McShea's Say: Donegal are in a good place despite their slip up in Cork  

Donegal’s championship destiny is still very much in their own hands after their defeat to Cork on Saturday evening.   

Victory in their final group game against Clare will guarantee Donegal an extended championship run, and if Tyrone beat Cork and Donegal beat Clare then Clare will be eliminated, and the three other teams will progress.   

I consider this current format to be farcical, as best illustrated by the fact that Derry, after three comprehensive hammerings could still win this year’s All-Ireland title (an unlikely possibility, but it could happen). If any team are beaten in a campaign three times, how can they be considered a championship-winning team?   

Whether it is Derry or anyone else, losing any major game is a disappointment, but Donegal football a year ago was floundering around in the dark, not knowing what direction even to take.   

Donegal now have a squad of very fine players, the sort of men whom every manager would like to have on their team, as their commitment and discipline is first rate and Jim McGuinness has already delivered in a big way by bringing the Ulster title back to the county and gaining promotion to the top tier of county football.   

Looking at Donegal playing well this year, the power of this team is the collective, they always do everything together. But little things in football make a big difference.   

Most Donegal players can keep the ball in a difficult situation when the opposition is pressing, they can find their way out, and create a better new situation, with their individual possession of the ball.   

Losing the ball in a similar situation leaves a team open and most vulnerable to a counter-attack, that is exactly what happened in Cork on a number of occasions and was the reason why Donegal shipped three goals against the Leesiders.  

The defence as a unit seemed to suffer a loss of confidence at times against Cork, and their play was passive when some of our defenders needed to bring their legal aggression up to the next level.   

Donegal’s attitude and organisation can create problems for the best teams in the country, but when individual errors arise as they did in Cork, with soft goals being conceded, you will struggle against any team.   

The biggest worry in this match was not just the leaking of three goals, but only for the excellence of Shaun Patton in nets, Cork could have ended up with five goals to their credit.   

No doubt the video analysis of the Cork game will be looked at in forensic detail at the team’s review meeting this week. In a game when several of the Donegal team were below their best Shaun Patton, Ciaran Moore, Jason Mc Gee, Patrick McBrearty, who hit seven points, Oisin Gallen, and Caolan McGonagle played well.   

McGonagle is the type of player whom most footballers identify with and admire, a man who works so hard and always gives his best for the team. He is the type of player his teammates feel happiest playing alongside. McGonagle’s biggest attribute in the Donegal jersey is his overwhelming passion to be part of a winning Donegal side and that passion will never dim.   

The hype in Donegal after winning the Ulster title was unprecedented and the expectations for a side that has come a very long way in a very short time were somewhat overboard.   

While defeat is never welcome, the Cork result may bring back a degree of reality to those who believed that the sky was the limit for our team. We are still well poised for what can be a memorable year, but there is a lot of football to be played before the July final, and it is great to be in the mix.  

Excellent win for the hurlers   

The Donegal hurlers gave a top-class performance in Croke Park in winning the Nickey Rackard Cup on Sunday. Five points down after 56 minutes it looked like the cup was destined for Mayo, but Josh Cronolly McGee had other ideas, and his two late goals saw manager Mickey Mc Cann’s team meet their objective.   

This is the third Nickey Rackard Cup win for a team managed by McCann, and the Burt native and his players deserve great credit for another wonderful victory.  

Cop-out TV  

The incident in the Derry-Armagh match on Sunday where Armagh’s Connaire Mackin’s boot clearly made contact with Derry captain Conor Glass’s head, as he lay on the ground, was pathetic TV by Seán Cavanagh and Ciaran Whelan.   

This was a cut-and-dry red card incident and for the pundits to dismiss this because they claimed incident was not going to hurt Glass was a cop-out of incredible proportions. Anyone who has ever played football at any level knows exactly where your boot is going and Mackin deserves to be cited for this incident.