McEniff: complacency won’t be an issue for Donegal

WHEN Brian McEniff first heard that his side had drawn Tipperary in the qualifiers, he assumed the match would be played somewhere in the midlands — Longford perhaps or Mullingar. The idea that he would be taking a team back to Croke Park for the first time in 10 years was never considered.

"It is a great venue for both teams," McEniff says.

The last time McEniff took Donegal to headquarters was for the league final in 1993, when a young, Anthony Tohill ran the then-reigning All-Ireland champions ragged.

This afternoon, few people are expecting anything other than victory for his current crop of Donegal players, but McEniff has spent all week keeping his men clear of the complacency trap.

"Well, I am delighted we avoided the big three in the draw Armagh, Meath and Dublin. I said after Sligo we would have to raise our game a further notch from that performance in this round. If we had met one of those three teams, we would have had to raise our game two notches and that might have been beyond us at this stage.

"I think all the teams below the three I mentioned are on the same level, there is not much separating ourselves, Offaly, Roscommon or Tipperary. Tipp came within a kick of the ball of winning a Munster title last year. In Declan Browne, they have as good a footballer as there is in the country and a good young manager in Tom McGlinchy. We are expecting a tough game, I don't know how anybody could underestimate anyone else at this stage of the summer."

Of course, some people don't seem to be listening. Three hours after the 'live' draw was made last weekend, Pat Spillane, with blatant disregard for his new role as Sunday Game presenter, went on an editorialising spiel, commenting that Donegal had an easy draw to get themselves back on track. As McEniff watched, his disbelief turned to anger.

"Pat Spillane's remarks on the Sunday Game do nobody any good. He acted like my lottery numbers came up when we drew Tipperary and his comments demean Tipperary football.

"Tipp may be primarily a hurling county, but there is a lot of good and committed football people keeping the game alive there, and in other places that are primarily hurling counties, like Wexford. And they don't need to be offended in the way Pat offended them last Sunday."

The Donegal manager feels his counterpart can use Spillane's comments to motivate his troops even more, while most of the neutrals in the crowd will be behind Tipp. And although the Donegal graph has been upward since the Fermanagh debacle, there are still a number of injury worries. Brendan Devanney is back in the equation but Donegal are still without Noel McGinley, Mark Crossan and James Ruane.

Tom McGlinchy, ironically a man with Donegal roots, hopes his team rise to the occasion and use the stage to prove they're not a one-man band.

"We have a great talent in Declan Browne, but it is not talked about that to get scores he is dependant on good service. Players out the field must win possession for him to get the ball to use. It is the Corkery factor in Cork or Adrian Sweeney with Donegal. When teams have an exceptionally good player, there is a tendency to say a team is too reliant on him."

McGlinchy has said it is great that two sides with no baggage are meeting in Croker, and that may lead to an open, clean game of football. But as much as he enjoys playing down Browne's role, for Tipp to have any chance, they need seven or eight points from the Moyle Rovers star.

Donegal, with more firepower and a better balance across the field, allied to this being their fourth game at headquarters in less than 12 months, should have enough.