Sport

O'Rourke's Farneymen can edge Donegal in war of attrition

Donegal captain Michael Murphy comes under pressure from Monaghan centre-back Vincent Corey in last year's Ulster SFC final at Clones. Picture by Colm O'Reilly
Donegal captain Michael Murphy comes under pressure from Monaghan centre-back Vincent Corey in last year's Ulster SFC final at Clones. Picture by Colm O'Reilly Donegal captain Michael Murphy comes under pressure from Monaghan centre-back Vincent Corey in last year's Ulster SFC final at Clones. Picture by Colm O'Reilly

DESPITE Ulster being the most competitive provincial Championship, Donegal and Monaghan will meet in the Ulster final for the third year in-a-row on Sunday.

It is no great surprise to me that both have got to this point – they are clearly the best two teams in the province.

It will be difficult for the losers of this game to re-group.

Winning an Ulster title would have been a clear target for both teams.

The problem with entering the Qualifiers at the last stage is it gives teams little time to restore confidence.

No matter how experienced players are, a defeat takes time to recover from.

Defeat in an Ulster final is especially tough to bounce back from.

Donegal have clear All-Ireland ambitions, but going through the back door will not suit them.

One major issue they have failed to address is the depth of their squad and the return of Leo McLoone won’t entirely fix the issue.

The extra game that a defeat would lead to will increase the chance of injuries and expose the lack of options within the panel.

Donegal have played two teams that were in Division One this year (Tyrone and Derry) and Armagh, who they just edged in an

All-Ireland quarter-final last season.

Due to the level of the teams they have faced, their preparations would have been extremely intense and I think mental fatigue may start to set in.

Mental strength is not an issue for Donegal,but the intensity of their summer to date has to have some negative impact.

Monaghan will have targeted an All-Ireland semi-final as a minimum this year.

The best chance of achieving that is by avoiding the big guns in a quarter-final and winning Ulster must be a priority.

They did enough in their games against Cavan and Fermanagh, without being overly impressive.

The easier draw has allowed them to tailor their training to peak over the next month, now they must deliver the performance that will be needed to defeat Donegal.

If Monaghan are to win they need to get some scores from their inside forwards. Conor McManus is the obvious man to get those scores and his battle with Neil McGee will be intriguing.

McManus is the top forward in the game at present and he is certainly capable to getting scores against the superbly organised Donegal defence.

He will not get the opportunity to take McGee on one-on-one too often but his ability to turn and kick points instantly will be difficult to shut down.

It's likely McManus will alternate at times with Kieran Hughes, especially if he is struggling to gain possession.

Hughes was excellent in the 2013 Ulster final against Donegal in the full-forward line.

Since then he has played most of his football in the middle third, but it was interesting to see him moved inside more against Fermanagh.

There have been some signs of aerial weakness in the Donegal defence this year and Monaghan may be tempted to utilise Hughes’ fielding ability, although they should not over-use the tactic.

Donegal looked like potential All-Ireland champions against Armagh, but Derry made them look fairly average the next day out.

Armagh’s performances since puts some perspective on that display, while Derry’s defensive set-up made them extremely difficult to play against.

In truth, Donegal are somewhere in between and I’ve seen a few signs of weakness in their defensive play that have not been apparent in recent years.

Games are so much harder to predict now when the top teams face each other.

Key match-ups used to be critical in deciding the result of games, but there are fewer individual battles on the pitch.

Results are influenced by how a team can adapt to their opponents tactics.

Since both these teams knowing each other so well it becomes much harder to call the winner.

Monaghan have strong ball carriers in Dessie Mone, Karl O’Connell and Darren Hughes, as well as the options inside of McManus and Hughes.

To beat Donegal you must play with patience, look for early ball inside and run at pace.

Monaghan are extremely well-organised in defence and they may well have enough variation in their attacking play to edge a real war of attrition.

Tyrone, meanwhile, face a tricky match away to Tipperary and there should be some added spice to the fixture after the fallout from this year’s U21 All-Ireland final.

As much as both teams will play down the significance of the U21 game, I expect to see a fairly hostile atmosphere on Saturday.

Most Tyrone supporters were reasonably pleased with the performance against Donegal, but the subsequent Qualifier wins over Limerick and Meath have been anything but impressive.

Mickey Harte has said he doesn’t want his team peaking too early but the long periods of poor play must be a concern.

The forward play against Meath was the most worrying aspect.

Although Meath set up defensively, they didn’t play with regular sweepers in front of the full-back line and Tyrone were unable to get the ball inside.

Darren McCurry and Connor McAliskey have yet to develop into regular scorers inside, while Sean Cavanagh and Mattie Donnelly are needed further out the field.

Tiernan McCann’s direct running in the second half was the winning of the game.

Tyrone need more of that to counter the lack of kick-passing in the team if they are to break down defences.

We will not suddenly see Tyrone develop a kick-passing game, so more pace needs added to the running style in place.

The current set-up of the Tyrone team is aimed at giving them a chance to beat the top four or five teams in the country.

However, it also increases the chances of Tyrone losing to inferior opposition.

In the opening 25 minutes Meath played like a team who had no confidence after their defeat to Westmeath, but Tyrone’s unwillingness to attack them allowed Meath to get a foothold in the game.

A young Tipperary side with the backing of the home crowd are a dangerous opponent.

Tyrone must start with authority and aggression to add to the doubts that a Division Three side will undoubtedly start the game with.

Tyrone should have enough to get over the line… just.