Devil in detail for Rory Gallagher’s Donegal

It’s been said that since Rory Gallagher took over the mantle of Donegal manager from Jim McGuinness, the prototype remains the same, with minor modifications.

Most of the more positive utterances came following their 2-11 to 0-8 victory over Armagh at the Athletic Grounds in the Ulster SFC quarter-final last month, while the 1-13 to 0-10 win over Tyrone beforehand and the 1-9 to 0-10 success over Derry afterwards provided much stiffer tests.

Away from the spotlight, Gallagher believes his job is to improve each player individually and then with the collective advancement he hopes will follow, to provide an opportunity to win trophies. “Everyone is given an opportunity to learn and thankfully the lads are quick learners in this group,” he said of the Donegal panel.

“All the time, there are new things but in the heat of the moment their decision making is very good thankfully. It’s something we work consistently on in training. It’s a big part of it – everyone knowing their roles.

“It’s up to the individual to take on the coaching and apply it in games. Emotion plays a big part in it for everyone be it players, managers or supporters. In the heat of battle you can do things that afterwards you’ll wonder about. That’s football though. When the pressure is on you need to continue to make the right decisions.”

Thus far, Gallagher has made the majority of correct decisions and now Donegal stand on the cusp of a fourth provincial title in just five years. Monaghan, at their local patch at St Tiernach’s Park in Clones, stand in wait.

Monaghan’s manager Malachy O’Rourke, like Gallagher, is from Fermanagh. They are former team-mates and Gallagher remembers the diligence of O’Rourke as a player as something that has certainly helped Monaghan’s advancement. Both have come a long way since the days in the mid-90s when their native county used cross-country races at St Michael’s in Enniskillen as preparation for championship football.

As much a coach as a manager he is now, back then Gallagher did spend all his time running.

“People would tell you now that it’d only slow you down,” Gallagher said. “We weren’t to know that then. We’d have had very little knowledge. Malachy might have kept that knowledge to himself! He has a good personality, he’s very witty. We’d have seen that he was very dedicated as well. While he was quiet — he wouldn’t have been a big talker back then — from a playing perspective, he was exceptionally committed.”