A fourth provincial final on the bounce awaits for Donegal
and while the test they will face in four weeks time will require a further
step up in performance, the team can be pleased with today’s workout.
Antrim were given little or no chance of causing an upset
and thus came into the game with nothing to lose. Liam Bradley had his side
setup well and they were intent on denying Donegal space and catching them on
the break. Sadly they were forced to line out without the Johnston brothers, Ricky
and Marty, following after the death of their father on Friday. Those changes
meant that Sean McVeigh was given the onerous task of shadowing Michael Murphy
and the full back immediately set about roughing up Donegal’s captain as best
he could. Murphy is well used to close attention at this stage and despite
being pulled and dragged all over the Clones pitch he was heavily involved in a
lot of Donegal’s scores and finished up with three of his own.
Jim McGuinness also made changes prior to throw-in; despite
reports during the week of a full deck to choose from, the manager felt the
game had come a few days too soon for Karl Lacey following a recent leg muscle complaint while Rory Kavanagh suffered a strain at training during the week and didn't tog out today.
Neil Gallagher’s ongoing injury troubles show no sign of abating, a tight
hamstring forced him off just ten minutes into the game. Many of the big
Glenswilly man’s contributions in recent times have been off the bench and he might well
be kept in reserve in future games should his niggles persist.
While the loss of Lacey and Kavanagh was unfortunate, it was
encouraging to see trust being placed in the young duo of Darach O’Connor and
Odhran MacNiallais – and they certainly repaid the faith shown in them. They
were both on the scoreboard early on from their respective spots at wing
forward and midfield. MacNiallais has always looked confident on the ball and
his languid kicking style makes his left foot a potent weapon. O’Connor on the
other hand, even going back as far as the McKenna Cup, has sometimes looked unsure
in possession but he was intent on running at defenders today having obviously
been encouraged by Jim and his staff to be more dynamic with ball in hand. He
took his first point off his left and then later in the half received a
wonderful outside-of-the-foot pass from his captain before turning inside two
players and slotting over; the master and the apprentice working in tandem.
To cap off a brilliant individual display he drove through
the heart of the Antrim defence in the second half to fire home a goal that
made sure of the win for his team and he deservedly got a standing ovation from
the Donegal faithful as he left the field to be
substituted later on.
MacNiallais also pushed on in the second half, he finished
with 0-4 to his name and would have been many people’s choice as man of the
match. One point in particular showed his confidence and skill when he dummy soloed near the end line, fooling a Saffron defender, before cutting inside and slotting over the bar. The competition
for places around the middle sector for Donegal is fierce at present with
MacNiallais battling with Gallagher, Kavanagh, Christy Toye and Martin
McElhinney for the two spots – on this evidence the Gaoth Dobhair man is at the
head of the queue.
McGuinness’ men were on top in the opening stages but Antrim
fought their way back into the game and managed to gain parity as the end of the half approached. As is now customary for a team playing Donegal, they
mirrored the game plan they faced and kept proceedings as tight as possible. Leo McLoone retreated to centre back in place of non-starter Lacey, leaving Kevin O’Boyle as Antrim's spare man which resulted in Donegal having a
free player for all of their own kick outs. Paul Durcan went short to Paddy
McGrath and Eamon McGee for most of the first half and therefore the departure
of Gallagher didn’t hamper Donegal too much.
Antrim eventually pushed O’Boyle
further up for the restarts, allowing Niall McKeever to compete in the air
and his team mates were finding joy in attacking Donegal down the central channel vacated by Lacey. Generally there are two types of centre backs in the game - one
who attacks like Leo and the more traditional version who holds the middle and
keeps his defensive unit cohesive and disciplined. Lacey of course is worth his
weight in gold because he is equally adept at both strands of centre back play and as we saw today, opposition attackers seem to find gaps that little bit easier
when he’s not there.
Jim made a further switch in defence early in the game as Frank McGlynn
was instructed to shadow Kevin Niblock, with McGrath given licence to get
up the field. On numerous occasions the Ardara dynamo strode forward into swards of open
St Tiernach’s Park terrain unopposed and he was the primary source of many of
the early scores.
Antrim would have been delighted with their opening period
display but as is generally the case with Donegal, the start of the second half
is when the handbrake comes off. Derry felt the full force of the 3rd
quarter blitz in Celtic Park last month and again today players surged forward in waves, annexing 2-4 from the Antrim rearguard inside thirteen
minutes. As we’ve seen time and again, teams set up defensively at the
beginning of games against Donegal and run out of steam but in truth they’d probably be better off
going ultra-defensive at the start of the second half as that is undoubtedly
when the damage is done.
In a sense Donegal can find it easier to play against the
better teams because those opponents come with their own game plan that they
want to implement rather than focusing solely on how to counteract the
McGuinness system.
That system was moving through the gears nicely towards the
end of the match but a much sterner examination of its effectiveness will be
witnessed in the Ulster Final. The Championship capitulation of this Donegal
team last year is still a sore point for many and is acting as a huge
motivation for the players and management to make amends this year. What
better way to make up for last year’s final defeat than a re-match with
reigning Anglo Celt holders Monaghan?
The Farney Army have
to first get past Armagh next weekend and while the Orchard men won’t have any
fear going into that game, it would be a surprise if they were to succeed. So
barring a reversal of form, the province’s blue ribbon event will see the sides
who have shared the last three titles go head-to-head. That same pairing could
also lock horns in the minor match, with Declan Bonner’s charges assured of
a place following their win in today’s early game. 2006 was the last time
Donegal had both minor and senior teams competing on finals day with the names
of McElhinney, Murphy and McLoone amongst those on the minor team sheet eight
years ago. Croke Park was the venue that day and the outcome for Donegal read ‘won
one lost one’ – for Clones 2014 we’re all hoping for two from two and a clean sweep.
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