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?

Certainly, most observers tended to point to their fitness levels first and foremost. However, I genuinely do not think they were significantly fitter than the other top teams. The most interesting thing for me about Donegal last year was the efficiencies they created during games. They appeared to have fully bought into a game plan whereby different players did the hard yards at the right times, ensuring everyone had more left in the tank at the end of the match.

The semi-final against Cork last August was a case in point. A lot of teams will have their half-forward line tackling and tracking back during games but looking at that game from the stand, it was amazing to see Donegal keeping just McFadden and Murphy up front and then getting everyone else from midfield to corner-forward chasing and harrying back as Cork tried to move the ball from the back.

What compounded the problem for Cork was that their half-back line and midfield tried to join in the attack to give it momentum, but that led to further crowding. The potential for the ball to be turned over became greater.

Stifling teams was a Donegal progression in 2012. However, the most impressive part of Donegal 2013 was how they reacted when then they turned over possession. It wasn’t the midfield or half-forwards who has been doing the chasing back that emerged from a thicket of players with the ball. It was the half-back line and even the full-back line. That made a lot of sense insofar as it allowed the fresh guys to burst forward while the guys who had done all the work tracking back the pitch and tackling caught their breath. Michael Shields and Eoin Cadogan were left very vulnerable trying to hold McFadden and Murphy at the back while they watched waves of Donegal defenders bounding and interweaving towards them with the ball. The proof was on the scoreboard; seven of Donegal’s points from play coming from No’s 2 to 9.

It was an innovative system and an eye-opener for a half-forward like myself. General expectation is to track back but get back up in support of the attack as soon as possible if the ball was turned over. Trying to do one after the other, as any wing-forward will tell you, is virtually impossible.

What’s more important than simply understanding the Donegal system is counteracting it. Cork’s deployment of Graham Canty to midfield appears to be a shrewd enough move in that regard. Many people would be of the view that one or two of Cork’s players were past it last year, but Graham certainly wouldn’t be one of those in my opinion. Those comments were possibly based on some wayward shooting at the end of the Donegal semi-final but Canty’s performances over the last two years, and especially in the lead up to the Donegal game last year, have been really good, far better than when he received an All Star three years ago for example.

As a midfielder, he will always look to see where his midfield partner is. You won’t see a situation where Cork’s full-back line is exposed with both midfielders and both wing-backs up the field. Graham will cover the danger areas; break up the play and marshall all those around him to ensure a unity in defence. Shields and Cadogan will be delighted to see those in front of them taking charge. But Aidan Walsh is probably the real beneficiary of Graham’s move to midfield. Last weekend in Tyrone, Cork only conceded eight points and scored 14, with Walsh released forward at every opportunity. If Cork can keep him doing most of his work further up the field, that could be key at Páirc Uí Rinn this evening.