CONOR MCCARTHY: Don’t copy Donegal, counter them

With any All-Ireland winner, copycat regimes spring up all over the country the following year.

However this season, not many teams have attempted to ape Donegal’s high intensity style, primarily because they are finding it difficult to clarify exactly what their unique attributes were last year.

Jim McGuiness’ ban on talking out of school had forced people into their own deductions; was it total football, day-long training sessions with walk through plays followed by jog through plays followed by plays at speed? Was it training twice a day?