Cork take flight, leave McGuinness with all sorts of questions to ponder

ON AIR: Cork's Tommy Walsh and Ian Maguire celebrate after their All-Ireland SFC Round 2A tie over Donegal in Ballybofey. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

All-Ireland SFC Rd 2A: Donegal 1-13 (1-0-13) Cork 0-17 (0-6-5)

There were spells during this endlessly fascinating encounter where it seemed like Donegal would stretch away from a valiant opponent. The inability to make Cork question their gameplan at any point was their ultimate downfall.

The visitors trailed by seven at one point in the second half, but never did they look like succumbing to true panic. 

There was a chance to instil that early on after Michael Murphy had harried Daniel O’Mahony into a turnover after he collected a short kickout and teed up Conor O’Donnell for a simple goal.

At that point, it was 1-7 to 0-3. Moments later, Donegal went hunting another goal but Murphy’s palmed effort met a crowd of bodies in the square. Had that gone in, Cork would have been chasing the match. The reality was that they never had to.

Instead, they remained measured and controlled in attack. How do you blunt a Jim McGuinness offence blessed with such pace and efficiency? You starve it of possession. Cork set out to be patient, to stay in touch and trust their shooting from distance. They kicked six two-pointers from ten attempts while the home side failed to land one.

They were 0-5 to 0-1 down early in the first half, 1-7 to 0-5 behind at half-time and yet never looked out of contention. From there, they unleashed a decisive burst of two-pointers down the stretch to surge ahead despite the fact many had effectively written them off before they made the long journey north.

“I think the pundits saying that, they were going on a form line really,” said manager John Cleary post-match. “I wouldn’t hold that against anybody. Donegal went to Kerry and won handy enough. We were beaten handy enough in Kerry, so that was the form line. Donegal won the league. All-Ireland finalists last year and it was a home game. We felt if we had a home game, we would be a match for anyone. Travelling the length of the country brings its own challenges as well. But we said, look, bring it on. This is it.” 

Every element of their carefully constructed plan worked out. They flew up and down on the same day. Dara Sheedy started for the first time since his April hamstring injury and scored their first point. Tommy Walsh and Luke Fahy struck from outside the arc and produced vital orange flags. 

Their defensive effort was immense, trusting in the collective to switch across and communicate constantly.

At one stage, a set defensive phase briefly left Sheedy marking Murphy and Sherlock tracking Oisín Gallen. It spoke volumes for the faith Cork placed in their system rather than individual match-ups.

“Whoever is there, if you have 11 back, they have to do their job. If they don’t do their job, they are going to be picked off. Look some are better at defending than others. But we always stress, be the best you can. You can’t let the man past you. Even the lads you mentioned there, they didn’t dive out once. We didn’t give out silly fouls at any stage. The victory today was based on our very good defence.” 

For Donegal, they had just 32 team possessions and turned that into 25 shots in this tight tactical arm-wrestle.

“Cork had a gameplan to try and slow the game, take the sting out of the game,” said Jim McGuinness. “From our own point of view, we just didn’t do enough.” 

In the final 20 minutes, Donegal scored just two points, one of them arriving when substitute Turlough Carr’s goal attempt squeezed over the bar as the clock ticked towards 70 minutes.

It marks a curious run for the league champions. They have lost three of their last four championship games, the sole victory coming against 14 men. They have also lost three of their last four home championship matches, their only success in that sequence coming against Louth. Why the dip?

“Ask me that tomorrow morning. It is a bit early for that. That is the type of thing you think about after the event,” said McGuinness.

“At the minute, we are disappointed with our performance. Disappointed with our energy levels. We should have been more ruthless there, seen it out when we had the chance and we paid the heavy price.” 

Scorers for Donegal: O’ Gallen 0-4; C. O’Donnell 1-0; M. Murphy (1 free), M. Langan 0-2 each; R. McHugh, P. Mogan, S. O’Donnell, T. Carr, J. McGee 0-1 each.

Scorers for Cork: S. Sherlock 0-9 (3 tpf, 1 tp, 1 45); T. Walsh, L. Fahy (tp) 0-2 each; S. McDonnell, I. Maguire, D. Sheedy, C. Corbett 0-1 each.

DONEGAL: S. Patton; E. Gallagher, B. McCole, P. Mogan; R. McHugh, C. McGonagle, F. Roarty; J. McGee, H. McFadden; S. O’Donnell, M. Langan, C. Moore; C. O’Donnell, M. Murphy, O. Gallen.

Subs: C. McColgan for S. O’Donnell, D. Ó Baoill for McHugh (55); T. Carr for C. O’Donnell (60); S. Malone for Gallen (65).

CORK: P. Doyle; M. Shanley, D. O’Mahony, S. Meehan; B. O’Driscoll, T. Walsh, L. Fahy; I. Maguire, S. Walsh; P. Walsh, S McDonnell, D. Sheedy; M. Cronin, C. Og Jones, S. Sherlock.

Subs: R. Deane for Sheedy (45, Temp); C. Corbett for Cronin (50); J. O’Driscoll for Meehan (61, Inj); C. Cahalane for Walsh, B. Hurley for Og Jones (65); R. Maguire for Fahy (70).

Referee: D. Gough (Meath).