An Alternative View: Babies, bathwater and the league finals conundrum

With little to nothing riding on Donegal’s dead-rubber final regulation league outing against Meath, it was difficult to know what to expect upon arrival in MacCumhaill Park on Saturday night.

In the end or, at the start really, Jim McGuinness decided to field a pretty strong team as did the Democrat sports department as myself, Alan Foley, Peter Campbell, Chris McNulty, Conor Breslin and Tom Comack all lined out in the press area in the main stand.

It was just another example of The Jim McGuinness effect. To quote the man himself, momentum is a funny thing and it works both ways. And for a number of sports journalists, even on their night off, they just couldn’t stay away.

But, on Saturday night, it still took quite a while for Donegal to get going, the guts of the opening quarter of an hour really.

They were hit for three instantly as Cathal Hickey got in behind to rattle the homel net almost straight from throw-in. MacCumhaill Park’s splendid new digital screen clocked the goal at 13 seconds.

Shane O’Donnell eventually raised a flag for the out-of-sorts hosts. Donegal went another 12 minutes before their second point arrived but they then got four in a two-minute burst as Oisin Gallen, Jamie Brennan, Aaron Doherty and Gallen again all nailed the mark.

The new scoreboard would eventually read 0-10 to 1-1 at the midpoint and, by the end, Donegal had ran out comfortable 1-18 to 1-10 winners.

12 minutes out from the whistle, supporters sat forward on the edge of their seats as it was announced that a certain Michael Murphy was about to enter the fray.

However, those waiting with bated breath sat back just as quickly when it became apparent that the ‘Michael Murphy’ in question was Meath’s own version and not the still-retired Donegal legend.

So it was another win for Donegal in what was, at full-time, now also an unbeaten league campaign.

But none of that really meant too much in the greater scheme of things. Meath, themselves, made nine changes to the side that had previously lost out to Cork.

Donegal though, already promoted and in a league final, had some real headaches come the final whistle.

Skipper Paddy McBrearty pulled up inside the first-half and McGuinness has since confirmed he’ll definitely miss Easter Sunday’s league final clash with Armagh in Croke Park.

That’s hardly a surprise but the real concern now has to be the nature and the seriousness of that injury.

The player was due to undergo a scan on Monday morning in Dublin so it remains to be seen whether or not his involvement at Celtic Park, come April 20, against Derry in the Ulster SFC, is now also in jeopardy.

Ryan McHugh, who shipped a high challenge in the second period, was also called ashore but he stopped to speak to the media after so that’s usually a sure sign that things aren’t too bad.

It was hardly foresight of Nostradamus proportions but McGuinness’ main fear upon his second coming, prior to a league football even being kicked in anger, has now come home to roost.

His first competitive outing as Donegal boss came in the McKenna Cup, at home, against Armagh, well, the Orchard U-20s as it would transpire.

Leaning against the gable wall of the MacCumhaill Park Centre that wintery January night, the 2012 All-Ireland winner shot the breeze.

Stepping back into the same shoes he walked so impressively in back then, he was asked what had changed, what hadn’t and what did he expect down the line.

There were some humorous generational comparisons in terms of musical tastes and whatnot and those observations garnered some giggles.

But McGuinness was much more serious when he spoke about the tight back-to-back nature of the league. It’s very much uncharted territory for a man who likes to control the variables.

And he expressed a real concern at the time that the hectic schedule would inevitably result in casualties.

Fast-forward three months and that prediction is bang on the money. Michael Langan picked up a knock which kept him out of the clash with Meath, while Jason McGee, Eoghan Ban Gallagher and Brendan McCole were also unavailable due to injury.

They’re inherited problems from last term but Caolan Ward and Conor O’Donnell have yet to play under McGuinness this year, while Caolan McColgan and Niall O’Donnell have just returned in the last fortnight.

They’re two completely different scenarios, old coals really, but there are echoes of 2013’s sentiments when McGuinness described issues then as “managing a situation, not a team”.

And it’s quite clearly a frustrated McGuinness right now that feels he isn’t getting the opportunity to manage a team.

“We took in eight kids, U20s, to bring us up to 40. For most of this national league and preseason, we have been operating with 22 to 24. That is the reality. Sometimes you are down 50% of availability. Most of them things were issues that had to be sorted out from last year and have followed through.

“There is a huge residue in terms of the split season, people coming in injured, trying to get people up to a level. I haven’t experienced this level really in my life.

“We are trying to find a way to get as many back on the pitch as possible. We haven’t had everyone on the pitch at the one time yet, I am looking forward to that. The more it goes on I’m not even sure it will happen.

“When I was manager of Donegal previously, you always had injuries that is why you carry a couple extra. But talking about 40% or 44%, you do have to stop and think about that.

“The day you would have 33 running out to training, all of them tonight, is a great, great feeling. We are not remotely close to that. All of these things are linked and it is not a criticism of anybody. It is just something you have to deal with.”

The lack of insight from managers and players, in the GAA, has been an issue for quite some time now. But no one can accuse McGuinness, since he’s returned, of dodging the issue.

The previous week, he felt his comments on his very real conundrum now, a league final three weeks out from their Ulster SFC opener away to Derry, were misrepresented.

In between, the likes of Peter Canavan and Brendan Devenney suggested it might well be time to scrap league deciders and, instead, crown the outright winners there and then.

But McGuinness isn’t one of those looking to throw the baby out with the bathwater. He clarified he’s all for league finals and doesn’t want to see them wiped from the calender.

His point then, and now, is that the narrow timeframe between Croke Park this weekend, and their huge shot at the reigning Ulster champions, may be too narrow to take needless risks on at Jones Road.

"The manager has to make a decision. Am I going all in there to win that or am I going to hold that and in inverted commas, 'not respect the competition'. Those are decisions managers have to make.

"If that decision was taken out of the manager's hands and there was breathing space, I think every manager in the country would be saying 'we're going to go for that'.

"Sometimes it's hard to get the head round it. People called for the Railway Cup to go. The Railway Cup has gone.

“They are calling for the provincials to go. Now they are calling for the league finals to go. Are we going to be left with one cup? One or two teams historically win that cup.

"It's great preparation for Derry in terms of a contest and the opposition and going to Croke Park but we do need to look at players as well.

"There are other players on the periphery who hopefully will play next weekend that we haven't seen so far. We need to try and develop those lads and get minutes into their legs, with a view to summer football."

A little like Saturday night, I again don’t know what quite to expect from Donegal this coming Sunday in Croke Park.

Still, Derry are in a similar boat insofar as they’ll meet All-Ireland champions Dublin in the Division 1 showpiece later the same day. Donegal, at this moment, are only concerned with Celtic Park and April 20 but can Mickey Harte really say the same thing?

Derry are being touted as one of the few sides, along with Kerry, that might be able to rattle Dessie Farrell’s men later on in the All-Ireland series. So do Derry throw the kitchen sink at the weekend and look to strike an early psychological blow?

What if they look to throw that same kitchen sink but come up woefully short at the same time? Dublin are looking awesome right now so Harte, who usually doesn’t do shadow boxing, has some real thinking of his own to do this week.

Donegal v Meath Match Stats

Donegal scorers: Oisin Gallen 0-4; Jamie Brennan 1-1; Ciarán Thompson 0-3, 2fs; Shane O’Donnell, Ryan McHugh, and Aaron Doherty 0-2 each; Hugh McFadden Luke McGlynn, Jeaic Mac Ceallabhuí and Niall O’Donnell 0-1 each.

Meath scorers: Cathal Hickey 1-0; James Conlon and Keith Curtis 0-2 each; Shane Walsh, Ruairí Kinsella, Ronan Jones, Danny Dixon, Aaron Lynch (f) and Donal Keogan 0-1 each

Donegal: Shaun Patton; Mark Curran, Stephen McMenamin, Ciaran Moore; Ryan McHugh, Caolan McGonagle, Peadar Mogan; Hugh McFadden, Aaron Doherty; Shane O’Donnell, Ciarán Thompson, Jamie Brennan; Patrick McBrearty, Oisín Gallen, Dáire Ó Baoill.

Subs: Jeaic MacCeallbhuí for McBrearty (19); Niall O’Donnell for Ó Baoill (HT); Caolan McColgan for McHugh (44); John Ross Molloy and Luke McGlynn for McMenamin and McFadden (both 54)

Meath: Billy Hogan; Harry O’Higgins, Adam O’Neill, Brian O’Halloran; Adam McDonnell, Donal Keogan, Ross Ryan; Ronan Jones, Cian McBride; Diarmuid Moriarty, Ruairí Kinsella, Cathal Hickey; Shane Walsh, James Conlon, Keith Curtis.

Subs: Jack O’Connor for Moriarty (46); Danny Dixon for McBride (50); Aaron Lynch for Walsh (55); Michael Murphy for O’Higgins (58); Ciarán Caulfield for McDonnell (61)

Referee: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon)