McGuinness’s Donegal have learned to think on their feet
The original story was about a Philistine warrior, six foot nine in stature, who was sent to resolve a deadlock with the Israelites during a protracted battle to split King Saul’s kingdom in half. The solution was to have the best warriors fight and the losing army would be slaves to the victor. None of the Israelites moved until a young shepherd boy stepped forward. The rest is folklore...
The parallels are obvious to today’s semi-final but where it resonates mostly for me is in two areas: firstly, the tactical awareness of Donegal, and secondly, how Dublin failed to take their opponents seriously.
Tactically, Donegal were so far ahead for this game. They planned to minimise the effectiveness of Cluxton's kick-outs and fight for every ball. This was an expected ploy and it worked. They planned to minimise the access to Dublin’s full-forward line via direct ball and therefore to minimise the ability of the easy offload to pacy runners leading to goal opportunities. An expected ploy and it worked brilliantly. Donegal had planned to be patient in possession enabling them to eat into the clock, build frustration in Dublin players, and work out opportunities for scores. An expected ploy and it worked brilliantly. Murphy, as expected, would be exchanged from full forward to further out the field.
Again, it worked brilliantly.
What wasn’t expected was the deployment of Neil Gallagher to full forward at the start of the match. Nothing spectacular about this, you’d imagine? Surely he’ll come out the field at some stage, Donegal will remain with two inside-forwards? Rory O’Carroll will drop off? I’m afraid not. The Dublin defence were clearly told to man-mark their opponents and to follow them all over the field. Result? O’Carroll, the full back, ends up in midfield. Cooper, the centre-half back, follows Leo McLoone into the Donegal half-back line. Philip McMahon charges forward at every opportunity and the entire Dublin defence is left with a massive hole straight through the middle. Somehow they failed to recognise this and were severely exposed by a much more industrious Donegal team.
Jim McGuinness, after getting tanked by Kerry in the league a 2011, said they were a team he feared because they were able to think on their feet and adjust to the game without instruction from the sideline. It now appears this unique quality has somehow found its way into his Donegal team.
Of course, Donegal didn’t have it all their own way as Flynn and Connolly were brilliant for Dublin in the opening 25 minutes, scoring seven points between them. However for the remaining 45 minutes Flynn failed to register a score or a wide and furthermore had very little impact in the match.
Connolly scored a brilliant individual point and a free in the second half but was otherwise largely anonymous. This is where Donegal adjusted and adapted. They had completely neutralised the Dublin full-forward line, exposed their defensive frailties’, and having gained dominance in midfield, they simply had to learn to deal with the hitherto brilliant Dublin half-forward duo.
What were the signs that Dublin were dismissive of Donegal? Most obviously, they did not seem properly prepared for the Donegal system. The perception that Dublin will stick to their stylish attacking game regardless of who they were against suggested an arrogance or naivety. Maybe the memories of Pat Gilroy’s plan in 2011 still left a sour taste in the memories of the current Dublin management and players. ‘We can win with style and we don’t care who we’re against’ type attitude? Of course this may be unfair but questions also remain on the decision to start Jack McCaffrey and Cormac Costello. Brilliant footballers but without starting game time in competition for quite a while. Also the decision to leave the defence exposed and the midfield getting sucked into a huddle for Donegal kick-outs which bypassed them.
Jim McGuinness, the shepherd boy, found a weakness in the Dublin team. It wasn’t their armoury that led to their slain but their mental application and inability to take their opponent seriously.
As a fellow Ulster man, I am delighted for Jim McGuinness and Donegal. Their ability to constantly find the energy needed to breakdown the opposition and convert even the most innocuous of forward motions into a scoring opportunity is to be admired. This was a special weekend for Gaelic games and now we await a special All-Ireland final.
