'Donegal's Division 2 final was modern-day Gaelic football at its worst' - Spillane

Eight-time All-Ireland winner and Kerry legend Pat Spillane has labelled Donegal’s Division 2 final match against Armagh on Easter Sunday as ‘modern-day Gaelic football at its worst’.  

While the former RTÉ pundit praised the action from the Division 1 final between Dublin and Derry as one of the best matches he’s seen in years, for the Division 2 clash, he stated that he spent more time watching the Liverpool v Brighton game and reading the Sunday papers than focusing on the sleep-inducing non-action between Donegal and Armagh. 

Writing in his Sunday World column at the weekend, the former Kerry player claimed that Donegal boss Jim McGuinness has too much work to do this season with his squad to see them win an All-Ireland this summer. 

“Donegal are no world beaters and Jim McGuinness has a lot of work to do,” Spillane wrote. “Sam will not be heading for the Hills of Donegal this year.” 

In analysing the game, the nine-time All-Star winner highlighted the lack of physicality, with too much focus on defensive structures. 

And while he acknowledged that the match finished with an exciting flurry which saw Aaron Doherty fire over the winning point to clinch Donegal’s third Division 2 title on a scoreline of 0-15 to 0-14, he stated that Armagh never pressured Donegal and allowed McGuinness’s team to have time on the ball to shoot from long range. 

“In my innocence, I anticipated a top-class match featuring a big helping of outside-the-box tactics, after all, it featured two top-ten teams managed by top-class coaches in Jim McGuinness and Kieran McGeeney. Well, I was sorely disappointed,” Spillane wrote. 

“It was modern-day football at its worst. Thirty players packed into one half of Croke Park; slow build-up play and virtually no physical contact or tackling. 

“In fairness, a football match did break out in the last ten minutes, with both sides going for broke, but Armagh sat back so deep defending the D that Donegal simply kicked over it and won the game as a result.  

“Armagh didn’t appear to have a defensive or attacking plan.”