Another defining battle?

Economists will know a term called ‘opportunity cost’ is the value of the overlooked alternative.

Mickey Harte and Jim McGuinness aren’t money men but both might’ve pondered what could have been had the tables been turned in each of their last three meetings — all three of which were won by Donegal.

Each win was different, but after years twiddling under Tyrone and Armagh’s thumbs, each was equally important. One wonders where Donegal’s coordinates would be at this precise moment in time had they not won those matches. And where would Tyrone be if they were more than the overlooked alternative? McGuinness and his team rolled into Omagh for series two of Allianz FL Division 2 in February 2011 having scraped a draw on opening night at home to Sligo and still looking for traction.

Tyrone ran Donegal ragged in the opening quarter, leading 0-4 to 0-1. But Donegal, thanks to Dermot Molloy’s second half goal, convincingly won 1-10 to 0-6. They would go onto win Division 2.

McGuinness often plays down the league and the importance of its results but on that sharp Saturday night under the glare of the Healy Park floodlights, the grin etched across his face. It was his first significant win.

Tyrone were aiming for a third Anglo-Celt Cup in succession and their sixth under Harte four months later in the Ulster semi-final in Clones. Donegal had been scraping the breadcrumbs since their last provincial success in 1992. Again Tyrone ran at Donegal from all angles, manufacturing a four-point first half advantage.

After his initial sloppy pass, Anthony Thompson’s desire to scamper 80 yards to block at Stephen O’Neill’s feet as he shot for a goal, which would’ve put Tyrone seven up, was the starkest of sound-bites of Donegal’s new approach under their new manager. If one moment turned the course of a rivalry, then this was it.

McGuinness mightn’t have said it out loud but he knew if Donegal could keep a grip on Tyrone’s tail, their superior fitness might become an increasingly important factor. With the teams level, Molloy scored another goal, in injury time, to seal a 2-6 to 0-9 Donegal win.

Perhaps more off-the-record than on it, Neil McGee summed it up perfectly afterwards. “If that game was a few years ago we’d have got hammered,” said the full-back.

If the league win had been a shock and Donegal’s championship success in 2011 a surprise then their slight superiority had become the standard when the counties crossed one another’s paths again last June. Clones was again the setting for the Ulster semi-final.

It was a game of chess in coloured jerseys. With almost the three minutes of stoppage time played and Donegal three in front, Martin Penrose sold Paddy McGrath the dummy and drove for the bottom corner.

Goalkeeper Paul Durcan stretched out his left foot, getting a contact on the ball before it unconventionally flew up and off the upright, across the goal before spinning wide. A bit like the match itself, it was one of those moments that happened so fast it seemed like it was in slow-motion.

“Both the 2011 and 2012 games against Tyrone were as big as we have faced in the Ulster championship and the league game got us up and running under Jim,” Durcan said this week.

“It was so important to come away from those games with victories. For the save from Martin Penrose, had he scored it might’ve gone to a replay and it’s hard to know what would’ve happened.”

Donegal might be considered the newcomers of elite football but Durcan will tomorrow afternoon make his 100th inter-county appearance. The Four Masters goalkeeper is therefore the fifth panellist to reach the milestone in successive games after Karl Lacey and Eamon McGee in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final and final, Neil McGee and Neil Gallagher in this term’s opening two league matches.

On the other hand, the red one, Tyrone’s league form since Donegal won in Omagh 25 months ago has been exceptional. Although Harte’s team lost the Division 2 final against Kildare at Croke Park last April, 0-16 to 0-11, in the regulation series since they lost to Donegal in 2011 they’ve won 13 and drawn one from 14 in the last two years.

With Donegal and Tyrone due to meet on May 26 in the first round of the championship and the margins so thin between the bordering teams, it’ll be interesting to see just who will take their opportunity tomorrow?