every blade of the Croke Park turf and finishing a brilliant move for his goal.  When we analyse Colm McFadden’s performance, it’s easy to pick holes, but look at all the good things he did also.  Too many folks from Donegal, including me, have written off the St Michael’s man since 2012, but it was great to see him in good form last weekend.  His unselfishness in laying on two goals when he might have taken the chances on himself is perhaps the most impressive thing when you think that he has made his bones as a scoring forward.  And of course who from Donegal doesn’t love Christy Toye?  The third goal was the icing on the cake with McFadden setting up his club mate.  These two lads might not have many more days out in Croke Park so that one will stay long in the memory.

The form of our subs looked good.  Martin McElhinney largely atoned for a poor Ulster Final display when introduced, although his shooting was again poor.  It’s good to see him willing to shoot, but he needs to be more judicious in when he decides to shoot.  But what was more interesting was the form of Leo McLoone, Declan Walsh and Anthony Thompson.  All three looked good, especially McLoone and Thompson.  Leo especially seemed ready to contribute more, and but for some desperate defending, would have had a goal of his own.  It was good to see us finishing a game strongly after hanging on against Tyrone and Derry, sitting on a big lead in Armagh and then panicking in Clones.  I kind of like the idea of finishing with your best team on the pitch, assuming of course you can stay in the game with squad players starting.  It’s worth pointing out though that Thompson, Dec Walsh and McLoone have missed a lot of training time this year and two of them weren’t even in the panel at the start of the Championship.  Their sharpness for intercounty football at this level, while looking good against Galway, has to be questionable.

I think it’s only fair to point out that we enjoyed some good fortune on Saturday.  Paul Conroy missed a very kickable free and was then denied what would have been an easier opportunity when he was surely fouled by Neil McGee.  Adrian Varley might have passed up a goal chance, but in truth, it would have been some finish to chip Paul Durcan.  The only excuse was that it was a line ball that had been awarded to Donegal but overturned by the ref, so maybe we weren’t fully switched on, but we can’t afford these sort of lapses in the future, starting this weekend.  Cillian O’Connor will not miss such opportunities (Kevin McLaughlin might…).

So let’s talk about Michael.  Last Saturday, we got glimpses of the old Michael Murphy, the one I think most of us want to see.  Think back to these moments, courtesy of Donegal Sport Hub – where was he playing when most of these were filmed?  When Michael plays deep, what does he offer? He’s big and physical, so his presence alone is an asset around midfield and even under our own crossbar. He’s can also be a good kick passer, but who does he end up passing to if he’s not inside? It could be said that his tackling is a liability and the lads on The Sunday Game went out of the way to highlight it last week.  I was always of the view that as long as Donegal were doing enough to win, it didn’t matter where Michael played.  But as I mentioned in my last piece, Donegal’s scoring return has been declining since 2012, a stat that correlates with his move away from the edge of the square.  It’s time to let him do what he does best again.

At midfield, Michael is merely good.  Most of the kudos has he has got for his performances this year has been for his long range dead ball striking.  And that’s fine, that is often worth the ticket price.  But at full forward, he is great.  If we see Michael drifting out to midfield on Saturday, it will give a huge lift to Mayo, no more than they will feel like it’s not going to plan if Aidan O’Shea isn’t placed at 14.  By all means, if we need him to drop back when we are trying to hold a lead, that’s fine.  But when there is plenty of football to be played, please keep him around the edge of the square.

For me at least, Donegal have to everything possible to ensure that Michael can play and succeed at the position he was born to play – full forward.  Sure, there will be times when it feels like it’s not working, but we have to persist with it – it will always pay off eventually in my view.  Whether that’s as a result of Michael doing something himself (scoring, assisting or winning a free) or freeing up space for others to prosper.  Surely another player in the squad can be used as a third midfielder to cover for Michael – whether that’s the experienced Christy Toye or the frustrating Hugh McFadden, then we need to take that chance.  The risk is low, but the payoff is great.

And so, for third time in five years, we meet Mayo in the Championship.  I don’t think anyone needs reminding of the outcome in either of the previous two encounters, although I’m sure many of us have tried to forget 2013.  The players haven’t, which is probably a good thing.  No harm having a chip in your shoulder when facing into a challenge.  April’s league game was a testy encounter and there’s no love lost between the teams, in much the same way as there will be an edge when any of the nominal ‘Top 4’ teams meet.  As with any League match, I wouldn’t read too much into it, especially when Donegal were missing Neil Gallagher and Michael Murphy and Mayo lined out without Cillian O’Connor.  Donegal were lucky to get away with a draw, but Mayo were fortunate not to concede a second goal to Paddy McBrearty when he was penalised for a foul that nobody but David Coldrick saw.  Maybe there’s something in that for us as Mayo still have not addressed the issues that have cost them dearly over the past few years – their full back line, or maybe their entire defensive set up is not good enough.  Jim McGuinness sees it, but the Mayo management team don’t seem to want to know.  It’s probably not worth mentioning, but conceding two goals to Sligo should be a cause for concern, if it weren’t for the fact that Mayo were in a position where it didn’t really matter.

Saturday will be a big step up from Galway and a very different test from that which we faced against Monaghan.  Mayo are a fast, physical , driven and experienced team.  While there are questions about them defensively overall, their half back line is as good as any out there.  They appear to have a solid enough midfield pairing in Seamus O’Shea and Tom Parsons to allow them to utilise Aidan O’Shea as an offensive wrecking ball.   We got a taste of this in Castlebar earlier this year, but handled it better than Galway or Sligo have in this year’s Championship.  Maybe it will suit us to have O’Shea on the edge of the square where it might be easier to bottle him up and frees can be harder won.  Cillian O’Connor is not Conor McManus or James O’Donoghue, but he’s an outstanding free taker and not bad from play – he could be the one to profit if we are forced into paying Aidan O’Shea too much attention.  His brother Diarmuid is a significant addition to the half forward line.

Aside from our worrying scoring lapses in games, my biggest concern ahead of Saturday is that Eamonn McGee, Karl Lacey, Michael Murphy (despite what Rory Gallagher says), Paddy McBrearty and maybe even Frank McGlynn and Martin McElhinney are not 100%. Mayo will be well rested and aren’t really carrying any injuries we know of. It could well end up like it did in 2013.  But I obviously hope it doesn’t.  I hope that we manage to put in a 70 minute performance.  I hope that Michael Murphy plays where he’s most effective and we manage to better utilise his very obvious talents.  I hope that Colm McFadden and Odhran MacNiallais can build on their performances against Galway.  I hope that we have something left in the tank after playing five games to Mayo’s two in the same period.

But even a little hope is a very dangerous thing.

Until Victory, Always.

Another Missed Opportunity

The result in Clones was very disappointing.  But, if we’re honest, it wasn’t really surprising.  Donegal have not delivered a quality 70 minutes all year and that finally caught up with us in the Ulster Final.  Like last year’s All Ireland Final, it must go down as a missed opportunity.  There can be no denying the fact that time is running out for this wonderful group of players to capture more silverware.  This isn’t meant to sound entitled, but we know that there will be lean years ahead and we know that this group of players are capable of delivering better, that’s what makes defeat hard to take.

There’s no harm in giving Monaghan credit for their win.  In the first half at least, their tactics were spot on.  Tony McEntee was more impressed than most, but I tip my hat to them for playing Donegal like a fiddle after going three points to one down early on.  At half time I felt that we needed a goal if we were have any chance of winning the game.  Once Monaghan went five points up, the game was over in my eyes.

Credit to our lads for finally getting going, but it took too long.  The performance in the first half especially was far too lethargic.  This was in spite of our fast start, with fine points from Paddy McBrearty, Karl Lacey and Frank McGlynn.  We scored three points from our first three shots in the space of the first five minutes.  All from play.  And yet we ended the game with 14 wides and did not score from play for another 59 minutes.  Those stats are barely believable.  But, our conversion rate of 38% against Monaghan was actually better than our 34% outcome against Derry.  So the Ulster Final was not a freak event, it merely followed what we had seen in the semi-final.  Consider this for a moment – in 2012, we had a conversion rate of 59%.  Even in 2013, despite shooting 33% against Monaghan, we managed a ratio of 53%.  Last year it was 49%.  This year it is running at 46%.   Thanks to @dontfoul for the data.

The 25th minute was the turning point for me. We were still level at that stage, but after Neil McGee’s wide, Monaghan won their own kick out, showed great patience, working the ball out from the Donegal corner, and eventually dropped the ball into Eoin Duffy and took a nice score.  Donegal then went long to Michael Murphy when double marked and Monaghan snuffed it out easily.  This showed the contrast in the attacking approach of both sides.  Monaghan were clever and patient.  Donegal’s strategy was disjointed and lacked any imagination.

Monaghan scored two points in the last two minutes of the half to go in leading by four.  First, we had Christy’s turnover in the corner leading to a McManus point.  I thought he was a bit unfortunate, although he didn’t think quickly enough.  It was to be his last act for the day.  The final score of the half was the worst of all, coming from a Michael Murphy turnover when he was under no particular pressure.  Monaghan leapt on it.  They looked the hungrier and fitter team. Michael was wearing a flesh coloured bandage on his knee having been injured two weeks previously.  This was kept very quiet and even judging by the colour of the bandage, Donegal were trying to keep it quiet during the game as well.  It’s hard to know how much of an effect it had on his performance, but his impact was minimal, aside from a few big hits.

On to the second half, and for the first three minutes at least, it was like a perfect copy of the first.  Three shots from play, but the key difference was that all three went wide.  Odhran MacNiallais’ shot was a poor decision for sure, outside the 45 and in a hurry.  For Martin McElihinney and Colm McFadden, there was no explanation for missing from just outside ‘the D’ in fairly good scoring position.  It was just awful execution.

After that initial Donegal flurry, Monaghan kept the ball, recycled it out from the corner, switched the play to the opposite side and Eoin Lennon scored a great point on the run from under the stand.  Those first three minutes of the second half were the game in nutshell.  Monaghan looked like the well drilled, confident team.  Donegal looked nervous and poorly prepared.  That out Monaghan five ahead and was essentially the winning of the game.

After 49 minutes, McFadden turned the ball over and took a hit.  This led to Monaghan’s final score, another point from the brilliant Conor McManus, while covered by two Donegal defenders.  It was one play too late, but in the next few minutes, we saw Jigger introduced for McFadden.  Given the game we were playing, Leo McLoone might have been a better option, even more so when Jigger barely got a ball.  You would also wonder if we would have been better playing Michael Murphy and Paddy McBrearty closer to goal at that point.  Both were somewhat lame, but they are also our most dangerous forwards.  The work that they were being asked to do further out the field couldn’t have been helping.  It’s a big if, but maybe if Paddy had been a little fresher he might have been able to kick that last point but I have to acknowledge that he did manage to score a wonderful point from outside the 45 on 64 minutes.  Still, we wonder what a two man forward line of McBrearty and Murphy might accomplish.  It would tie up at least four or five of the opposition I’d say!

We were a point down when Paddy scored his 64th minute point and there was still 8 minutes including added time to draw level but we couldn’t manage it.  People rightly focus on the number of shots missed – from the seventh minute to the 64th, we took 15 shots from play without scoring.  Some were shots under pressure, but it’s still far too high a number.  The one thing that struck me watching it was that there was no real build up or patience involved.  The strategy seemed to be run until you meet some kind of resistance and then shoot.  That was only slightly better than what we saw in the first half – isolated Donegal runners being swallowed up by the Monaghan defence. Where are the support runners?  Where is the type of patience we saw from Monaghan in the first half and have shown in the past?

Monaghan clearly played with a chip in their shoulder, with several references in the aftermath to feeling that they didn’t get the credit they deserved for their Ulster Final win in 2013.  Make no mistake, they were there for the taking in the second half, with Donegal bossing possession and Monaghan only converting 38% of their scoring chances, but after they went five points up, you could see why they might try to hold what they had.  There was no shame in losing to them, but you can’t help but feel that we didn’t perform as well as we can.  But it’s getting harder and harder to determine just what we can and should expect from this team.

And so we now must face Galway in Croke Park in a Round 4 Qualifier.  Our last meeting was at the same stage in 2009, when we beat them in Sligo.  What happened next doesn’t bear repeating.  Indeed, the last time we played in a Qualifier, we got the result, and a good night out in Carrick on Shannon, but were on a hiding to nothing.  So if we bow out in the gloom on Saturday evening, I’m probably ok with that.  But, I think we will probably have enough in us to win, given we have managed to beat Tyrone, Armagh and Derry this year.  Galway have a very similar record, having beaten Armagh and Derry after losing to Mayo in what was a competitive enough game for the most part.  They are more defensive this year than previously, which is a pity for us as the Galway team I watched play Tipperary and Kerry last year would have been a joy to play against.  This year’s edition might be a slightly trickier proposition, but the one thing that has struck me watching them is that their tackling can be very undisciplined.  Mayo made hay against them, attempting 11 frees, with Cillian O’Connor scoring eight of them.  But five of these were won by the powerful Aidan O’Shea and Donegal have done poorly at winning frees all year – something I put down largely to our attacking strategy above anything else, and unless we start to utilise Michael Murphy as a more orthodox forward, we might struggle to generate the type of returns we saw from Mayo.

I am backing Donegal (on here at least, not with cash) to win, but with no real conviction.  If Galway come with belief and show intensity in defence and on counter attack, then we are definitely vulnerable.  The fitness of Michael Murphy and Paddy McBrearty is not beyond doubt and Karl Lacey is out.  I had hoped to see something different from what I had seen in every other game this year against Monaghan, but I didn’t, and I fear it is too late to make any real changes this year.  It will be as you were on Saturday night.  I am not relishing it.

Until Victory, Always.

The Tortoise and the Hare

I missed the Ulster Semi-Final against Down in 2013 (well, I saw it, but on a laptop several thousand miles away).  I didn’t think we looked great, but we got the job done.  But a few people who were at the game were much more worried than me by what they saw, and have compared it to the performance against Derry.  After attending and then watching back our Semi Final win over Derry, I have plenty of concerns of my own this year.

I really don’t know what to make of Donegal this year.  Sure, we have played well at times, but too often we have looked very ordinary.  Outcomes have been very satisfactory – keeping our place in Division One and making an Ulster Final is what I had hoped we would at least achieve in 2015.  But performances have been lacking something.  It’s just not clear to me whether this has been by accident or design.  During the Championship at least, we tend to start fast but fall away as the game winds down.  This leads to highly tense situations for supporters in the stands.

If, at the start of the year, you wanted to remain in Division One and win the Ulster title, the road ahead would have seemed daunting.  Planning for that would be a huge challenge.  As the League progressed, it would have been tempting to write off Tyrone and Derry.  But they were different animals come Championship.  Any degree of complacency would have seen us beaten, but we looked like we were playing well within ourselves compared to what I know the players we have are capable of showing.

I really don’t like trying to make the case that we have been holding back, but I don’t think I have choice if I am going to make the case for Donegal winning on Sunday.  What else can explain what we have seen all year?  And, the clearest indication of all was when  Monaghan came to Letterkenny in March?  It was, without exaggeration, the worst game I have ever seen in person at any level.  We showed nothing, and Monaghan were happy to sit back and let us piss about with the ball, allowing them to take the initiative over the course of the game and pick off scores at their leisure.  That was the lowest point for sure, but there have been plenty of other odd looking performances, the latest of which we witnessed three weeks ago in Clones.

It’s a somewhat misleading stat in terms of impact, but none of Donegal’s substitutes used have scored in any of the three Championship games so far.  Some of that is down to the overall time that they are getting on the pitch, but the lack of impact off the bench is a concern.  That’s not really a new thing, but it certainly seems like it is more of a concern this year as it’s hard to see where scores come from on the bench.  Of course, until the Derry game, Michael Murphy hadn’t scored from play , but we didn’t expect that to continue – I don’t have a similar level of faith that our subs will come good for us.  Monaghan can bring on guys who can score, we can’t.

In saying all that, Rory Gallagher had some interesting things to say on Leo McLoone here.  I am delighted that it looks like he will be part of the match day squad for Sunday.  And I fully agree with Rory when he says ‘McLoone’s contribution to Donegal football in recent seasons means that he has been welcomed back into the panel with open arms.’  As he should be.  If anyone feels differently, well, the currency of 2012 wasn’t long being spent. Leo might not start, but wouldn’t he be a great option to replace Christy Toye (who has looked tired in every game so far) after 50 minutes?

Monaghan match up very well with Donegal, both in terms of how they play, and the talent they have at their disposal.  Monaghan play the defensive game without apology.   In the absent Drew Wylie, Colin Walshe, Dessie Moan, Darren and Kieran Hughes and Conor McManus are some of the best players in Ulster at the present time.  I was planning to re-watch both of Monaghan’s Ulster Championship games, but thought there was no point.  I am writing off a lot of what I have seen from Donegal, so even though Monaghan were facing lesser opposition, I don’t see then conceding ,say 15 points on Sunday, as they did against Cavan.  In contrast to Donegal’s fast starts, Monaghan have taken longer to get going.  In truth, I would prefer if Donegal could do likewise on Sunday. The circumstances were very different, but the way that game in Letterkenny earlier this year played out makes me squirm.

Two things I would take from looking at their stats from those games against Cavan and Fermanagh is that they have struggled to win primary possession from kick outs, but they have benefitted from the opposition being careless with the ball from either turning it over via a kick pass or dropping shots short.  So if Donegal can put pressure on the Monaghan kick out, do well on their own and take good care of the ball (i.e. don’t be doing anything stupid, like kicking it…) then we may be able to get the upper hand in terms of possession at least.  But our shot accuracy will have to be better than it was against Derry.

In  Conor McManus, for me at least, Monaghan have the best pure forward in Ulster, and one of the top marksmen in the country.  Don’t get me wrong, Michael Murphy is a better player, but he plays a very different role.  Paddy McBrearty has the potential, but he’s only really beginning to deliver lately.  McManus has been at the top of his game for a few years now.  And he seems to go about his business with a great attitude, never getting riled by the close attention he receives and he also works very hard.  Neil McGee will surely pick him up on Sunday and that should be a great battle.  The question is, will we also deploy Mark McHugh as a sweeper?

Whenever these sides meet, Vinny Corey has tended to man mark Michael Murphy, and it has to be said, do a pretty good job.  It’s been telling that no team to date has managed to mimic Tyrone’s tactic for dealing with Michael.  Armagh didn’t seem to have any game plan, let alone an effective way of dealing with Michael when he dropped deep, although he didn’t score from play.  Early on at least, it looked like Kevin Johnston of Derry might have been shaping up to track him, but they quickly moved to a more zonal marking system.  He made them pay with two great points from play.  I’m not sure Vinny Corey can do a more ‘effective’ job as Justin McMahon on Sunday, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him try.

For me, Sunday represents a decider of sorts over and above this year’s Ulster title.  It’s a chance for one team to claim ‘best of three’ over the other.  In 2013, Donegal were not themselves.  In 2014, Monaghan were in a not dissimilar position.  This year, neither side has, as far as we know, the sort of fatigue and injury concerns that impacted performance in the past two Ulster Finals.  Despit the perceived superior Monaghan depth, Donegal may have a slight advantage, as other than Paddy McBrearty, their first choice 15 appear to be fully fit.  Monaghan look like they will be missing Drew Wylie and Colin Walshe is not long returned from a very serious injury.

The fitness of Paddy McBrearty is surely key to Sunday’s result.  Not just because of what he offers himself, but because of what Donegal will be forced to do if he’s not fit.  I certainly don’t want to see Colm McFadden despatched into the heart of the Monaghan defence where he struggled so badly in 2013 and again in 2014.  It’s a nice thought at times, but there’s virtually no chance we would see Michael Murphy play more than 20% of the game in around the square.  As we saw after he pulled up against Derry, the focal point of Donegal’s attack collapsed without McBrearty.  If he’s not fit to start, will we see a very different attacking formation from Donegal?  I have no idea what it would look like or how it would, indeed if it would, work.   This is where our ‘thin panel’ really hits home – we cannot afford any of our first choice 15 to be missing.

One thing I don’t want to see on Sunday is Neil Gallagher sent in to the edge of the square.  This tactic only works if we are playing a team that goes man to man as opposed to the likes of Derry, who had a handful of men back at all times and we wasted three balls in with zero return.  How many teams will fall for this tactic after seeing how it messed with Dublin last summer? I don’t think anyone on Sunday  will and it’s waste of time from an offensive perspective.  Look to what Cavan achieved against Monaghan with Michael Argue at full forward – another fish out of water.  The other thing it does is it weakens us defensively – aside from the offensive turnovers, it’s likely to yield negative returns even if we don’t kick any ball to him.

Our Championship record against Monaghan reads played 14, won four (H/T to Gaelic Stats).  And that’s spread fairly evenly across all decades going back to 1929.  Past performance is largely irrelevant, but it’s grim reading.  I will never forget 2013 or that trip to Omagh in 2007.  They beat us well those days – physically as well as on the scoreboard.  Last year, we were comfortable enough winners, although watching that game back earlier this year, perhaps it wasn’t as good as I had thought at the time.  I actually hope both teams are able to give 100% on Sunday and we get a full blooded game with the best team coming out on top with no excuses one way or another.  I really can’t call this game, and it feels like a coin toss at this point in time.  The difference may well come down to whether Donegal can get a goal or not (as they have in every Championship game in 2015), and whether Michael Murphy or Rory Beggan is more accurate from long range frees.  I’d always back our captain, but then again, I’m not much of a gambler, so I’ll keep my money in my pocket.

Until Victory, Always.

Job Done. Just About.

Well just as most of us didn’t get too excited but what we saw in Armagh, we shouldn’t get too depressed by what we witnessed in Clones a few Saturday’s ago.  Sure, it wasn’t pretty at times, but we got the job done and it’s now 17/18 in Ulster since Year 0 (2010) and our fifth Ulster Final in a row.  Before a ball was kicked in this year’s Championship, I would have taken this outcome regardless of how we got there.

There are of course some fairly serious questions to be asked, especially when you watch the game back.  Donegal looked lethargic enough for long spells.  It’s always tempting to put this down to ‘hard training’ but that is a known unknown.  It could just have been ‘one of those days’, but we have had too many of those lately, so I don’t really want to use that excuse.  But, unless we believe there are very fundamental problems with Rory Gallagher’s team, that seems as good an explanation as any.  Coupled with a bit of ‘hard training’ of course.  No doubt Derry made life hard for us, but that was not the reason for our performance, which was below par.

Donegal again started well, but things began to fall apart when Paddy McBrearty went down for treatment and came up still lame.  We felt he should have been taken off at that point as he didn’t look comfortable and was contributing nothing, forcing others to avoid him with passes.  We also figured that there was no sense in doing him any long term damage.  But, he remained on and appeared out for the second half with a spring in his step.  So what was the problem?  And how was it seemingly solved at half time?

It’s been heartening to see Colm McFadden’s return to form.  For this alone, Rory Gallagher and his management team must receive a lot of credit as he was used sparingly earlier in the year but is showing good form in the early stages of the Championship, in a role where he perhaps is more capable of contributing in than he was seen in last year.  He scored two fine points, although he was the worst offender in terms of number of chances missed, going 2/6, but his conversion rate of 33% was actually better than anyone except Michael Murphy.  I don’t think anyone expects him to reach the heights of 2012 ever again, but I will take what we have seen so far, especially with the likes of McElhinney, MacNiallais and of course McBrearty all well able to score from play also.

The other man we need to acknowledge again is Marty O’Reilly.  All he does is score goals.  Literally!  There’s a real value to being in the right place at the right time and Marty seems to have the knack.  We are no worse off with him starting instead of Leo in terms of scoring, but concerns remain about his overall offering, as in, what does he offer on those days where he doesn’t score a goal?  For now, keep up the goal scoring Marty!  As it was in 2014, it was a goal scored by one of our less heralded half forwards that was essentially the difference between the teams.

Just in case we forgot that this was ‘Rory Gallagher’s team’, Donegal continued as we have seen them play in every game so far.  It seems we play most of our football in the first half, and then take a more conservative approach in the second.  The stats support this, showing 17 shots taken from 25 attacks in the first half versus 12 from 15 in the second.  Hidden behind the stats – Donegal did not score for 20 minutes in the first half and for 25 minutes in the second. That’s pretty shocking!  Our shooting was pretty poor.  It almost seemed like we were shooting any time we had a glimpse of the posts – making bad decisions in the process.  As ever, dontfoul is well worth a read to see the extent of the problem.  This might also explain our low free count in the red zone (again) – we were shooting rather than carrying the ball closer to goal.  Just to emphasise how bad we were, our success rate was 34% against Derry whereas it was 39% against Armagh last summer and 46% against Kerry in the All Ireland Final.

Other stats from the game make for ugly reading.  We had something like 27-29 turnovers, depending on whether you believe Ulster GAA, or dontfoul.  Either way, this was the worst figure so far this Championship season, and around 20% (or five or six turnovers a game) than any game from 2014.  This coupled with the shooting perhaps illustrates it was ‘one of those days’ as both stats are, to be fair, out of character with what we have seen so far this year and even last year.  It’s telling that at least three of the turnovers were from long balls sent into Neil Gallagher at full forward when he was typically double or triple covered.  It might work against man marking, but it seems foolish to continue with it against that kind of marking.  We also had six shots blocked/dropped short.  Must do better.

Defensively, while we only conceded only ten points, but the ease at which Derry were able to take some of their scores was alarming.  It certainly seems that there is a very accommodating amount of space in the centre of our defence in recent games.  I haven’t linked this to the placing of Neil Gallagher at full forward, but it’s something to watch – Neil’s defensive work and positioning is so important.  It was also worrying at the damage caused by Cailean O’Boyle, who was being marked by Eamon McGee.  You don’t like to single out players for criticism, but I think it’s fair to say that Eamon has looked out of sorts for some time now.

In the week following the game, we have learned that Leo McLoone has rejoined the panel.  This is very welcome, even if we have to wonder why it has taken this long.  All reports suggest that he has been playing regularly for Naomh Conaill, so hopefully he is fit enough.  He knows the system and tactics well enough at this stage, so I am optimistic that he can contribute this summer.  His hard running and ability to score a goal would be a most welcome addition for the Ulster Final.

This blog takes longer to update these days because life tends to get in the way more these days than it did last year.  But it also takes me longer to form a view on where we stand.  Over ten days after our last outing and I am still unsure, even after watching the game and the highlights after seeing it in person.  Viewed in isolation, the performance against Derry was not good.  And it was our worst performance relative to our other Championship games this year.  There’s no point in trying to pretend all is well, but we will need to have a bit of faith and see what happens the next day out.  There will be no room for any lack of intensity or accuracy in Clones on 19 July.

Until Victory, Always.

Orange Crushed

Well, few of us expected that result in Armagh (except maybe Michael Hegarty apparently…).  But let’s be honest, as good as Donegal played, Armagh were very poor.  The bigger question is perhaps how did Armagh get to within a point of us last summer?  The standard in Division Three can only explain so much.  Tactically and physically they did not look an Ulster Championship outfit.  No more than Kerry folk will get too excited by beating Tipperary or Cork folk will celebrate a facile win over Clare, we should not read too much into what we saw in Armagh.  Contrast their display with Sligo’s performance against Roscommon.  Just last Sunday, Monaghan beat Fermanagh by 10 points.  This is not the business end of the season.

Still, you can only beat what’s in front of you and the once daunting road to an Ulster title that lay ahead of Donegal has been safely negotiated as far as the next checkpoint.  What is evident is that we seem to be managing games differently under Rory.  Against both Tyrone and Armagh, we have made fast starts and built up a lead early on.  Tyrone pegged us back; Armagh never managed to get close.  It will be very interesting to see if this pattern persists in future games.

The tactic of playing Paddy McBrearty as a lone forward yielded a goal straight away.  Thereafter, he caused distress to the Armagh defence, but they succeeded in limiting his return to one more point. He was a little unlucky at times and could have perhaps received a bit more sympathy from David Coldrick, but in general he was good.  I don’t know if that tactic will work as well against better teams who play with more disciplined sweepers than Ciaran McKeever.  Someone playing closer to Paddy will give him more options than having to take on his man every time he gets the ball and will surely lead to even greater returns.

The second half hardly merits comment.  The game was definitively over when in the space of a few minutes, Stefan Campbell failed to convert Jamie Clarke’s rebounded shot for a goal and then Marty O’Reilly finished well following a piercing run by the outstanding Frank McGlynn.   After that, Donegal largely played keep ball, rarely exerting too much effort to breach the Armagh defence.  Armagh didn’t seem too pushed at putting us under pressure which was odd given that they were so far behind.  But maybe not, maybe their minds had also turned to their next game.  Wicklow will present the perfect opportunity for them to get back on track.

I suppose from a Donegal perspective the one thing you would have to say is that we really look comfortable in the way we are playing.  There are still a few things that concern me.  First, we need to do better around midfield.  Our reading of breaking ball is poor, or we are just not committing men to where they are needed – perhaps that is deliberate.    Take a look at the stats from the Tyrone game and from the Armagh game which back up this view.  Secondly, some of our hand passing gets a little too intricate and leads to turnovers or sticky situations that could easily be avoided – look particularly at incidents involving MacNiallais and Lacey in the last two games.  If we were trying long risky passes, then I would expect some mistakes.   Lastly, we appear vulnerable to teams that run directly at us – but who isn’t I suppose? I would worry that both Tyrone and Armagh were allowed shots on goal that came from fairly straightforward build up play.  Neither went in, but that was due more to good fortune than good defending.  None of these issues may cost us the next game, but I don’t think we can afford to ignore them.

And so, for the fourth time in five years we play near neighbours Derry.  2011 Ulster Final (six point win), 2012 first round (10 point win), 2014 first round (three point win) and now a semi-final.  The big change for Derry in terms of personnel is that Eoin Bradley is back and was in good form against Down.  It’s fair to also point out that the influential Fergal Doherty was forced off early last May.  Against Down, there was no Pasty Bradley, with Niall Holly, (who had played at full back during the league) partnering Doherty in the middle.  It seemed to work pretty well against Down, with Derry having the upper hand on longer kick outs.  This should be a concern for Donegal as we have struggled in this area lately.  But, from the same game, the stats seem to suggest that Derry were careless in possession – music to our ears surely.

Derry actually led by two points at half time last year, but as was customary, the Jim McGuinness edition blew them away with a third quarter surge.  I will long remember watching Jim ‘directing’ Michael Murphy to swing over a sideline ball from under the covered stand.  With the form Michael is in, Derry will need to be very careful what and where they concede on Saturday night.  It’s worth pointing out that our captain has yet to score from play in this year’s Ulster Championship.  It’s fascinating how his role on this team continues to evolve.

Consider this – Derry failed to score for 21 minutes, at home, against the 14 men of Down.  It was however their first Ulster Championship win since 2011, so perhaps they had some form of white line fever.  But for the woeful Down shooting, never mind the sending off early in the second half, Derry were fortunate enough to win.  Down had the ball heading to 70 minutes and kicked it wide when they could have worked a better shooting chance.  They then failed to foul Derry until they advanced all the way inside the Derry 20.  Awful stuff altogether and I would hope we wouldn’t see anything similar from Donegal this weekend.

Derry look like they will set up very defensively, with Eoin Bradley left up front on his own, and Mark Lynch playing deeper than a traditional number 11.  Enda Lynn and Sean Leo McGoldrick will play as link men from wing forward, both work very hard and are good footballers.  In short, Derry will set up very like Donegal.  But Donegal have been perfecting this system for over four years and it’s second nature to them.  It’s largely new to Derry and Down had plenty of chances to win the game despite Derry’s defensive set up.

No harm recalling that Leo McLoone scored 1-1 and Jigger 0-1 against Derry last May.   Neither player will feature this year, so guys like Paddy McBrearty and Odhran MacNiallais will need to contribute more.  Paddy was a little wasteful in last year’s game so hopefully he will have recovered from his hamstring strain to be in a position to deliver on Saturday.  He’s been in excellent form lately, even if he tends to fade out of games in the second half.  That might be due to the way Donegal set up as opposed to the player himself and he obviously wasn’t fit enough to finish the game last time but it’s worth monitoring.

It was disappointing not to see Colm McFadden against Armagh after his encouraging display against Tyrone.  If he does come back into the team, you would assume he will take Marty O’Reilly’s place.  But would he fulfil the same role as O’Reilly?  At half time in Armagh, we were trying to figure out exactly what role Marty was playing.  It almost seemed like he was nothing more than a warm body occupying an Armagh defender.  For what it’s worth, it was suggested that they would forget about him and he would end up sneaking in for a goal.  The guy can obviously take a chance when he gets it, but it seems that this isn’t his main role on the team.  He doesn’t carry much ball either.

We should take nothing for granted, but it will be a huge shock to me if Derry beat us on Saturday.  I trust our players too much not to get caught looking ahead and focus on the game in hand.  This Donegal team has won 15 out of 16 Ulster Championship matches going back to 2011. They have played and beaten every team in Ulster barring Fermanagh in this time.  This Derry team will have to play the game of their lives to beat us, or we will need to be hampered by injuries to the likes of Paddy McBrearty, or, more importantly, Michael Murphy, who looked hobbled at the end of the game in Armagh.  Don’t expect a pretty game, it will likely be a hard enough slog, especially if Derry are really focused on defence.  And maybe they will have gotten a boost in confidence from their first Ulster Championship win in four years.  As Rory Gallagher likes to say, each game takes on a life of its own.   He may be right enough there, but that doesn’t mean that the outcome will be any different than the one expected.

Until Victory, Always

The Same but Different

So Donegal beat Tyrone in the Ulster Championship.  Again.  That’s four times in five years.  The faces on the sideline have changed, but the result is the same.  But, at no point during the second half did I feel comfortable about what I was seeing, but at the end of the day, if you had offered me a three point win beforehand, I would have gladly taken it.  I’m glad that I didn’t start writing without watching the game back and taking a good bit of time to reflect on everything as my initial reaction was probably one of relief and concern.  Subsequent discussion and reflection have tempered those feelings.

We were fortunate in some respects.  Darren McCurry’s free taking was poor.  Mickey Harte’s decision to start two underage stars didn’t really work out.  The Sean Cavanagh of five years ago would have been an even more influential player.  As it was, he had a fine game, with the usual antics thrown in.  At the same time, Michael O’Neill had a brilliant game in goals.  What they lost from Morgan’s free taking (assuming his returns would have been better than McCurry’s and his own performance in Ballybofey in 2013) was offset by O’Neill’s performance between the posts.

One thing that struck me was the lack of scorable frees we won.  Other than Michael’s tap over late on, that was it really.  Anything else was much deeper.  It’s hard to say what the reason for this was.  Maybe Tyrone’s tackling was that good.  Maybe Joe McQuillan didn’t give us the benefit of the doubt as much as he seemed to do when Tyrone were attacking.  Or, maybe we didn’t attack Tyrone enough to make them foul us – the stats seem to lend some weight to this idea with Donegal having 31 attacks to Tyrone’s 43.  Perhaps it was a combination of all of these factors.  I will be keen to see the stats at the end of Sunday’s game to see if anything changes.

In the immediate aftermath, it was tempting to give Justin McMahon credit for a very effective job on Michael Murphy.  It all appeared legal, but there are suggestions that there was plenty going on that wasn’t picked up by the cameras and was missed from the stand.  All the same, it was an interesting tactic and I wonder if Armagh have anyone as bloody minded to shadow Michael for 70 minutes on Sunday.  Massive credit must go to Michael for keeping his cool and still having the composure for this monster scores from placed balls at the end.  It was good to see Paddy McBrearty and Colm McFadden show well at times.  If Colm especially can maintain form, that will give teams more to think about than just Michael.  Armagh will be doing well to keep all three quiet.  I would be hopeful too that we might see a bit more from Odhran MacNiallais the next day out.

The issue with what I saw from Donegal against Tyrone and how I feel ahead of Sunday is largely one of trust.  Jim McGuinness earned our trust over is four years in charge.  Even at half time in last year’s All Ireland Final, I felt good about where we were at during games where Jim was in charge.  At half time in Ballybofey two weeks ago, I felt that if we came out and reeled off a few scores, we would effectively put the game to bed, a pattern that we came to regard as the ‘third quarter surge’ under McGuinness.  But instead, Tyrone drew level and we didn’t pull away until much later than normal.  In fairness, Tyrone didn’t score from the 50th minute onwards, but they had several goal chances.  Worse than that, it was our failure to maintain possession late that bothered me most.

We probably learned a few unpleasant truths the last day.  First, Marty O’Reilly doesn’t seem to add much to the half forward line.  This wasn’t exactly a surprise, as his performances during the League bordered on anonymous (Cork in Ballyshannon aside), but I was looking forward to see if he had more to offer.  To be fair, an early booking may have cowed him, and, it seemed that perhaps he was charged with shadowing one of Tyrone’s more dangerous players, Mattie Donnelly.  Still, the booking was his own fault, and Donnelly did manage to exert some influence on the game at times.  If the team named for Sunday is the one that starts, O’Reilly has lost out.

The next was that Ryan McHugh should not start with any number lower than 10 on his back.  I had my concerns about his ability to play as a corner back last year, but now it’s apparent that he shouldn’t be used at half back either.  He may well have been at fault for the Tyrone goal – although Paddy McGrath may need to shoulder a fair degree of blame too, but he is also ill suited to stopping opposing attackers.  His talents are surely better utilised further up the pitch or at least in a more.  This is the current Young Player of the Year and he did not win it for his defensive work. Whisper it, but is there any danger that Ryan has been ‘figured out’?  As a team, Donegal did not have a good day, but above anyone else, he was anonymous in the All Ireland Final.  If Sunday’s team named is to be believed, we may well get to see Ryan play in a more advanced role with less defensive responsibility.  That can only be a good thing I guess, but I would still be worried that even though he is an intelligent and unselfish player, his size will begin to limit his effectiveness.

It was notable also that despite featuring often during the League, there was no sign of Hugh McFadden against Tyrone.  This despite Christy Toye sailing close to the wind with foul trouble and looking  visibly tired for long enough before he was eventually subbed.  McFadden might have been able to offer something and it would have been good to see him in action in a Championship setting.  But most people I speak to feel he is not good enough anyway – I am on the fence.  Has Rory Gallagher now come to that conclusion also?

And so, while Tyrone get another week to get ready to welcome Limerick to Omagh, Donegal must journey to Armagh.  It’s hard to analyse Armagh in too much detail given they spent the spring loitering in Division Three.  If Donegal were playing any other Division Three team, would we be too concerned?  No, but because this is Ulster and because of the fright we got last August and because of what happened over and over in the first decade of this century, we will fret more than we, in theory, need to.  Last year, Armagh had the benefit of a series of tough games – Cavan, Monaghan (twice), Roscommon and Meath in the lead up to facing Donegal.  They have had no such preparation this year.  On the flipside, they will have had this date circled in their calendar for around nine months now, without having to worry about too much else. I also think that  Armagh will miss the playmaking abilities and experience of Aaron Kernan as much as Donegal will miss Rory Kavanagh and Leo McLoone.  And, the lad who I feel caused us the most bother last year, ‘Soupy’ Campbell, has missed around three months with injury, but will likely be available on Sunday.  Still, close as they ran us last year, that is a game we should have won more comfortably.  If you don’t believe me, check out the stats.  I don’t know if Donegal are any better or worse than we were last year (I feel that we are worse, but we’ll see…), but I have no idea whether Armagh have improved or not.  We’ll find out on Sunday I guess.  Hopefully Rory Gallagher and his associates have a better handle on things than me.

Until Victory, Always.

The Start of a New Cycle or the Beginning of the End?

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.  And so, where Jim once stood on the sideline in MacCumhaill Park in pensive mood, we will see Rory Gallagher, hopefully without stupid hat, on 17 May.  This is one of the known unknowns in how this Championship season will play out.  How will Rory meet the high standards set by Jim?  Winning on Sunday would be a reasonable start after staying in Division One.  But, as Rory sagely puts it, the league is the league.  Donegal face into a preliminary round (again) and on paper, the nastiest looking Ulster draw we have faced for some time.  Up first, Tyrone, the side we deposed as Kings in the North back in 2011.

Let’s begin at the end of Sunday’s game.  I think Donegal will beat Tyrone. In fact, it could be relatively comfortable.  But, I hesitate to predict anything other than a tight win, because, you know, Ulster and all that.  Still, what have Tyrone shown to suggest that they are better than Donegal this year or indeed better than they themselves were in 2013, when they couldn’t take advantage of our low ebb under McGuinness?  In the 2012 Ulster Semi-Final, they gave us one of our hardest games of recent years and but for Paul Durcan, might well have sneaked it.  But that two point defeat is as close as they have come in recent years.

Ryan McMenamin, Conor Gormley, Philip Jordan, Brian Dooher, Stephen O’Neill.  Can anyone name their replacements on the current Tyrone team?  Even if you can name the man who normally wears their shirt number, can you honestly tell me they come close to matching what any of these players brought to the Tyrone team?  I don’t mean to be smug.  Donegal will soon face the same issue when the likes of Neil McGee, Karl Lacey, Neil Gallagher, Christy Toye and Colm McFadden call it a day.  But for now, those players are still in reasonable shape and raring to go.  For Tyrone, Sean Cavanagh and Justin McMahon are the only links to the last teams that dominated Ulster.  Cavanagh is no longer the force he was by any stretch of the imagination.  The cuteness remains, but the legs are gone.  He is no longer able to carry this team as he seemed to do in prior years.  Of the rest, Mattie Donnelly is a fine player, but they need him in at least three positions and he can only play one.  Darren McCurry is very talented, but he doesn’t score enough.  And this will be Tyrone’s problem.  They do not have the forwards or scoring power from elsewhere to threaten the top teams.  They frustrated Dublin for a long time in this year’s National League, but their inability to put away their chances cost them the win.  They managed six points against Donegal in Ballybofey.  Their signature victory came against a Mayo team that shot an unhealthy number of wides – we saw the same thing when we travelled to Castlebar and stole a draw.  But, let’s not forget, the league is the league.  Despite their wretched performance in Ballybofey in March, Gavin Devlin believes Tyrone will show people a thing or two on Sunday.

But, I don’t buy into that.  If you don’t believe me, listen to the great man himself.  He was remarkably candid about Donegal’s chances on Sky Sports recently (It was news to me about Martin McElhinney’s injury).  Sigh.  At least we will get to see him in the Sky studios this summer, and read his thoughts in the Irish Times.  BBC’s loss is their gain.  Some Jim is better than no Jim at all I suppose.

But how do we rate Donegal’s chances this year, not just for Sunday, but for the rest of the summer?  Maybe you believe that Rory Gallagher managed the league very well, that Donegal engaged in plenty of shadow boxing, all of our main players got plenty of game time and we stayed in Division One for the second year running for the first time in quite some time.  Or, maybe you feel that Donegal were fortunate to play two of the weakest teams in the division at home and despite fielding full strength teams, failed to beat any of the top teams (You can argue the point with me if you wish, but I don’t rate our victory over Cork in Ballyshannon that highly for a number of reasons. that I don’t have time to expand on right at this moment).  And maybe we don’t have a clue what to do when faced with a team that defends deep – think back to what we witnessed against Mayo at times and Monaghan at all times.  And when good teams do it to Donegal, we struggle.  Nowhere was this more obvious than against Kerry last September, even if we allow for whatever lethargy seemed to affect the team that day.  After we picked off the Dubs in the All-Ireland Semi-Final, it’s hard to conceive of any team ever playing into our hands in such a way ever again.  Thankfully, there aren’t many good teams that will be able to mix a primarily defensive approach with enough firepower to trouble Donegal.  Tyrone are a perfect case in point in this respect. They are probably good enough to frustrate us for most of the game, but like Armagh last August, I expect, at best (for them), they will finish within a few points of Donegal.

How Donegal will actually play and whether it will look much different from the Jim McGuinness edition is unclear to me.  The last time I saw Donegal, Neil McGee was being hung out to dry against Cork in Croke Park.  I hope that is not reflective of what we will see on Sunday.  I would expect not.    I guess one thing I might have noticed during the spring was that, at times, we moved the ball quickly and more directly than I feel was the case under Jim.  Our goal in Castlebar was a thing of beauty – an accurate kick out (one of very few that day), quick transfers, a fine finish.  More of that on Sunday please.  The direct approach worked very well against Tyrone in 2013 if you recall anything from that day other than Stephen O’Neill falling on his arse.  If Colm McFadden plays (boy is that an interesting question, almost worthy of a piece of its own), will we see him drift out to half forward in an attempt to evade tight marking in the corner – as seemed to be a tactic in that ridiculous National League Semi-Final?  I’m leaning towards starting Colm, especially if Michael Murphy will spend most of his time around the middle third – odds are that he will.  I’m hopeful that we will see the best of Paddy McBrearty as a starter this year.  He’s still only 21, but it feels like we have been waiting.

As well as Donegal’s inability to deal with good teams who play defensively, the depth of our panel is a serious concern.  Over the winter, we have lost Rory Kavanagh, Leo McLoone and Brick Molloy.  During the National League, Declan Walsh stepped away.  David Walsh has been heard from in the media but not really seen on the pitch.  Jigger, a lad who started the All-Ireland Final, has had no meaningful time and is unlikely to feature on Sunday at least. Paddy McGrath is struggling with injuries and with size.  Anthony Thompson had not trained with the team at all as of mid April and really looked off the pace in the National League Semi-Final outing against Cork.  Has Eamonn Doherty done enough to replace one or the other?  Does Ryan McHugh drop back to replace the other?  If so, what impact with that have on our half forward line and our bench, which is already likely to be weakened due to the need to replace Kavanagh and McLoone in the starting line up? Despite racking up plenty of game time during the National League, does anyone expect Hugh McFadden to start on Sunday?  If so, in what sort of role – he’s ill-suited to anything defensive.  Marty O’Reilly has stepped in to replace Leo, but I am not sure what he can offer this summer – his four points from play against Cork in early March stand out, but I struggle to recall much impact otherwise.  Mark McHugh has returned, but his status for Sunday is in doubt, and his ability to recapture anything like the form he showed in 2012 is far from certain.  His cousin Eoin comes with a fine reputation, but we didn’t really see enough of him so far this year to get a feel for what he might offer this summer.  There might be some debate about who should start in goal, but for me there is no question that it should be Paul Durcan.

Winning on Sunday is everything.  Defeat is unthinkable.  It would mean no Ulster Championship and, it would certainly suggest to me that we are not good enough to win the All Ireland.  After that, what is there for this group of players?  This is not a transition year, despite the new manager.  He has the core of a team that has won three Ulster titles, an All Ireland, multiple All Star awards and a former Player of the Year.  These heroes won’t be around forever.  Now is not the time to settle for a run to the Quarter-Finals via the Qualifiers – there could be plenty of those years in the near future.  An Ulster title is not a foregone conclusion by any means, but failing to make the Final at least would be a huge disappointment to me at least.  I expect the same will be true of our players.

Until Victory, Always.

The Usual Swings and Roundabouts in Division One

As we head into the final two scheduled games of this year’s Division One League, let’s take a look at where Donegal stand. I had started writing something after the first two games and got sidetracked. I’m kind of glad that I did because so much has happened since, and yet, what have we learned?

It’s wise never to read too much, if anything, into league performances and results. At the outset, I said that we shouldn’t get too excited about beating a fairly poor looking Derry team. Subsequent results and performances by the Oakleafers have confirmed that point and they could well lose every game.

In saying that, it was disappointing not to beat a Dublin team missing many of their better players and reduced to 14 men for most of the second half. Our main problem that night was a lack of accuracy in front of the posts, a theme becoming too common for my liking, and one that pre dates this year. We also conceded two goals from players running hard through the centre of our defence. I also felt that we didn’t show enough urgency in the second half – it felt like the game felt more to Dublin, not surprising perhaps.

My takeaway from the Cork game was that they weren’t exactly too pushed about the result, until the Michael Murphy red card, when it finally dawned on them that the game was there to be won. The highlight from that game was four points from play from Marty O’Reilly, but his performances before and after the Cork game suggests that this was something of a flash in the pan. Cork played very defensively, even with the wind. Whether this was designed with the summer in mind or whether they felt that this gave them the best chance of beating Donegal isn’t clear. In difficult conditions, twelve points was ok I guess.

Then came the infamous game against Monaghan in Letterkenny. A match that literally brought children to tears (I was in the company of one such misfortunate child). I can’t recall ever attending as bad a game previously. It was a pretty shameful display considering (a) Donegal were at home; (b) we fielded what is very close to a full strength team; and (c) Monaghan were missing two starters through suspension and lost arguably their best player to a black card during the first half. Donegal’s lack of intensity and imagination in trying to overcome Monaghan’s ultra defensive set up was puzzling. Even if we accept that training is currently tailored towards the summer, one score from play in seventy minutes of football is not acceptable on a day when conditions were not bad at all. Even though coverage of the game was virtually non-existent, there were a lot of column inches and hot air given to seemingly imminent death of football, especially after Tyrone had employed similar tactics to Monaghan in their televised game against Dublin the night before. In general, I don’t think we need rule changes to address this issue, what we need is courage and imagination from opposing managers. On that Sunday in Letterkenny, there was a lack of imagination shown by Donegal for sure. One could make the argument that we wouldn’t want to show our hand ahead of the summer, where we will surely face similar defensive set ups, but again, I don’t accept that we couldn’t find some middle ground that would have allowed us to beat Monaghan on that Sunday in O’Donnell Park.
Still, I’m glad I didn’t go nuts after Letterkenny. It was only one game after all.

The trip to Tralee was a little bit more rewarding, even if we left empty handed. The level of performance was much better, even if there still appears to be plenty to work on. Much of our passing was sloppy and we turned the ball over too much in the Kerry half. Our full back line was a bit of a shambles. Perhaps they are suffering due to a different defensive approach, maybe they are just out of sorts generally. Again, you need to look at the two teams selected. Donegal were short Frank McGlynn and Odhran MacNiallais, but compared to Kerry, we were very much at full strength. Our captain in particular had a very subdued game, although he did recover his form on dead balls, having had an off day in Letterkenny the previous game. I guess the most disappointing thing about the performance in Tralee was that if we had applied ourselves even half as well in Letterkenny, we would surely have beaten Monaghan.

In the five games played to date, team selection has been relatively conservative. We are seeing more of Hugh McFadden, Marty O’Reilly and Eamonn Doherty, but all of these players have been involved previously. And these moves could well be out of necessity as much as anything else when you consider that Anthony Thompson has only made himself available lately, Rory Kavanagh has retired and Leo McLoone has chosen not to make himself available. None of the three has really stood out, all have done relatively ok at times, but it doesn’t feel like we have unearthed any new starters for the Championship. It feels like we will really miss Leo McLoone come the summer but it’s good to see Thompson back. I don’t know why Declan Walsh hasn’t been seen. It’s concerning too that Jigger, a player who started the All Ireland Final remember, hasn’t been involved. At this stage, you have to believe that he will have more of an impact off the bench than Colm McFadden. I was really looking forward to seeing Eoin McHugh in action, but injury has limited him to cameos against Monaghan and Kerry. Ciaran McGinley started against Derry but hasn’t appeared since.
From the more familiar faces, the likes of Neil Gallagher, Frank McGlynn and Christy Toye have, largely, shown good form for this time of the year. Paddy McBrearty is beginning to show more and more that he belongs in the starting team and that’s great to see. The more and more Michael Murphy is seen playing deep, the more we need Paddy to feature as a scoring threat. He has always had the talent, it’s hard to say what was missing, but his form suggests that he may have addressed it. Maybe Rory Gallagher deserves some of the credit here. Time will tell I guess.

We now face a fight for survival in the top division. A win against Tyrone in Ballybofey might see us safe, but there’s a good chance that this will go to the last day. Monaghan face Kerry in Killarney on Sunday, a game I would expect them to lose. They have a home date with the Dubs on the final day, Tyrone have Kerry at home and Donegal travel to Castlebar. Home advantage will be a factor for Tyrone and Monaghan, but it’s likely that all teams, except maybe Kerry, will have something to play for. After their horror shows at home against Tyrone and Dublin, I just can’t see Mayo taking the game less than seriously, especially if they need to win to make a semi-final. I have a feeling we might just stay up, but only if we win this weekend in Ballybofey. It will be intriguing to see how both teams approach the game, given that both need to win, and yet neither will want to give too much away ahead of the Ulster Championship meeting at the same venue in seven weeks time. I almost wish I could be there, but it looks like I will have to make do with Highland Radio. Things could always be worse I suppose.

Until Victory, Always.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

With the 2015 football season officially beginning for Donegal today in Owenbeg, it seemed like a good time to look ahead, but also to take a look back at the year just ended.

As 2014 began to draw to a close, I began to reflect on the year we had witnessed.  I can’t really make up my mind as to how I should feel about it.  On the one hand, we won our third Ulster title in four years and doubled up with our minors.  We gave, by most accounts, the outstanding performance of the year when we swept aside the overwhelming favourites and 2013 All Ireland Champions Dublin in the All Ireland Semi-Final and our minor team reached the All Ireland Final for the first time ever.

But, we ended the year losing two All Ireland Finals in the space of a September afternoon. Our Under 21 team lost a very disappointing Ulster Final in devastating fashion to Cavan for the second year in a row.  The Man himself walked away at the end of his four year term.  So while expectations were low at the start of the year, I still feel disappointed despite the Ulster titles.

Where to now for Donegal?

The positives are that none of our 2014 panel has announced that they are retiring or will be otherwise unavailable for 2015.  Yet.  There have been many rumours, but no formal announcements as yet.  I would be disappointed if anyone threw in the towel at this point.  I am not sure why anyone would wait to announce that they are retiring until now – I don’t think any of them should fear for their place, except maybe Colm McFadden.

We also added several new faces to the starting team and the squad in 2014.  Ryan McHugh was Young Footballer of the Year, despite a very below par showing in the All Ireland Final.  Odhran MacNiallais showed that he belongs at this level.  Young Jigger had his moments, especially his goal against Antrim, but did look out of his depth at times.  Hopefully all three can build on their encouraging starts in 2014.

One thing that has struck me is the lack of information coming forward about the new management team.  At this point, all that appears official is that Glenswilly and Saint Eunan’s College Gary McDaid will be to Rory Gallagher as Rory Gallagher to Jim McGuinness.  There was a story/rumour that the highly rated and well travelled Martin McElkennon was approached to join the effort but turned it down due to the travel involved.  Former County Secretary Aodh Martin O’Fearraigh has been put in charge of logistics.    It’s far from clear if there is an insane level of secrecy around things or if the new manager is finding it hard to get others to commit to his vision.   All in all, the new manager has had little to say in public until this week just past.

Rory Gallagher’s biggest fault, so far, is that he is not Jim McGuinness.  This is his first time being in sole charge of a senior team.  Indications are that McGuinness’ role was more than just team manager; by all accounts, he also took an active role in fundraising.  It was in no small part his charisma and connections that ensured the trips to Johnstown House and Lough Erne Resort were possible.  If such trips are to continue, another method of funding may have to be found.  We shouldn’t underestimate McGuinness’ impact of drawing a crowd either.  Will the support be as strong under Rory?  If anything, our football may be more defensive.  Unless we are winning games, that may become an issue.

The McKenna Cup Panel is missing a lot of familiar faces.  There’s no indication, as yet that anyone will be missing for any longer than for the McKenna Cup, although there are doubts over Rory Kavanagh, Leo McLoone, Anthony Thompson and Luke Keaney.  Some of the ‘new’ names have been named to pre season panels previously, but have not made the cut for Championship or even League.  There are a few completely new names to the Donegal panel, although by and large, they should be familiar to anyone who has followed the Senior Club Championship lately.  The two most intriguing names are McHugh’s.  Mark, as was expected, returns from exile.  Mark McHugh will, hopefully, be in a position to contribute in 2015.  If focused on football, he can have a positive impact, even if he’s not a good a footballer as his brother.  His cousin Eoin progresses from the Under 21 team and I am hopeful we get the chance to see him in action during the League.  He has shown promise for club and county underage sides, and perhaps would have featured under Jim McGuinness if not for injury.  By my reckoning, he should be able to offer as much as Jigger at this level.

I have no idea what to expect from the League.  Jim McGuinness’ position on it seemed ambivalent, but his team selections and reactions suggested that he wasn’t playing to lose.  In his four years in charge, we played in Division One twice and Division Two twice, although he was only responsible for relegation one time having inherited our time in Division Two in 2011 from John Joe Doherty.  Regardless, Donegal have struggled to maintain a consistent presence in the top division under any manager.  Relegation would not be a good start for the reign of Rory Gallagher, but it would be far from the end of the world.  With four home games, we should be looking to stay up.

One thing Jim McGuiness was consistent on was his respect for the Ulster Championship.  Whether Rory Gallagher takes it as seriously remains to be seen at this stage – I have no reason to believe that he won’t.  It would be tempting to look at the draw and think that you might be better off going through to a Quarter Final via the Qualifiers.  But, things may have changed in recent years.  For a start, the Qualifier draw is now ‘fixed’ and should Donegal lose to Tyrone, the path to a Quarter Final is littered with teams that could be considered better than average.  Ulster, as usual, will be tough to win.  Finding ourselves playing Tyrone in the preliminary round for the second time in three years doesn’t seem ‘fair’, does it?  We have no reason to fear anyone in Ulster at this point in the year, but perhaps the rest of them will fear us less than they did in recent years due to the changes on the sideline and that could be important.  I look forward to our clash with Tyrone in Ballybofey in May.  First, they will visit us in Ballybofey in March during the National Football League.  When Donegal travelled to Omagh as All Ireland Champions in 2013, the atmosphere in the stands and on the pitch was ugly.  I’m pretty sure that day helped fuel our fire for the subsequent beating we gave them in the Championship later that year, a year in which our Championship displays were poor at best.  Let’s not get too carried away when we see them in March.

So what are reasonable expectations for 2015?  With four home games, against some of the weaker teams in Division One, I think survival in the top flight is realistic.  I have no interest in semi-finals or a League final; sixth place will do fine.  I also think an Ulster Championship is achievable, especially if the squad remains intact and we don’t suffer injuries to key players.  Ulster is hard, but winnable.  After that, I don’t know.  If we can win Ulster, an All Ireland Semi Final should be well within our reach.

If Donegal need to take inspiration from any team for the year ahead, I reckon we could do worse than look at our opponents in the All Ireland Final.  Kerry lost their best player to injury early in the season and several more to retirement and yet emerged with glory.  Guys like Marc O’Sé, Aidan O’Mahony and Kieran Donaghy showed that there is space in the modern game for thirtysomethings.  Eamon Fitzmaurice redefined their approach to the game – it was amazing to hear their own fans giving out about it during the All Ireland Final – but ultimately he delivered a title and that is what the game is all about at this level.

Until Victory, Always.