The league title was settled in emphatic fashion, but what will it matter come summer?
Declan Bogue YOU HAVE TO wonder if the thirteen point hammering that Donegal dished out to Kerry yesterday will have an effect on the pairing when they meet in what feels like an inevitable pairing between the two in this summer’s championship.
Certainly, both teams will spin it whatever way they want. For Donegal, it doesn’t take away the hurt of losing last July’s All-Ireland final, but it was nonetheless useful in ridding themselves of a potential inferiority complex. The other side of that theory is they have shown their hand big time with the huge changes they made in approach. For Kerry, they have to brush it off instantly. Even in the media press room in Croke Park, manager Jack O’Connor was leaning back into that most reliable of clichés when he used a variance of the old, ‘it’s only the league.’ In one way, it could work a treat. Kerry play best when they have something to rail against. They got that in spades on Sunday with several systems failures and a good old-fashioned grudge to nurse with one ridiculous challenge that will receive a lot of airtime.1. Donegal defence Last summer, Donegal sat in a low block, aimed at choking up the central channel and thereby denying Kerry any goalscoring threat. Advertisement The pay-off for that was that players around the fringes of their defence were allowed possession undisturbed.-for-most prominent player was Paudie Clifford who conducted the entire game. Kerry will console themselves that the Fossa man was absent for this game, while Donegal will feel that they have the solution to that puzzle by leaving 2025 Young Footballer of the Year Finbarr Roarty in reserve after he played and captained the county U20 side in midweek. Either way, Donegal changed their entire approach. Everywhere you looked when this was a contest, they had man-to-mman marking.2. New jobs for the boys In the build-up to this game, former Donegal defender Eamonn McGee said it would amuse him greatly if manager Jim McGuinness stuck two fingers up at the world and retained the same defensive shape, doing it better this time. McGuinness wasn’t going to lapse into a repeat mistake however and instead embarked upon an entire suite of radical changes. The most eye-catching and notable one was the deployment of the supremely fit Caolan McColgan on David Clifford, with the thinking being to keep the Fossa man on the back foot.Seán O’Shea has been Kerry’s second most dangerous forward in the league and he was being marked by the little-heralded Max Campbell, with the impressive Glenties man kicking 0-3 to O’Shea’s 0-1. Elsewhere, Brendan McCole was on Dylan Geaney and restricted him to 0-1 and Peader Mogan was on Keith Evans who faded after his early goal, finishing with 1-1. By pulling Michael Murphy out the field to play a bit deeper, it also took advantage of his playmaking abilities while robbing Kerry of the oxygen they gained with Jason Foley’s dominance of Murphy in the final last year.3. Kickout role reversal Last year, Kerry absolutely swamped Armagh, Tyrone and Donegal on their kickouts in the All-Ireland series. Even in the absence of Diarmuid O’Connor, they patched together a midfield of Sean O’Brien and Mark O’Shea that performed over and above their expectations. And in Joe O’Connor they had another serious ball-winner. Donegal left off Hugh McFadden and Jason McGee from their starting line-up in last year’s final and when they were introduced, the tide started to turn. Both men, injury free, started on Sunday and their impact was immense. O’Brien was named to start yet was replaced before throw-in. Mark O’Shea had to contend with Michael Murphy standing on his toes for every Kerry kickout. Joe O’Connor is a big man, all 14 stone 11lb of him, but he isn’t quite as big as Jason McGee, who was on him for these plays.Add in goalkeeper Gavin Mulreany coming out and creating another spare man in the Donegal defence, and you can see the overhaul they had as they claimed eight of the 15 Kerry first-half kickouts. In one spell Donegal mined six spoiled kickouts, which they turned into five points and one missed shot.4. Bringing the biff The Michael Murphy incident in the first half, when he started windmilling at Dylan Casey from behind, finishing with a third strike long after the ball had gone, into his jaw, looked every bit as bad as the camera shows. Repeated showings don’t mitigate against it. Asked about it afterwards, Jim McGuinness looked downwards and immediately deflected to talk of the potential of head injuries when players are screening and holding off each other. Related Reads 'You have better eyesight than a few other lads': Managers react to controversial Michael Murphy strike and yellow card Meath boss Robbie Brennan: 'Just delight for the lads to pick up a bit of silverware' Donegal unleash goal blitz to bury Kerry in Division 1 decider Jim McGuinness. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO This subject will be raised again with McGuinness at an appropriate time. It is not alright to simply gloss over such incidents, though he would dearly love to do so.Kerry will water this grievance like a rose, letting it bloom all summer.It is the third party in the equation however, that will be the interesting thing. Every referee in charge of Donegal this summer will be keeping a tighter eye on Michael Murphy. Any hint of fisticuffs and he will see a red card. He will have to be far more careful than he has ever before, because he got away with one this time.
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