Frank Roche: What actually happens when managers decide to build a siege mentality?
Jack O'Connor and Jim McGuinness have sought to create an 'us-and-them' approach, but that doesn't mean it will lead to success
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness talks to his players before their qualifier clash with Mayo in Dr Hyde Park. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Frank Roche Today at 06:30
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Gaelic football in the brave new world of the FRC is different. Football managers are not.
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Irish Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Player dropped by Jim McGuinness questions his All-Ireland final tactics
Jim McGuinness's approach to last weekend's All-Ireland final has been questioned by former Donegal player Kevin Cassidy. Kerry cruised to a 1-26 to 0-19 victory against Donegal at Croke Park and a post-mortem into what went wrong for McGuinness' side has been ongoing over the past few days. Pat Spillane has claimed McGuinness' record in big matches "is not good", with Cassidy questioning the tactics deployed by the Donegal manager. The Gaoth Dobhair man had suggested prior to the game that Donegal should double mark David Clifford or focus on Paudie Clifford or Sean O'Shea rather than zonally defend. "Only Jim knows why he didn't take that approach," Cassidy, who was removed from the Donegal panel by McGuinness in 2011 following a dispute over an interview, said in Gaelic Life. "Paudie [Clifford] had 76 possessions, scored three points and I think he had his hand in at least eight more. Seán O'Shea also contributed heavily on the scoreboard, kicking some very important points. "Obviously we are not privy to what goes on behind closed doors, but to not double-team David Clifford or go after the two lads mentioned seemed very strange. "It would have been hard to do both but at the very least we should have gone after either David or the two boys, but we just stuck to our zonal marking."
Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Irish Times
Donegal were staggeringly flat – they never laid a hand on Kerry
Kerry get to spend the winter celebrating with Sam Maguire while Donegal get to spend the winter harbouring All-Ireland final regrets. A first for neither. Kerry were hugely impressive last Sunday – from the very start they seized control of the game. Few could have foreseen a sense of inevitability falling over this final after as little as 12 minutes, when Kerry led 0-10 to 0-3, but that is exactly what transpired. Donegal were so flat, they never laid a hand on Kerry. It was quite staggering to watch in terms of just how passive they were by allowing the opposition to play with oceans of space and time on the ball. Donegal stringently stuck to their game plan but it was quite clear from early on it wasn't working and something needed to change. But it never did. That's what will be most disappointing from a Donegal management's perspective: they didn't really act. READ MORE Nothing is left to chance on All-Ireland final day so you can be sure both Jack O'Connor and Jim McGuinness had mapped out a detailed plan for their teams. There has been a lot of debate over Donegal's decision to leave the prematch parade early, but I don't think it had an impact either way on the outcome of the game. If you want to manipulate those events to be mind games, you can use them in that context. The outcome determines the narrative – if Donegal broke form the parade early, started the game well and proceeded to win the All-Ireland, then the spin would perhaps have been that they'd gained a psychological edge on Kerry by doing so. Personally, I wouldn't labour much on what teams do before or after games. All that matters is what they do once the whistle is blown. Ultimately, nobody kicked a point during the parade. But Kerry kicked one after 12 seconds of the start – that's how you influence a game, that's how you lay down a marker, that's how you go about winning All-Ireland finals. At the start of both the first and second half Kerry got scores from training-ground moves, with Gavin White central. Ciarán Thompson was caught at the start of the game as White put on the burners and accelerated from the centre back position just as the ball was thrown in. The Kerry captain was brilliantly positioned to take the knock-down and immediately Donegal were on the back foot. Kerry's Paudie Clifford's 76 possessions with zero turnovers is a remarkable achievement for a player. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Seconds later Dylan Geaney, in his first final, kicked the game's opening score, a huge confidence boost for him personally and also an ideal start for Kerry. For Donegal to get caught with that play once was disappointing, but it happened again at the start of the second half. Only on that occasion White sped away from Ciarán Moore to take the knock-down from the throw-in. It all reminded me of Eoin Murchan's goal at the start of the second half in the 2019 All-Ireland final replay against Kerry. When a set-play like that comes off, it gives a team such energy and confidence. It reinforces everything; 'We set out with the intention of doing this and we carried it out straight away'. It lends itself to a group gaining momentum and delivering a performance. Kerry just implemented their game plan to perfection, whereas Donegal huffed and puffed but mostly let the match be played on Kerry's terms. Donegal's game plan needed to have more flexibility. It seems strange there wasn't a willingness to change. There was instead almost a stubborn insistence that 'we're going to stick to this plan no matter what'. Paudie Clifford's 76 possessions with zero turnovers is a remarkable achievement for a player, but it also raises questions of the opposition and how they allowed him so much time and space on the ball. You must have a Plan A and a Plan B. Several times over the years, particularly against Mayo, we had to change to Plan B when something wasn't working. There would have been matchups we'd have looked to switch mid-game or an alteration to our kick-out strategy, all possible eventualities you would have prepared for in advance. Donegal, for some reason, refused to change. Now, you do need to have conviction in your game plan and confidence it will eventually come right. But at the same time there has to come a point when you accept it isn't really working. At half-time Donegal would have had all the stats at their disposal. They were seven points down and the stats would have confirmed what the naked eye could see in terms of who was doing the most damage. But it seems they chose not to use that information to change what they were doing, which was most surprising. Kerry's Mark O'Shea celebrates at the final whistle. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho They did bring on Hugh McFadden at the break but the zonal defensive system remained in place. Nothing really changed. Late in the second half it appeared Donegal finally decided to push up man-to-man, but by that stage the game was long up, they didn't have enough time to wrestle it back. If you build an early lead with these new rules then it is possible to almost control the game from there and Kerry were helped in that regard by Donegal's approach of sitting in and not putting pressure on the ball. Crucially, Kerry were hungrier on breaking ball too, their positioning was exceptional on kick-outs and their work rate all over the pitch was superb. Their defensive system probably went a little bit unnoticed throughout the year but they defended really well last weekend, and all over the pitch their big players performed when they were needed most. The age profile of this Kerry team is quite good and you'd imagine players such as David Clifford and Seán O'Shea are only approaching the peak of their powers. It should be remembered, too, that Kerry also won the All-Ireland essentially without Diarmuid O'Connor and Tom O'Sullivan. People had questioned Kerry's midfield but they must be given huge credit for their part in nullifying three of the best goalkeepers in the game from the quarter-final onwards – Ethan Rafferty, Niall Morgan and Shaun Patton. The injuries had the unintended consequence of allowing unheralded players such as Seán O'Brien and Mark O'Shea to get a run of games in the middle of the field, and they really grew in confidence over the summer. It was noticeable to hear several of the Kerry players last Sunday evening talking about how they had felt disrespected this season. A lot of the criticism was coming from their own, which does hurt. It stings a lot more when it's your own people writing you off and it certainly does put fire in the belly. They won't be able to harness that as a motivating factor next year, though, because once again Kerry will be the hunted. For Donegal, there are still lots of positives for them to take from the season, but just like in 2014, their All-Ireland final display won't be one of them. From the moment White collected the ball from the throw-in last Sunday, a window was shoved open to show us how the season was going to end. It was going to be Kerry's day. And Kerry's year.
The Irish Sun
12 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
‘A lot of pain' – Jim McGuinness makes All-Ireland vow at Donegal's homecoming after coming up short vs Kerry
JIM McGuinness vowed Sam Maguire will return to Donegal while paying credit to his players at Monday's homecoming. What was billed as a 50/50 match-up wound up being a relatively one-sided outcome as the Ulster champions couldn't live with 3 McGuinness has now lost two out of three All-Ireland finals he's managed them in 3 He was a player for their inaugural success in 1992 under Brian McEniff 3 Dylan Casey and captain Gavin White hoisting Sam Maguire during their celebrations in Tralee To their credit, Donegal's footballers proceeded with the slog that is the It was on in Donegal Town with the 52-year-old addressing the assembled crowd from a stage while he stood in front of his heartbroken panel. In his speech he emphasized the toil that each and every one of them had endured to make it to the showpiece. On top of that he added that he firmly believes the Sam Maguire Cup will be back in Donegal for a third time at some point in the future. Read More On GAA He outlined: "First of all I want to recognise the players behind me here, the players and the staff but particularly the players. "There's a lot of hurt, a lot of hurt behind me. There's a lot of pain behind me. "There's no doubt about it that these fellas wanted to be standing in front of you and they wanted to have the Sam Maguire and that's not here. "And there's nobody more disappointed than that group of players. Most read in GAA Football "I really hope that this can be a moment that they latch onto and can make them stronger, more resilient and bring them to a point when they are in a better position than they were yesterday afternoon in terms of going into a big game and taking on a big team. "And so, I just want to recognise them and thank them for everything that they have done over the last 24 months or so. Their efforts, their commitment and their sacrifice. 'Aged like milk on a windowsill in July' - Watch BBC's GAA pundits ALL predict Donegal to beat Kerry "We're very disappointed we're here and we don't have Sam, and we're very disappointed for you people, particularly all these young children across the front here that are the future of Donegal football on the male and the female side. "We're really disappointed. But there will be brighter days. The rain will stop and the sun will shine. And I know for a fact that Donegal will be back here someday with the Sam Maguire Cup." The Glenties man was But 2025 was still another commendable campaign under his stewardship as they They also mimicked the second year of his first stint in charge by getting to the All-Ireland final - albeit they weren't able to replicate their 2012 triumph.
