Believe. Believe. Believe. That’s the key word from proceedings in Clones today.
We’re into a first Ulster Final for five years, a huge achievement for The Messiah in his debut season.
His management has come in for sharp criticism due to the style of play he has the lads playing but today should be a day to marvel at what he has done to the mindset and attitude of Donegal football.
The boys looked very nervous to begin with and didn’t burst out of the blocks as they would have liked. Tyrone did however and looked like they were going to put on a master class as they did in the 2007 contest. They were powering through Donegal, Sean Cavanagh and Philip Jordan particularly impressive.
They raced into a 0-6 0-1 lead and it could have been an awful lot more.
One critical sequence of play in the first half proved to be hugely decisive….
With Donegal desperate to peg back some of the lead before half time they made a great attack up field, and Anthony Thompson was in possession. With options left and right he hesitated and kicked the ball straight to a Red Hand. Tyrone quickly broke, the ball made its way to Stephen O’Neill who sidestepped inside onto his trusty left boot. Just as he was about to pull the trigger who else but Thompson, after making up 100 yards following his mistake, threw himself at the shot and got in a wonderful block. The ball was worked up the other end of the field where Kevin Cassidy hit a monster of a score from near the touchline.
A goal concession at that stage would have made the gap that bit too much but having being totally outplayed it was just a two point deficit at the break. Tyrone had kicked some bad wides and Donegal knew as they listened to the words of Jim and Rory at half time that they had been given a lifeline and they had to make the most of it - now or never.
Jimmy needed his big players to step up and his commander in chief, despite a frustrating display, did just that. Michael Murphy was well marshalled by Joe McMahon throughout and he was finding it difficult to get on the ball even though he roamed between full and half forward. It just seemed to be one of those days for him - losing his footing, handling a bit off, wasn’t winning frees - nothing was going right for him. The mark of a great footballer though is how they react when these type of things are happening - this boy is a great footballer. He scored the first point after the restart, a beautiful effort after a neat pick up, turn and finish. Murphy was also instrumental in both goals.
The handpass is a much maligned part of our game and it has been used as a stick with which to beat Donegal over the years; but I would urge everyone to look at the pass the Glenswilly maestro played into the path of Karl Lacey in the build up to Colm McFadden’s goal. A perfectly weighted fist pass into the on running Lacey took two defenders out of the game, he fed it inside and Colm rounded the keeper and slammed it home.
Into injury time we went and Donegal on the attack. A loose ball goes straight to Conor Gormley with Dermot Molloy waiting ominously behind him for the ball that never came. Murphy though hits Gormley with a great shoulder, the ball breaks, he slips it to Brick and that was that.
Lacey was again magnificent. It seemed somewhat risky by Jim not to play one of the game’s finest man-markers on Stephen O’Neill; instead that task was given to Neil McGee, who had a super game. Lacey was at centre back, keeping tabs on Brian McGuigan, but he also made many of his customary bursts forward while also winning back possession time and again. It is a dilemma approaching every game as to where to play the Four Masters man, he's as good a marker as there is in the country but his attacking instincts are crucial to this team. With Eoin Bradley lying in wait on July 17th, it's going to be an interesting call.
Mark McHugh would have been well clear in any opta stat index today; he covered every part of the Clones sod in a tireless performance. He‘s the man used as Donegal‘s sweeper when one is needed but he can also score, he can pass and he can carry.
Aside from the heart and desire evident today there were also some of the dark arts were on show - cynicism, time wasting etc. They may be infuriating at times but these little incidents are clues as to how much more streetwise Donegal have become. They are learning how to win and in years gone by a Donegal side would not have come out on top, especially after falling behind early on.
All of these improvements are of course down to one man, Jim McGuinness. He has gotten inside the minds of the players, changed longstanding attitudes and developed a new, different, winning mentality.
In 2007, Donegal were hammered by Tyrone and lost their discipline culminating in a red card for Colm McFadden. Now things are different, today we kept the heads - a mark of what Jimmy has done with the boys. He may be getting criticism but they trust him, they believe in him and thats all that matters.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Another Job Well Done
Another championship Summer Sunday and another washout. Conditions against Antrim were abysmal last month and, if possible, today at Breffni Park conditions were even worse. Not what we expect when making the journeys across Ulster at this time of year but we’ll take what we’ve got so far - two games, two wins.
It was somewhat bittersweet being back in this setting for Donegal fans; looking forward to the game with confidence but also looking back on our last visit here for the All-Ireland U21 Final 13 months ago. Little did we know that the curse of Breffni would again strike our most prized possession.
As seems to happen in many games where everyone’s favourite Sligo man is in charge, there was an undercurrent of needle amongst the players. Hits were flying in, many of which were mistimed although this was completely understandable given the conditions. Marty Duffy though let a couple of incidents go on longer than they needed to and there was a sense of a lack of control on his part. For a technical foul he’s the quickest man in Ireland to put a whistle to his mouth but when there are lads on the ground, instead of throwing the ball up immediately he lets things go and needlessly gets players hot under the collar.
Two men saw red within minutes of each other - Ray Cullivan from Cavan and then soon after Michael Murphy. The crossbar broke Murphy's heart in the final last year, this time with what he, and everyone else, thought was an innocuous shoulder led to him being sent to the line. Michael was a silly boy to a degree but GAA matches would end up as five-a-side if incidents like this ended up in red cards every weekend. The old adage of the trying to even things up was certainly prevelant in the ground. Jimmy McGuinness had no words or even eye contact for his captain as he made his way off, obviously disappointed with his star man; the incident though took place on the other side of the field so on seeing it again McGuinness will be as taken aback with it as the rest of us. The new ruling this year where incidents where a referee has taken action cannot be revisited means Murphy will miss the battle with Tyrone.
When both red cards are compared its frustrating to see the same punishment handed out for crimes that are at opposite ends of the spectrum. The kung-fu challenge on Cassidy was as bad as I’ve ever seen on a GAA field; Jason McAteer against Macedonia in 1997 sprung to mind.
Cassidy recovered from the decapitation attempt and had a fine game, particularly in the period after Murphy’s dismissal; he was the wise old head that was needed and drove the team forward, even popping up with a fine score of his own off his left. Kevin Rafferty was another who had an excellent afternoon, registering on the score sheet and getting through a huge amount of work. Donegal put some wonderful passages of play together at times, and much of it came from the big Letterkenny man winning primary possession and initiating the moves.
Karl Lacey was given orders to keep the opposition danger man Seanie Johnston under tabs for the opening exchanges; it was a tough day though for Johnston though and the more his influence waned the more time Lacey spent bombing forward. Karl was often the outlet when Donegal turned over Cavan possession and it will be interesting to see how The Messiah deploys him against Tyrone. For most of the league the Four Masters man was an attacking half back but in big Championship games he is usually given man-marking duties and Tyrone obviously have plenty of threats, none more so than Stephen O’Neill. The task of minding O’Neill though may be given to Neil McGee, who had another brilliant game today, and that would leave Lacey to do his damage further up the field.
Today marked the welcome return to the Donegal jersey for Leo McLoone having spent the last number of months recovering from that horrific ankle break and dislocation. His return could not have come at a more timely juncture. It was Leo who earned the man of the match gong in the league game at Omagh, marshalling his troops from centre back and nullifying the threat of Sean Cavanagh. It’s a big ask to step up for a joust with the O’Neill county having only just returned but there’s a good chance he’ll get the nod, possibly with No 14 on his back - even though Murphy will be missing from the full forward line it’ll likely be a deeper lying player to replace him at Clones in two weeks.
Today Donegal set up with three giants up front - Colm McFadden, Patrick McBrearty and Murphy were the targets and early on every ball was pumped in high on top of them. After the departure of the latter, the style changed and aided with the introduction of Michael Hegarty the ball was played in front of the remaining duo and between them they notched an impressive 1-8.
Sitting directly behind the Donegal bench at Breffni today, it was fascinating to listen to the conversations between Jim and his sidekick Rory Gallagher; they are constantly thinking about switches, positioning, covering, breaking forward, holding back and everything in between. At one point seven Donegal players broke forward from the back and runner Maxi Curran was immediately dispatched to ensure that if lads went forward others had to take responsibility and cover behind them. A big test awaits them as they take on the tactical master that is Mickey Harte.
Dermot Molloy will be disappointed he didn’t start today but with Murphy missing he’ll fancy his chances of more game time the next day out; and with two lovely points after he came on he didn’t do his prospects any harm.
McBreaty looks like he’s secured a place in the line up for the semi final and it will be a huge test for the youngster coming up against the brawn and brute of lads like Conor Gormley and Ryan McMenamin. Previous Donegal stalwarts like McFadden, Brendan Devenney and Adrian Sweeney have struggled against Tyrone - their defenders are outstanding players but can also do the dirty, cynical stuff as well as anyone. Remember McFadden’s southpaw on Brian Dooher in 2007? That was a reaction to Gormley laughing in his face and McFadden lost it. Throwing a seventeen year old into that kind of cauldron will be a brave move but if The Messiah feels he’s ready though that’s what he’ll do.
In 2004 Donegal faced Tyrone in an Ulster semi-final and played the All-Ireland Champions off the pitch despite going into the game as severe underdogs. Three years later we went in full of confidence; we were league champions and had beaten Armagh in the opening round - then we were taught a footballing lesson.
Now, in 2011, we approach the game somewhere in between, not the world beaters of 2007 and not the underdogs of 2004.
We find ourselves where we felt we would be - we’ve played two poor teams, taken care of them without much fuss. This is where we want to be; amongst the big boys, against the team that have set the benchmark over the last number of years. Donegal have sights on higher plateaus than what we’ve reached over the past number of championship seasons. In two weeks time we will find out exactly where we are. This is the ultimate test.
It was somewhat bittersweet being back in this setting for Donegal fans; looking forward to the game with confidence but also looking back on our last visit here for the All-Ireland U21 Final 13 months ago. Little did we know that the curse of Breffni would again strike our most prized possession.
As seems to happen in many games where everyone’s favourite Sligo man is in charge, there was an undercurrent of needle amongst the players. Hits were flying in, many of which were mistimed although this was completely understandable given the conditions. Marty Duffy though let a couple of incidents go on longer than they needed to and there was a sense of a lack of control on his part. For a technical foul he’s the quickest man in Ireland to put a whistle to his mouth but when there are lads on the ground, instead of throwing the ball up immediately he lets things go and needlessly gets players hot under the collar.
Two men saw red within minutes of each other - Ray Cullivan from Cavan and then soon after Michael Murphy. The crossbar broke Murphy's heart in the final last year, this time with what he, and everyone else, thought was an innocuous shoulder led to him being sent to the line. Michael was a silly boy to a degree but GAA matches would end up as five-a-side if incidents like this ended up in red cards every weekend. The old adage of the trying to even things up was certainly prevelant in the ground. Jimmy McGuinness had no words or even eye contact for his captain as he made his way off, obviously disappointed with his star man; the incident though took place on the other side of the field so on seeing it again McGuinness will be as taken aback with it as the rest of us. The new ruling this year where incidents where a referee has taken action cannot be revisited means Murphy will miss the battle with Tyrone.
When both red cards are compared its frustrating to see the same punishment handed out for crimes that are at opposite ends of the spectrum. The kung-fu challenge on Cassidy was as bad as I’ve ever seen on a GAA field; Jason McAteer against Macedonia in 1997 sprung to mind.
Cassidy recovered from the decapitation attempt and had a fine game, particularly in the period after Murphy’s dismissal; he was the wise old head that was needed and drove the team forward, even popping up with a fine score of his own off his left. Kevin Rafferty was another who had an excellent afternoon, registering on the score sheet and getting through a huge amount of work. Donegal put some wonderful passages of play together at times, and much of it came from the big Letterkenny man winning primary possession and initiating the moves.
Karl Lacey was given orders to keep the opposition danger man Seanie Johnston under tabs for the opening exchanges; it was a tough day though for Johnston though and the more his influence waned the more time Lacey spent bombing forward. Karl was often the outlet when Donegal turned over Cavan possession and it will be interesting to see how The Messiah deploys him against Tyrone. For most of the league the Four Masters man was an attacking half back but in big Championship games he is usually given man-marking duties and Tyrone obviously have plenty of threats, none more so than Stephen O’Neill. The task of minding O’Neill though may be given to Neil McGee, who had another brilliant game today, and that would leave Lacey to do his damage further up the field.
Today marked the welcome return to the Donegal jersey for Leo McLoone having spent the last number of months recovering from that horrific ankle break and dislocation. His return could not have come at a more timely juncture. It was Leo who earned the man of the match gong in the league game at Omagh, marshalling his troops from centre back and nullifying the threat of Sean Cavanagh. It’s a big ask to step up for a joust with the O’Neill county having only just returned but there’s a good chance he’ll get the nod, possibly with No 14 on his back - even though Murphy will be missing from the full forward line it’ll likely be a deeper lying player to replace him at Clones in two weeks.
Today Donegal set up with three giants up front - Colm McFadden, Patrick McBrearty and Murphy were the targets and early on every ball was pumped in high on top of them. After the departure of the latter, the style changed and aided with the introduction of Michael Hegarty the ball was played in front of the remaining duo and between them they notched an impressive 1-8.
Sitting directly behind the Donegal bench at Breffni today, it was fascinating to listen to the conversations between Jim and his sidekick Rory Gallagher; they are constantly thinking about switches, positioning, covering, breaking forward, holding back and everything in between. At one point seven Donegal players broke forward from the back and runner Maxi Curran was immediately dispatched to ensure that if lads went forward others had to take responsibility and cover behind them. A big test awaits them as they take on the tactical master that is Mickey Harte.
Dermot Molloy will be disappointed he didn’t start today but with Murphy missing he’ll fancy his chances of more game time the next day out; and with two lovely points after he came on he didn’t do his prospects any harm.
McBreaty looks like he’s secured a place in the line up for the semi final and it will be a huge test for the youngster coming up against the brawn and brute of lads like Conor Gormley and Ryan McMenamin. Previous Donegal stalwarts like McFadden, Brendan Devenney and Adrian Sweeney have struggled against Tyrone - their defenders are outstanding players but can also do the dirty, cynical stuff as well as anyone. Remember McFadden’s southpaw on Brian Dooher in 2007? That was a reaction to Gormley laughing in his face and McFadden lost it. Throwing a seventeen year old into that kind of cauldron will be a brave move but if The Messiah feels he’s ready though that’s what he’ll do.
In 2004 Donegal faced Tyrone in an Ulster semi-final and played the All-Ireland Champions off the pitch despite going into the game as severe underdogs. Three years later we went in full of confidence; we were league champions and had beaten Armagh in the opening round - then we were taught a footballing lesson.
Now, in 2011, we approach the game somewhere in between, not the world beaters of 2007 and not the underdogs of 2004.
We find ourselves where we felt we would be - we’ve played two poor teams, taken care of them without much fuss. This is where we want to be; amongst the big boys, against the team that have set the benchmark over the last number of years. Donegal have sights on higher plateaus than what we’ve reached over the past number of championship seasons. In two weeks time we will find out exactly where we are. This is the ultimate test.
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