IT was a great day out for Donegal supporters last Sunday as Mayo were put to the sword in front of a full house at O’Donnell Park.
Donegal have had a lot of close battles with Mayo over the last 15 years but it wasn’t like that at all on Sunday.
The game got off to a bit of a slow start but once Donegal found their feet, they were clearly the better team.
Mayo were poor in the first half and kept kicking the ball back to Donegal and you’re just going to get punished if you’re doing that.
Donegal were six points up after playing against the breeze at half-time and it was just a case of keeping Mayo at arm’s length.
There was no word about our record in O’Donnell Park after the match and when this Donegal team are in the mood, there are very few counties who can live with them.
The pace and dynamism and angles of running is fantastic and other teams can’t afford to switch off at all.
There were many positives and I was very impressed with Conor McCahill on his starting debut.
He didn’t look out of place and kicked a couple of nice scores.
Oisin Gallen was back in the team and looked razor sharp.
Eoghan ‘Ban’ Gallagher had one of his best games in a while at corner-back and hopefully he can get a good run at it now because when the Killybegs man is in full flight, there are very few better.
Jason McGee was excellent in midfield and for the first time in years, he’s done a good pre-season.
I think the fact that the Monaghan Club Championship went on a bit longer probably helped and he was able to get a good level of training done.
I thought Hughie McFadden had another good game and his leadership is vital.
Hughie is 32 now but he’s as slim and mobile as I’ve seen him in a while. He’s the consummate professional and will do whatever the management ask him to do and he’s bringing real power and know-how to the midfield.
Finnbarr Roarty did a good marking job on Ryan O’Donoghue in the half-back line and you’d have to think that the management team are lining him up for a potential meeting with Paudie Clifford later in the summer.
I’m sure Jim is very happy with where his team is at and all the reporters were keen to ask him afterwards if he wants to get to the league final.
No manager wants to lose any games but it is the league and there are different objectives and things that he will want to look at.
There are young players he will want to blood and he might be trying to identify a good impact sub or maybe another kick-out option. Donegal have only had one left-footed free so far which was missed, so he might give one or two players a go at that.
Donegal definitely do look a step or two ahead of most teams.
It’s early days but I think the focus now will be on making sure everyone is fit and ready for that opening championship game with Down.
There will be changes but I think if nine or ten of the team remain in situ then Donegal will still win matches so I think they will qualify for a league final.
There are three games on the bounce before a break weekend so I think there will be a couple of players identified who could do with a rest and they’ll probably leave some players at home.
I watched Armagh against Roscommon and they were poor.
They struggled a lot in midfield and Andrew Murnin picked up a hamstring injury which won’t help them either.
At the moment, Armagh are still Donegal’s biggest threat in Ulster and I think Jim and the management will want their team to go to the Athletic Grounds and lay down a marker.
McCole
Sunday will be a big day for Brendan McCole as he’s expected to make his 100th appearance for Donegal.
It will be a proud occasion for Brendan and his parents who travel all over the country to support him.
Brendan is a great example to young players in the county.
Sometimes when lads join a panel they get impatient and don’t want to wait and learn.
I’ve worked with Brendan at minor and Under 21 but he had to bide his time when he got to senior football.
He was an understudy to Neil McGee for a few years and it wasn’t easy to force his way in.
But he watched and he learned and he showed up to training every night.
In the last couple of seasons that I was with Donegal, you could see he was developing into a really good full-back, and for me, he’s the best in the business at the moment.
He picks up the star man week in, week out and makes them work for everything they get.
He doesn’t jump in or give away rash fouls and perhaps an aspect that might go unnoticed is how much his ball skills have improved in recent years.
Canavan
The most surprising news of the week is that Darragh Canavan is set to miss the end of the league as he heads away to Australia for a month.
He’s going to play this weekend but then he’s gone and that’s a huge blow to Tyrone’s chances of promotion.
It could also have an impact on Tyrone’s Ulster Championship and it’s definitely a strange one.
Most inter-county players, particularly with the top teams, know that there is a no-go area from February to July where you need to be pretty much available every weekend for training and games.
I’m sure Malachy O’Rourke isn’t overly happy but he’s his best player so there’s probably not much he can do but it will make things tricky when he returns as well.
Darragh was super against Cavan and while Tyrone have a lot of good forwards, they don’t have anyone at his level.
Derry had a good win away to Kildare after having Conor Glass sent off early and they will feel they can get promotion.
I saw Monaghan against Dublin and it was a poor spectacle.
Dublin have dropped off and were lucky enough to win. They face Kerry this weekend and that will be a tough one for Ger Brennan’s team.
Monaghan are struggling and they appear destined for relegation.
The Rossies were expected to go down with them but I’m not so sure, and they could give Galway their fill of it in Salthill this Saturday.
Fermanagh
We had another disappointing result with Fermanagh on Sunday against Clare and are in a relegation dogfight now to try and stay in Division 3.
It won’t be easy because we still have Down and Westmeath who look like the two teams who will go up.
Westmeath were unlucky not to get something from their match with Down last week and they will be keen to return to winning ways when they host us this Sunday.
It’s a tough task for us. There were positives from our game against Clare.
We played very well in periods but didn’t put the dominance on the scoreboard. We haven’t been clinical enough from play or from frees.
There’s no short of effort but you have to find a way to try and win games and we need to get better quickly.
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