Conor McManus on the Donegal team: Profiling the men tasked with avenging 2014 All-Ireland final loss
Age
: 29
Club
: St Eunan's
SFC debut
: 2018 v Cavan
Cornerstone of everything with the speed, distance and variety of his restarts and he has also made some decent stops. Injured for
Donegal
's one defeat. Never gets flustered if one or two kickouts go astray but the 4-4-4 press has caused occasional trouble.
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2. Finbarr Roarty
Age
: 19
Club
: Naomh Conaill
SFC debut
: 2025 v Derry
Young Footballer of the Year candidate, he has everything in his locker – physically strong in the tackle, pace to carry the ball, great footwork and has got on the end of a few scores. Composure of someone who is playing at this level for significantly longer.
3. Brendan McCole
Donegal's Brendan McCole is likely to be marking David Clifford, which is as tough as it gets. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho
Age
: 27
Club
: St Naul's
SFC debut
: 2019 v
Kerry
Top man-marker who tends to pick up the opposition danger man. This weekend, that means David Clifford. McCole has strength, pace and aggression. Very diligent in how he covers off space and will have support in what is a daunting task.
4. Peadar Mogan
Age
: 26
Club
: St Naul's
SFC debut
: 2020 v Tyrone
Prolific number four, as befits a natural forward. Maybe not as spectacular this year but just as effective. Pace and dynamism going forward but also as one of the hunting pack, turning over ball and getting it quickly up the field.
5. Ryan McHugh
Age
: 31
Club
: Kilcar
SFC debut
: 2013 v
Down
Playing a much more conventional role than the go-go-go associated with him in recent years. Integral part of their defensive and sweeping system. Generally, in the vicinity of turnovers. Give him the ball and he'll keep it moving.
6. Eoghán Bán Gallagher
Age
: 29
Club
: Killybegs
SFC debut
: 2016 v Monaghan
Biggest compliment you can pay is that Caolan McGonagle hasn't been badly missed. Brings solidity and is very comfortable on the ball. He is also a good man marker from days in full-back line. Likely to take Seán O'Shea or Paudie Clifford.
7. Caolan McColgan
Donegal's Caolan McColgan always puts in a big shift. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Age
: 23
Club
: Naomh Pádraig, Muff
SFC debut
: 2023 v Down
Deployed as a utility player. Man-marked Mayo's Aidan O'Shea in the final round-robin game, more to put O'Shea on the back foot than to stay in the full back line. Very busy and will do his shift until replaced around 45 or 50 minutes.
8. Hugh McFadden
Age
: 31
Club
: Killybegs
SFC debut
: 2015 v Armagh
Knows his job. Gives everything for 45 or 50 minutes and Jason Magee will finish off the job. Not sure he would have the same impact coming on but it's not just about finishing strong. McFadden is a massive leadership figure.
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How Kerry or Donegal could win or lose the All-Ireland final
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9. Michael Langan
Age
: 29
Club
: St Michael's
SFC debut
: 2017 v Antrim
Over Donegal's 10 games, he's probably been their best player. Pops up with big scores, wins a lot of ball and distributes well. Also has the ability to kick two-pointers. Very languid style but hugely effective. Potential Player of the Year.
10. Shane O'Donnell
Age
: 23
Club
: St Eunan's
SFC debut
: 2022 v Armagh
A massive addition to the team's game over the last couple of years, he's very pacey and makes more than his share of scoring assists. Ticks every box for Donegal in how they're set up and how they play.
11. Ciarán Thompson
Donegal's Ciarán Thompson has a habit of coming up with big moments when the team needs him most. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Age
: 30
Club
: Naomh Conaill
SFC debut
: 2016 v Dublin
Another hugely prominent presence, he has played every single minute of the 10 games to date. Drifts in and out around the middle and shot important two-pointers against Monaghan in the All-Ireland quarter-final when Donegal really needed scores.
12. Ciarán Moore
Age
: 23
Club
: St Eunan's
SFC debut
: 2024 v Derry
Move to half forwards has transformed his game, which has been better this year and he has been physically stronger. Moore is one of the weapons when Donegal turn you over. He has the constant pace to hurt teams, no matter how late, as Mayo found out.
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Patrick McBrearty is the golden thread running through the Jim McGuinness era
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13. Conor O'Donnell
Age
: 24
Club
: Carndonagh
SFC debut
: 2021 v Down
For all Donegal's impressive spread of scoring, he's consistently getting on the board. Popped up with 1-3 the last day from five shots, untypically missing one on his right foot from the 13-yard line. Hugely efficient use of the ball.
14. Michael Murphy
Michael Murphy has been outstanding in Donegal's march to the final. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Age
: 35
Club
: Glenswilly
SFC debut
: 2007 v Leitrim
Despite talk of Murphy being an impact sub, it should have been obvious that he would be picking up where he left off. To get to this level, having been out of intercounty for two years, is incredible. Precision, ball winning and leadership all still intact.
15. Oisín Gallen
Age
: 25
Club
: Seán Mac Cumhaills
SFC debut
: 2019 v Tyrone
His return to form has been massive for Donegal and their chances of winning the All-Ireland. He hadn't been hitting top notes in the early rounds of the championship but shot 1-2 the last day, which creates a problem for Kerry.
Bench
This is potentially the big difference in the two teams. Donegal can spring Jason McGee on 50 minutes as well as Patrick McBrearty, Dáire Ó Baoill and Caolan McGonagle. Outstanding options going down the stretch.
Management
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness will have worked through every possibility with his players. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Jim McGuinness (manager), Colm McFadden, Neil McGee, Luke Barrett.
This simply wouldn't be happening unless Jim McGuinness was back. Has everyone hanging on his every word. They're going into this with every box ticked, every angle covered and every small detail worked on.
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The Irish Sun
27 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
There was a clear turning point in Kerry's season which ultimately made them All-Ireland champions
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In a year that saw the game overhauled, the Kingdom stayed true to their style and they have been richly rewarded. Kerry looked unstoppable at times in the first half of yesterday's final. That being said, it almost felt as though Donegal were giving them too much respect and subsequently disrupted their own system. Most read in GAA Football They stood off Kerry completely and gave them the room they needed to attack and hit scores. It was an unusual tactic from a Jim McGuinness team. Kerry exploited it to great effect, particularly in the first half when they were absolutely exceptional. This was a really impressive all-round performance from Kerry. 'Sad to see him go' - GAA fans emotional seeing Michael D Higgins attend last men's All-Ireland final as President It is not often that everything comes together like that on All-Ireland final day, yet it's a joy to watch when it does. Kerry looked like they were going to raise a flag whenever they attacked. At the other end, Donegal were working much harder for their scores. On a day when the Ulster champions would have been hoping for a big impact from their bench, it never came. PLENTY OF CHANGES BUT LITTLE CHANGE They had four subs on before Kerry used their first, yet it changed very little. The loss of Ciarán Thompson to an injury in the first half, followed by another talisman in Ryan McHugh going off early in the second half, did not help their cause. When a team sees senior players leaving the game, it has a detrimental effect. Donegal would obviously have tagged Clifford obviously did damage when he was on the ball but perhaps they put too much emphasis on him. Brendan McCole was almost completely taken out of the game by the two-time Footballer of the Year. SELFLESS PLAY Clifford spent most of the first half out under the Hogan Stand, which only served to pull Donegal's defensive structure apart. 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The Irish Sun
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- The Irish Sun
RTE pundit's hilarious response after Jacqui Hurley suggested he might replace Jack O'Connor as Kerry boss
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RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Marie Crowe on raising a sports-mad family and playing GAA
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I love showing the kids as well that it's OK to make decisions and go and do something that you really want to do." Four-month-old Jessie, she says, is an easy baby. "I always say that when I had the three boys together, it was like living in a tornado, and then Jessie is so Zen. She's so good-humoured and laughs all the time. She's brilliant. I would recommend to everybody!" Football Families is the broadcaster's latest project. The new three-part series digs deep into the world of young soccer players, chasing the dream of professional football. It's a behind-the-scenes look at Shelbourne F.C's soccer academy, highlighting the hard work involved and pressures these teenagers are under, as well as the sacrifices that families make to help their children on this journey. The series concept originated with Marie. "I came up with the idea four years ago, when I was watching a series about an academy in the UK. My kids were loving it and really interested in it. We were watching it together every week, which is not a normal thing to do any more, and they were glued to it," she says. "I was thinking there's so many great stories in the teams that they play in and so many brilliant kids and parents making commitments and driving from all over, all wanting to play football. I just thought we don't get to hear enough about young Irish kids who want to go on and be footballers." The series also serves as something of a cautionary tale, because not everyone will be able to turn their dreams into reality and make it at elite level football. "I think it shows it's OK to want it. It's OK to want to follow your dream, and yet you see kids and people that don't make it, and that's OK too. Not everybody can make it, and I think there has to be an understanding that just because you want something, it doesn't mean it's going to happen, and we need to tell those stories as well," she says, adding: "We don't talk enough about failure in life, I think. It's OK to fail – absolutely. You don't have to make the team the first time, second time, third time or ever. It's fun to try and you do learn a lot from trying and following that pathway." She grew up as one of seven children – she has four sisters and two brothers – in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare. Her father was a PE teacher and all the family were involved in sport; Marie played camogie, Gaelic and soccer. After an arts degree, RTÉ GAA reporter Marty Morrissey, a family friend, encouraged her to try to land a position at Clare FM. Years later, Marty "introduced" Marie to her husband Billy Sheehan at their wedding, to the strains of The Sunday Game theme tune. "It was a very GAA wedding," she laughs. After spending two years as a sports broadcaster at the Co Clare station, she moved to the Sunday Independent, joining the paper's sports department. "That's really where I got good training and grounding," she says. "It was a great place to work, and I learned so much from being in the newsroom environment because back then, 2008, papers were so big. It's mad to think how things have changed so much since then." In 2014, she went to the short-lived TV channel UTV Ireland. That closed in 2016, while Marie was on maternity leave, but after that, she joined RTÉ as a sports presenter. Last year, she was the joint winner of the Journalist of the Year Award with Mark Tighe for RTÉ Investigates: Girls in Green, which exposed allegations of predatory behaviour and misogyny in Irish women's football. It was a big moment, but for her, getting the documentary over the line was more significant than the accolade. "Without people telling their stories, there would be no story, so that was much more important. To see those women being able to tell their stories and to know the effect and the impact they're going to have on sport for Jessie and all the girls and boys coming through, that they've made it a safer space, is way more important than anything I could ever achieve from an award perspective." Her three boys are all into sports; was that a given from the outset? "I guess it probably was, and sometimes I wonder about that, if we had introduced music into the house or other hobbies, would they have taken to them as much. But they've always been exposed to the sidelines because I was playing for St Patrick's Athletic soccer team, so they'd always come to matches and training with me and they'd always be with Billy as well at matches, so they didn't know any different," she says. "But they really enjoy it and they do lots of different sports. Timmy, my eldest, is in the Shelbourne Academy, which the series is about. Two of them had a basketball camp today; one had hurling camp. Timmy has soccer training tonight, and the other two boys are doing the Crumlin Mini World Cup. It's just go-go-go, but it's a choice. "We're happy to facilitate what they want to do because our parents gave us the opportunity to play sports when we were growing up, so we're just kind of giving back. It's full circle really." At the moment, she's doing Gaelic4Mothers&Others, a non-competitive, fun initiative, which sees women playing Ladies Gaelic Football in a social environment. "It's the best thing that I've done," she said. "It's a bit of fun and a lot of craic. You play blitzes and go to tournaments, and we've travelled to New York and Barcelona; we're going to Philadelphia in October." Her 'me time' is watching her kids play sport. "I love standing on the sideline with the buggy and my cup of coffee and just chill out. It's how I switch off," She is well-positioned to comment on the evolution and rapid rise of women's elite sport but there are still many challenges to overcome. The lack of women coaches is one glass ceiling that remains unbroken, she believes. "It's predominantly male, and I think it's because women still put everybody else first. They have to carry the domestic load, so it's hard to make the time to pick up a bag of balls and go coach a football team after they've done everything at home and they've gone to work." The high drop-out rate of girls from sport when they reach their teens is something she'd like to see more research into, and then there's the difficulty for female elite players in growing their fan base. "If we could get more people watching and engaging in women's sport, there would be more financial support going into the top level," she says. With Football Families, Marie says it has been an important project for her, and one that took a huge amount of work. "We need to highlight the importance of football academies because if we don't have kids who want to be footballers, we're not going to have a good Ireland team: we need to develop our footballers and make sure we have enough coming through. "We want memories like Italia '90 and USA '94 because these are all great moments that bring Irish people together, so the more we have of that, the better it will be for everyone."
