Extra touch of class will get Gilroy men over line
WE probably didn’t need Marc Ó Sé and Tom O’Sullivan’s heroic performances against Mayo last weekend to inform us the days of playing Gaelic football without giving your full-back line protection are long gone.
We already had ample evidence of that in Dublin’s demolition of Tyrone a fortnight earlier. While Mickey Harte and his players were reluctant to attribute their heavy defeat to the absence of a sweeper, it was uncharacteristically naive of them to assume Dublin’s superior power, pace and all-round energy wouldn’t thrive on such freedom.
In time, perhaps, Kerry’s naiveté in man-to-man defending will also be exposed — but that’s for another day. We can be absolutely certain that shutting up shop will form a big part of the order of the day in Croke Park tomorrow.
Donegal’s system has attracted enough scrutiny and negative comment at this stage without my voice being added to the chorus. Suffice to say the fundamental principles of hard work and honesty remain core values in a team strangely similar to the last one to change the way we think about football — Tyrone 2003-08.
Perhaps Donegal under Jim McGuinness will become as efficient as that great team one day but it’s hard to blame them for not abandoning the barren structures of obedience that have served them so well up to now.
A few weeks back, ahead of their quarter-final against Kildare, I believed it was becoming increasingly obvious that the team that beats Donegal this season will have to play them at their own game. It is mildly ironic that the type of point-kicking required to penetrate the Donegal defence tomorrow was best exemplified by Kevin Cassidy’s bomb from the 45 on August weekend.
For all the virtues of their dynamic performance against Tyrone, Pat Gilroy’s Dublin have yet to prove that they can kick the type of point that requires patience in the build up, waiting for the opening, receiving the ball while virtually stationary and kicking under pressure from the same position. Donegal have the uncanny knack of being able to get teams to fight the battles on their terms and overcoming the challenge they present requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions.
Donegal’s defensive area behind the 45 has become as inhospitable as the Martian regolith and for Dublin to get anywhere near the magical 14 or 15 points required, an awful lot of things are going to have to fall into place for them.
While no two games are the same, can we, for example, presume that Diarmuid Connolly is going to kickseven points from play tomorrow?
Twice within five minutes in the second half against Tyrone, Bernard Brogan hit perfect cross-field balls to Paul Flynn and Barry Cahill, resulting in scores on both occasions. Cross-field passes of this nature encourage the type of crowded conditions Donegal like to create around their goal. Can we anticipate that Brogan will go back to the individualism of the past when the heat comes on or will he recycle the ball as well as he has been doing in the less pressurised environment up to now?
While Joe McQuillan had some questionable calls against Dublin defenders the last day out, eight free kicks were conceded within scoring range, seven of which were converted. In a tight match, free-taking can become an issue and the ability to tackle with discipline will be critical in a tightly-configured back line.
Inexperience can be proffered as an excuse in the cases of James McCarthy, Michael Fitzsimons and even Rory O’Carroll but Ger Brennan gets sucked in more than he should and he will need to be wary against Michael Hegarty’s guile.
Do we know for sure that the Dublin backs won’t revert to the frenzied tackling that saw them lose the plot and the semi-final at this stage last year?
Dublin have answered many of the questions the league and Leinster finals threw up earlier this summer. They have increased their options around the middle by using Barry Cahill, Kevin Nolan and Paul Flynn as targets for Stephen Cluxton’s kick-outs. They have solved their free-taking issues from the right by asking Cluxton to plant them and they are finishing out games in a calmer fashion than they were a few months back.
Cluxton has elevated the art of goal-keeping to a higher level this season and his influence over matches is so pronounced that it would be inconceivable were someone as meticulous as Jim McGuinness not to have ready-made plans to diminish this influence.
McGuinness is likely to have examined his own goalkeeper Paul Durcan’s showing the last day out and will be anxious for improvement. The first time Durcan attempted any departure from his usual punt to the area between the two 65s against Kildare, it had a negative effect. His short kick-out to Ryan Bradley early in the second half went over the sideline and Alan Smith put Kildare ahead at a critical juncture from the kick. From then on, Durcan reverted to his unimaginative punting, Kildare won the kick-outs 26 to 11, Darryl Flynn alone won eight clean catches and Durcan did nothing to break that dominance.
Donegal can’t always depend on creating the conditions for a breaking ball scrap, especially with Cluxton at the other end of the pitch.
Much has been made of the possible tactical battles between both managers and there is no doubt substitutes and sideline shenanigans will have a huge bearing on it. Yet assuming both teams will have equal desire, similar motivations and common goals, it should come down to who has the greater talent out on the pitch.
From goalkeeper out, Dublin appear to have the advantage. Only in the respective half-back lines do Donegal appear to have the balance tipped in their favour and, even then, Karl Lacey, Kevin Cassidy and Anthony Thompson will do well to match the industry and imagination of Flynn, Cahill and Cullen in the unlikely event of teams lining up as selected.
The match-ups are, of course, crucial and in this regard, McGuinness is likely to put Eamon McGee on Connolly, Lacey on Alan Brogan and Neil McGee on Bernard Brogan.
O’Carroll and Murphy will cancel each other out, as will James McCarthy and Mark McHugh. Cian O’Sullivan and Michael Fitzsimons should have too much pace for the Donegal inside forwards and despite the fact Cavan’s Michael Brennan is the only player to breach their rearguard so far this summer, it’s difficult to imagine Paul Durcan not picking the ball out of his net at some stage.
Earlier this week, McGuinness spoke of the great journey his players have been on this summer. He also spoke of not really knowing their capabilities or limits yet. There is, of course the chance of the unforeseen, the unknowable and the impossible propelling them all the way to the final but, based on the fact that Dublin are further down the road in terms of their transformation from the startled earwigs of two years ago, I’ll take them to advance.
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