McShea's Say: Donegal’s dreadful, dismal display against Monaghan

In The Sunday Independent, Joe Brolly suggested that the Kerry against Mayo game on Saturday night was an awful spectacle and I agreed with him, but the Donegal verus Monaghan match was worse.

For some time now spectators have had to endure terrible football and the standard is declining. The performance against a Monaghan side who were winning their only match in this league was worse than the display against Cavan when we handed them an Ulster title in 2020.

No doubt injuries will be mentioned as a reason for what we witnessed in Ballybofey, but that also raises a question. Why are players pulling up injured during a pre-game warm up? Is the quality of training a reason for this happening? Also, on Sunday several Donegal players looked jaded very early in the game and didn’t seem to have the energy to chase or tackle back? Why?

Monaghan teams always play with lots of enthusiasm, but this Monaghan squad will not be involved at the business end of the League or championship as they are earnest and honest but lack the class to cut it at the top level.

All around Sunday in Ballybofey was a depressing day as Donegal’s loyal followers stood in silent horror at the prospect of another season blowing apart having been detonated by their own team. If one were to dissect and analyse this Donegal display, there are numerous questions that would remain unanswered.

What was Donegal’s tactics or strategy going into the game? How much actual coaching of players takes place at training sessions? For example, why are some of Donegal’s defenders being allowed to solo all over the place, refusing to play quick quality ball into the attack, allowing the opposition to regroup as Donegal decide to turn and play ball back to goalkeeper Shaun Patton.

This is utterly ineffective football as well as being less than easy on the eye. Donegal went into this league campaign with high hopes, and there was much talk about the strength of the panel and the potential in the squad.

Sunday’s display has raised serious doubts about this strength as few of the team on view enhanced their reputation, and a number raised real doubts about their ability to compete at this level of football.

Donegal now face two very tough matches against Dublin and Armagh and the wrong results will raise the dreaded spectre of relegation, an issue that should have been put to bed on Sunday in MacCumhaill Park.

In no game in this campaign have we witnessed a power surge of the quality expected from a team with ambitions to deliver the goods on the National stage. Donegal now find themselves in a perilous situation of their own making and have the confidence and match hardiness to dig themselves out of the very big hole they themselves created with Sunday’s performance?

There are ever increasing signs that the bad habits of old are still nagging away in Donegal football. What the Donegal fans, and indeed the team, need is a definite sign that something fundamental has changed.

The positioning of Michael Murphy needs to be resolved quickly. Murphy is one of the truly great midfielders of modern times, combining strength, energy, and commitment with an unyielding determination to never accept defeat, while above all he has an instinctive eye for an opening, and his ability to thread a ball through to a well-placed colleague was the foundation for many Donegal scores.

I believe that the time has come to place Murphy at full-forward and keep him in there. His strike rate from frees is incredible, and if Donegal at last move the ball quickly in attack, it is inevitable that defenders will give frees away under pressure.

This will make Murphy’s role ultra-important, of course Murphy’s role “inside” would not be confined to free taking as his innate sense of positioning will present him and his fellow forwards with many openings which a lesser full forward would never have spotted.

In relation to the full forward position, Kildare’s best player Daniel Flynn is positioned there, Kerry’s David Clifford also plays on the edge of the square, as does Conor McManus for Monaghan, and a real positive for Donegal in this league is the excellent manner that full-back Brendan Mc Cole dealt with all three players.

Patton, like McCole, kept Donegal in this game with two top drawer saves while Odhran McFadden-Ferry also impressed against Monaghan. It only seems a short few years since the green and gold stampede began as the Donegal fans galloped across Croke Park in a swaying mass of elation - it was 1992.

A win on Sunday against Dublin at Croke Park once more, while not in any way as significant, would, I believe, be enough to ensure Division One football next year. And after last week, that would represent real progress.