Another league outing and another good day for Donegal. An unfamiliar trip to Navan was on the menu today and after a six point win the lads would be more than happy to come back to Pairc Tailteann again.
The team now lie second in the Division 2 table, well in the hunt for promotion and a shot at a second league title in four years.
The Jim McGuiness project is coming along nicely, maybe even ahead of schedule. He was of course given a four year term with a view to bringing the team back to the top table of football but even in the short time he’s had at the helm his ideas are very evident in the team’s style of play. And crucially the players are buying into it. Today saw another total football type display with every defender spending time attacking as well as doing their marking duties. Sub consciously a defender is always thinking about their man and if they maraud forward someone else has to cover back. Tyrone are of course the masters at this but Donegal provided numerous examples against Meath of how to make this work effectively. It also portrays a trust between the players and belief in what their manager is trying to do.
Following the bad blow the team suffered last weekend with news of Leo McLoone’s injury, a reshuffle was required in defence. It didn’t change the philosophy though and the defensive unit covered every blade of grass over the seventy minutes. The fitness levels on show were quite superb; even in the last quarter the players were full of running and making the hard yards up and down the field. Obviously its easier to do this when the team is playing well and has a healthy lead but its another sign of McGuinness’ plans coming to fruition.
Another encouraging sign of the Messiah’s work is his ability to get the best out of his players, in particular those who we thought have had their chance at this level; a case in point today was Ryan Bradley. The Buncrana native has always had ability but never managed to consistently perform for the county side. Today he produced a very encouraging performance, notching three first-half points in an enterprising display. Sandwiched between two of his scores he was intercepting a ball inside his own 21-yard line as he essentially played a deep lying role between midfield and the half back line. His other performances to date this year have seen him stationed at centre-field and his versatility will be an asset for the panel over the coming months.
While its all positive at the minute for Donegal its quite a different story for the Royals. A limp less and lacklustre display with little or no game plan leaves them with two points on the board out of a possible eight and the pressure is on Seamus McEnaney. His appointment wasn’t without controversy and the supporters will be wondering if the right choice was made. Its early days of course and Meath are always more at home on a big championship day at Croke Park.
Big championship days in Croke Park are of course what every one is hoping for, and one player who deserves to be performing in that arena is Michael Murphy. There’s not much more than can be said about Glenswilly’s maestro that hasn’t already but even by his own high standards his display today was nothing short of exceptional. His finest display in a county shirt was probably the back-door game against Derry in 2009 - that was an all action full forward display with scores, assists, ball winning and free taking. As an all round performance it was as good as any given by anyone in a Donegal jersey.
What stood out today was the sheer quality of his point taking - four incredible scores from play in the second half were wonderful to witness and any of them alone made the admission fee worthwhile.
The first and second were almost carbon copies - out in front of his man, running onto the ball and then collecting possession and turning onto his right peg in one movement followed by a beautiful shot and the posts being split from 40 yards. For such a big man his movement and striking action are as elegant as a ballet dancer and this was evidenced further with his next peach of a score. After a skilful pick up Murphy again turned onto his right and standing just a few paces in from the left sideline he floated a magical point over the bar.
He finished up with six points and that was the margin between the sides at the final whistle, even though in truth the gulf was a lot more than that. Derry are up next and that without doubt will be a much sterner test. Donegal, and indeed most Ulster sides, tend to do well against Southern opposition as they find the more defensive style is difficult to play against. Ulster derbies are a different matter and the McGuinness system will come under much more scrutiny on Saturday night. While the majority of Irish eyes will be on the Aviva, events in Celtic Park will take the attention of North-Western Gaels. And if Michael Murphy can score points like he did today then it’ll be as good as anything the oval ball can offer!
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