Croke Park - a win for Donegal and a trophy to boot. A good day’s work all round. The Messiah has delivered what we hope will the first of manys a gift to his people. A vastly improved display from the game against the same opposition just three weeks ago and despite a nervy finish a deserved league title.
The captain as per usual was brilliant. Michael Murphy was unlikely to have trained much at all this week since he picked up his knock while on club duty but still performed like a man born to play on the Croke Park stage. He was given added responsibility in the game, drifting between midfield and his natural full forward position. Donegal were over-run in the middle last time out in Portlaoise, with Brendan Quigley and Padraig Clancy dominant throughout. To stifle this Murphy played the opening few minutes at midfield so that his side could gain some parity; this we did and had registered a couple of scores before the game’s first pivotal moment. The big man was put to the edge of the square and soon after Donegal had a penalty after Murphy went to ground under a challenge from Darren Strong.
Michael Murphy - Donegal - a final - a penalty…….Breffni Park revisited; almost a year on from that fateful day, Murphy was again faced with a vital kick from eleven metres. His first penalty for Donegal was against Derry in 2008 where he rifled the ball home past Barry Gillis and his technique hasn’t changed much since, even after the miss in the U21 decider. Murphy hammered the ball towards the top corner yesterday, as good a penalty as you’ll ever see. The difference this time - instead of a flat timber crossbar you’d see in some older county grounds, a la Breffni, the ball clipped the underside of the metal bar of the Canal goal in Croke Park and nestled in the net.
For a player so talented and with youth on his side, everyone hopes that there are many great days ahead in Croke Park for Michael Murphy. His leadership for a 21-year old has been a feature of his form this year. Just a few minutes into the second half Donegal won a free tight on the Hogan Stand sideline. After a delay of several minutes, as our old friend Marty Duffy consulted with his umpires at the other end of the pitch before sending off Adrian Hanlon, the big man slotted over the free from a near impossible angle; a crucial score as the team had just gone down to 14 men. Duffy (in charge oh his third Donegal game in this campaign, surely that shouldnt happen?) also booked Kevin Cassidy and turned a blind eye to the antics of Billy Sheehan, who took over where he left off in O’Moore Park.
Murphy was an injury doubt coming into the game, along with six of his team-mates; half made it, half didn’t. Karl Lacey was one who did take his place and he was immense throughout. He was unable to play against Laois in the group game a few weeks ago and hadn’t played since. Maybe the break served him well as he was full of energy and was still charging up the field in the dying minutes. He, along with Frank McGlynn, made some vital dispossessions in the second half, turning over Laois ball and driving out of defence.
Colm McFadden secured a second league medal for himself as he continued his great 2011 form. He scored the crucial second goal after being setup by his partner in crime Murphy. He scored two delicious points off his trusty left peg in the first half and worked hard on the occasions when he was the only player inside as Murphy drifted out to midfield.
How a team plays when a man has been sent off is a good indicator of how things are in the camp, how much they’re prepared to work for each other and for the jersey. Each and every one of the players on the pitch yesterday emptied the tank to bring about a victory for Donegal. Paul Durcan produced a fabulous reflex tip over as Laois pushed for an all important goal in the dying minutes.
Marty Boyle had made his first start in Portlaoise a few weeks ago and didn’t really get into the game. His performance this time around was greatly improved and he’s yet another of the Naomh Conaill contingent playing a key role for the county side follwoing their run to the Ulster Club Final last year. Indeed as Dublin and Cork were going through their warm up for the Division One final, the last of the Donegal players were making their way to the winning dressing room; the six Glenties players, including injured compatriot Leo McLoone made their way off together; a lovely moment for the club and they got a great response from the Tir Conaill faithful.
Unfortunately there weren’t too many faithfuls in attendance. Whether it was the long weekend that kept the fans at home or more likely the faithfuls are fairly thin on the ground, there was a paltry scattering of Donegal fans at Headquarters yesterday. Those that did make the journey seem to have inherited the negativity that many of our fans seem to have in relation to the county team.
We have an extremely talented manager at the minute, while also having a very talented team. Allied to that we have some exceptional individual footballers, with Murphy and Lacey in particular being good enough for any team in the country. Yet the team still seems to be criticised from pillar to post for their style of play. The modern game demands a defensive orientated system. There is no team in Ireland achieving success without being able to defend and if that means defending in numbers then so be it.
The Division One final yesterday was an excellent contest between two of the best teams in the country. Yet both were under orders to retreat bodies behind the ball and the break with pace. This is the template for successful teams operating at the higher level of Gaelic Football. Dublin’s metamorphosis under Pat Gilroy has seen them adopt a much criticised defensive make-up yet they still conceded twenty-one points yesterday in their one defeat to Cork. Everyone would like to see their team playing all out attacking football but it just doesn’t work like that anymore. Even Kerry have had to adapt their play to allow half forwards track back to let the start like Copper, O’Sullivan, Donaghy etc shine.
With Donegal reduced to fourteen men, Jim McGuinness felt their best option was to defend the lead they had built up and this they did. It was tight at the end and in truth with a few more minutes Laois would probably have snatched it. The injuries that depleted the team's preperations didnt help matters; this was conveyed by Kevin Rafferty making his first appearance of the year, starting at midfield as Martin McElhinney was moved to half back.
People also criticise when Michael Murphy is taken out from full forward and away from the scoring zone. His deployment is similar to that of Kieran Donaghy; big full forwards often make good midfielders (anyway, good players can play anywhere), at least for certain parts of a game. Their athleticism in the air, ability to pick a pass make them vital to any team. Murphy was excellent on the edge of the square yesterday but he also setup many scores when stationed at midfield. On one occasion he caught a Laois kick out, carried the ball forward, dished it off to McFadden who slotted it over the bar. Murphy is the biggest and strongest player Donegal has so to deploy him at midfield at regular intervals makes sense, especially against a midfield pairing as good as the Quigley/Clancy double act.
So basically I find it astonishing to hear voices around me in the stands giving out about how the team are playing, even though we've just become Division Two winners - but in some ways I’m not surprised either. Donegal fans are a fickle bunch.
We‘ve played with little or no game plan in recent years, even former captain Cassidy alluded to this before. He said it was a case of go out and play your game boys and see what happens. This just doesn’t wash anymore if we have real ambitions of mixing it with the big boys. And that’s exactly what we’ll be doing next year in Division One of the league. Hopefully we’ll also be mixing it with them before 2011 is out as well. Onwards to May 15th and the Championship kicks off at MacCumhaill Park against Antrim.
In Jim We Trust!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Donegal Kept On A Laois
Tir Conaill came away from Portlaoise yesterday with what they came for – promotion. Despite suffering their first league defeat of the year, their earlier stellar performances, most notably against Meath and Derry , ensured we’ll be back amongst the big guns of Division One next season. Opponents Laois will also be there; and they will also be in Croke Park
This certainly wasn’t one of our better outings under Jim McGuinness, in particular the first half display was completely at odds with what we’ve been doing up until now. The full back line was all at sea, loose marking and plenty of space in front of our goal for Laois to attack. Karl Lacey had withdrawn before throw in resulting in Frank McGlynn moving from centre back to corner; Kevin Cassidy manned the middle with Marty Boyle coming in at wing back. Lacey is of course a huge loss to any team but whether or not these changes caused the problems at the back is up for debate; maybe it was just one of those days but the space afforded to the home side’s forwards was worrying.
Paddy McGrath looked a little off colour, allowing his man to get away from him on a few occasions. In fairness, McGrath has had an excellent campaign to date, as has Neil McGee but he struggled too on full forward Billy Sheehan who was a real handful; admittedly McGee was not helped by the big Kerry man giving him a few sly kicks whenever he got the chance. Laois have an especially pacey and mobile forward unit – Ross Munnelly, MJ Tierney and Colm Begley are experienced players at this level while some of the newcomers Justin McNulty has introduced acquitted themselves very well.
The teams are quite similar in many ways; both have young managers who employ a similar style of play, and both have put a specific emphasis on fitness. Generally when two teams with similar defensive templates come together, the result can be an attritional affair but yesterday’s match up showed that work rate and tracking back doesn’t necessarily lead to poor football. It was a pulsating encounter from start to finish with both teams soaking up pressure before breaking at speed. The result was an end to end encounter, with Tierney the difference thanks to his wonderful array of free taking skills. Regardless of distance or angle his technique is spot on and a huge asset to Laois as they enter the Leinster Championship in May.
As well as speed and athleticism, both sides brought physicality to the table but unfortunately there wasn’t much of it seen due to the over-fussiness of referee, Martin Higgins. A flurry of yellow cards was produced in the first half - nine in total over the 70 minutes - along with fifty-five frees over the course of the game and it wasn’t a surprise to see someone get sent to the line for a second yellow and the unfortunate one was Kilcar’s Michael Hegarty. He was dismissed with about twenty minutes remaining and it was always going to be an uphill struggle from there on in.
It was a shame because through the efforts of Dermot Molloy and the hard-working duo of Martin McElhinney and Ryan Bradley they had dragged themselves back into the game, cutting the deficit from eight points to two at one stage. The afore-mentioned Brick Molloy had got the all important goal, and he may even have had another only for a save by the Laois netminder; seconds later the ball was in the net at the other end, who else but Tierney with the neat finish.
A four-point defeat in the end for Donegal and McGuinness then kept his crew in the O’Moore Park dressing room for almost an hour after the game – and it obviously wasn’t to congratulate them on gaining promotion. The Messiah hasn’t come in this year with specific targets to be reached like promotion or Ulster
Monday, April 4, 2011
Dún na nGall vs Antrim - we're nearly there
One game to go now and Dun na nGall look all but assured of being promoted to Division One and contesting a League Final at Headquarters. Not a bad return at all considering how we finished up in Crossmaglen last June. This wasn’t one of our better performances but in a way it was as satisfying as the wins over Meath and Derry .
The win was built on hard work and the brilliance up front of a forward in form…….no not that man Michael Murphy but Creeslough’s Colm McFadden. He was on fire from the start, scoring three points from play and setting up a couple of others. Colm looks sharp, has obviously worked hard on his fitness this year and his brother in law Jim McGuinness is really getting the best out of him. The ability has always been there but in recent years it was overshadowed by frustration and lethargy. Now he’s looking like the youngster who burst onto the national scene with a man of the match display in 2004 in dethroning the Ulster
It was another of the old guard who helped out McFadden in the scoring stakes; Michael Hegarty contributed two points and had a very effective game doing what he does best - whoever is on the ball, Hegarty is there as an option, keeping the ball moving and placing those inviting probing kicks into the corners for his forwards to run on to.
Frank McGlynn also had a hugely influential game, particularly in the second half. He won back possession on numerous occasions, tackling and harrying well against the Antrim half forwards. He took up station in front of his full back line, allowing Kilybegs man Jason Noctor and Karl Lacey to burst forward; the latter registering a fine point near the end of the proceedings. His strike rate surely must make him one of the highest scoring defenders around – a fantasy football managers dream!
Otherwise it was essentially a complete team effort with few standout performers - good in a way because it showed that it doesn’t always have to be The Murphy Show with Donegal. The team is prepared to work hard as a unit to get results and despite not performing anywhere near their usual standard yesterday they still managed to post a score of 1-17 while still having plenty of things to work on.
Donegal raced into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead inside ten minutes but Antrim started to get to grips around the middle and began using the stiff Ballyshannon breeze to their advantage. In Thomas McCann they have a deadly accurate forward and he was instrumental in dragging them back into the game, aided and abetted by Terry O’Neill. That duo wreaked havoc on Donegal two years ago when Antrim staged their smash and grab championship raid in MacCumhaill Park
As Antrim got on top in midfield Michael Murphy was brought out from the square to help out and he stayed there for a lot of the game, hence is lower than usual return of 0-3. Antrim were obviously delighted at his limited contribution and no doubt they will be plotting a specific gameplan to keep it that way in the Ulster opener on May 15th.
A key target for Donegal before that game is to get Neil Gallagher match fit; he’s made a few substitute appearances in the league of late and so is only finding his feet after an injury lay-off. He’s been an excellent performer for the side over the past few years and will be needed if we’re to make an impression come the summer. He may be given a starting berth against Laois next week to help the process along.
Donegal pegged back a couple of scores before the break and were rarely troubled in the second half with the wind at their backs. Liam Bradley on the sideline cut a very frustrated figure, constantly shouting and moaning at the referee looking for decisions to go his team’s way. Granted the man in the middle was Marty Duffy, who has a unique ability to infuriate management, players and fans alike. The Sligo man also felt the wrath of Donegal’s number two, Rory Gallagher, when he changed his mind on a call after the shouts of Bradley were directed his way.
Rory Gallagher is a famous man around these Ballyshannon parts and the Fermanagh version has been a good addition to the backroom team, forging a highly intelligent tactical partnership with The Messiah. They’re quick thinkers on the line, not wasting time to send out instructions to the team via runner Maxi Curran. And most importantly the players believe in what they’re being told.
Rory Kavanagh in his post match interview felt the team lost their way in the first half because they didn’t do what they were told. They know and trust that what they are being told is the right way to do things and when they don’t, the performance suffers - the side went 17 minutes yesterday without scoring. The second half was much improved though, the side racking up 1-9 against Antrim’s 1-2.
So all that means that barring a miracle next Sunday Donegal will be promoted. Mathematically they could still miss out and there’s many a permutation floating around as to what could happen in the final shake-up. The most straight-forward of these is for Donegal to go Portlaoise and win - if that were to happen its job done.
Nobody will be getting too carried away though – it’s always been about May 15th since the panel got together. The Messiah added some more followers to his flock this week – Michael Boyle, Eoin Wade, Kevin Rafferty and Dara Gallagher all coming onto the panel to provide options and increased competition. It shows no-one is resting on their laurels, no-one is standing still. Its all about moving forward and Portlaoise on Sunday is the next step on the journey.
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