Donegal Survive Battle Royal to Beat Meath

That was more like it. Donegal were still a long way short of their best in edging out Meath on Saturday night but there were pointers of improvement from their two previous outings.

Many of the traits associated with this team showed signs of reappearing – committing numbers to attack, intensity in defence, quick transfer of the ball in tight spaces – and while this was far from a blemish-free display, they left with what they came for, the win.

After the dull football witnessed by the masses in Ballybofey a week previously, this felt much more like a Championship encounter; a sun drenched Summer Saturday evening in the glorious setting of Pairc Tailteann.

The game was tight and claustrophobic to being with. The teams were feeling each other out. Slowly but surely it was the visitors who took control and the scores started to come.

Mark Anthony McGinley had success early on in finding his players with his short restarts. Meath attempted to push up but there was often a man free on the edge of the D. Anytime the hosts managed to cover all options and McGinley was forced to go long, the Meath midfield, led superbly by Bryan Menton, were winning the middle third battle.

The dependency on going short was illustrated with Meath’s first point from play. As the ball hung in the air on its way goalwards, McGinley rushed around his right hand post to grab a ball and his kicking tee, getting ready for the impending kick-out.

Unbeknownst to the St  Michael’s netminder, the ball was to strike the upright and could have easily landed in front of his unguarded goal. Fortunately the ball went over after the bar after striking the post.

It provides an insight into the ongoing problems facing Donegal – if they’re forced to kick long they’re vulnerable.

As usual though in purely goalkeeping terms, McGinley was excellent. One crucial moment in the game happened in the first half; as a Meath shot looked to be dropping over the bar, McGinley rose high to claw the effort away and prevented what seemed a certain point. In a game of such tight margins it was a magnificent piece of play.

Meath rallied before half time to grab the last two points of the opening exchanges, the sides going in level after Donegal had probably been the better side.

Youngsters Jason McGee and Caolán Ward had been Donegal’s best performers in that first half with McGee helping himself to two well taken points in the process.

Another plus was Kieran Gillespie’s contribution. He’s had a frustrating time with injuries but everyone is well aware of the quality and ruggedness he brings to the table and getting the full seventy minutes under his belt bodes well.

In the second half, it was the established brigade who made the difference. Michael Murphy was immense around the middle and despite having an off day with his free taking, the captain played a huge role in the win.

In the congested centrefield area, when plenty Donegal players were happy to pass the ball on, Murphy on a few occasions drove through the Meath rearguard and either scored or setup up opportunities for his team mates.

Others like Ryan McHugh and match winner Paddy McBrearty were outstanding. The Kilcar duo seemed to thrive in the high pressure environment, delivering when it mattered most.

McHugh hasnt been his normal stunning self in the last few matches, somewhat understandable given that he’s barely put a foot wrong since his breakthrough young player of the year winning season in 2014. A dip at some stage was perhaps inevitable but he produced a massive final quarter in Navan, starting and finishing the move for the crucial goal.

While form can be a fickle thing with footballers, it doesn’t seem to apply to one man – Paddy McGrath. Once again, he had a fantastic match, this time charged with keeping tabs on one of the country’s most accomplished finishers, Graham Reilly.

In the second half, Reilly simply could not break free from McGrath’s shackles. The one and only time the Meath captain managed to get into a half yard of space for an attempt on goal, McGrath flung himself at the shot, the ball flying high into the evening sky and not even reaching the endline such was the pressure applied.

McGrath knew that he was inside Reilly’s head by this stage. When the psychological battle has been won by a defender, a forward will almost always snatch at the chance when it comes his way.

McHugh’s goal seemed to have finally broken the home team’s resistance but the Royals to their credit refused to lie down and responded almost immediately. The two goals were similar in the creation, both teams running the ball through traffic before finding the opening.

It was encouraging to see three Donegal players getting in behind the Meath defence and in a position to finish the chance; a sign that the energy and drive were back after being absent in the last two games.

Meath got the next point after their equalising major and the outcome was in doubt to the end as the embers began to fade on what was a stirring championship bout.

Karl Lacey was brought on to steady the ship and in being a complete and utter nuisance in slowing Meath down in the dying seconds, he played his part. When the final whistle is blown on Donegal’s season, presumably it will also signal the end of Lacey’s illustrious county career.

The Four Masters legend obviously didn’t want it to end in the qualifiers and so he stood in front of Paddy O’Rourke’s kickout following McBrearty’s winner and then promptly dragged back a Meath defender when the kick was taken to earn himself a yellow card. Dark arts indeed.

The final shrill of the referee’s whistle sounded soon after and Donegal were through. Galway await in Round 4 and despite a tough, sobering summer one win is all that’s required for a place in the Quarter Finals.

If the same rate of improvement that occurred from Longford to Meath, can accrue from Meath to Galway then Rory Gallagher will be confident his charges can seal their place in Croke Park.

Point Gained for Dún na nGall after Joust with Royals

A second half revival inspired by Christy Toye earned Donegal a hard fought point in Ballybofey today and keeps the team out in front in the promotion race. After three relatively straight forward victories thus far, Jim McGuinness’ men were given a real test today and his side will be much the better for it heading into the final trio of games.

Meath manager Mick O’Dowd and his sidekick Trevor Giles deserve huge credit for the way they took the game to Donegal; the duo had clearly done their homework in the lead up to the game and the packed house at MacCumhaill Park were treated to a fascinating tactical battle. They looked at the well known aspects of the McGuinness system and figured how they could use it to their own benefit - the role of Mark McHugh is crucial to how Donegal play and immediately from the throw in Meath set about exploiting the space he vacates while on sweeper duties.

After some positional re-alignment, O’Dowd stationed Andrew Tormey as their free man, i.e. the man who McHugh would pick up in an orthodox line-up, and he saw plenty of ball in the opening quarter playing between half-back and midfield. Tormey was free for kickouts, picked up several breaks off his midfielders, Shane O’Rourke and Bryan Menton, and registered 0-2 in the first quarter. Cork tried a similar tactic in the All-Ireland semi-final of 2012 in an attempt to stifle McHugh’s influence when they played with five defenders and seven forwards - like today it worked for the early part of the game but on that occasion as we all know, once Donegal found their feet they had the measure of the Rebels; it wasn't quite as straight forward this afternoon.

On account of Meath effectively having an extra body at midfield, Paul Durcan struggled to find his players from his restarts and O'Dowd's men quickly ran up a healthy lead. When Durcan lined up his kick-outs in the first half what he saw was a mass of bodies directly in front him with Meath having pushed up on Donegal’s defence. This left a large section of space between the 45s and it was Meath who dominated here through their sheer size around the middle third - it wasn’t until Neil Gallagher was introduced that Donegal looked comfortable in that sector.

Meath have struggled over the past few weeks in the league but what we saw today wasn’t anything new - they demolished Dublin’s lauded kick-out strategy in last year’s Leinster Final and if they had had the legs on the day they could have claimed the trophy. Back then it was Stephen Cluxton who found the going tough in finding his men, today it was Durcan. In their dominant spell at the start of the game they stretched their lead out to 0-6 to 0-1 at one stage but Donegal didn’t panic and slowly reined the Royals back in.

One vital trait that Jim has instilled in his players during his tenure is belief and in a situation like they found themselves in today, it was clear that the players didn’t panic and instead they managed to think their way through the first half.

To get back into the game the onus was on the defenders to attack from deep; Durcan began to find his full and half back lines for short kick-outs and with possession won it was about carrying the ball through the Royal rearguard. Both McHughs did this with great diligence and effort and soon the chances came. Leo McLoone and Anthony Thompson relentlessly motored forward from their defensive posts while Neil McGee made a burst up from full back only to see his scoring effort drift wide of the posts. Frank McGlynn was next up and while the Glenfin star didn’t hit the crispest shot he’s ever let fly off his left boot, it deceived the giant Meath goalkeeper Paddy O’Rourke enough to nestle in the corner of the net – game on.

Meath responded with their own green flag in what was becoming an absorbing contest but Donegal kept their foot on the throttle and by half time had cut the lead down to a manageable two points.

It was after the break that Toye came storming into the game. At times it seemed like a one man fight back effort from the Creeslough native – he made numerous dispossessions, won turnovers, drove through the Meath defence and capped off his performance with a couple of points to boot. With the amount of turnovers Toye and his team-mates forced there really should have been more than the one Donegal goal to show on the scoreboard.

Donegal lost some of their urgency when Ryan McHugh went off after being shown a black card – it was the correct decision by referee Padraig Hughes although a first half body-check on the elder McHugh, Mark, should have also been punished with a black card but was let go – new rules, same inconsistency.

Mark had a fine afternoon overall and it was interesting to see that while Meath’s free man, Tormey, had emptied the tank and was taken off with ten minutes to go, the energy reserves of Donegal’s equivalent were still in credit and he was able to keep going right until the end.

McGuinness gave Darach O’Connor a real confidence boost by throwing him into the fray in the closing stages today and the Buncrana teenager showed great maturity when he went for the equalising score in the dying minutes. In no more than a yard of space he could have easily tried to recycle the ball and wait to give a team mate an opportunity but instead he took the responsibility on himself and was unlucky to see his shot come back off the post. At that stage it looked as if it was Meath’s day but there was to be one last chance and Michael Murphy struck a fantastic free from close to the sideline to gain a point for his charges. Despite it being ‘only’ a league game there was a fair bit of pressure on the free given the anticipation from the crowd and its proximity to the sideline made the kick even tougher; there was no doubt though in Michael’s mind where the ball was going - he trusted his technique and caught it beautifully to send it sailing through the posts.

The real negative from the game was Donegal’s inability to win primary ball from their restarts. We’ve seen already through the course of the McKenna Cup and the League that they’ve done quite a bit of work on this aspect of their play over the winter but there’s still plenty to do. Of course it’s nowhere near as big of a problem when Neil Gallagher is on the field. The Glenswilly man and another substitute David Walsh made huge impacts off the bench today and the sooner these lads, Gallagher in particular, are fit enough to last seventy minutes the better.

Had the hosts been a bit more clinical in the closing stretch they could have probably come away with full points but the bit of a scare will do them no harm. Teams generally like to have things to work on and facets of their game to improve upon – Donegal had been so untroubled in the opening matches it seemed that everything was going perfectly so a bit of a reality check at this stage can be seen as a positive. That is how Jim will be looking at it and after last week’s result in Croke Park and todays in Killarney, Jim Gavin and Mickey Harte will be thinking the exact same. Definitely a point gained today for Donegal and looking ahead to the summer, it could be worth a lot more.