Donegal boss: We know how Cork will front up
The 2010 All-Ireland champions started their quarter-final against Kildare with talents such as Daniel Goulding, Patrick Kelly and Pearse O’Neill on the bench and the trio made significant contributions when sprung.
“I think we are fairly clear in our own heads what is ahead of us,” said the Donegal manager. “Obviously kick-outs are going to be a huge part of the game. It is a huge part of the Cork game. If I had the players with the size, strength and fetching ability that Conor has... he has options in the half-forward line, he has options in the middle of the park and he has options in the half-back line so they tend to dominate that area.
“With their physique, with their fitness and their running power it would not make sense if you were not dying to take teams on, make it an athletic battle through the middle and run it. I don’t see those things changing because it is in line with their strengths and it is just a matter of trying to contain it.
“With the size of the players and what they can bring to the table it is a fair physical challenge for any team in the country and it is something that we haven’t been up against up to this point.”
McGuinness joked that Donegal would either have to stand up to that or “get out of the road quick enough” but Donegal will hardly be found wanting in the physical stakes and he spoke, too, about their hunger and the “rawness” that they could bring to the table.
His mantra this week will be simple: no regrets.
Four years ago, his Donegal U21 team lost a heartbreaking All-Ireland final to Dublin after Michael Murphy slammed a last-ditch penalty against the crossbar but McGuinness doesn’t harbour any what ifs.
His side had battled through a virus that swept the camp in the days approaching that final and still came within a whisker of the title and his only request on Sunday is that the tank is emptied again. Where the cards fall beyond that, is not his concern for now.
Few who have seen his team play this last two years will doubt they can play undercooked in such a fixture but, for all their successes, they have found themselves under siege in the dying minutes against both Tyrone and Kerry this year.
“If we are six points up seven minutes to go against Cork... and if we are clinging on and win by a point I will be more than happy as well. It was something that potentially was always going to happen against Kerry, they haven’t won what they won for no reason.
“What I would be happy about is that Karl Lacey left [the defence] when the pressure was on and the chips were down and he took a chance on a breaking ball in the middle of the park and he won that ball as a result of taking a chance.
“Rory Kavanagh won a very good break and slipped it to him and he went up the field, kicked a point and pushed it back out to two.
“Maybe that wouldn’t have happened last year, and that’s a small insight into how they have developed themselves as players. We just hope that kind of play can come to the fore on Sunday.”
You’d better believe it will.
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