Latest tawdry tales won’t end Donegal’s summer

GLUM expressions in Donegal this week. Talk of the summer in ruins, that sort of thing. Psychic wounds re-opened as two players, Eamon Magee and Brian McLoughlin, were kicked off the panel for turning up ‘unfit to train’.

Donegal legend Martin McHugh believes this is the biggest test of character this team will face.

“There is no doubt or question about the talent in this Donegal team. But, after everything that has happened, this is the chance for them to show what they are made of.”

Internal disputes and bon viveurs are nothing new in Donegal football, but last week’s shenanigans became very public. One Sunday newspaper exclusively revealed the details of the aftermath of the Ulster final.

All-Ireland winning captain Anthony Molloy says dressing-room rows are hardly unique to Donegal and if the air has cleared, it can have a galvanising effect on the side.

“Players in every county team have their differences from time to time. It’s only natural, you have 30-odd different personalities together in a team. In ’92, the players and management would meet every couple of weeks to iron out any problems we might have. If anyone had any problems, they would say it behind closed doors and it would be worked on.

“And I think that is what happened this week. They had a clear the air meeting last week and I think everyone is back, focused on doing their best for Donegal. In my time, those sort of meetings definitely had the effect of bringing the team closer together.”

While Fermanagh manager Charlie Mulgrew knows most of the Donegal players particularly well from his time as assistant to Declan Bonner and manager of St Eunans, McHugh feels it will be an awkward game for Mulgrew to prepare for.

“I remember in my time with Cavan, the most difficult match I had to prepare the team for was when we faced Donegal in the championship. It doesn’t matter what people say, it is not easy plotting the downfall of your native county,” McHugh says.

“Eamon Coleman said the same thing before the Cavan-Derry match this year. You are going up against a team with a lot of players you worked with, players you would consider your personal friends. Knowing Charlie, he will be relishing the challenge but it is a hard situation to be in.”

The defeat to Armagh, the way Donegal were systematically destroyed, was hard enough to swallow without the recrimination that followed. McHugh says the qualifier match will dictate the path of Donegal football for the next few years.

“Make no mistake about it, this is a far more important game for Donegal than it is for Fermanagh. This is possibly the most important game for this bunch of players, because if they lose, they have to ask hard questions about themselves.

“Nobody doubts they have the talent now, but do they have the heart. There is an awful lot expected of them, there was probably a little too much expected before the Armagh game, but the best teams have to come through some troubled times.”

But their troubles have grown during the week. Damien Diver, who along with Niall McCready and Raymie Sweeney, were probably the only players to emerge from the Ulster final with reputations intact, is out with hamstring injury. Diver has been Donegal’s most consistent player this year, and his loss will be keenly felt. With Christy Toye, so integral to Donegal’s game-plan, also missing in the half-forward line, it is a double blow. All the same, both McHugh and Molloy remain confident.

“I think Donegal will be too good for Fermanagh, they will have too many quality players in the end,” Molloy says. “It was a great achievement in beating Cork, but Cork were so bad, that it was played like a challenge game. Fermanagh did not want another Ulster side.”

Those sentiments are echoed by McHugh. “The sort of football Fermanagh play, they are better off outside of Ulster, because they can express themselves more. They didn’t want an Ulster side. You would have to think Donegal would be too good for them.”

Of course, there are other factors at work in Donegal at the moment. But all it takes is one right result for everything to look rosy in the garden once more. That right result might come in Clones on Saturday.