Mac's View: Donegal giving us all a boost despite the poor weather

What a day on Sunday as we took another step up the ladder by defeating Louth in the All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park to reach the last four in the championship race.

Hats off to Jim McGuinness. He has us in dreamland once more. What a turnaround in such a short space of time.

I was very happy leaving Croke Park on Sunday. Our game with Louth would not be classed as a great game but we won and won well. We did what we had to do. We scored 1-23 with all but two points coming from play. Granted we conceded 18 points but it was that type of game, very open.

Louth are a gritty side and they did pull it back to a point late in the first half, but as the game wore on I felt it was more a matter of how much we would win by, rather than us being in any danger of losing.

It was just nice to win convincingly and all round it was a good day out. I travelled up and down on the same day and it made the journey home very short.

I had a good seat and was looking forward to a good second game between Derry and Kerry but it turned out to be a rather disappointing affair. I stayed until a couple of minutes from the end, but it was a dour affair.

I have to say I’m really looking forward now to Sunday week and our meeting with Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. Sunday’s game against Louth was probably not the best preparation but still you have to be impressed with many of the Donegal players.

Peadar Mogan continues to really impress with his pace and scoring precision. To shoot five points from corner back/wing back is some achievement.

But it was a good performance all round even if Donegal were not really pushed to their limits. The pace of Eoghan Ban Gallagher and Ryan McHugh was there to  see; Caolan McGonagle is so strong at centre-half-back and willing to get forward all the time.

The Letterkenny lad, Ciaran Moore, continues to put in big performances week after week as if he were there for years. I thought Michael Langan did what Langan does, hit some great points and his workrate was good.

I was impressed by the workrate of Ciaran Thompson also and Oisin Gallen put in a good shift without really stretching himself.

As for Shaun Patton, there was one kick-out in the second half which was unreal, finding a teammate on the run on the Cusack Stand side running onto the ball approaching the Louth ‘45’. 

But we all know that Sunday week against Galway will be a different kettle of fish. They looked good in getting over the Dublin challenge and while I loved the way Dublin played the game over the last 10 or 12 years, it is good to see a team like Galway coming through.

That contest was the best game of the weekend by a stretch, and the one other thing of note from the weekend was the physicality that Kerry are bringing to the table now. Having a Tyrone coach involved would be a factor in that.

In that regard it would be good for Donegal to have big Jason McGee available for the next game as he gives Donegal that physical presence around the middle and it would add another option for Shaun Patton on the kick-out.

I felt sad for Louth’s Sam Mulroy on Sunday. He is a very talented player and he shipped a very heavy knock when colliding with his own player. I would suggest that if it had been a rugby match, he might have been called out for an assessment at least. He played on and still kicked six points. 

Their big midfielder, Tommy Durnin, also impressed me, kicking four points. You would love to have him in your side.

Overall, it was Donegal’s day and fair play to Jim McGuinness and this team. They have given us a great journey this summer. We had great support there on Sunday, we must have had 15,000 in Croke Park. They had to be on the road early from Donegal as they were streaming down past the Skylon at 10.30 and Jones’s Road was full of Donegal colours after 11 a.m. The journey has given a great lift to the county, despite the miserable summer weather.

We now have another chance to defeat Galway in an All-Ireland semi-final. They have the sign on us from 1974 and 1983. Could it be third time lucky for us?

We will talk more about those games and the many great connections between our counties in next week’s column.

Good luck to the Donegal Ladies who meet Kildare in a relegation play-off this Saturday in Kingspan Breffni Park. Good luck to them.

Finally this week, condolences to the Gallagher family, Gaoth Dobhair, on the death of John Gallagher, a member of their Donegal championship winning sides of 1953, 1954 and 1955. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

Brian McEniff was in conversation  with Peter Campbell