New Rebel crop won’t buckle
He has gone about his work in such a typically low key way that even the recent wins over Derry and Galway have barely registered — lost in all the hoopla surrounding the progress made by Antrim since that dark day in Ballybofey.
So inconspicuously have the perennial championship jesters arrived at the last eight that it appears even in the aftermath of the last two qualifier wins that the discussion on both games was as much about Galway’s and Derry’s demise as it was about Donegal’s rehabilitation.
That is why tomorrow’s quarter-final with Cork has the potential to be the most intriguing of all the weekend’s games. On both sidelines will be the least flamboyant and most pragmatic managers left in the race for Sam and for very different reasons nobody knows what to make of either of their charges.
So much water has passed under the championship bridge since we last saw Cork struggle to get over Limerick in the Munster final that their inactivity threatens to become an issue that could potentially derail them. On the other hand, Donegal’s understated momentum will ensure that Cork will have to go from 0 to 60 very quickly if they’re to put a halt to the Tír Chonaill gallop in what is in effect a new championship. Four weeks is a long time to be out of action in the middle of summer and even if a recent challenge game against Limerick and a few intense bouts inside in training will have steeled them for battle, Cork’s form up to now has been coloured by Kerry’s showing since June, by a worrying reliance on getting goals against the run of play and by vacuum-packing big scores into short, damaging bursts towards the end of a game.
Donegal certainly have a psychological advantage on the back of four morale-boosting wins in four weeks and doubts about Anthony Lynch and the lack of match practice in John Miskella’s case would have the Cork team of three or even two years ago buckling. The 2009 model however, appears to have the confidence and the necessary audacity to deal with these setbacks.
While not for a moment wishing to underestimate the destabilising effect of Lynch’s possible absence in the full-back line (allied to Ray Carey and Michael Shields’ relative inexperience in Croke Park), I still expect Cork to come through the latest obstacle on their collision course with Tyrone simply because they are a superior outfit man for man and their backs are not going to cough up nine frees as cheaply as Galway’s did last week.
Where John Galvin ruled the skies and Lavin, Lucey and Ranahan hustled the badlands beneath for large periods in the Munster final, I can’t see Nicholas Murphy, Pearse O’Neill and Alan O’Connor yielding the same ground this time to Kevin Cassidy, Barry Monaghan, Rory Kavanagh and Brendan Boyle. Even if they carry more potential for hitting, the Donegal ball winners simply aren’t in the same league as the Limerick diamond. I also expect Alan Quirke’s newfound confidence with short tactical kickouts to be in evidence more often in the wide open spaces of Croke Park.
John Joe Doherty will know that if Noel O’Leary, Graham Canty and John Miskella are afforded the same space as Garreth Bradshaw and the Galway half-back line was last week their task will be one of containment at the other end of the field. For all of Karl Lacey’s fine form in the governance of the Donegal full-back line these last few weeks, he can only tie down one of either Donnacha O’Connor or Daniel Goulding. Limerick found out last month that putting your best man marker on one (Johnny McCarthy on O’Connor), will probably have the effect of allowing the other an unfettered run in the park.
While the streak of independence that has always come to the fore when least expected in Donegal football has me reluctant to make bold predictions about the margin of Cork victory tomorrow, they should still have enough in reserve to kick home in the last 10 minutes. Donegal for their part will probably do what they’ve always done — hope for the best, fear the worst and that way anything in between won’t come as surprise. Cork to have another day out in the big house in a few weeks’ time.
The second quarter-final at headquarters tomorrow will probably see Ulster champions, Tyrone as vulnerable as they’re likely to be all season. It’s four years since an Ulster champion progressed beyond an All-Ireland quarter-final and despite all the navel gazing the Ulster championship brings about in recent years, the reality is that the competitive and democratic nature of the games masks a serious deficiency in quality in the eight-team tier below Tyrone. I’m sure Mickey Harte would’ve liked a more exacting campaign since May 31 but then again, 2009 was never about anything else but back-to-back All-Ireland titles.
Mikey Conway is a loss to Kildare but we can expect the Lilies to stick defiantly to their all-out attacking game with emphasis on tackling high up the field. It would be unwise on Kildare’s part to engage in mind games and sophisticated tactical manoeuvres with a team such as Tyrone but if they stick rigidly to their own game plan, Kildare certainly fit the profile of teams (Mayo, Laois, Meath) who have in the past hustled Tyrone out of the championship. This is 2009, however. Whatever chinks Tyrone have shown up to now (John Devine’s kickout, Brian Dooher’s fitness) will be counteracted by Devine’s unfortunate injury, Pascal McConnell’s presence and two extra weeks training for their captain. Unless Kieran McGeeney can unearth some more flaws, we can expect a Tyrone-Cork semi-final.
