Three reasons why Dublin delivered
DONEGAL’S tactic of allowing Stephen Cluxton to find one of his free team-mates with each of his 16 kick-outs was seriously flawed. It allowed Dublin to build from the back throughout and meant that Donegal always had to chase down possession.
Jim McGuinness’s men did not score in the last 30 minutes of the game while Dublin hit five points. Some of that was definitely down to tiredness and mental fatigue on Donegal’s behalf. They really lost their way in the last quarter. Conceding possession so cheaply and without even challenging the opposition lacks ambition. Donegal were saying to Dublin, ‘Come at us and we will stop you scoring’. But how were the Ulster champions also meant to get a match-winning total on the board? It took Pat Gilroy and his team a long time to adapt to the Donegal blockade but the introduction of Kevin McManamon changed the dynamics of the tie. Even when the game was going away from Donegal and they were only against a 14-man Dublin side, McGuinness still stuck to his defensive strategy and Cluxton was still allowed to pop any of his restarts to free Dublin defenders.
