TOMÁS QUINN: The road to retention full of potholes
On Saturday night at headquarters, All-Ireland champions Donegal were welcomed back to Jones’ Road by a guard of honour from a team that spent the next 70 minutes doing whatever it took to beat them. Donegal earned the right to this guard of honour last year but it’s the first sign of how things have changed for them and how this year is going to be different than anything they’ve faced before. It’s been well documented at this stage how hard it is for teams to replicate All Ireland success. This Donegal team has already had an unbelievable journey and if any team were to retain Sam Maguire then why not them?
They started the game on Saturday night with a championship-like team and it was clear they weren’t using the game to experiment. They set up in a style we are accustomed although they didn’t have quite the same bite in the tackle or fitness to smother Kildare ball carriers. They made too many individual errors and gave away two very soft goals which will disappoint Jim McGuinness. But he can be very happy with the response of his players when it looked as though the game was going away from them. That show of character and determination will give him positives to look at when they go back training this week.
As with any sport, the previous season’s winners are more scrutinised that any other team. Opponents study their system, mainly with a view to countering it, but also to see if there is anything they can take and use with their own team. Kildare showed good patience and didn’t take shots under pressure which is what Donegal try and force you to do.
They also matched up runners on Donegal’s main ball carriers and curbed their influence on the game.
One of the biggest challenges Donegal face in 2013 is developing two or three new players who can step in and be effective in their system, especially if there is a situation where key men like Karl Lacey or Colm McFadden, who left through injury after just 10 minutes, are unavailable. It might take a few games for players to come to the fore but its imperative they add something to the group as it’ll be unlikely they will be able to go all the way with the same 20 as last year.
Every team tries to play the game to their strengths and Donegal have been masters at this in the last two years. The team ethos they have created means some individuals must adapt their style, Michael Murphy has highlighted this as the ultimate team player and leader. He had an outstanding All-Ireland final at full-forward and again on Saturday was Donegal’s standout player doing his best work close to the Kildare goal. Opposition teams will be much happier seeing him out contesting breaking ball around the middle third and maybe the biggest tweak to their system is the one that allows Murphy the freedom to play inside on a regular basis.
A lot has been made of their mental approach since McGuiness took over and the belief he has instilled within the squad. They spoke about seeing Sam at the front of the bus and the journey home to Donegal, this year they’ll have a lot more mental challenges to deal with as All-Ireland champions. Already the players have spent the winter months celebrating. Many people see this as a time that players attitudes might ‘soften’ but I actually think they need to switch off. They will know as a group when’s the time for the partying to stop. You could see they were behind Kildare in terms of fitness but that’s something they can make up over the coming weeks.
I’ve no doubt they’ll do as many, if not more, training sessions as last year but the mindset will be crucial. There’ll be times where they’ll compare what they are doing now to things that happened last year, but they must be careful not to keep referencing back as it can dilute focus going forward. When trying to defend a title, teams often fall into that trap, defending something they have rather than chasing an opportunity out in front of them, a little like Donegal 2011 v Donegal 2012.
We wait and see what road lies ahead for Donegal 2013.
