Patrick Kelly: Watching McGuinness' Donegal from the stands is no prep for the real thing

Our 2012 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Donegal is one that we as a group will forever look back on as a missed opportunity

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness after their All-Ireland SFC clash with champions Kerry in Killarney. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

The Cork footballers couldn’t have copped a tougher draw in Round 2A of the qualifiers than a trip to Ballybofey to face the strongest of All Ireland contenders in Donegal.

The fact that a loss will result in a seven- or eight-day turnaround, and possibly on the road again, compounds the challenge. Facing Donegal brings a lot of mixed memories of my time playing - not too many positive in hindsight.

My first senior start in Croke Park for Cork came in the quarter-final in 2009. After a month’s break following clinching the Munster title after scraping past Limerick, we faced a Donegal team who had rebounded well from an early exit from the Ulster championship at the hands of Antrim. Victories for John Joe Doherty’s side over Carlow, Clare, Derry and Galway had us primed for a massive battle against a team who had played in Division 1 of that year’s league. Instead, Donegal were a shambles on the day and we hit them for 1-27 to win at a canter. Not often do you get to relax and enjoy so much of a championship match. You couldn’t have predicted what was on the horizon for the majority of that Donegal side.

A year later and as Donegal exited the championship at the earliest possible round, Cork would go on to claim our seventh and most recent senior All Ireland. That autumn one of the most significant appointments in modern Gaelic football was made - Jim McGuinness taking over the Donegal senior team. 

We got a glimpse in the summer of 2011 of what was to come and experienced firsthand in Ballybofey in March of 2012. A first minute Michael Murphy goal had us scrambling and we’d score only six points to lose by four in a dour game. It was our first experience with that ultra-defensive system. No pressure on us coming out of defence or around the middle, but the scoring zone completely clogged. 

Football maybe, but not as we knew it.

On the August Bank Holiday of that year, we overcame Kildare by thirteen points in the last eight before taking our seats in the upper Cusack to scout our semi-final opponents; Donegal or Kerry. We were treated to a masterclass of the McGuinness system; defensive solidity with lightning counter-attacks. From our bird’s eye view, the solutions to the problems their system posed seemed obvious. Beating us in Ballybofey in the muck and wind was one thing; the open expanse of Croke Park felt like a different kettle of fish.

Our build up to that 2012 All-Ireland semi-final is one that still annoys me. Just five days after we defeated Kildare, I played for Ballincollig as we were knocked out of championship by a John Hayes-inspired Carbery Rangers. The following day, I attended my brother’s wedding in Clonakilty before driving back up to Páirc Ui Chaoimh on the Sunday morning for Cork training. 

I was one of several players togging out for our clubs just two weeks before an All-Ireland semi-final, having already taken cortisone injections in my hip to get through that summer. Far from ideal preparation. The Donegal club championship didn’t start until after they won the All-Ireland that September. There’s no doubt that the change to the split season has benefitted the Cork senior teams more than any other county in terms of preparation.

That 2012 defeat to Donegal is one that we as a group will forever look back on as a missed opportunity. Donegal were the better team on the day and deserved their victory. They won an outstanding All Ireland. The week before the game we played an A v B in Fota where a big emphasis was placed on pushing up aggressively on the likes of Mark McHugh and co who dropped deep to start counters. 

The first half was a very even contest with Donegal edging it by a point. It was a strange game to play and probably the first time we experienced that system in a championship match. We tried to minimise cheap turnovers by avoiding their suffocating blanket but instead played neither our own powerful running game nor to a standard that could overcome theirs. Just two points in the first 20 minutes of the second half would prove costly as poor basics and decision-making had us panting, chasing counter attacks which Donegal took advantage of.

Seeing Donegal in the flesh from the stands against Kerry was one thing; overcoming their system was another. The game of Gaelic football changed beyond recognition in that four-year period, sparked by the arrival of Jim McGuinness, the success they had in 2012, and the subsequent aping of the system by others. Kerry learned their lesson two years later and boxed cleverly to gain revenge in the 2014 final.

My third time facing Donegal in championship came in my final game for Cork in 2016 as we exited in Round 4 of the qualifiers. Jim McGuinness had departed after the 2014 final with his deputy Rory Gallagher stepping up as his replacement. They were still a force, but teams had adapted to overcome their style. 

Cork played good football and were well in the game; leading by a point at half time, by two points midway through the second half before a Patrick McBrearty masterclass and six points on the trot ended our season. Neither team would push on in the following years.

Fast forward ten years and McGuiness is in season three of his second stint as Donegal manager. Thankfully, Jim Gavin and co have ensured that football could not be played as it was in his previous tenure. That said, McGuiness has already proven he has the vision and leadership to win again in the modern game. I was in Croke Park for the league final double header as Donegal gave as comprehensive display in routing Kerry as they faced against the same opposition in last year’s All-Ireland. The thoughts of facing their kickout press in the tight confines of Ballybofey is a scary prospect. That Cork will go into this game without influential midfielder Colm O’Callaghan only adds to the enormity of the challenge.

I think, in time, the new championship structure will be a hit with players and fans; things get serious very quickly. Giving Round 1 winners home advantage in Round 3 could be a slight amendment which would place even greater importance on that first round game. Cork will have been hopping after the outstanding second half performance against Meath. The draw will have brought them back down to earth. A win in Ballybofey would rank up there with any Cork football victory in living memory. More realistically, they’ll fly home this evening preparing to recover as quickly as possible, hoping their name comes out of the hat first on Monday morning.

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