Rebels can’t be wasteful, cautions Kissane

There’s nothing like a spanner in the works to break a machine but Paudie Kissane believes avoiding errors is paramount if Cork are to beat Donegal.

Having seen Jim McGuinness’s side force Kerry into coughing up ball and capitalise with scores in the next possession, the wing-back knows what his team can’t afford to do.

“The key against them is that they do well on turnovers so we’re going to have to use the ball very well.

“It’s going to be tight and there will be pressure so we have to minimise the mistakes and we have a few great forwards who hopefully can get scores. Maybe at times, we play a bit of a running game and we’re going to need that on Sunday with fellas coming off the shoulder and breaking tackles. The key thing is not giving away silly possession and if we can do that, we should be able to get scoring chances.”

So what makes Donegal different? They’ve certainly evolved from the style that turned so many off them last year.

“It maybe wasn’t pretty on the eye but at this level, it’s a results business. Tactics are dictated by what panel of players you have, and they are in a semi-final again this year so it must be working and they won’t mind any criticism they get.”

He added: “Everyone is on about Donegal but a lot of counties have their tactics, Dublin have men behind the ball and Kerry bring midfielders back. It’s all about winning.

“You saw the hurling (on Sunday) — sometimes tactics work and sometimes they don’t.

“The key thing with them is that when they do turnover, they move very quickly from defence to attack, and that’s the real difference to other teams.”

Donegal’s sweeping utility player Mark McHugh is brought up as an example of one player who will thrive on high ball into the Cork full-forward line that is knocked away by full-back Neil McGee.

“If you’re kicking in ball and he’s picking up breaks and then the link man coming out of defence, so the key thing is using the ball well and not make him as effective as possible.

“He is going to get some ball because he is a good player and he’s fit and he covers a lot of ground.”

One area where Conor Counihan can forgive a slip-up or two is shooting, an area in which Kissane has shown some prowess.

Kissane has three points to his name in this year’s Championship — scoring two against Kildare last day out.

“It’s just something in training that we practise a lot. And it is drilled into us that if we get a chance, have a go and don’t be worried about making a mistake.”

Being part of a unit that has kept a clean sheet in all three of their games this summer is another notch on the belt, although Kissane plays down the statistic.

“Yeah, but it’s your job not to concede goals. In fairness, Alan Quirke made some great saves against Kerry earlier in the Championship. But we know that if we don’t concede, we have a great chance of winning.”

With Donegal having let in just two this Championship over five games, it’s fair to say goals will be at a premium on Sunday.

“They probably are. But any team that gets men behind the ball, there is never going to be a huge score in the game. Who knows? If we get a goal, it will be brilliant. But it doesn’t matter what score we get as long as we’re ahead at the end.”

They bagged two against Kildare in their 13-point quarter-final win, making it five from three SFC games. Cork shot back to All-Ireland favourites after that win but Kissane doesn’t feel the difference between the sides in the end was reflective of the game.

“It was overexaggerated a small bit because we had a great start and we took the foot off the pedal and let them back in the game.

“When they got a man sent off (Darryl Flynn), I think they lost their way and it was probably too easy in the end. Yes it was a good win but it was exaggerated by the score.”