The Alternative View: Donegal jet off to sun in fine stead ahead of serious business 

Donegal head off on their warm-weather training camp on Good Friday in as sweet a spot as they could have wished or hoped for pre-championship. 

Jim McGuinness and his team’s shredding of Kerry in Sunday’s NFL Division 1 final will quickly be moved on from this week.

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But had the Kingdom done any kind of a number on the Ulster champions once more on Jones Road, it would have looked really ominous for both Donegal and the chasing pack ahead of summer. 

No one will read too much into that 3-20 to 2-10 victory but to say that it will have no relevance whatsoever come championship is wide of the mark. 

Jack O’Connor’s five All-Ireland titles have come off the back of Division 1 league titles also being secured. 

So if Jack was in any way superstitious, and he seems the type,  he’d be forgiven for being a little nervous right now. 

Regardless of Kerry’s overall intentions, to find themselves 21 points off the pace in a big game at Croke Park will mean that sharp criticism, especially from within, will come their way. 

It happened last year and O’Connor was able to harness it. 

From Donegal’s side of the fence, the concern for their supporters right now might be that the way they went about their business at HQ looked like a gameplan that would have been better kept under wraps for down the line. 

Firstly, Michael Murphy was pushed out to the middle so Jason Foley couldn’t drag him left and right for short kickouts. 

And his physicality, his aggression, even if it did bubble at one stage, was the crucial aspect of Donegal’s middle wall destroying Shane Murphy’s kickouts. He set a serious tone.

Yes, the 2012 All-Ireland-winning captain was extremely fortunate to just pick up a yellow card for his jab on Dylan Casey. 

But with David Gough brandishing a yellow card there and then, it means there can be no retrospective intervention and everyone moves on. 

But back to Shane Murphy. The Kerry netminder had to go long each time for one simple reason: Donegal’s feverous pack of dogs relentlessly pressed his kickout high and forced him to go long every single time. 

Shea Malone, Conor O’Donnell, Ryan McHugh, Shane O’Donnell and even Peadar Mogan at times - in what must have been an exhaustive process - squeezed Kerry’s options down to a single choice. 

And that was another crucial part of Donegal’s winning approach.

Eyebrows were raised and, at the time, in a concerned fashion as Caolan McColgan immediately set about tagging David Clifford. 

Even more worrying was the sight of Max Campbell, still a teenager, sizing up Seanie O’Shea just before throw-in. It made no sense whatsoever. But in the end, it did. 

Because it was Donegal saying we’re backing ourselves to pummel Kerry in the middle third and, as a result, it didn’t really matter who picked up the Kerry dangermen as they were as good as rendered obsolete. 

That’s not to diminish McColgan and Campbell’s efforts in any way. They were both fantastic but as attacking threats. That was the great contradiction to all of that at the weekend. 

Campbell grabbed three points while McColgan broke from deep on so many occasions and Clifford either didn’t have the lung capacity to follow him or, maybe, just felt that was a task beneath him. 

The other big segue in Donegal’s approach in 2026 is that they are now hunting two-pointers. In last season’s All-Ireland final, Kerry nailed five to Donegal’s zero. 

On Sunday, Donegal raised four orange flags to Kerry’s one, a Paul Geaney effort that came as Donegal were 20 points up and in the process of beginning to wind down. 

Michael Langan, an All-Star midfielder in 2025, is looking to operate in that pocket between the edge of the arc and the middle of the field. 

Jason McGee’s constant presence alongside Hugh McFadden, Caolan McGonagle and, on Sunday, Murphy, means Langan’s radar is on full alert slightly advanced in front of the other middle men. 

Edward Molloy, our resident statistician, had Langan down for 1-29 across the entire season in 2025. I’m reiterating the point but that was an All-Star-winning term for the player.  

But to date this season, he’s already on 0-29, filling his boots as often as he can from distance. 

Three goals in as many minutes was the peak period of this one. Conor O’Donnell’s was a carbon copy of his effort against Armagh in the Athletic Grounds. 

He lurked and lurked, and that predatory patience paid off once more as he linked with Langan to drill home. 

Murphy’s follow-up - where he brilliantly telegraphed a stray pass to Foley - allowed him to gallop clear. 

And even though Hugh McFadden was busting a gut to offer the option of a simple square, Murphy ignored the safe option of squaring it and almost pierced the stanchion with a deadly finish. 

Finally, I’m going to give Caolan McGonagle the benefit of the doubt that he was indeed going for goal when his dipping effort crept under the crossbar. 

Another stroke of real genius from McGuinness was the use of Gavin Mulreany as a sort of ‘de facto’ sweeper affording Donegal an extra body to push out on Kerry in possession. 

And there were some big turnover moments that stemmed from that like McGonagle on Clifford and Langan on Dylan Geaney. 

Kerry were on a nice pedestal prior to Sunday. Dynasties and going after Dublin’s record haul of six Sams on the trot were openingly being talked about. 

Donegal had to flip the narrative at the weekend, they had to create some doubt. They’ve done that but at what expense? 

Jim McGuinness will have contemplated all of that in the lead-in but the end conclusion probably was that a seed simply had to be planted. 

If there was any type of inferiority complex after last July’s ten-point loss in the All-Ireland final, this win should shatter that negativity. 

Kerry are still the best team in the country, that hasn’t changed. But Donegal will now believe they are much closer to them than many had, prior to the weekend, previously thought.

And plenty of others will have suddenly sat up and taken notice. You can be sure the likes of Armagh, Galway, even the likes of beefy Meath, will feel Donegal’s blueprint in the league final is the best way to attempt to take Kerry down. 

Cork, at some stage in the Munster championship, will also take their lead from Donegal’s takedown of Kerry. 

Kerry will, of course have the likes of Paudie Clifford, Gavin White, Diarmuid O’Connor and Brian Ó Beaglaoich back on board when it really matters. 

And Shane Ryan, back in goal, will be much calmer and cerebral with his dispatches and that, in turn, will mean Kerry will be much more formidable in what they offer in that now crucial midfield sector. 

But Donegal also have Shaun Patton, Ciaran Moore, Oisin Gallen, Daire Ó Boill and, hopefully, Ciaran Thompson to come back into the mix. 

Young Footballer of the Year Finnbarr Roarty also didn’t start in the Division 1 showpiece. 

So there is so much food for thought from here on in, and if and when this rivalry gets its next chapter, eyeballs will be glued to every single aspect and detail. 

Roll on summer. 

Donegal scorers: Michael Murphy 1-5,2tpf,1f; Michael Langan 0-6,2tp; Conor O’Donnell 1-1; Ryan McHugh and Max Campbell 0-3 each; Caolan McGonagle 1-0; Peadar Mogan and Finnbarr Roarty 0-1 each.

Kerry scorers: David Clifford and Keith Evans 1-1 each; Paul Geaney 0-2,1tp; Armin Heinrich 0-2; Seán O’Shea, Dylan Geaney, Tom O’Sullivan and Tomás Kennedy 0-1 each

Donegal: Gavin Mulreany; Caolan McColgan, Brendan McCole, Eoghan Bán Gallagher; Ryan McHugh, Caolan McGonagle, Max Campbell; Jason McGee, Hugh McFadden; Shane O’Donnell, Michael Langan, Peadar Mogan; Conor O’Donnell, Michael Murphy, Shea Malone.

Subs: Finnbarr Roarty for Murphy (56), Stephen McMenamin for Malone (60), Sean Martin for Campbell (63), Eoin McHugh for R McHugh (64).

Kerry: Shane Murphy; Tadhg Morley, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey; Tom O’Sullivan, Mike Breen, Armin Heinrich; Mark O’Shea, Liam Smith; Joe O’Connor, Séan O’Shea, Graham O’Sullivan; Dylan Geaney, David Clifford, Keith Evans.

Subs: Tomás Kennedy for L Smith (32), Michéal Burns for G O’Sullivan (46), Tom Leo O’Sullivan for Foley (53), Paul Geaney for D Geaney (56), Cillian Trant for Evans (60).

Referee: David Gough (Meath).