The difference may be Gooch

Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms

In ‘This is Our Year’, Declan Bogue’s now infamous account of the 2011 championship, Kevin Cassidy recalls how the precise game-plan for the semi-final clash with Dublin was only revealed to the Donegal players three hours prior to throw-in.

This time out Donegal would be bringing the defensive innovations of the last decade to their brutally logical conclusion, employing an even more radical and destructive approach to containing the opposition — putting 14 men behind the ball. According to Cassidy, nobody blinked in the meeting room.