Devenney: 'The team that sits on a lead will get caught'

Brendan Devenney says, statistically speaking, teams who try to defend a lead, end up getting caught out and end up either drawing or getting beaten.

The former St Eunan’s and Donegal sharpshooter, was reflecting on Doengal’s opening day Allianz League Division 1 draw with Mayo, which ended 0-11 each, with his native county losing a five- point lead against an eventually rampant Mayo in Markievicz Park on Sunday.

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“It is only the first game so you can’t be too critical,” Devenney stressed. “But since tactics have developed, I believe that the team that sits on a lead will get caught seven out of 10 times.

“As much as you need to slow the game down, you must also be prepared to hit back at the other end. We dallied on the ball and let them play their game instead of playing the game we are good at”.

But like quite a few observers, Devenney was surprised that Donegal did not seem to have any plan to halt the expected late Mayo surge.

“Some people are saying it was one that got away, and I can understand that, but really Mayo had us on the rack at the end,'' he added. “Now we were in a position to take the points, but Mayo battled back.

“We tend to sit back and invite them on to us and if there is anybody in the country who can put on a press then it is Mayo. They sensed that a comeback was one and the way to counteract that was for us to move the ball fast or to hoof it into the full-forward line where Michael Murphy did very well.

“Mayo hit us with a lot of turnovers but the second last point that they got was clearly wide and we could have won it if that had not been ruled a point”.

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Devenney acknowledged that the missed penalty was a turning point and was surprised that Michael Murphy did not take the kick. Patrick McBrearty, it was, who saw Rob Hennelly save.

“I spoke to Declan Bonner afterwards and he said he left it up to the boys on the pitch,” Devenney said. “It was a bit strange because if it was championship football Michael would have been hitting it.

“And especially after that miss against Tyrone in last year’s championship in Enniskillen, you would have thought he would have wanted to put that out of his system.

“I always tried to hit a penalty hard and Paddy McBrearty has played a bit of soccer and he tried to place it. Penalties are a lottery but if we scored it, it would have given us a cushion and they would need to score a goal to get back at us but they missed a few goals too.”

Donegal were still four, 0-11 to 0-7, in the latter stages, only for Mayo to get back on terms with the likes of Paddy Durcan, Jason Doherty and Ryan O’Donoghue on the mark. In the end it was Hennelly who levelled it.

“We just invited them on too much in the final stages,” Devenney added. “We are good at moving the ball quickly but once Mayo shook off the cobwebs, they went at us, but I just think that was something we should have been ready for.

“It is what they do, and we know about it, and it is what they did against Dublin last year, so it is not a surprise. “But, in fairness to Donegal, that is a Mayo that they were saying would win an All-Ireland a few weeks before the final against Tyrone. Mayo have a lot of powerful men out there and they are good when they get a momentum switch so that puts it in a bit of context”.

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“But once they attacked us we got very lateral and that put us under more pressure although they did have the wind and the rain at their backs. I just don’t think they were ready for the intensity of the Mayo tackle.

“It is not as if we have not seen this before as this is what they do. Aidan O’Shea brought them great physicality in the second half and it was something they lacked in the first half.

“On the plus side Michael Murphy and Michael Langan looked great and we are starting to see something from Ryan McHugh as well which is good and Donegal played some great quick ball, especially in the first half.

“We are not a physically imposing team and there was a lot more physical power in that Mayo team and once it became a game about power, we had to either move the ball fast or kick it long”.

“There was a big wind, and we went lateral, and Mayo decided they were going to nail us and our lead started to evaporate”.

And while Sunday’s opponents Kildare battled back to draw 0-13 to 1-10 with Kerry in Newbridge, Devenney is not totally convinced about the Kingdom and expects Donegal to win in fortress Ballybofey. It’s now 12 years since Donegal lost an Allianz League fixture at MacCumhaill Park.

“I don’t know about Kerry, we see an hour’s good football from them and we think they are going to take over but it has not happened and I don’t know how good Kildare are,” Devenney added.

“The last time they came to Donegal we played them off the park in Ballyshannon, 1-20 to 0-10 in 2016. They did well to get a draw against Kerry, but I am happy enough for Donegal to deal with them in the fortress in Ballybofey”