McEniff’s men quietly confident of proving the doubters wrong
Tyrone may also have learnt a thing or two about themselves in Clones.
Most neutrals feel Donegal won’t stand in the way of the Ulster Council’s big July pay-day on the Jones Road. Which suits Brian McEniff fine. He has been using a line in pragmatism discussing his team all week.
“Well, Tyrone are the All-Ireland champions, and they have shown why in recent games,” the Donegal manager says. “I think if you want to look at how good they really are, look back to the league semi-final against Galway. They were nine points down at one stage and within 12 minutes, they were a point up.”
Donegal’s form has been pretty mediocre this year. They sauntered through Division Two, but their 100% record (in the group stages) had more to do with the gulf in quality between them and the rest of the teams. The difference in class between the two sections of the league has been playing on McEniff’s mind this week.
“You can notice it in teams, whether they have spent the league playing division one or division two football. There is no comparison in the intensity of the games. You need to be playing the likes of Armagh and Kerry week on week.”
And as the champions’ injury crisis has eased, Donegal are starting to feel the pinch. Their dynamic half-back Kevin Cassidy was injured in a club game and their centre-forward Micheal Hegarty went down in training, but he has been passed fit to play.
McEniff has brought a number of fresh faces in this year, including 20-year-old keeper Paul Durcan.
Full-back Raymie Sweeney, younger brother of talismanic captain Adrian, knows all about Durcan’s qualities. “Yeah, he is a big lad, very good in the air and commanding. That is perhaps the one thing we lacked in around there. You know when Paul calls for a ball and comes for it, he is going to get it, no matter who he has to clatter. I know, he has flattened me a couple of times,” Sweeney says.
The full-back realises Donegal will lack the element of surprise, one factor in last year’s prolonged summer. “That’s gone for us. I think last year, because of the Fermanagh match, a lot of teams underestimated us. That won’t happen this year,” he says.
There will plenty of fresh faces in this Donegal team, which sets an optimistic tone for the future. Guys like Paul, Eamon McGee and Colm McFadden are all part of the format with the latter possessing the potential to follow in the lineage of supremely assured Donegal corner-forwards.
Donegal can take heart from the way Galway’s pace troubled Tyrone. Donegal’s attack has as much speed. Brian McLaughlin in midfield has added a new dimension to Donegal’s game, sweeping the ball in to the full-forward line at speed, rather than hand-passing up the middle.
It won’t be easy, but de-throning All-Ireland champions never is. But, as the rest of the country are writing them off, Donegal can sit back and think of Wexford hurlers.
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