Donegal 2-19 Laois 1-9
Or, How Donegal Got Their Groove Back. Jim McGuinness's side came south to Portlaoise and clicked into something like the sort of rhythm that made them such an irresistible force not so long ago. That they won't come up against many teams more amenable to helping them along their way than Laois were here feels irrelevant. That they've never scored more in a league game under McGuinness says plenty about the mood they were in.
Donegal played like a squad that had at some point over the winter thrown all the ills and cess of 2013 into a barrel and topped it off with a good douse of petrol and a just-struck match.
The all-out vigour that was such a rarity last year came in waves here. They created overlaps by the fistful and found themselves with spare men in attack at will. Too often, the Laois defence looked like men trying to bail out a boat with a teaspoon.
Two tortuous years
All six Donegal starting forwards scored from play, as did subs Hugh McFadden and Patrick McBrearty. Mark McHugh reprised his role as a rugby number seven – constantly where the action was, always effective. After two tortuous years on the sideline, Christy Toye made his first start since a league match against Dublin in March 2012. Everywhere McGuinness looked, a good news story smiled back at him.
“We’re in okay shape,” he demurred afterwards. “We’re not in fantastic shape. But what we did was we laid down a marker early in the game by taking the play to the opposition.
“Our natural game in Donegal is a running game and we’re very comfortable with that. We ran the ball very well in the first half into the wind and obviously we have a couple of very good inside forwards.”
The wind was stiff and had Laois been fit to hoist even a rudimentary sail they’d have been carried along by it in that first half. But it’s already apparent that Tomás Ó Flatharta has far more acreage to plough than he currently has the machinery to service. They day when they’re able to live with a fully-fit and properly-prepared Donegal side looks a long way off.
“They’re a better team than us,” was Ó Flatharta’s simple verdict. “They’re away further down the road than we are in terms of development. We didn’t create any opportunities for our forward line. When we had the aid of the breeze in the first half, we should have moved the ball quicker.”
Enjoyable spectacle
Instead, it was Donegal who moved it with the greater speed and accuracy. So much so that at times you were reminded of just what made them such an enjoyable spectacle in their All Ireland winning season. Throw in the added latitude afforded to their running game in these black-card-wary days and it's a potent mix they've got.
Two rat-a-tat scores early in that first half told the day’s story. The first, a 14th-minute goal by Odhrán MacNiallais was the endpoint of a quick passing move that left the Laois defence spinning. From Michael Murphy to Colm McFadden to Anthony Thompson to MacNiallais to the net in four simple moves and not a Laois glove laid on them. Glenties tiki-taka, unstoppable when done right.
The point that followed a minute later was just as impressive. A length-of-the-field effort, full of gives-and-goes and runners with options. It passed through eight pairs of hands before Dermot Molloy fisted over the bar to put them 1-2 to 0-2 ahead.
Time and again, Donegal came with their Ride of the Valkyries routine and all Laois could do was smell the napalm. Thompson and Frank McGlynn both could have had goals at the end of five-on-two attacks, Toye and Murphy found space to kick points.
Desperate challenge
It left them four up at the break and when Colm McFadden opened the second half with a goal. Laois had Denis Booth sent off soon after for a desperate challenge on Mark McHugh and from there to the end it was an accounting matter and nothing else.
“We’re in a better position than we probably have been in the four years in terms of where players are,” said McGuinness. “Both old and young. The younger fellas that are starting to progress, they’re coming close to finding their feet within the squad. I think we had six or seven players who needed surgery and they’re all coming out the other end of that.
“Last year, we were losing those players through the season. So if we can continue to manage them and bring them forward, hopefully we end up with a squad that can challenge for championship football.”
For a first day's work, he can't have wished for more.
DONEGAL: P Durcan; K Lacey, N McGee, R McHugh; F McGlynn, L McLoone, A Thompson (0-1); R Kavanagh, M McElhinney (0-2); M McHugh (0-1), D Molloy (0-1), O MacNiallais (1-1); C McFadden (1-3, 0-1 free), M Murphy (0-6, 0-2 frees, 0-2 45s), C Toye (0-1). Subs: D Walsh for Lacey (43 mins), H McFadden (0-2) for Kavanagh (48 mins), P McBrearty (0-1) for Molloy (48 mins), E Doherty for McGlynn (64 mins), S McLoughlin for MacNiallais (67 mins).
LAOIS: G Brody; D Booth, M Timmons, P O'Leary (0-1); D Strong, P McMahon, A Ryan; K Meaney, J O'Loughlin (1-1); J Finn, D Kingston (0-2, both frees), B Sheehan; R Munnelly (0-3, 0-2 frees), E O'Carroll (0-1), D Conway (0-1). Subs: P Begley for McMahon (temp, 12-14 mins), P Cahillane for Finn (half-time), Begley for Ryan (half-time), R Kehoe for O'Leary (47 mins), S Attride for Sheehan (57 mins), E Lowry for Attride (70 mins).
Referee: C Lane (Cork).
