Conor McManus: A year on from semi-final defeats, Donegal may have improved that bit more

Irish Times

22-07-2025

The seeds for this year's All-Ireland final were planted 12 months ago in the aftermath of semi-final defeats for
Donegal
and, especially,
Kerry
. They have both improved and learned the lessons of 2024.
Under Jim McGuinness's original term of management, Donegal first became hard to beat and then in the second year, developed their attacking game and won the All-Ireland. He could well be on course to repeat that.
If you go back to the game against Galway last year in the All-Ireland semi-final, there was a period where their attacking play really let them down. They managed just one point in the final 25 minutes.
After that match, McGuinness didn't have to look too hard to find reasons for the defeat and his frustration was obvious when pointing out that his team had converted five out of 14 chances in the second half.
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This year, they have the massive benefit of Michael Murphy back playing with them after two years away and the rest of the forwards have collectively picked up form. He's playing well enough to be an All Star but his influence goes deeper.
If you look at Donegal in the huddle before any of the games, the last two men talking are Michael Murphy and the manager. I don't think you can underestimate his importance as a leadership figure, as a calming influence. Even for supporters, just to have him back on the pitch is huge.
He's as much Mr Donegal as Jim McGuinness or Daniel O'Donnell!
Now, there's no sense of panic about their attack, although there's that slight anxiety that they have only faced Division Two teams in the knockouts so far. I don't think that will be an issue for McGuinness.
Their schedule leading up to it in Ulster and one of the All-Ireland 'groups of death' was extremely intense. Anyway, those Division Two teams were Louth, who are Leinster champions, Monaghan, already promoted back to Division One and Meath, who had beaten Galway, Kerry and Dublin.
Midway through the championship, we were talking about Oisín Gallen not performing to his full potential but that concern has been laid to rest. He's confident and playing well. Conor O'Donnell was lethal in the semi-final, 1-3 from five shots.
I think everything Donegal have done to date has been geared around performing at the latter stages of All-Ireland.
Their defensive shape never deviated all year and there's also added quality with Finbarr Roarty coming in – you can see why McGuinness was so keen to get him involved last year. An excellent tackler, as he showed stripping Keith Curtis to start the move for Donegal's second goal, he also has the pace to get forward like so many of his team-mates.
You'd have to think that the evolution is nearly geared towards the reality that if you're going to win an All-Ireland, in recent years, you're going to have to overcome Kerry somewhere along the line.
Meath's Keith Curtis with Donegal's Finnbarr Roarty. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho
Just as Jack O'Connor must have realised down in Kerry that if they were going to win an All-Ireland, they would have to able to see off the likes of Armagh or Donegal in Croke Park.
The planning would have started almost as soon as they lost last year's semi-final, and you can see the specific improvements. There were no guarantees but they didn't have to be brilliant to win Munster and even when they had the horror show against Meath, you knew that would drive a response.
Preparation had to be detailed and specific and you can see it in them. Defensively, they are well enough set up but they also look a wee bit fitter and stronger. David Clifford is a case in point. He just looks sharper and fitter and has definitely benefited from a proper preseason as well, having been involved with Fossa so often in recent years.
Physically, they have added size, a bit of meat, around the middle as well. Mark O'Shea and Joe O'Connor, who is in really fine form, bring the kind of physicality and legs you need to beat the likes of Donegal, Armagh or Tyrone in Croke Park.
Against Michael Langan, Hugh McFadden and Jason Magee, and even Michael Murphy coming out in the middle, you need size in that part of the field and they've got it.
They have been a bit unlucky with injuries as well. Diarmuid O'Connor has been in and out and although he's back training, it's hard to see how he could be fully recovered from a shoulder injury like that. I'd expect Tom O'Sullivan and Paul Geaney to be fit, though, which is a significant boost for Kerry.
I'm not sure there's that much to be learned from Donegal's only defeat. To be fair, Shaun Patton wasn't playing against Tyrone and he's a massive part of what they do. They did cough up a lot of possessions, though and it was easily their worst championship outing.
They lost a winning position in the final 10 minutes but even had they hung on, it would still have been a bad performance.
Kerry's Paudie Clifford with Tyrone's Eoin McElholm. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho
Kerry came through two distinctive tests against Armagh and Tyrone but similar in that neither played a particularly zonal defence. Yes, Armagh did drop off a small bit in front of David Clifford and kept him to 0-7, but they got caught with Seánie O'Shea and Paudie Clifford running amok in the second half.
Tyrone probably emphasised the opposite tactic, a man-to-man effort to restrict O'Shea and Paudie. They then were punished by David, kicking 1-9 off an often unprotected Paudie Hampsey. Donegal will look for middle ground here. Brendan McCole is as good a man-marker as there is but he won't be left to do it all himself.
A lot of Tyrone's problems were also self-inflicted. They turned over ball by not minding it properly and some of their finishing – shot selection and execution – in the second half was fairly haphazard.
They actually had attacking platforms – even when they were going through that second-half period that they lost 8-0 – but they just handled them badly, compared to Armagh who had no platform because they couldn't get their hands on the ball for those 15 minutes. Tyrone got up the field and got themselves into position, but their finishing let them down.
I don't foresee Donegal having the same problems. If they get themselves into position, I think they're better equipped to put scores on the board.
They will need to be careful with the ball because there were some careless turnovers against Meath but I they'll be on high alert for this.
It's so finely balanced but I believe that in the end, Kerry have more fires to put out than Donegal.