Cork v Donegal Semi Final

[ONeill]

Also think Cork might edge them but wouldn't rule out another Donegal shut-out. It'll be interesting how Donegal cope if Cork get a start on them, though at 1-6 down to Tyrone last year they didn't panic.

[haranguerer]

IT'S FOOTBALL JIM, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT

D Maguire

'Michael, I don't know what to say. I don't know whether to laugh, or cry. I can understand the effectiveness of this defensive system. I can understand that they're not in the business of entertainment and I can understand that it's all about results and Donegal people won't give a tuppenny if they win an All-Ireland playing this sort of football. But heaven help us Michael if this is the way the game of Gaelic football is going to go because I've seen the apocalypse there in the last 38 minutes. Remember that tribe in Iraq, the Shi'ite tribe? Well, we've watched Shi'ite football for the last......"

(Pat Spillane, RTE, half time of the 2011 All-Ireland semi-final – Dublin v Donegal)

Probably the most common response reading that now is to downplay the level of seriousness you should hold Spillane's words in. Yet that common default reaction can be a lazy stance to take. How could you not have agreed with him? With 23 minutes on the clock in last year's All-Ireland Semi-Final, the scoreboard screamed at us: 'Dublin 0-1 Donegal 0-1.' At the same stage in the other semi-final there had been eight scores on the board in what was an uncharacteristically tight Mayo-Kerry first half. We know it takes two to tango and that Dublin also had defensively modified their 'startled earwigs' approach of previous campaigns but there was no getting away from the fact that this Donegal side elevated shut-out tactics to a new level, akin to the Italian Catenaccio system – the 'door-bolt'. It wasn't pretty. There's no shying away from that. I had witnessed it at first hand in Clones when Donegal defeated Tyrone in the Ulster semi a couple of months earlier. A Tyrone defender picked up the ball on his own end-line. Instead of pressurising Martin Swift, the Donegal attacker retreated, running backwards to his pre-ordaining training position, adhering rigidly to Jim McGuiness' script. Initially, it looked like a dishonourable retreat.

I agreed with Spillane that day although I'd never seen the Shi'ite's with a size 5. It did look like the sky was falling. Unlike McGuinness, I couldn't see what was needed to take Donegal closer to the ultimate endgame. I didn't possess that vision. I didn't want to recognise the beauty of controlled, defensive football. We still harked back to the 'gay abandon' of those great Kerry/Dublin battles of the 70s whether it really did happen or not. I didn't want to see our All-Ireland final besmirched with such extreme tactics and breathed a sigh of relief when the Dubs finally broke their resistance on the way to claiming their first Sam since 1995. I was wrong. It was a work in progress, not an assault on the All-Ireland title.

This brings us to Jim McGuinness. For years the jokes surrounded his eternal student persona, albeit a mighty footballer at Sigerson level with a level of success unmatched, captaining two different universities to the highest honours away from the books. Not many know that he was a squad member when Donegal took Sam home to the Hills for their first and only time, 20 years ago this year. He toiled for years in a Donegal side attempting to reclaim the glory of '92, without much success and crippled with injury. In 2005 he sounded a warning to all who doubted his aptitude to management when he guided his club, Naomh Conaill, to their first county title. Even given that success and his stewardship of the county U21 side that reached the All-Ireland final, there was still some element of doubt concerning his ability to manage the perennial bridesmaids, the party animals. Again, that was to the untrained eye and totally unfounded. McEniff, his manager back in 1992, claimed Jim was perfect for the job – he saw in McGuinness a deep thinker and someone who would do it his way. That was clearly evidenced with his reaction to Kevin Cassidy's failure to adhere to the fictional code of silence.

What is obvious to us all now is that last year was a work in progress. They almost won an All-Ireland before the plan had rolled out to its natural conclusion, like the explorer happening on the South Pole whilst looking for his lost snowshoe. McGuinness is now lauded for what, this time, looks like sound analysis. He's a clever manager, acutely aware of what it takes for the players he has under his wing to achieve their maximum potential whilst slowly introducing an element of expression. The 'nice football' Donegal of the noughties may have been everyone's second team but that wasn't enough for McGuinness. Jim steadied the ship defensively like nothing we'd seen before on a GAA field and built on that in 2012, echoing George Graham's mantra in the 80s of building your foundations from the back. In McBrearty, McFadden and Murphy they have some of the most sumptuous point-takers from distance in the game, a skill some feared was trickling out of the game. He asks questions of the opposition. In the provincial semi-final this year against Tyrone again, that was what he asked of his troops at half time. Tyrone were threatening to relieve them of their Ulster title. Look at Tyrone in the eye after 50 minutes and ask them how far they were prepared to go for that goal. Donegal over ran Tyrone at that precise moment in the game. In the final they didn't have to. Down attempted to physically better Donegal early on and forgot about the scoreboard. That's not going to succeed. The energy, strength and direct running of McHugh Jnr and Lacey couldn't be matched.

Cork have everything Donegal possess: strength, savage fitness, long-range point-scorers and a high-tempo running game when the flick needs to be switched. They also have been there and got the T-shirt. For the first time this championship season it's hard to predict the outcome of a Donegal game. I was confident they'd possess too much hunger and a superior level of fitness for Kerry. In fact I thought they'd win by more. Cork have a penchant for goals, something Donegal refuse to entertain. Although similar in style in many regards, it's the irresistible versus the immoveable. What happens if Donegal leak a goal or two early on and are left on the back-foot? It never happens. Well, almost never. In Killarney this year during the NFL, Kerry pummelled Donegal, scoring two goals by the 33rd minute mark. Donegal watched the kitchen burn but had no outlet to extinguish the flames in front of them. But, this isn't a cold night in March.

For me, that's the key to this contest. If Donegal have restricted Cork to less than 0-10 by the hour mark, McGuinness will have their number. Playing on Jim's terms, Counihan won't have the time to clear his charges' heads in time to eek out a solution as Donegal's late running game reaches its crescendo. Like the spider and the fly, they'll have the Rebels exactly where they want them, strangling in the middle of the delicately woven web. How foolish will last year's criticisms will appear. However, a goal or two for the normally early risers from the Rebel County and we'll see if Donegal have the wherewithal to abandon the game-plan until parity is restored. A fascinating contest awaits.

Excellent Post O'Neill. Your explanation with regards the outcome of the game is exactly as I see it too....

Its 'eke' ffs, not 'eek' (also for the benefit of collins on pg 1)

[goal 10]

Going to toronto this week for a wedding,
would love to see the game on TV anyone know where one would get to see it.   [ thank you]

Don't have laptop or ustream, anyone know a pub showing the game in the toronto area.  [ thank you again ]

[seafoid]

Is mcguinness a gaeilgeoir
? Where in donegal is the naomh conaill club
?
It would be great to see a not Donegal vs mayo final

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Is mcguinness a gaeilgeoir?

Níl a fhios agam.

Where in donegal is the naomh conaill club?

Glenties, south-west Donegal.

[J70]

Not sure if Glenties is technically still in the Gaeltacht in terms of numbers of speakers or if McGuinness himself is a gaeilgeoir, but I do remember matches down there, with Big Jim playing, and the Glenties boys all encouraging each other the gather "na briseadh!" (sp?)

[fearsiuil]

Not sure if Glenties is technically still in the Gaeltacht in terms of numbers of speakers or if McGuinness himself is a gaeilgeoir, but I do remember matches down there, with Big Jim playing, and the Glenties boys all encouraging each other the gather "na briseadh!" (sp?)

Pretty sure the town of Glenties is in the galltacht but the parish/Naomh Conaill club serves the gaeltachtaí of Edeninfagh, Bellanamore, Fintown etc. It's a huge parish. Think Jim McGuinness is a townie !

[CitySlicker11]

Is Jim still involved with Glenties, I thought he had married a woman from around the Dunfanaghy area, St Michaels club? (McFaddens club)

[donegal lad]

Is Jim still involved with Glenties, I thought he had married a woman from around the Dunfanaghy area, St Michaels club? (McFaddens club)

You are correct city slicker jim is actually married to colm mcfaddens sister and dies not live in glenties anymore

[Goldengreen]

yea he lives in Creeslough now same as Mcfadden, St Michael's in Dunfanaghy is in the the same parish as Creeslough

[donegal_abu]

Gelnties i think, the club, is considered in the gaeltacht as parts of the part are in the gaeltacht. but jim himself was raised near the townwhich i dont think id in the gaeltacht. But as yous said he lives in creeslough now with his wife, colm's sister. Think he has plans to move back near glenties though, they built a house so i believe

[harlechman]

Going to toronto this week for a wedding,
would love to see the game on TV anyone know where one would get to see it.   [ thank you]

Don't have laptop or ustream, anyone know a pub showing the game in the toronto area.  [ thank you again ]

Galway Arms on The Queensway will be showing it

[emmetryan]

Hi guys, I've put together a tactical preview of this one here for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6151

[ONeill]

Hi guys, I've put together a tactical preview of this one here for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6151

Good stuff - I thought a certain type of ref might clamp down on Donegal's tactic of forwards fouling the backs to slow down the play (a la Dublin/Kerry) but Coldrick reffed them this year in the Ulster semi and turned a blind eye to it.

[cadence]

Hi guys, I've put together a tactical preview of this one here for anyone interested http://action81.com/blog/?p=6151

cheers emmet... lot of food for thought as usual. gonna be a beast of a game. canny wait.