Donegal chomping at bit for Kerry clash

UNLIKE 12 months ago, the Croke Park floodlights will go unused for the opening weekend of the National Football League but the meeting of the league and All-Ireland champions in Ballybofey should still be an illuminating spectacle.

Last March in Letterkenny, though they met at very different junctures in their seasons’ preparations, the counties delivered perhaps the best game of the competition.

While Kerry were still well short of full strength, Donegal fielded a virtual championship 15 and the disparity in front-line troops swung the balance in the host’s favour.

Things will be different this time. Brendan Devenney is suffering with a long-term stomach complaint, Adrian Sweeney is on hiatus, Rory Kavanagh is suspended, Michael Hegarty is on holiday and defender Barry Dunnion won’t be fit until March.

Less heralded players are absent too. Leon Thompson, Johnny Gallagher, Stephen McDermott, Tommy Donoghue … the list goes on for manager Brian McIver who has been forced to dip his hand deep into the county’s talent pool.

“We’re probably not as well prepared as we would have liked. We have less done because the leagues ran on so long in Donegal but what a start to the league — the National League champions against the All-Ireland champions.

“There certainly won’t be a problem getting boys motivated for Saturday night. It’s a great game to look forward to and it will show us early in the year exactly where we stand.”

The good news for Donegal is that Kerry seem to be at their most vulnerable on the first weekend in February where they have lost their last four first round league games, most famously away to Longford in 2004.

Even with his current problems, McIver believes Donegal “certainly doesn’t lack talent” and he won’t be using their casualty list or domestic backlog as a safety net should things don’t go their way Saturday or subsequently. Though they find themselves in Division One, there is a case to be made for the argument that the second tier is every bit as tricky and Donegal should be confident of at least avoiding the drop. Whether they want to mirror last year’s events when they claimed the title is another matter entirely.

Flying in spring, they were flat come summer where defeats to Tyrone and Monaghan consigned them to an early championship exit.

“We were obviously disappointed not to be able to build on our league success. For our squad of players, the league was very important.

“When we got to the semi-final against Kildare, that game became important. We had lost in Croke Park the season before in the Ulster final and then the All-Ireland quarter-final to Cork so to win there with a young squad was important.

“Once we got to the final, with Donegal’s record in finals in recent years and the mental stumbling block that became, that game was again very important. We just hope that serves as a good platform for future success.”

McIver had to be convinced of that like everyone else. After the qualifier defeat to Monaghan, he cashed in his chips and walked away before having a change of mind and being re-elected for a further three years.

A man who wears his heart on his sleeve, he could be forgiven for re-aligning his sights for the immediate future by working to rule through the league but he isn’t prepared to discount the possibility of a return trip to Croke Park come April.

“You are still looking at the second biggest competition at national level in Gaelic football. We will be as keen to do well in it as humanly possible.