Driven Donegal are a force of nature
The Donegal boss wasn’t crowing, or demeaning his beaten opponents, or laying down the law about the hype his players could expect in the coming weeks. He was reminding his men of what he’d predicted before the game — that they’d turn the ball over against Cork, and when they did the supporters in green and gold all over Croke Park would roar them on and energise them.
One member of the Cork management admitted later that McGuinness was correct that in all his time in football it was the one time the Corkman had seen a crowd and team working in tandem, almost.
Cork shouldered Dublin out of the championship at semi-final time a couple of years ago, with the Hill heaving in sky blue throughout the game, but Sunday was a different experience. The fact that Donegal supporters were scattered throughout the stadium, rather than confined en masse on one terrace, made them even more potent.
Not that Cork were completely surprised. They had expected something along those lines, but not on a scale that left their ears ringing.
People don’t realise that, the atmosphere at an All-Ireland semi-final is often better than it is at the final, said one Cork player this week.
The player expanded on his point: almost everybody at the All-Ireland semi-final is a fan of one of the counties involved rather than a neutral, he said, while there’s always a fair amount of event junkies and latecomers to the bandwagon at an All-Ireland final.
“That was the case last Sunday,” he added.
Cork traditionally don’t get a big crowd travelling to support their footballers — earlier this year Noel O’Leary admitted their fan base would probably reduce even further with the improvement in the hurlers’ fortunes — so the footballers are accustomed to seeing more opposition colours in the stands.
It was the same last Sunday, with most observers reckoning the proportion of Donegal supporters to Cork about five to one, and the Cork player canvassed for his opinion concurred with the member of management who overheard McGuinness on the interaction of spectators and team.
“We knew in advance that the crowd would react for them if we did something negative,” said the player.
“We were primed for that, but the noise level was still incredible — comparable to the full house against Dublin in the semi-final a couple of years ago. It definitely felt like a full house, rather than the official attendance of 55,000.”
Cork weren’t blaming the noise of the crowd for losing the game. They credited Donegal with playing smart football and taking their chances.
The much-vaunted system? Maybe it’s interesting to see what Galway hurling boss Anthony Cunningham — who’s had significant All-Ireland club football success himself this year — had to say about the men from the northwest at the Galway press evening this week: “Everybody that looked at Donegal last Sunday, whether you’re a hurling or a football man, you definitely pick up points that you can work on.
“There’s a lot to be learned from different teams and sports learn from each other.
“We would have remarked for the last few days on how Donegal kept to a system, how well they counter-attacked, where they position themselves.
“Their rate of improvement, their application on the day of a match... that’s huge. That’s a lesson for everybody looking in.”
Cunningham’s key term is ‘application’; the Cork player who noted the decibel levels in Croke Park used the word ‘energy’ about Donegal: “I don’t think they played that differently, though you could say that they maybe had a bit more energy about them.”
He added that if you had told the Cork manager before the game they’d hold McBrearty, Murphy and McFadden the way they did, then he’d have given his side a huge chance of winning the game, but the spread of scorers Donegal had was the difference at the final whistle: “We’d have felt we were hungry enough, that we wanted it as much, and we’d feel we kept going to the very end, and we got scores towards the end.”
A couple of questions remain, then. Donegal will tog out in the big show in September for the first time since 1992, and notwithstanding the neatness of a 20-year anniversary, it’s a hell of a last step to get to the summit. Can they plant their flag there? At the final whistle last Sunday Cork players mingled with their opponents and wished them well, but some of the Leesiders remarked afterwards that it was clear the Donegal players were oblivious. Clearly it was just sinking in that they’d just reached an All-Ireland final.
If they were playing Mayo, the Cork player we spoke to pointed out that you’d probably have a similar level of hype within the two counties so they’d be starting off level, while Dublin were there last year and would be better at handling the build-up: But would they be as hungry as Donegal? “Looking at their players last Sunday, they looked like fellas who were on a mission.
That might be a cliche that’s used about every team trying to make a breakthrough, but up close on the field, that’s how they looked.”
For Cork there’s another question looming.
Will Conor Counihan continue into a sixth season at the helm? Some of the members of his backroom team felt Counihan’s body language on Sunday evening was that of a man who’d had his fill of inter-county management.
People forget that the Aghada man was involved with the Cork senior football team back in 1994, within 12 months of his own retirement; that he then returned to work with his club and he has soldiered with Larry Tompkins and Billy Morgan since then at inter-county level, with little time off.
If Counihan takes the bainisteoir bib next year it’d be nearly 20 years since he first patrolled a sideline at the highest level.
Is that the kind of anniversary he’s keen to celebrate?
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