WHEN JIM MCGUINNESS TOOK over as Donegal manager in 2010, one of his priorities was to dislodge Tyrone as the dominant force in Ulster football.
Mickey Harte’s team had won three All-Ireland championships and five Ulsters and when they met Donegal in June 2011 in the provincial semi-final, they were chasing a third successive Anglo-Celt Cup.
But despite trailing by five points at a stage, McGuinness’s Donegal won 2-6 to 0-9 courtesy of late goals from Colm McFadden and Dermot Molloy. It brought Donegal to an Ulster final against Derry and now, following Saturday’s 0-17 to 2-10 victory over Monaghan with Rory Gallagher in his second year in charge, Donegal face into a sixth successive showpiece in the northern province. Tyrone are back for the first time since 2010.
“In 2011, Donegal stung Tyrone,” McGuinness says in today’s column in The Irish Times. “They were really hurting. Because they had no Ulster title, all of a sudden. And so the following year, we knew they were going to come at us with absolute venom.
“Those dynamics just clashed when the teams met in the semi-final of 2012. It was a 70-minute, non-stop battle. And, when we won that match, that was the moment I felt we started to take psychological control of the dynamic between the counties.
“We went on to win the All-Ireland and then in 2013, the teams met in Ballybofey and when Neil McGee absorbed that hit on Stephen O’Neill, that felt like the moment we broke them. Then in 2015, when Rory took over, we beat them again in Ballybofey in another very tense, tough match.”
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Tyrone, now, are in the same position Donegal found themselves in back in 2011. Mickey Harte’s side are an up and coming force against, reaching the All-Ireland semi-final last year and blazing a trail on all fronts since then. But they must knock the prominent force in Ulster to win their domestic championship for the first time in six years.
Rory Gallagher’s Donegal side overcame Monaghan 0-17 to 2-10 in Saturday evening’s Ulster SFC semi-final replay in Cavan
“It will be a stereotypical Ulster championship match drawn from all the ingredients of the Clones afternoons of our childhood,” McGuinness adds.
“Neither side will surrender the middle of the pitch. Both teams bring pace in certain areas of the field. Both sides have a clear and organised gameplan. It will come down to very fine margins. It will come down to free taking. It will come down to discipline and to big players stepping up. I do believe Donegal hold that edge in terms of marquee forwards and I believe they will win because of this.
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“It is not just a match to savour – it is a day to savour. They don’t come around very often because it takes years to reach the height that this rivalry is now at and, even then, teams seldom have the consistent excellence to clash so often.
“It will be a privilege for supporters lucky enough to be there. And for the players on both sides, it will be one of the days of their lives.”
Please click here to read Jim McGuinness’s column in full
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