Neil McGee hails ‘big men’ as Donegal crush Kerry in Division 1 final

Donegal selector Neil McGee hailed Donegal’s ‘big men’ after a landmark win over Kerry in Croke Park.

A 3-20 to 2-10 destruction of the Kingdom on Sunday saw Donegal win a first Division 1 title since 2007 - only the second ever clinched by a Donegal team.

In a re-run of the 2025 All-Ireland final, at the same venue albeit with a bit less than half the attendance, Donegal were ravenous with three goals in three second-half minutes - netted by Conor O’Donnell, Michael Murphy and Caolan McGonagle - sealing victory.

Last July, Kerry stunned Donegal with a rapid-fire start in the All-Ireland final, leading by seven at half-time and never giving Donegal time to get into the game.

Here, Donegal were eight in front, 0-13 to 1-2, at the short whistle.

“We put a game plan together during the week and the boys nailed it there to a tee,” 2012 All-Ireland winning full-back McGee said. “We targeted the first 20 minutes, but probably from last year we felt that the first 20 minutes the game got away from us. So we put a lot of focus on that first 20 minutes, particularly around the kick-out battle. I think that gave us a platform in the game to push on.”

Donegal put Caolan McColgan on Kerry star David Clifford and the brave move paid off as the Naomh Padraig, Muff defender had a fine outing.,

“Caolan was brilliant,” McGee enthused. “We probably had Caolan lined in Ballyshannon to pick him up too, just to see how it goes. Caolan’s very physical, he's a bit of a dog and he has good pace.

“Brendan (McCole) is there too for down the line, so it gives us more options then for man-marking roles.”

McGee, no slouch himself in the physical stakes, pointed to Donegal’s ability to be dominant in the trenches now.

The Gaoth Dobhair man said: “You can't beat big men at the end of the day. You have four, five, six of them all around that middle sector. Michael Murphy can come in now and help the midfield.

“Eoghan Ban (Gallagher) is a big man there. Brendan McCole’s a big man and Stephen McMenamin came in there, a big man.

“We have a lot of big men. The game now is a game of kick-outs. We have the big men, but it's a different plan every game and you need to keep working on it.”

Read next: Winning kick-outs made a big impact - McGuinness on Division 1 triumph

Donegal were forced into a late reshuffle of their pack after 2025 Young Footballer of the Year Finnbarr Roarty took sick in the hours leading up to the game. His place was taken by Naomh Conaill rookie Max Campbell - who stepped up to the plate, scoring three points and curbing the influence of Seanie O’Shea.

McGee said:  “Max just came into the team because Finnbarr actually got sick overnight, so Max Campbell came into the team there and he was thrown into the deep end. It’s a huge credit to him for a young foot, only 20-year-old, to come in and do a job and probably one of the best forwards in the country. It was brilliant by him.”