Donegal don’t need to tinker that much, even after Cork defeat - Paddy McGrath

“Win or learn” and Paddy McGrath believes Jim McGuinness will have taken so much from Donegal’s recent All-Ireland series loss away to Cork.

2012 All-Ireland winner McGrath says he’s watched on at ‘The Second Coming’ with real intrigue.

The Ardara clubman says it’s been great looking on as Donegal picked up league and Ulster titles but his real fascination has been how they’ve gone about their business.

The head of steam Donegal are able to build up from deep, and the almost instant fashion of that, had raised eyebrows as well as expectations ever since their provincial success.

But the side’s wobble in Cork has shifted the tone of conversation around Donegal with some suggesting that the approach now needs to be a little less gung-ho and the personnel behind midfield a little more traditional in the defensive sense.

But McGrath doubts Jim McGuinness will throw the baby out with the bath water. Instead, he expects his old boss to simply tweak things a little.

More importantly, he adds that if they iron out the individual mistakes that proved so costly against the Rebels, then the approach doesn’t need to change that much at all.

“We still posted 16 scores down there,” he said. “And Donegal’s scoring ratio to date - from what I have seen - has been phenomenal. Every time they go forward and get a shot off it seems to go over the bar.

“Traditionally, sides that do that, do well in the All-Ireland series. Because of the loss in Cork, people are all of a sudden looking at the make-up of the side. Have we enough traditional defenders?

“But the thought process there, with that speed and directness coming from deep is that everyone is a threat. And it’s just as important to be able get back down the field as it is to get up it. In transition, defence to attack or vice versa, you need to have that energy.

“The benefits of that, if you have that in your locker, you need to look to harness it. And Donegal will have learned so much from the last day. Jim and the backroom team will have really looked at the Cork game since.

“And it’s not like the players in those roles can’t defend. Peadar Mogan was exceptional on Darren McCurry and was still able to get up the field. I love watching Peadar and what he’s bringing to the table right now.

“Players are getting back into a zonal shape but there are still opposition players that have to be tagged, there are key men that simply have to be targeted. The game hasn’t moved away from that. So there is so much going on right now on a Gaelic football field”.

McGrath admits he was taken aback, in a pleasant way, when he first heard McGuinness was back in the frame with Donegal. But he firmly believed the scope was there for accelerated improvement.

“Donegal have an excellent group of players and I knew that with the direction Jim brings, there’d be a real bounce. And because of all he’s achieved, he was coming back in with serious credit in the bank.

“So they’d have been hooked more or less from the off. The big thing for me, taking the Cork game out of the equation, has been how Donegal have been retaining possession.

“They are very slick in their passing and in ball retention. But against Cork, there were just those turnover mistakes and because of that you then see just how dangerous that all becomes when it breaks down.

“But the positive for me, even with those mistakes, was that Donegal could still easily have gone on to win in Páirc Úi Rinn”.

Upon his return, McGuinness moved quickly with his backroom team and added familiar and trusted lieutenants in Colm McFadden and Neil McGee. But McGrath also bigged up the impact of those on the fringes of all of that off-field contingent.

“It’s amazing what Jim has done. And taking that current group, they were at a certain level anyway because it’s just become so professional.

“I mean, he’d much more on his hands, I think, back in 2010, because he’d to get that squad up to such a high level so quickly.

“When I heard he was back, I was delighted. I was delighted for the players because I knew the journey those lads were now about to go on. It’s an unbelievable road they’re on right now.

“Winning Ulster was a massive boost. The Cork loss was disappointing but again, you have to look at the bigger picture. We’re at a level now that you aspire to be at as a player, as a county.

“And even the people he’s brought back on board; there are the obvious ones like Colm and Neil. But the roles the likes of JD McGrenra, Dr Charlie McManus, Joe McCloskey and so on play in all of that is just as crucial.

“They are so important to the dynamic of things and the players warm to that. Some of the best times aren’t on the field, they’re in the dressing room before, during and after. They bind the whole thing - the glue.

“The medals, at some stage, go in a box somewhere but the lighter moments… a lot of the time when you meet up with the 2012 gang and chat, those are the times that more often than not come up in conversation. It’s that journey and destination thing, it’s so true".