Donegal Make Light Work of Unrecognisable Kingdom

Donegal recorded a vital win in Ballybofey today and such is the congestion at the bottom of the Division One table, they find themselves in the top half of the table and well placed to not only avoid the drop but also contest for a league semi-final place.

Perhaps the real story of the day though was the performance of the visitors; for those of us accustomed to Kerry being the standard bearers in the game its astonishing to see them at such a low ebb. Granted its early March and The Kingdom will be a different animal come the Summer but they're such a long way off their peak its hard to see them making up the difference. Watching their substitutes take their place on the sideline before the game, there were no familiar faces and they all looked liked fresh-faced minors.

The last team then that they want to face is the All-Ireland Champions. Donegal looked very efficient today,
exposing Kerry's frailties and the ten point winning margin could have been much bigger with a bit more composure in the final third.

The difference between the demeanour of both management teams on the sideline was noticeable; Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice was quite reserved and barely said a word, with his selectors Diarmuid Murphy and Mikey Sheehy much the same. Indeed it was only the team’s trainer, Cian O’Neill, who looked in any way interested in the game and he was the one dishing out the instructions and encouragement.
On the other hand, regardless of the occasion, Jim and Rory are constantly urging their team on, annoyed when something is done incorrectly or when a call goes against them. Assistant manager Gallagher spends a lot of his Sunday afternoon racing on and off the pitch relaying messages to the players - every game is taken seriously and the management expect their players to reach certain levels of performance and do the right things, anything less is unacceptable.

It was evident from early on that Captain Michael Murphy wanted to atone for his disappointing afternoon in Omagh last Sunday. Inside five minutes he was given a chance at another penalty and he made no mistake this time, drilling the ball low and hard, giving Brendan Kealy in goal no chance.

Murphy was out in front of his marker Aidan O’Mahony on almost every occasion when the ball came his way, combining strength, pace and skill to get the better of the Rathmore man time after time.
In one attack he produced a moment of class that had to be seen to be believed. With the ball coming his way along the ground, instead of bending his back to pick it up, he dummied and allowed the ball to go through his and his marker's legs and ran around behind O’Mahony to retrieve possession. Pele famously did something similar against Uruguay in the World Cup Finals with his 'runaround' move and with the form Murphy is in at present he wouldn’t look out of place on that kind of stage.

He continued to torment his marker with his best score coming early in the second half when he held off O’Mahony with one hand, collected the ball with other and then spun and fired it over the black spot. His strength in holding off markers is incredible, and allows him to always have at least a yard of space to work with.

The forward line saw plenty of ball today and this was down to the work that went on behind them. Paddy McGrath, Rory Kavanagh and Ryan Bradley were hugely impressive in snuffing out attacks and then bursting out with pace and power; with every passing week the fitness and conditioning of the squad is getting better. A lot of the players, Bradley in particular, enjoy bringing the ball into contact knowing they have such upper body strength to break through tackles and knowing that when they do there is a man on the shoulder to carry it on further.

Patrick McBrearty had another good outing today, playing primarily as a centre forward with licence to dictate and link the play from deep. He could well be playing the ‘McHugh’ role come the Summer as McGuinness looks to develop new plans that will keep opposition bosses guessing. McBrearty has all the attributes to fulfil that deep lying task and allied to his finishing - he popped up for a fine first half score - he has become a much more rounded player.

Johnny Buckley was the standout of the newer Kerry players, following up a good showing against Kildare last week. Otherwise it was the old heads of Tomas O’Se and Kieran Donaghy who took the fight to the home side.

Donaghy played most of the game between midfield and half-forward and won quite a bit of ball around the middle third. Kerry’s problem is that he isn’t inside to receive the ball coming in; stationed on the edge of the square for the last fifteen minutes, he won every ball that came his way, including the possession that led to Kieran O‘Leary‘s missed penalty. Kerry have to somehow find a role for Star that allows him to have an effect on the game both inside and outside the 45. Donaghy made the long journey back home that bit easier for one young Kerry fan, giving him his match day gloves as a present as he took his place on in the dugout following a nasty looking foot injury. With the current turmoil in the camp they can ill-afford to lose the big Tralee man for an extended period.

O’Se is the veteran of the Kerry team and it was a joy to watch him in action today, flying up and down the wing like a rookie. He didnt help his team's cause though with one moment of indiscipline when he introduced himself to one of Donegal’s newest recruits early in the second half; the effervescent Ryan McHugh was on the receiving end of a box in the ribs right under the nose of linesman and O’Se was subsequently sent for an early shower.

Kerry’s other main forward star on show, Darran O’Sullivan, was given the full forward jersey and this provided Neil McGee with a different challenge to what he’s used to. McGee is an old-fashioned full back, physically dominating many of his opponents but today he had to use his intelligence as a marker to ensure O’Sullivan didn’t get a chance to burn him with pace. He did this fairly well and the Kerry sharp-shooter managed just one point, although McGee was relieved of his duties in the second half when the fabulous McGrath was given man-marking duties on O'Sullivan.

Despite a frustrating day for O’Sullivan he showed his class late on after an incident with his new marker McGrath. The former All-Ireland winning captain caught the Ardara man with a tackle around the neck but the corner back kept going and made nothing of it. As they returned to their positions, an apologetic hand was offered to McGrath and it was such a contrast to the nastiness on show in the card-ridden contest last weekend in Healy Park.

The snow falling throughout the game today suggested we were in the depths of Winter and it must feel like that for Kerry with the Summer and Croke Park seemingly a long way off. For Donegal on the other hand, they’re motoring along nicely and slowly but surely they’re getting to where they want to be. Their finest display of last year's odyssey came against Cork in the semi-final and its the Rebels who provide the opposition in Pairc Ui Rinn next weekend.

Battle Lost at Healy Park but War Still to Come

As dress rehearsals go this was pretty close to the real thing as regards Championship preparation; there is an intense rivalry between the neighbouring counties of Donegal and Tyrone and yesterday served to further highlight this. In 12 weeks they will do it all again but the prize will be much more than two league points.

Tyrone took the spoils this time and did the damage in a devastating third quarter when they pushed home their numerical advantage from the field to the scoreboard.

The size of the crowd at Healy Park conveyed the importance attached to this fixture and how both sets of supporters are eagerly awaiting the showdown in May. Unfortunately the organisation was somewhat lacking at the Omagh venue with hundreds of people still queuing up outside as the match threw in. Tyrone GAA in general is a shining example of how to do things right so it’s a shame that their premier ground is not setup to cater for a such a large crowd.

Much of the pre-match build up focused on how the managers would setup their sides and whether or not they would try to keep their cards close to their chests. Jim McGuinness opted to station Neil Gallagher on the edge of the square, only coming deep for kick-outs; he wouldn’t be unfamiliar with the role having fulfilled this with his club during their County title winning charge but you’d imagine there’ll be no repeat come May.

His influence and organisation was missing around the middle third with several instances of Tyrone men winning kick outs uncontested and it gave the home side a platform from which to launch their attacks. Even on limited primary possession Donegal looked incisive when they went forward and McGuinness will be happy with how they were able to open up the Tyrone rearguard. Primary possession of course isn’t hugely important to Donegal such is their ability to turn the ball over and win it back when opponents foray into the hungry tacklers lined up along Donegal’s 45 metre line but even still, the amount of pressure-free ball Tyrone players were allowed to win needs to be worked on.

Donegal didn’t yield too much from the Gallagher at full forward ploy but their running game was working and they also had a certain magician in the No 14 jersey. An outrageous point from Michael Murphy showed his glorious run of form shows no sign of stopping. Receiving possession on the right wing he took a hop, soloed with his right and came inside onto his left foot; then in feigning to shoot, he dummy soloed and in one movement turned 180 degrees and stroked it over from a tight angle without barely a glance at the posts. Not many players in Ireland could execute such a piece of skill but its just another magic trick from The Maestro’s ever-growing repertoire.

The great players, in any field sport, always have an ability to create time and space for themselves. Whether it’s a side step from Brian O’Driscoll or close control from Lionel Messi, these skills result in a player having more time than they had when they first received possession. Murphy’s marker Conor Clarke, who a super game in last year’s Championship clash, was within a half yard of his man but with the dummy and turn Murphy was in a few yards of space. It’s the art of forward play and artists like Murphy aren’t made, they’re born. He scored another from play soon after but just before half time the game was turned on its head.

A missed penalty from Murphy, a second booking for a sliding tackle on Joe McMahon and also a first yellow for Neil Gallagher which would be followed up by another in the second half . Michael normally throttles his penalty shots but he didn’t get that correct strike through the ball and Niall Morgan was off his line quickly to get his hands to the effort. As for the red card, it was a silly attempt to retrieve the ball by Donegal’s captain and could be deemed dangerous but he can feel hard done by for a challenge that was clumsy rather than malicious.

While that was undoubtedly a huge moment in the game, the real sucker punch came courtesy of Stephen O’Neill’s goal. A hesitant Neil McGee let a long ball drop in behind him and while he made a heroic effort to block the follow-up shot he couldn’t prevent it from finding the net. McGee and O’Neill had quite a battle on the edge of the square and they continued to exchange pleasantries after the final whistle - that’s certainly a confrontation brewing ahead of May.

Donegal had got a couple of scores on the bounce at this stage and were within a point of the home side so the goal couldn’t have come at a worse time. The hosts pushed on after that and even though Donegal stuck to their task and were helped by substitute Patrick McBrearty’s contribution they could never get to within striking distance of the Red Hand men.

There were encouraging signs from some of the players who’d been missing until now though with Paddy McGrath and Frank McGlynn both getting a valuable 70 minutes under their belts.

Leo McLoone ran well from deep, often sitting in front of centre-back McGlynn. Leo had one of his finest ever displays in a Donegal jersey in the same fixture two years ago when he produced a master class and gave the great Sean Cavanagh the run around.

Both McLoone and Cavanagh have endured injury nightmares since that fixture and Tyrone fans are delighted with the Moy clubman’s performances to date in 2013. He’s keen to make up for the amount games he’s missed through successive shoulder injuries and he was certainly fired up for yesterday’s encounter. A fine long range point in the second half and the salute to the crowd which followed it illustrated how pumped up he and his team-mates were in facing the All-Ireland Champions.

The atmosphere on the field of play spilled over on numerous occasions and losing a physical, heated battle such as this will generally give a team a sense that they’ve been bullied - this will give Donegal huge motivation for when the sides meet again.

Mickey Harte said in his autobiography a few years ago how annoyed he and his players were by what they saw as showboating on Donegal’s part in a league victory in 2007. He noted the lack of humility from those in green and gold but was well aware that “there’s always another day.” That day came a few months later when his Tyrone team blitzed Donegal in the Ulster semi-final at Clones.

While the home team enjoyed their victory and revelled in the nasty undercurrent on show, Donegal know that there will be another day - and, assuming the Ulster Council make the right call on the venue, you wont want to be anywhere other than Ballybofey on May 26th.

Dún na nGall open their Division One account

First two points on the board in Division One for Donegal and a good night all round at MacCumhaill Park.

As with last week, it took Donegal quite a while to get into their stride and get up to the pace of the game. A lot was made of the team’s second half performances in last year’s All-Ireland march - that was primarily due to the reserves of fitness that the players had in their collective tanks - at present though its more to do with the tank running a little low. The side found enough in the second half though to put this game to bed as the Down challenge fell away just as it did in last year’s Ulster Final.

The first half was a scrappy affair with the Mournemen employing a running game but didn’t make too much headway. They simply don’t have the physicality to burst through the Donegal rearguard although they did manage to win a few frees and with Donal O’Hare in good form from the boot they went in a point to the good.

The hosts’ handling throughout the game was a particularly impressive facet of the game; time and again players caught balls over their head or even one-handed and unlike the Irish at the Aviva today, the ball stuck. Its another insight into the training that Jim and Rory put this team through - its not all running and strength work. Clubs across Donegal and indeed all over the country are trying to emulate the McGuinness template with players enduring arduous long runs, numerous ascents of sand dunes and countless hours in the gym. It cannot be overlooked though that this Donegal team possesses superb footballers with extremely high skill levels - that, as much as the conditioning of the squad, is the reason why we are All-Ireland Champions.

Donegal weren’t at the races but whatever was said at half time had the desired effect. They immediately reeled the visitors in and took control of the game. They would keep Down scoreless until the latter stages of the game, while eight white flags were raised at the other end.

A quiet and subdued crowd in Ballybofey were awoken from their slumber with the news that Neil Gallagher was going to join the action for the second half. He had a huge impact on the game and gives such an important physical presence around the middle third as well providing his ability to win primary possession. Gallagher replaced Martin McElhinney who again failed to stamp his authority on the game at midfield; the hard work required in the engine room doesn’t allow him to show his full skillset. The St Michaels man is better suited to a deep lying half forward role where he can use his driving power and penetration to trouble defences. Indeed in last year’s league encounter with Down he did just that early on and gave Donegal some impetus at Pairc Esler.

That night last year in Newry, we were without our twin towers strike force of Colm McFadden and Michael Murphy but last night they were both in the side, the latter shaking off the hamstring injury he picked up last week. McFadden still looks a bit off the pace and the three week break will help him regain some of his sharpness. No such worries with the country’s form player Murphy however, his six-point haul last night brought his total for the week to twenty-four for county and college. God help the UCD defence who have to face him in the Sigerson quarter-final this Thursday.

Those six-points were key to Donegal registering their first points of the campaign and just as vital was the contribution of Mark McHugh. The Kilcar man is such a vital cog for this team, his paws are on so many of our scores and there isn’t a blade of grass on a pitch that he doesn’t cover at some stage during a match.
So much of Donegal’s approach centres on players using their physique to carry the ball into a tackle and then off loading, thus creating space for the receiver. So often that receiver is McHugh - he is the main outlet anytime one of his team-mates go on a foray into traffic.

Neil McGee picked up the Setanta man of the match award and while he did have a fine game, its quite possible that it was a case of mistaken identity. The older brother Eamonn gave a commanding display from start to finish and often it was him and not Neil who came marauding out of defence to instigate another Donegal attack.

Its hard to know where this Down side goes from here, two defeats and they are propping up the table with Kerry and Cork in Division One. Not bad company to be keeping but James McCartan’s men face a huge task in trying to retain their status in the top flight. They’ve always produced classy footballers and still have plenty of them in their ranks but getting a coherent plan together is crucial in the modern game and they have yet to find the right blueprint.

The teams are on the same side of the draw in this year’s chase for Anglo Celt honours so they may meet again. Tyrone will of course have a lot to say about that on May 26th and next up in the league is the dress-rehearsal for that crunch encounter. How seriously either team will treat that remains to be seen, neither manager will want to give too much away but as always with McGuinness and Harte it will be fascinating battle. Roll on Healy Park.

Murphy Magic not quite enough for Donegal

Michael Murphy put in another Tour de Force display at Croke Park on Saturday night but Donegal still came up short in a cracking encounter with Kildare.

No one really knew what to expect from the All Ireland Champions such was their truncated beginning to the season. They started brightly but Kildare soon began to dominant and without Neil Gallagher in the side we struggled for primary possession around the middle. They racked up some fine scores, with newcomers Niall Kelly and Daniel Flynn catching the eye. The 'home' side led by five and held all the aces at half time - well all but one Ace.

In the second half Michael took over and almost single-handedly got his side back into it. He played a roving role that saw him pop up just about everywhere on Jones Road and he finished the night with 0-9 to his name.

With Colm McFadden going off early with a hamstring injury Murphy took on extra responsibility with young Ross Wherity helping him out in the forward line. The Eunan’s newcomer showed well for the ball and kept trying but his slight frame was no match for Kildare’s physicality. Improvement in this area though and Wherity will see more and more game time - no doubt Jim already has Adam Speer working with Wherity, and indeed the other new panellists, and they will only get bigger and stronger.


Having Wherity up front was in stark contrast to Kildare who had the man mountain figure of Tomas O’Connor who got a lot of joy in his full forward role for the Lilywhites; both McGee’s had a go at marking him with neither faring too well. The big man up front is certainly one way to beat this Donegal team so expect to see teams employing this tactic quite often.

O’Connor got his side’s first goal after touching home a rebound off the post, bringing back memories of the infamous square ball in the 2011 Quarter Final.
The next key moment of the game was the second Kildare major and unfortunately it had a bit of infamy about it as well. The country’s All Star goalkeeper had one of those howlers that every net-minder dreads. A complete misjudgement of his positioning with the ball in flight and all Paul Durcan could do was help it into the goal. He’s not the All Star No1 for nothing though and he has barely put a foot wrong in the last few years so we certainly won’t hold it against the big Four Masters man. Moments later Kildare tested him again to see how his nerves were with a high ball in on top of him but he dealt with it well.

After Murphy, McHugh et al had done their bit in dragging Donegal back into the game, the goal concession halted the momentum and Kildare had enough to hold on for the win. All in all, the boys will be relatively happy with their performance; they showed plenty of heart and hunger in the second half when the game could have easily gone out of sight. Donegal lost their first two league games of last year’s campaign and they wont want that to happen again – this weekend’s clash with Down in Ballybofey is a crucial tie.

McFadden will most likely be missing for that game and his scoring threat will need to be replicated by Patrick McBrearty. The Kilcar man did well on Saturday but more is needed from the young sharp shooter. His potential as a minor had him on the radar for so long and there is huge expectation on his shoulders. Many parts of his game are in place and he sees plenty of the ball every day he plays but if he could get on the scoresheet more regularly and add that killer instinct that all great forwards have, he can push onto another level.

McBrearty was involved in one the scores of the game, a point started and finished in Kilcar. Substitute Mark McHugh, who made a big difference when introduced, played a ball down the channel for McBrearty. He immediately dinked it up into his hands, found McHugh again with a clever pass inside and McHugh slotted it over.

This had come just a couple of minutes after probably the game’s best score and no prizes for guessing who it came from. Michael won a ball 50 yards out, drove into a gap and motored past two defenders. One managed to stay with him though and threw himself at what he thought was going to be a shot on goal. Instead Michael, showing wonderful awareness and poise, took another solo, left the Kildare man on the floor and stroked it over. It was class personified and conveyed everything that’s good about Murphy.

It strange how such a wonderful individual display can lead to many viewing it as a negative but that’s often what happens, the main argument being that the team relies too much on the Maestro and if he wasn’t there we wouldn’t have a chance.

Sure why wouldn’t we rely on him? The boy is a genius.

Every effort should be made to get him on the ball and let him dictate proceedings. His outing on Saturday night was reminiscent of his display against Dublin in last year’s league; he got injured that night and missed three months of action yet Donegal won the games they played for that period and kept on winning upon his return.

Barcelona don’t get criticised for Lionel Messi scoring almost a half of his team’s goals. Their approach is to keep possession and when the moment is right get him on the ball in the final third and he does the rest. Sounds like a good plan to me.

For Michael Messi Murphy it’s no different. Gaels everywhere should just sit back and enjoy watching an artist at work. He’s the best player ever to pull on a Donegal shirt, a once in a generation talent and he’s an All-Ireland winning Captain. And thank God he’s ours!

McKenna Cup put to bed, now its back to Croker

The McKenna Cup has been put to bed for another year and now Donegal can firmly focus on training and catching up with the rest of the country in the fitness stakes.

The experimentation continued in tonight’s final game of the competition with John O’Malley and Eoin McHugh making their debuts while Adi O’Gara, Pauric Carr and Michael Cannon, after brief cameos in the previous games, all made their first starts. O’Malley is well known for his senior exploits with Naomh Conaill and is likely destined for many more games in the county jersey. A huge honour too was bestowed on the Cloich Cheann Fhaola club, with Kevin McFadden skippering the All-Ireland Champions.


The fact that a 3rd level side, in the form of Belfast teaching college St Marys, were the opposition meant Donegal’s newcomers enjoyed a bit more of a level playing field than in the previous exploits against Fermanagh and Monaghan. The lads were quick out of the blocks with Odhran MacNiallais doing the damage early on. The students found their feet though and in a high scoring affair they led by a point at the break.

Caolan Ward and Kevin McFadden again impressed and with both players having played in different positions over the course of the competition, their versatility could be an asset to both Maxi Curran’s U21s and possibly Jim McGuinness' senior squad.

The high scoring continued after the change of ends; Donegal went on a scoring spree with five unasnwered points before Marys pegged it back to make it all square. There was some confusion between the score the referee had noted and that of the MacCumhaill Park scoreboard but in the end the record books will show a one point win for the hosts.


The GAA season now goes up a notch with Kildare providing our next opponents in the league opener and it gives supporters an early opportunity to go back to the Graceland of Croke Park and relive some of those wonderful memories from September. From a playing point of view, following the switch of venue for the clash, it will do McGuinness’ troops no harm playing at Headquarters as opposed to Conleth’s Park in Newbridge - the players are obviously well used to it and any opportunity to play at the Mecca of football can only benefit a team.

Jim spoke at the weekend of the training the team are undertaking now that their holiday is firmly in the past - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are all training days and the players will be glad to get back to the group dynamic and getting themselves prepared for what lies ahead.

Last year McGuinness along with Adam Speer and the rest of the coaching staff got the entire panel in incredible shape and in our best moments of the Championship other teams simply couldn’t live with our relentless stamina. 2011 was a case of getting the players up to a decent level of fitness based on the individual needs of each player. Last year however, to a man the squad was operating at close to peak condition - bringing them back up to that level again while also managing the niggles and knocks, and a serious hip injury in Karl Lacey’s case, is the target over the next few months.

Another goal of the management team will be to try to blend in those players who have shown well in this McKenna Cup campaign and there will be a few with an eye on at least a training spot with the panel and possibly more.

It is critical for any team that wins the All-Ireland to have competition for places and to avoid having players resting on their laurels. Someone breathing down the neck of a man in possession of a Celtic Cross should drive him on to win another one.

That’s all well in the future of course, for now its well done to the boys who’ve represented the jersey over the past week and all roads lead to Croker in a couple of weeks time.

Inexperienced Donegal Mauled by Monaghan

A first home game of the year for the All-Ireland Champions but its safe to say we’re all waiting for the homecoming proper in May after watching the mauling handed out by Monaghan today.

It was a similar story to Wednesday night with an inexperienced Donegal being well beaten by a superior conditioned side but it was a useful exercise nonetheless with some of the new lads doing their bid for a permanent squad place no harm at all.


The McGuinness ‘system’ is well known to the players, and everyone else really at this stage, and as such it makes it a bit easier for players to slot in when required; however it is certainly less troublesome for defenders to take up the baton. A mobile, pacey defender can answer most of the questions asked of him and with numbers behind the ball he has help by his side (even though the questions came a bit too quick for the back unit today). It’s a different story up front where a lot of Donegal’s forward play is built upon physical presence and ball winning ability. When the usual suspects aren’t available it can be very difficult for the forward line to play with any kind of cohesion and so much more work goes into each score. Today was a case in point when it took 28 minutes for the first score to arrive, that being Adrian Hanlon’s goal.

Daniel McLaughlin going off early after shipping a heavy knock to his knee while taking a shot at goal didn’t help matters up front; the St Michael's man was very effective on Wednesday night and his pace and piercing runs were missed.

The Naomh Conaill duo of Dermot Molloy and Marty Boyle were unavailable from the off today with each suffering from a bout of the vomiting bug and this further depleted the options available to Maxi Curran.

Gary McFadden was again prominent and looked Donegal’s most dangerous player. He played in midfield today but still got forward whenever he could and got his name on the score sheet, adding to the four points he registered in Brewster Park.  His leadership is vital on days like this when there are so many newcomers on the field and of course he’s no stranger to that type of role having captained his club to county glory in 2011. He’s one who could well have his eye on a starting spot in Croke Park in three weeks time.

Shane McGowan was another who put impressive back-to-back displays together and indeed was the standout performer in green and gold today. Playing what could be termed the ‘McHugh role’ he looked good on the ball and showed great anticipation - just like the Kilcar man did all last year.

A goal for the visitors almost straight from the restart killed the game and it was a second half procession for the Farney men. Monaghan have traditionally always had strong, tough footballers who bring great physicality to games and this was evident again today. They also moved the ball extremely well at times and regardless of the nature of the teams, wracking up 3-16 against Donegal is good going.

They had many excellent performances today but Kieran Hughes stood tallest and his afternoon was peppered with fine score taking, good build up work and some sumptuous assist play. One particular highlight came in the second half when he hit an overhead reverse pass with his weaker right foot to set up a point for substitute Dermot Malone.

Willie Gillespie came into the game more in the second half for the hosts and scored a wonderful point off his right following clever use of his body to shield the incoming ball from the defender before grasping it and slotting it over. He did something similar in the first half and was unlucky not to get a penalty when striking for goal on that occasion.


Malachy O’Rourke’s men appear to motoring along nicely and they will face Fermanagh on Wednesday night in a shoot-out for top spot. Of course Monaghan could easily have been our opponents in last year’s Ulster Final, their second half collapse in the semi against Down is no doubt still a sore point. They have a good manager in place in the shape of O’Rourke who had a good stint as Fermanagh boss and indeed the Ernemen were only a good free-taker away from an Ulster Championship in 2008.

Monaghan could certainly be in the mix again this Summer, they are on the weaker side of the draw and will fancy themselves as dark horses for the Anglo Celt.

There’ll be nothing dark about Donegal’s quest for three-in-a-row of course and depending on the decision from the Ulster Council over whether MacCumhaill Park is fit to the host eagerly awaited clash with Tyrone, that bid could begin on home turf. The old ground was quiet and hushed today but hopefully, with the correct call from Ulster HQ, the place will be rocking come the end of May.

Here We Go Again

Matches at this time of year are always a bit unusual, no one knows quite what to expect performance-wise; results are by and large meaningless as Donegal’s whitewash in last year’s McKenna Cup testifies. A freezing Wednesday night in Brewster Park is as far removed from Croke Park in September as you can imagine but that’s where the Donegal faithful pitched up last night. Every journey has to start somewhere and of course we’re all hoping that this year’s will end in nine months time again.

With the team only touching down on Irish soil on Tuesday after their Dubai sojourn this was always going to be a bit of a strange and rushed affair. So rushed indeed that two of Donegal’s players, Michael Boyle and Shane McGowan, had to make do with the 2011 kit that we last wore against Dublin in the All-Ireland Semi-Final as their 2012/13 equivalents had gone AWOL!

Stranger still but hugely satisfying was the fact that for only the second time ever we were treated to a Donegal team being given a guard of honour in their season opener as they made their way onto the field.

Amongst them were several debutants, eight of which saw their first action in a senior jersey; Kevin McFadden and substitute Caolan Ward along with panel returnee McGowan putting in the most noteworthy displays of the youngsters.

Last year’s panellists appeared that bit sharper than the newcomers despite the schedule of holidaying and celebrating they’ve had of late; indeed it’s a good omen for the rest of the first team that players like Daniel McLaughlin, Gary McFadden and Thomas McKinley weren’t found wanting physically against a Fermanagh team that have been back training for the past 7-8 weeks. Jim will put the boys through their paces over the next month and hopefully it will be a case of topping up to reach the extraordinary levels of fitness attained last year.

Maxi Curran directed operations from the sideline last night, with the majority of the matchday squad being plucked from his U21 panel. Jim and Rory watched on from the stand as part of a 1,500 strong crowd.

Fermanagh hit the front early and wouldn’t leave that position although it was hard to know at times such was the density of the fog that suffocated Brewster Park. The latest score had to be announced over the loudspeaker in each half, the scoreboard practically invisible through the fog in one corner of the field to the vast majority of patrons seated in the John Vesty Stand.

The game from a Donegal perspective was essentially a short passing, tight affair; with the fog making visibility difficult this was understandable. Also, with so many new players in action, its natural for players to take the safe option of a quick hand pass in order to retain possession instead of being more expansive. Despite the low-key nature of the fixture, pulling on a county jersey for the first time is the biggest game of some lad’s lives and their mindsets are somewhere in between making a name for themselves and not making mistakes.

Without either of the twin towers of Michael Murphy or Colm McFadden on the field, Donegal generally try and carry the ball into the forward line but in the second half when they did go that bit more direct they got their rewards with the goals from Adrian Hanlon and Brick Molloy.

The hosts though for the most part had an effective defensive screen and their superior, more advanced early season conditioning allowing them to funnel back and then immediately break in numbers. McLaughlin and Copper McFadden kept running and probing though and eventually found some gaps with the Glenswilly man finishing with three well taken scores from play.

Copper is one of those who would be hoping to kick on and get to the next level in 2013; this time last year there were plenty in the same boat and players such as Neil Gallagher, Eamonn McGee and Paddy McGrath climbed another rung or two on the performance ladder and were soon undroppable fixtures in the team. Others now include Brick Molloy, Patrick McBreaty, Leo McLoone and Marty Boyle – they can all push for a higher level of performance and if Jim can get that extra 10% out of some his players hopes will be high of another successful Summer.

Before all that though we continue with our Winter programme and its back at base in MacCumhaill Park on Sunday where Monaghan are the visitors.