ON THE FACE OF IT, Donegal and Mayo are unlikely foes.
Scratch the surface, however, and it is a little easier to see how the waters have become rather muddy between the two. It’s at a point where you there is something close to detest between the squads.
Before 2012, there were few in either county who would have begrudged the other some silverware.
Now, though, the feelings are all rather different.
The two counties went to the All-Ireland final in 2012 from similar starting blocks: Donegal had been embarrassed by Armagh in a qualifier two years previously and Mayo were beaten by Longford the same evening.
Picture caption: Aidan O’Shea and Neil McGee square off during the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park.
New managers in the form of Jim McGuinness and James Horan came in and flipped the fortunes.
When they met in Croke Park in September 2012, the ill-feeling had already begun to set.
It was fortunate for the spectacle that Donegal had the early goals from Michael Murphy and Colm McFadden to ensure the 2-11 to 0-13 win didn’t become an ugly struggle as it appeared for a time might have happened.
In the spring of 2012, Mayo and Donegal met in a challenge game at Swinford. It was the day the relationships changed utterly.
Donegal had beaten Mayo comfortably in the League 0-17 to 1-7. Mayo were hurt leaving Ballyshannon that afternoon and there was a new, ugly edge to them in Swinford, although it was Mayo who left that particular afternoon feeling they’d been the victims of over-the-top treatment from Donegal.
By the time Donegal went to Castlebar for a League match in 2013, the volume had gone up considerably.
The All-Ireland final was still fresh and the whispers suggested that ‘bitter’ text messages had been exchanged between members of the squads. In Castlebar, Paul Durcan became embroiled in a shouting match with Mayo supporters and, on a day when Anthony Thompson was sent off for Donegal, Mayo took great delight in a 1-10 to 0-9 win.
There’s no such thing as this Sunday’s game between the two merely being ‘only’ a League encounter and an expected 8,000 at Sean MacCumhaill Park shows the interest.
“I’m expecting a huge test from Mayo,” says Donegal manager Rory Gallagher.
“They are bringing huge intensity to it. They did that against Dublin the last day and they’re bringing in the likes of Lee Keegan, Kevin McLoughlin and Keith Higgins, for starters, who are massive additions.
“Mayo have had the edge on us. They’ll be coming to Ballybofey fired up for this one.
“There is huge rivalry there now. Unfortunately since 2012, they’ve had the upper hand in two big Championship games. They have quite clearly been the best team and competing with them will be a huge test.”
Gallagher himself was at the centre of some controversy prior to the All-Ireland quarter-final in 2013 when he was quoted in the Irish News raising concerns about ‘collusion between Monaghan and Mayo’.
To this day, Gallagher vehemently insists that his conversation had been off-the-record, though a challenge game between Monaghan and Mayo that summer had raised suspicions within Donegal.
Since then, the teams have been involved in hot and heavy encounters.
Last April in Castlebar, Stephen Griffin arrowed over a dramatic late point to earn Donegal a draw – and a place in the semi-finals of the Allianz League.
Donegal kept their counsel following that meeting, but behind the scenes management and players were known to be irked at what they perceived to be unfair treatment towards Ryan McHugh, in particular.
It was a patched-up Donegal that went toe-to-toe with Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter-final last August when Mayo won 2-13 to 0-11.
“It’s all about the next day and you can’t change the past,” Gallagher says.
“What Mayo done to us last year and how poor we played is irrelevant now. Teams go in different directions and their focus changes.”
Donegal were well in touch until Aidan O’Shea’s goal before half-time put Mayo four ahead and when Lee Keegan netted a second it was game, set and match.
Gallagher says: “We were happy enough, but at 0-7 to 0-6 we were still hanging on a bit. We felt, even then, that Mayo were clearly the better team and were getting scores a bit easier. We weren’t in control.
“Last year, we weren’t going in how we’d have liked to. We didn’t have a healthy squad and guys were carrying knocks.
“It’s one of the reasons we’re trying to build a stronger and bigger squad now. Mayo have had that. No matter who has been missing they’ve been able to consistently produce big performances.”
They’re unlikely foes no more.
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