Will Donegal be the ones that play — or get played?

It’s been just over two weeks since Donegal turned the bookies odds on their head and delivered their finest display of the Jim McGuinness era, seeing off heavily-favoured Dublin with a pulsating semi-final performance that few outside the set-up saw coming.

The outpouring of emotion from McGuinness and his players at the final whistle gave a clear indication what the victory meant to them as a group. After last year’s implosion in the quarter-final against Mayo, where their vaunted defensive system was decimated, they returned to the heights of 2012 with a display that married their defensive game plan with an ability to attack from deep and get support into Colm McFadden in the full-forward line.

As a group they will benefit from being in an All-Ireland as recently as two years ago and the majority of their squad will know how to handle the distractions in the build-up to such a big game and ensure their full attention is on producing another performance of that quality against Kerry. In the lead up to the Dublin semi-final, Donegal spent five nights in Johnstown House on a training camp and have repeated that routine in Lough Erne ahead of the final, these five days will allow McGuinness and co tailor the exact game plan they believe will be required.

It won’t be just the game plan that will benefit from this camp; it’ll be the unity and mental freshness that a group can take out of living together and having full focus on one task. While much has been made of the tactical success they had against Dublin, that in itself throws up a challenge as they’ve shown some of their hand to Kerry.

Eamonn Fitzmaurice now has tape on this Donegal team, giving a display of the highest level which gives him and his backroom team an opportunity to counteract the Ulster champions. This tape would be very different than the displays the likes of Jim Gavin, Malachy O’Rourke etc would have reviewed before their teams played Donegal this season.

This puts an onus on the Donegal players to get their fundamentals right, they need to make sure there is no drop off on tackle count, primary possession from kick-outs and the most challenging of all may be to maintain the high scoring percentage they achieved against Dublin.

If Kerry play a more defensive system than Dublin, Donegal will find a lot of the space they had to run into in the semi-final closed up and be forced to take shots from lower percentage areas on the pitch, with goal chances harder to come by. Donegal’s main players will also have to deliver, Michael Murphy gave an exceptional display against Dublin and his ability to transition through different positions over the course of a game is a key Donegal weapon.

As was the way against Mayo in 2012, I expect Donegal to use him at full-forward early and look to get long ball into him and put pressure on the Kerry full-back line. The Magee brothers will look to keep their run of shutting down opposition full-forward lines, with James O’Donoghue the focus of their attention. Karl Lacey is the man who often doubles up and I expect O’Donoghue to drift from his inside position to try play himself into the game.

Odhrán MacNiallais has re-energised Donegal around the middle third and has grown with every game. The subs in the semi-final included Christy Toye and Paddy McBrearty so they will be confident of players making an impact once called upon. As a player these are the weeks you want to be training and putting finishing touches to the last nine or ten months’ worth of effort. Jim McGuinness will be telling his players this week the work is now done. Can they deliver another performance and implement a game plan that will decide whether they are the ones that play — or get played?