Manus Boyle: 'Building the panel now in the league is key for the championship'

There was a moment, 11 minutes from time when Eoin McHugh had a chance to drag Donegal back into it.  

Michael Murphy, back in the starting lineup for the first time since 2022, found him with a tidy ball, and for a split second, the possibility of a grandstand finish flickered into view. McHugh rattled the crossbar. Tyrone went up the field and, with a point from Darren McCurry, put the game to bed. That was that. 

Tyrone came to O’Donnell Park knowing what they needed to do and did it. A side fighting for their Division 1 survival is always a different animal to one with nothing tangible at stake, and that was reflected in the urgency with which Malachy O’Rourke’s team went about their business.  

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Donegal, with one eye on a possible league final and the other on a looming Ulster Championship campaign, made 11 changes from the win over Derry and played like a team with their mind on bigger things. 

The wisdom of that approach is Jim McGuinness’s prerogative and his alone, but former Donegal player Manus Boyle saw the logic in it. 

“It’s not a weak team,” the Killybegs man said. “There’s a lot of strong players out there, but it’s not the side we’ve come accustomed to, and no doubt there will be changes come championship.  

“But in order to build a squad, you have to give players time on the field against a good competition, and those players got that against Tyrone.” 

For all that, Donegal were never entirely out of it. Jamie Brennan was electric, his resurgence continuing apace with a performance full of the kind of industry that has made him a key figure again.  

Peadar Mogan, Mark Curran, and Michael Murphy all stood out, while Odhrán McFadden-Ferry and Hugh McFadden got through a huge amount of work, something that won’t have gone unnoticed given the uncertainty surrounding Jason McGee and Michael Langan’s fitness. 

“It was great to see Hugh McFadden put in a big performance, he is going to be massive to the cause considering we still have no full indication of when Jason McGee and Michael Langan are back, so Hugh will have a massive role to play," said the 1992 All-Ireland winner. 

“You then had players likes of Kevin McGettigan who did well, Caolan McColgan started really well, but he was probably put on the backfoot more and he’s a player who likes to get forward, who likes to carry the ball and use his pace.  

“You’ll always get a solid game from Odran McFadden-Ferry, and we got that in spades, and for a player like him to get 70 minutes under his belt, that’s massive for when championship football comes around. 

Tyrone, though, had too much. Darragh Canavan, Peter Harte, and Mattie Donnelly had the kind of influence that decided things, while Niall Morgan was a one-man wrecking crew, knocking over five points and bossing his square like a man with places to be.  

With every Donegal flurry, Tyrone had a counterpunch, and by the time the final whistle went, six points was about right. 

“There were some good moments on Sunday, and there were moments where they would want to improve and get better,” Boyle reflected. “Overall, Tyrone were the better team, and they didn’t start with their full championship team either. But with Darragh Canavan, Peter Harte, and Mattie Donnelly, they were the difference.” 

As for Donegal, what next? 

Their league position is secure, but the trip to Castlebar on the final day of the league brings a tricky balancing act. Do they go for it and try to build momentum, or do they manage minutes with an eye on Ulster? Boyle reckons McGuinness will play it his own way. 

“I would never be the person to second-guess what Jim McGuinness does,” he said. “But he might bring the more established players back into the team next week just to keep their momentum high.  

“He probably won’t give them all a lot of game time, but they will need to stay up to the pace and remember, winning is a habit, and they won’t want to let that go. 

“We won’t know if they are going to make that push down in Mayo because you don’t want to risk players too much either so that all has to be considered.”   

Either way, this wasn’t a day that will linger long in the memory. If Donegal go deep in the All-Ireland, nobody will be talking about an overcast Sunday in Letterkenny when a much-changed side came up short against a team that needed the win more than they did.  

It was an afternoon for learning more than anything else, and Boyle sees the bigger picture. 

“We’re still in a good position, and we have to understand that nobody is going to remember this match against Tyrone or the game against Mayo in the long run if we go far in the All-Ireland Championship,” he said.  

“That’s the goal. Donegal are in the top four teams in the country, so I would expect that Jim has Derry firmly on his mind at the minute, and his overall aim is to retain the Ulster Championship. If we get to a league final, he’ll deal with it.” 

For now, Donegal moves on, and Tyrone live to fight another day. That’s all Sunday really came down to.