ALL-IRELAND SFC QUARTER-FINAL CORK v DONEGAL: KEITH DUGGANon the dramatic reversal of fortunes that has seen the men from Tír Chonaill dismiss Derry and Galway and facing Cork with confidence
THREE YEARS ago, Cork and Donegal played out a low-key All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park. It was a peculiar match because the stadium was still pulsing from a gripping curtain-raiser between Armagh and Kerry, a match which revived the season for the Kingdom.
In events that mirror those of this summer, Kerry had gone into the quarter-finals in a state of disarray, having lost to Cork in a fractious Munster final replay (1-12 to 0-9) and then beaten back rumours of disaffection and disillusionment – much as they have been doing for the past fortnight. They stormed the second half against Armagh and suddenly looked potent again.
The match between Donegal and Cork, north and south, looked tame in comparison. It might have been because they had no championship history that they failed to raise a spark. The teams played a cagey, inhibited match, with Cork failing to reproduce the fire of their Munster campaign, while Donegal won plenty of possession and led for most of the afternoon but could not push on.
“Aye, it was a strange game. We probably should have won it,” remembers Christy Toye. “We just seemed to kick wide after wide in that second half. And personally, I remember getting the ball towards the very end of the game and I had a chance to shoot and I passed it on and the Cork lads got possession, broke up the field and got the score that won it. It was a wild disappointing way to lose a match but we had the chances.”
Since that time, the two counties appeared to go in different directions. Cork were duly beaten by Kerry in the semi-final, lost the following year’s All-Ireland final to their bitter rivals and were back in the semi-finals again last summer where, for a change, they were beaten by Kerry. Constant rebuttals from Kingdom teams have been frustrating for this Cork team but with each season, their challenge, even allowing for the various bouts of managerial upheaval and player unrest, has become more persuasive.
For Donegal, the pattern has been different. True, they won their first National League title the following year but disappointed followers in that year’s championship, where they exited against Monaghan and fell short again last summer, when they lost a home qualifying match, again against Monaghan, by a point, 0-15 to 0-16.
The prolonged and messy search for a new manager after the equally messy conclusion to Brian McIver’s term in charge did morale in the county no good and John Joe Doherty took up the post under something of a cloud.
The Glen man did not seem at all fazed when Donegal sank like a stone in the league – a victory against Tyrone on a stormy Saturday night the one exception in a league programme of under performance. But the first-round Ulster championship defeat to Antrim seemed a crushing blow to the first year of Doherty’s term.
THE QUALIFYING roulette was kind in that it sent Carlow and then Clare up to Ballybofey, where they were duly dispatched by a Donegal outfit generally deemed to be running on empty. Nobody could foresee the dramatic reversal of fortunes that led to their dismissing Derry and Galway, two quality sides, on successive weekends.
Now they are back at the stage they were three years ago, with a quarter-final against the Munster champions beckoning.
One of the few encouraging aspects of Donegal’s league programme was Toye’s return to form. From his minor years, the St Michael’s man was touted as one of the best prospects to emerge from the county in many years and although he made several dazzling contributions to the senior side, his form seemed to have slipped in recent years.
But under Doherty, he was again playing with confidence and held the torch for the rest of the team in that night-time win against the All-Ireland champions.
Donegal’s initial progression in the qualifiers was so low-profile the world hardly noticed Toye was badly injured against Clare. He ripped his cruciate ligaments and will not be back until next season. He does not seem all that surprised his friends are back in the last eight.
“From the outside, it probably seemed that we were going really badly that day against Antrim. Okay, we didn’t play that well but we had a lot of wides as well that would have carried us through on another day. And Clare and Carlow weren’t coming up to Ballybofey with the idea of allowing us to walk all over them.
“Nearly all teams have a high level of fitness now and they got men behind the ball and made it hard for us. The evenings weren’t great, they were a bit wet and I suppose the atmosphere wasn’t great. Even if we had won those games by 10 points or whatever, it wouldn’t have made much difference. You were still just through to the next round.
“All these things did contribute. But at the same time, we knew we had good footballers on the team and maybe it took a big game to get that out of us and the boys showed that against Derry. And that gave them the momentum.
“I was talking to a fair few of them before the Galway game and I knew they were fairly confident and they fancied they had a chance. And you could see from them that they were going well.”
The Donegal team has changed considerably since they last met Cork at this stage. Five of the Donegal defensive unit – Karl Lacey, the McGee brothers, Barry Dunnion and Barry Monaghan who impressed against Galway – did start three years ago, with Frank McGlynn the only change.
BUT THE ATTACKING six bears almost no resemblance, with Rory Kavanagh the one forward who played in that Cork match to start last weekend against Galway.
It is likely Toye would have joined Kavanagh had he not been injured. But three years ago, Kavanagh formed a full-forward line that included Michael Doherty and Leon Thompson. That division has been transformed by Colm McFadden’s ebullient return to form and also by the emergence of Michael Murphy.
The big Glenswilly man was name-checked by Cork veteran Graham Canty during the week as one of the chief threats that Donegal possess. His stock has risen inestimably because of national exposure on the back-to-back victories over Derry and Galway, where he pitted his wits against Seán Marty Lockhart and Finian Hanley respectively.
“Michael has been in and about the panel for the past two or three years,” Toye says. “But we would have known about him as far back as under-16 level. He was always a physically strong player but he had the skill and the speed to go with it. Maybe the recognition is only coming now but he has been an important player for us and you know, he is still only 19. I think we always knew he was going to be the real deal.”
BUT TOMORROW IS a different level. In the minutes after Donegal had defeated Galway, Kevin Cassidy said that part of the inspiration for the senior players was that the young players would experience the thrill of playing in Croke Park. “We’ve got them there now so hopefully we can drive on,” he said.
For Murphy, it will mean stepping from the back garden of Ballybofey into the bright lights and given the suddenly soaring level of expectation and attention, it might prove daunting.
“I don’t think it will be a problem to him,” predicts Toye. “He is not the kind of lad who gets apprehensive about games, he is a confident kind of player and I am sure he will have been looking forward to this all week. To be playing in Croke Park in the Bank Holiday weekend is what any player wants . . . I would think it will be the kind of atmosphere that Michael will enjoy.”
For Toye, one of the key men during Donegal’s last visit to the All-Ireland semi-final in 2003, the rest of the championship will have a bittersweet feel. He is delighted his team-mates have tapped into their potential but the further they advance, the tougher it is for him not being there.
He is resigned to missing the rest of this campaign no matter how far the team goes – although Doherty, perhaps out of courtesy, has not yet replaced him. With Michael McGuire also on the injured list, there are currently only 28 players on the panel.
Toye, though, is not contemplating miracles. “It is frustrating but I’ll just have to get this sorted and hopefully get back playing next year and just hope that the boys can push on for a while yet this summer.”
