Donegal past not buried yet

Down the years there was a natural trepidation ingrained in Donegal supporters looking ahead to the next championship fixture.

In the pre-Jim McGuinness days, there was an inevitability the county footballers would follow up a performance that showed their capabilities with a capitulation.

Remember the celebrations in the Portobello Bar after the 0-14 to 2-8 draw with Dublin under Mickey Moran in the All-Ireland quarter-final of 2002? It was followed up by a mauling at Croke Park, 1-14 to 0-7, in the replay.

Brian McEniff guided Donegal to the 2003 All-Ireland semi-final and the following June his side unexpectedly ousted Sam Maguire holders Tyrone from Ulster, with Colm McFadden scoring 1-7 in a 1-11 to 0-9 victory.

Donegal headed to the first Croke Park Ulster final with optimism, only to be hammered 3-15 to 0-11 by Armagh. Supporters started filtering towards the Jones’ Road before half-time.

In 2007, Brian McIver’s Donegal finally bettered Joe Kernan’s side. Armagh had beaten Donegal in every championship season from 2002 until 2006 but a fortunate Brendan Devenney goal sealed an unlikely 1-9 to 1-8 win. Again, the festivities ran from night until morning.

There was, understandably having finally wriggled out of the noose, a spring in the step but Donegal left Clones with their tail between their legs when Tyrone sauntered to a 2-13 to 1-7 victory in the Ulster semi-final.

“To be honest we weren’t professional enough,” says John Haran, who played for Donegal from 1997 to 2005. “There was also a lack of belief. We had footballers as good as Armagh or Tyrone but nothing near their stature.”

Under McGuinness, Donegal have been a much sterner force, the pernickety province where there are more landmines than land.

A bit like the laws of physics, his series of results have an equal but opposite force of what went beforehand. Sunday’s clash against Antrim is his 13th in charge in Ulster and Donegal have lost just one — last year’s 0-13 to 0-7 defeat to Monaghan — in his four years. Prior to his appointment, Donegal had won just once in three seasons.

“Armagh and Tyrone had almost built up a mystique,” says John Gildea — a clubmate of McGuinness’s at Naomh Conaill in Glenties — who played for Donegal from 1993 to 2004. “They were two points up on you before a ball was kicked. Our team, with players like Jim, Adrian Sweeney, Damien Diver, Michael Hegarty, Brendan Devenney and a young Kevin Cassidy could’ve stood up to any team in the country on their day. I really believe that. But we didn’t believe it then. We were a should’ve, could’ve but didn’t sort of team.

“When Jim took over he could see the ability and has made the group believe. It’s almost a cult thing – everyone’s onside — but that’s the magic of Jim McGuinness.

“Particularly in 2012 when we won the All-Ireland, people thought that Donegal just couldn’t be stopped. You’d swear we were sacrificing chickens and cows when it was really down to very good preparation.”

McGuinness’s first match in charge of Donegal in the championship was the 1-10 to 0-7 defeat of Antrim in May 2011. The style, or the perceived lack of it, drew stern criticism.

For those closer to home, however, it was an understandable performance. Donegal, as previously stated, had failed to win a fixture in Ulster since 2007.

McGuinness, too, was one of the scarred generation. He had 1992 Ulster and All-Ireland winners’ medals before making his inter-county debut but lost Ulster finals in 1993, 1998 and 2002.

“It was only on Sunday night I realised the expectation of Donegal is higher in some places than we might’ve thought ourselves,” McGuinness said in May 2011. “It felt more like a defeat than a victory. I know it was a poor game but in all my time playing I can’t recall winning by six points in the Ulster championship.”

Donegal, last season, showed they can still flummox when they surrendered the Anglo-Celt Cup to Monaghan before being ravaged 4-17 to 1-10 against Mayo in All-Ireland quarter-final. It’s been a medicinal time since, although there were shoots of optimism germinating when promotion was secured from Division 2. That decent form mushroomed as Donegal opened their Ulster campaign with a 1-11 to 0-11 victory over Derry last month. It proved some of Donegal’s doubters wrong. Maybe they haven’t gone away after all.

“We were called the likeable losers, who could play nice football, make plenty of friends, be a bit of craic but ended up with nothing,” Haran adds.

“But you can see the lads now are winners. Jim, above anything else, has changed the mindset of Donegal’s footballers.”

McGuinness’s team are almost unbackable favourites to reach a fourth consecutive Ulster final. But Donegal, with their chequered past, know you can’t ever take anything for granted.