I was only thinking on Sunday when I was coming down the road that the last time I was at a championship game in Ballybofey was in July 2008. Monaghan played Donegal in an All-Ireland qualifier and we beat them. I was wing-back marking Brian Roper and my job was to track him for the day.
Usually when we met in later years the match was played in Clones, the two Ulster finals we won, or somewhere like Omagh where we played a qualifier the year before in 2007.
Anyway, the last time I was in Ballybofey, I was wearing seven running around after Roper. It went okay. Luckily, I didn’t get the same roasting as I did during the weekend under the sun.
It was lovely, to be fair. Last year we played Cavan in the first round and it just did not feel like an Ulster Championship game. It was cold. The pitch was in bad condition, all patchy because there had been so much rain, whereas yesterday, the sun was baking, the place was full and the playing surface was in really good shape.
That Donegal team from 2008 had about 10 players who would win the All-Ireland a few years later and also Michael Murphy, who made his return to intercounty on Sunday.
While he wasn’t as busy as maybe expected, he was on Derry’s best man marker, Eoin McEvoy, and on top of that he was there for the key moments just to settle Donegal down. I’d say Michael would be just delighted to have that over him now. He’s played championship and with the novelty gone, people won’t be talking about it anymore.
Monopolising McEvoy’s attention meant that Patrick McBrearty was freed up in the company of one of Derry’s other defenders and he scored seven points, four from play.
Derry were arguably the better team for a lot of the first half. They played against the wind and actually controlled the ball quite well. They took the sting out of the play a lot, got scores, got through Donegal’s defence more easily than I suppose Donegal would be happy with.
Jim McGuinness would have been happy with that almost effortless move before half-time when his team knocked over a couple of two-pointers and got that goal as well. The response to Derry’s goal against the run of play was also quite impressive.
How did Munster stun O’Gara’s La Rochelle?
The long kickout from Shaun Patton, whose restarts were excellent over the course of the game. It goes straight down on top of Michael Murphy. He wins it brilliantly on the 45, gets it out to O’Donnell for an easy score.
[ Patrick McBrearty and Dáire Ó Baoill star as Donegal show Derry the doorOpens in new window ]
Then, from that kick-out Donegal win the break. Daire Ó Baoill goes straight through the middle and gets a goal.
At half-time you’re thinking, what if Derry can launch a bit of an attack in the second half with the wind? Maybe get a few two-pointers – something that Donegal didn’t really put much focus on even when they had chances to, such as a couple of frees that were moved in and that they could have taken back out beyond the 40-metre mark, but opted to take the point.
In fairness to Derry, they did get it back to two points early in the second half. Donegal, though, were so assured in everything they did. A lot of teams, if pegged back to two points after being seven or eight points ahead, would show the strain. The crowd would become sort of anxious and transmit that to the team and you’d nearly see the opposition’s belief levels rising.
There was none of that from Derry and, more importantly, you didn’t see any wobble from Donegal. They were unfazed and looked like a team that had prepared for this day for a long time.
I was checking on Sunday night and the draw for the Ulster championship was made, I think, on October 12th. Derry didn’t have a manager until November 14th. McGuinness would have had that date circled in his head and those of every player. You heard him talking about how highly he values the Ulster championship and that’s what the Donegal squad were preparing for since right back when October’s draw was made.
It’s not Derry’s doing that they are behind. Paddy Tally was appointed late through no fault of his own and they simply haven’t as much work done, which showed in the league. In Ballybofey you could just see the difference in where the two squads are at, at the moment.
Donegal’s pace is frightening and they have it all over the field. Ryan McHugh wasn’t overly busy going forward yesterday but had a huge impact on Donegal’s overall defensive plan. Peadar Mogan, Daire Ó Baoill and other players with serious pace simply blitzed Derry.
McGuinness definitely has more depth at his disposal than last year. The one thing that tripped them up in 2024 was that they ran out of options. This season, they started the game with Murphy, Ódhran McFadden-Ferry and Finbarr Roarty, none of whom were there last year. Eoin McHugh was back in the squad even though he wasn’t involved at the weekend.
On top of that, Jason McGee only came on for a few minutes towards the end and Oisín Gallen wasn’t on much longer. Neither Michael Langan nor Eoin Bán Gallagher played at all. They’ll all be back. Those are massive reserves, which they didn’t have previously.
Had they that sort of strength in depth last year, I’m pretty sure they’d be defending the All-Ireland.
