15 is magic number for McEniff and Donegal

BRIAN McENIFF has crunched the numbers and come up with a bottom line figure, 14 points.

According to Donegal’s only All-Ireland-winning manager, it’s the most Dublin will score this weekend and, consequently, the reason why Donegal will secure a rare final spot.

McEniff claims his prediction is based on more than blind bias, insisting that Dublin have been over-hyped as a result of their big win over Tyrone. He harks back to a column he penned as far back as February for his local Donegal Democrat newspaper, signposting that Tyrone’s legs “were all but gone”.

So he reads little into Dublin shooting 22 points past the Red Hand men and estimates the Dubs’ true form lies “somewhere in between the performances against Wexford, Kildare and Tyrone”.

Dublin manager Pat Gilroy will hope to disprove McEniff’s theory this weekend but, for now, will be happy some of the pressure is being shifted off his team by the 1992-winning manager’s bold prediction.

“We are not going to give as much space to the two Brogans and Connolly and I speculate that they won’t score more than 14 points against us,” said McEniff, the latest inductee into the MBNA Kick Fada Hall of Fame.

“If you go along the lines of the Tyrone game, it was more down to Tyrone’s defensive frailties than Dublin’s attacking. Dublin had a wonderful game, they were awesome but you have to put it against the standard of the opposition they were playing.

“They have given us a lot of joy in Ulster to be fair to Tyrone. My mother was a Tyrone person and the three All-Irelands they’ve won... Mickey Harte has been a credit to his province and his county.

“But Tyrone weren’t functioning this year even if they did kick 15 points against Dublin. Take the two frees that they missed from within 30 yards and Tyrone could have amassed 17 points. You put that all into the pot and that’s why we have come up with these figures [14 points].”

So if Dublin are going to be held to no more than 14 points, then Donegal presumably have to simply register 15 or more to win.

“Yes, and between numbers two and 12 in our team we have to find six points,” reasoned McEniff.

“That’s from Karl Lacey at number two to number 12, Ryan Bradley. We have that capacity. Bradley, Mickey Hegarty and Mark McHugh are capable of kicking a point each per game as is Rory Kavanagh at midfield. Then you have Kevin Cassidy and Karl Lacey coming from deep. Then the inside forwards have to produce the rest between them; Colm McFadden, Michael Murphy and the two young lads, ‘Brick’ Molloy and Patrick McBrearty.”

Even accounting for McEniff’s god-like status in his native Donegal, his comments are unlikely to convince the majority of punters to shift their money onto Donegal. When it comes to Dublin, expectancy goes with the territory.

“The pressure is on Dublin,” accepted McEniff. “It’s partly to do with their performance the last day which was fantastic. Everything Dublin did turned to gold. They could find themselves quite frustrated this time because that’s what these defensive systems cause, frustration. We have a defensive system that Dublin will not have encountered.”

If he’s brutally honest, such a defensive approach is not McEniff’s way. But he’s pragmatic enough to realise it was a necessary evil to force a turn in their fortunes. It’s just over a year since they limped out of the qualifiers as first round losers to Armagh in Crossmaglen.

“It was like the end of the world,” reflected McEniff who heaped praised on his former pupil, Donegal’s current master, Jim McGuinness. “Jim doesn’t demand respect, he earns it by the level of commitment he gives. He’s a 24 hours a day man dealing with players and his management team.”