AT 8.38PM ON SUNDAY night, the Donegal footballers, management and the extended entourage made their way onto the Clones pitch with the Anglo-Celt Cup for a picture before they made their way back up the road.
It’s a tradition of theirs to do so, all togged out in identical, preppy gear that, well, flattered some more than others.
It was a final act of a damaged dame of a competition. Most of the clips and imagery that are used to showcase Gaelic football come from the Ulster championship and exploit the ruthlessness of how it is contested.
Structures and modernity has left it behind. It doesn’t know it yet of course, but it ain’t what it used to be.
Two years ago, a chance conversation with Derry’s captain Chrissy McKaigue revealed much about a player’s mindset. Having just won their long-awaited Ulster title, McKaigue was glad to have won, as he said, the ‘last one that truly mattered’ i.e. the last that brought you into an advanced stages of the All-Ireland.
So that’s the football provincial championships rattled off: pushed, pulled and horsed through until they met with their final, exhausted finish.
Even a rollercoaster (of sorts, it’s football after all) like this wasn’t given a chance to uncork. It finished because it simply had to finish – on the day, through penalties.
Virtually nobody is allowed to raise an objection to this unseemly practice lest they be face accusations of being prehistoric.
Would Donegal have preferred to win it in normal time? Or on a second day?
No. It makes no difference now. Some sane people have already long ago forgotten that it was on penalties that Derry beat Armagh last year.
What will it mean for Donegal? It’s like Darragh Ó Sé noted after the Connacht final: it makes the work easier to sell.
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Since he took over in late 2010, Jim McGuinness was consistent in how he has valued the Ulster championship.
In victory here, he was singing a familiar song, saying, “You have to let them enjoy the journey, enjoy that day, enjoy it with their families and soak it in. Ulster final day is special. To win it is extra special.”
Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Here’s the thing though. We wonder about Donegal.
They were up against a team that had all the momentum and were four points up by the 47th minute.
By that stage, Donegal had three subs on. In a game where both teams are running the ball, your energy reserves are critical.
Donegal put on fresh legs. Armagh opted to stick and not twist. Armagh wilted. They could not score in the last 20 minutes of normal time. They waited until the hour mark to introduce their first replacement.
Within that time, Donegal were eating the Armagh lead. Their response was to expect the veteran Stefan Campbell, already inundated with chasing and closing down attacking lanes, to break the Donegal lines. As the half wore on, their inventiveness deserted them as sure as momentum swung miles away.
Against Derry, Donegal were widely praised for exploiting a wandering goalkeeper. When it came to Tyrone, they were playing a team that handed nine championship debuts to a young side that were brought to extra-time on a boiling day against Cavan.
Here, you have to say that Armagh scrambled a defeat from the jaws of victory.
“When you lose you’re the gobshite, but that’s just the way it goes,” said manager Kieran McGeeney.
Now, 16 teams start afresh for the All-Irelands. The slate is wiped clean. All is forgiven.
Donegal go in with Tyrone, Clare and Cork. Tyrone will come to Ballybofey on the first weekend. It is a de facto play-off for getting to the quarter-finals without the headmelt of a preliminary round.
But if Donegal eventually face a Kerry or Dublin, then they will find that they are some way off the top tier.
If they face Derry, they might find a very different outcome also. Galway? They’d be doing well. Mayo? The same.
As much as McGuinness will be recognised for having flipped Donegal’s fortunes, there is virtually nothing different from his first spell in charge. They defend deep and narrow, and try to spring a counter-attack.
They staff the middle diamond with monstrous men, and have runners coming off them.
Before McGuinness took over Donegal, in a chat with Brendan Devenney, he once took a sheet of paper and listed around two dozen variables that could be controlled in a game of football.
He is still on top of all of those elements. And his team are supremely fit. Their mentality is razor sharp. And they believe. My God, they believe. They play a game rooted in logic and variables. It’s almost hypnotic.
Only the crowd are so invested in things though, it feels that Gaelic football needs a factory reset.
They will make it to the quarter-finals. After that, it’s the luck of the draw.
An Ulster title is one thing. It’s not meaningless, but it depends on what you invest in it yourself.
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Ulster title a good start for Donegal, but there is a glass ceiling
AT 8.38PM ON SUNDAY night, the Donegal footballers, management and the extended entourage made their way onto the Clones pitch with the Anglo-Celt Cup for a picture before they made their way back up the road.
It’s a tradition of theirs to do so, all togged out in identical, preppy gear that, well, flattered some more than others.
It was a final act of a damaged dame of a competition. Most of the clips and imagery that are used to showcase Gaelic football come from the Ulster championship and exploit the ruthlessness of how it is contested.
Structures and modernity has left it behind. It doesn’t know it yet of course, but it ain’t what it used to be.
So that’s the football provincial championships rattled off: pushed, pulled and horsed through until they met with their final, exhausted finish.
Even a rollercoaster (of sorts, it’s football after all) like this wasn’t given a chance to uncork. It finished because it simply had to finish – on the day, through penalties.
Virtually nobody is allowed to raise an objection to this unseemly practice lest they be face accusations of being prehistoric.
Would Donegal have preferred to win it in normal time? Or on a second day?
No. It makes no difference now. Some sane people have already long ago forgotten that it was on penalties that Derry beat Armagh last year.
What will it mean for Donegal? It’s like Darragh Ó Sé noted after the Connacht final: it makes the work easier to sell.
Since he took over in late 2010, Jim McGuinness was consistent in how he has valued the Ulster championship.
In victory here, he was singing a familiar song, saying, “You have to let them enjoy the journey, enjoy that day, enjoy it with their families and soak it in. Ulster final day is special. To win it is extra special.”
Here’s the thing though. We wonder about Donegal.
They were up against a team that had all the momentum and were four points up by the 47th minute.
By that stage, Donegal had three subs on. In a game where both teams are running the ball, your energy reserves are critical.
Donegal put on fresh legs. Armagh opted to stick and not twist. Armagh wilted. They could not score in the last 20 minutes of normal time. They waited until the hour mark to introduce their first replacement.
Within that time, Donegal were eating the Armagh lead. Their response was to expect the veteran Stefan Campbell, already inundated with chasing and closing down attacking lanes, to break the Donegal lines. As the half wore on, their inventiveness deserted them as sure as momentum swung miles away.
Against Derry, Donegal were widely praised for exploiting a wandering goalkeeper. When it came to Tyrone, they were playing a team that handed nine championship debuts to a young side that were brought to extra-time on a boiling day against Cavan.
Here, you have to say that Armagh scrambled a defeat from the jaws of victory.
“When you lose you’re the gobshite, but that’s just the way it goes,” said manager Kieran McGeeney.
Now, 16 teams start afresh for the All-Irelands. The slate is wiped clean. All is forgiven.
Donegal go in with Tyrone, Clare and Cork. Tyrone will come to Ballybofey on the first weekend. It is a de facto play-off for getting to the quarter-finals without the headmelt of a preliminary round.
But if Donegal eventually face a Kerry or Dublin, then they will find that they are some way off the top tier.
If they face Derry, they might find a very different outcome also. Galway? They’d be doing well. Mayo? The same.
As much as McGuinness will be recognised for having flipped Donegal’s fortunes, there is virtually nothing different from his first spell in charge. They defend deep and narrow, and try to spring a counter-attack.
They staff the middle diamond with monstrous men, and have runners coming off them.
Before McGuinness took over Donegal, in a chat with Brendan Devenney, he once took a sheet of paper and listed around two dozen variables that could be controlled in a game of football.
He is still on top of all of those elements. And his team are supremely fit. Their mentality is razor sharp. And they believe. My God, they believe. They play a game rooted in logic and variables. It’s almost hypnotic.
They will make it to the quarter-finals. After that, it’s the luck of the draw.
An Ulster title is one thing. It’s not meaningless, but it depends on what you invest in it yourself.
The province may be wretched. It sure can howl.
But it won’t be bringing a Sam Maguire home.
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