GAELIC GAMES:It may have come about by accident but it's a partnership that's working for Donegal, writes KEITH DUGGAN

TWELVE YEARS ago, Rory Gallagher provided the flash of genius in a tense derby game between Fermanagh and Donegal which gave the Lakeland men their first win in Ballybofey for over 70 years. Jim McGuinness played for Donegal that day and neither man had any inkling of where their football lives would take them.

“County games. College games,” Gallagher recalls of their early acquaintance, in Jackson’s Hotel last week. This was about 10pm and the town was deserted and as usual, the Donegal squad had gathered for something to eat after their regular Tuesday night training session. “Might have bumped into each other on the odd night out. Neither of us probably remember too much about those,” he adds.

Now, they talk on the phone at least an hour a day and spent countless hours on that same field, coaching and exhorting the players into becoming genuine All-Ireland contenders and devising a style of play that has become nationally known as “the system”.

It was an accidental partnership: McGuinness had originally recruited Peter McGinley as his assistant but the Killybegs man had to quit the role because of work commitments. He mentioned that Gallagher had done some coaching work with the club and had impressed him. Martin McHugh also spoke glowingly of a few sessions that Gallagher had done with Kilcar.

“So I got a call from Jim,” Gallagher says. “We met and clicked and decided to give it a go on a trial basis. But I am delighted, delighted to be working with the quality of lads we have. It is a great journey. Every kid starts out dreaming of being involved in an All-Ireland final and we are at that stage now so we may as well enjoy it. There have been lots of short summers in all our careers.”

McGuinness has often emphasised the frustrations of his playing career as a key motivating factor in reinventing the ambition and style with which Donegal play football. For Gallagher, the chief attraction has been about working with individual players rather than aiding the Glenties man in devising a scheme to confound other teams.

“There is nothing specific,” he says of what they have attempted to do. “Jim would say first and foremost he is a coach. I would be the same. It is about what we do on the training field. And we both feel that one of the key things is about improving each individual.

“There is a lot of talk about tactics and systems but they don’t work if the players aren’t improving. It is not just getting up the field but the way they are getting up the field and the quality of their decision making.

“I would feel that it comes down to the fact that Donegal has always produced very good ball players. They won the National League in 2007. We were coming from a reasonable base. They were in an All-Ireland Under-21 final in 2010. But they have the work done in Castlefin and Convoy in January and February.”

When Gallagher talks of his own playing career, he often disparages his speed. But he was one of those players who always seemed to have all the time on the world on the ball, a luxury that this Donegal team are intent on stamping out. When he thinks back to that landmark Fermanagh win in Ballybofey, it is to a game that was to a large extent different. “Traditional and open, yeah.” he says.

Donegal – and McGuinness and Gallagher in particular – were subjected to murderous criticism for the Donegal methodology last year but he denies that the counter-attacking game they have unveiled over the summer was a direct response to the general ire. When he thinks back to the notoriously defensive All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin last year, it is with regrets.

“There was a lot written about the game – mostly bad. But we were in a position to win the game and we didn’t push on. We made mistakes on the line – we probably should have gone for it a bit more. Especially when Rory O’Carroll went off . . . we should have pushed Michael (Murphy) inside. Those things happen. That was hard to live with over the winter, apart from all the criticism. Knowing we were so close. But you have to park that. You can’t let it eat you up. Still, we knew even then that the scoring rate was going to have to improve.”

The first sign of that came against Mayo in a league game played in March in Ballyshannon when Donegal cut loose for 17 points. As Gallagher points out, Donegal were probably at a much more advanced stage of training that day and like McGuinness, he saw a transformed Mayo team when they went to see the All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park. “They blew them away with intensity for a start. They played at a level Dublin couldn’t deal with. They were very brave going man-to-man and they took Dublin on in the kick-outs. They put five defenders close to their own goal but Mayo pushed right up on them. Very few teams would do that and leave Bernard Brogan one-on-one at the back. So it was their out-and-out bravery married to their intensity and hunger for the battle. It didn’t surprise me.

“We don’t play challenge games as a rule. But we played Mayo twice! We played them last year on a Thursday night after they had struggled in London. And it was a hectic battle, I can tell you that. And we played at the opening of a pitch this year named after the late Garda Robbie McCallion and that was another tough game. So we found out that Mayo are a very good team and they played their second team that day. And they hit hard and are hard to beat. I think they are on a similar journey to us.”

For Gallagher, it has been a wonderful experience but not quite incredible. He was always ambitious when playing for Fermanagh and cites the Nottingham Forest European Cup wins as proof of what is attainable. As a player, Gallagher was a stylist but as a coach, he turns to the oldest motto – “Anything is possible if you work hard enough.”

He laughs when asked if he would like the chance to roll the clock back a few years and play on this team. Gallagher is only 33 and has retained his fighting weight. “I would but the speed might have passed me out. No, I would.

“I was lucky enough to play on a very good Fermanagh team around 2000, 2001. I thought they were good and got close and got the most out of themselves. Football has moved on since then. But yeah, it would be enjoyable to play on this team.

“I know last year people said that it wasn’t enjoyable to play in. But that is not true. The lads love it and love expressing themselves and the hard graft and the turnover and breaking at pace. It is an enjoyable situation to play on a hungry team.”

And, indeed, to coach one.