IN THE BUILD-UP to the 2012 All-Ireland semi-final against Cork, Rory Gallagher took to the floor in the Hogan Stand.
Gallagher was then the assistant manager to Jim McGuinness.
Gallagher spoke and Donegal’s players listened. Had a pin dropped, it would have been like a bomb had been detonated.
Picture caption: Donegal’s Karl Lacey on the attack against Tyrone. Picture by Geraldine Diver.
Donegal were deep into their second year under the McGuinness-Gallagher partnership and Gallagher had long since earned his stripes and their trust – but this was a day when he entered new waters.
Gallagher had a vision.
He listed to his audience three players.
They were Cork substitutes Pearse O’Neill, Denis O’Sullivan and Nicholas Murphy.
In that order.
It was, he suggested, what would happen in the next couple of hours.
Cork would first introduce O’Neill.
Then Conor Counihan, the Cork manager, would send O’Sullivan into battle.
Once Murphy would be called from the substitiutes’ bench in the Hogan Stand, Cork would be broken.
Sure enough, with the clock showing 55 minutes gone, the board went up and Murphy came on.
Donegal were in command.
Those in the gold and green of Donegal looked around. Gallagher’s premonition had come true.
Colm O’Neill did have them hanging by the whites of their fingernails when he got in behind for a Cork goal in added time, but soon McGuinness was off in a euphoric dance across Croke Park as Donegal reached the All-Ireland final for the first time in 20 years.
That’s four years ago now. Donegal capture Sam Maguire in 2012 and were within an inch of winning again in 2014, only to be denied by Kerry in the final.
[adrotate group=”68″]Gallagher assumed the manager’s post weeks after that defeat, having been away from the squad during the 2014 campaign.
Only Paul Durcan and Ryan Bradley, from the Donegal team that started the 2012 All-Ireland final against Mayo, are no longer at Gallagher’s disposal.
Gallagher believes his squad to be capable of greatness again.
“There are a handful of teams that can win the All-Ireland,” he says.
“We’re one of them.
“These boys have won an All-Ireland and have been in another final. We made no secret that we wanted to win Ulster and then we wanted to give the All-Ireland a go.
[adrotate group=”70″]“That hasn’t changed. We missed out on Ulster, but these boys want the All-ireland.
“When we meet up in December and you see those boys coming back in, it’s the All-Ireland that is driving them on. When you’ve been there and been as close as they’ve been, that is the only thing that will satisfy them.”
A fortnight ago, Donegal lost the Ulster final against Tyrone, a trio of late scores prising the Anglo Celt away from Tir Chonaill’s clutches right at the death.
It was a day that left Donegal’s supporters puzzled and vexed in the manner they’d gone from being 0-8 to 0-4 in front to watching Sean Cavanagh climb up to the winners’ platform in the Gerry Arthurs Stand.
[adrotate group=”53″]“Ultimately, we didn’t do enough against Tyrone,” Gallagher says.
“We were very close. We obviously didn’t put up the right amount of scores we wanted.
“Tyrone, though, have a very strong system and a very strong style. The way they defend makes them difficult to break down. There are aspects, a few of them, from our own game that we want to improve on.
“At the start of the year, we wanted to win Ulster. Where we wanted to be at the end of the year was with the Ulster Championshp, but we were well aware that we’d be parking Ulster on the Monday or the Tuesday after the final.
“We’d like to have parked it as Ulster champions and there is obvious disappointment that we haven’t done that. The boys see a bigger picture here.
[adrotate group=”46″]“We have had four tough games, three of them against Division 1 teams. It’s been a tough road, but we can take an awful lot of learning from those games.”
Donegal’s approach to that final, and especially the second half, has been the subject of intense debate in the last two weeks.
“Tyrone are seen in many peoples’ eyes as the second best team in the country,” Gallagher says.
“They felt that they were coming at us with the best team they’ve had in a few years. We were beating them heading into injury time.”
The Belleek man baulks at the very suggestion that his team was in some way attempting to play keep-ball after going four points in front.
[adrotate group=”43″]He says: “We went out with the very clear intention of pushing out the lead against Tyrone. We did that. We went four up at the start of the second half. People have to remember that Tyrone are a very good side with the same hunger for the same prize..
“We were disappointed that we didn’t push on more. Even when Tyrone came back to 0-8 to 0-6, we could argue that we could or should have had a free or two, but the thing is that we went with the intention of pushing on.
“I’ve never seen a Gaelic football team try to ‘see a game out’. It may look like that but that certainly isn’t the way it is.
“It sounds boring, but what’s been said has nothing to do with us. We know ourselves, the 35 or 36 of us in there, where we are.
“We’re at training every single night with the common goal in mind. Stuff that is being said or written doesn’t take a flinch out of us. Honestly, it doesn’t.
[adrotate group=”38″]“We don’t get carried away when people say nice things about us and the same is true when they say not-so-nice things. We’re very clear ourselves about where we are and about where we want to go.”
The Donegal squad was known to be a downbeat place after the Ulster final. The defeat stung them as hard as any loss they’ve suffered.
While the carrot of getting a crack at Dublin next week in a quarter-final at Croke Park dangles before them tomorrow when they face Cork in a Round 4B qualifier, Gallagher inists that isn’t their sole motivation.
“This isn’t about getting to play Dublin,” he says.
“It’s about getting into an All-Ireland quarter-final. That in itself is a huge incentive. We’re going there this weekend with the focus and belief on getting to a quarter-final.
[adrotate group=”37″]“We feel that we can create a big performance, but we’d take a one-point win now.”
This is a game that doesn’t call for the mercury to hit the same heights as it did when the counties met in August 2012, but if Gallagher calls this tune as well as he did that day Donegal will be heading for that ultimate test.
Donegal – and their manager – could do with that right now.
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