Donegal players will have point to prove in qualifiers - Manus Boyle

In the aftermath of Sunday's Ulster final defeat to Derry, the debate about where Donegal football was at was front and centre with many theories on how to improve things.

The 'modern' game of keeping possession for long periods, all agree, is not pretty to watch, but a former county star, Manus Boyle, feels that the people at the centre of the action, the players,  are not overly worried about what people think.

Boyle agrees that the Donegal style is not easy on the eye, but he points out that when he was playing, possession was also central to game plans.

"Donegal are probably still playing, maybe not exactly, but it is similar to what Jim McGuinness brought. The players are familiar with it and when you play a certain way throughout your career, it is very hard to change," said Boyle, who said it wasn't that much different when he was playing. "You kept the ball but we had Tony Boyle inside and he was a good ball winner."

The Killybegs man feels that the modern style is mirrored at every club and in the Donegal development sides.

"Not only are we not producing ball winners, we seem to have withdrawn the kicking game and many of the young footballers coming up are not comfortable kicking the ball. It is not something that is coached regularly within the teams that we have. And that can be said at both club and county level," said Boyle, referencing last year's county final between St Eunan's and Naomh Conaill. "You would probably count on one hand the number of times the ball was kicked in to the full-forward line. There's the answer, it (kicking) has gone out of our game.

"What Jim (McGuinness) did was brilliant and I loved watching it because it was a super way to play. But because of the fitness levels that players are at now and managers pull everybody back and closing the game down, it has become boring.

"And if you don't have players with the ability to kick from 40-50 yards out of the hands, then you are going to struggle. We didn't move the ball quickly enough to get into those areas where we could kick points.

"Ryan McHugh got into a couple of areas in the second half on Sunday and clipped over one and should have probably got another. But that happened because we moved the ball quickly.

"The problem has nothing to do with the manager, it is just the way the game has gone at club and county level," says Boyle.

The former Donegal star says that there are days when big numbers of players lose form.

"There is always something wrong when a big number of players don't play well. I look back on my time and when three or four didn't play well, nothing was thought of that. But when 10 or 12 don't play, there's something wrong.

"It does happens teams and it generally happens teams that are together a long time.

"I wouldn't place any blame on a manager for that; that is something to do within the group. They lacked  something on Sunday and it's hard to put a finger on it."

Looking at the game on Sunday, there was a lack of a cutting edge to Donegal. "They did look a bit one dimensional.  If it was a case that Murphy was injured, it was understandable that he didn't go in on the edge of the square. It looked too as if (Ciaran) Thompson was injured that they didn't put him in sooner. I know it's not the last game and if it was they would have pushed him in sooner.

"They were slow moving the ball up and it was only the periods that they kicked the ball, especially  with Peadar Mogan in the first half and Mogan scored three brilliant points. He was the only bit of life that we had, going at Derry with a bit of pace and finding the holes.

"I think at times we lacked a bit of patience in the first half where we showed a lot better in the second half. And generally, that is something we are very good at, being patient.

"I do think the wind was a factor in the first half because Derry struggled at that end too with wides in the second half. I also think that players coming back after operations, we looked a bit tired.

"We didn't see the darting runs of Eoghan Bán (Gallagher) because he had to secure up the backline. I'm confused with the running of Caolan Ward, Stephen McMenamin and McFadden Ferry into the full-forward line because we are burning out these players when we have to defend.

"At one stage Murphy and Peadar Mogan are the last two men and McFadden Ferry, Caolan Ward and McMenamin are having to bust themselves to get back into defence to do their job. I'm not sure of the tactics there.

"But I still think they only played for 10 minutes and there's a lot more in Donegal than that. I don't think we have seen the best of them in the Ulster championship this year. They played for 10 or 15 minutes against Armagh and they probably just done enough to get over Cavan but Cavan did ask certain questions off them.

"I thought there would be a reaction for the Derry game but we still looked that wee bit tired, a bit lethargic and slow to move the ball up front and not take the best out of Paddy McBrearty or Jamie Brennan, who struggled to get into the game. We seem to starve them of the ball and they strive on quick ball, not on slow build-up."

Boyle feels that Donegal were conscious of what Derry did to Tyrone and Monaghan and were reluctant to play quick and allow Derry to turn them over and hurt them on the break.

"To be fair if Murphy was at himself he would have been in at the edge of the square because that was the place to keep (Brendan) Rogers. Murphy is at the stage of his career that he will pick up injuries," said Boyle, and he added that it was a sign of the times that the Glenswilly man had to play, even when injured.

"To be perfectly honest it shouldn't be down to Michael Murphy every day to pull Donegal out of a hole. I think we have enough talent, enough good players in the squad and they should be stepping up on days like this. We shouldn't always be expecting Paddy McBrearty and Michael Murphy, Ryan McHugh, Eoghan Bán.  

"Even Aaron Doherty when he came on was lively and he showed that bit of sharpness and liveliness that we need. But when  you see him having to go back into his own backline and making runs up and down, that saps the energy from the legs," said  Boyle, who points to Peadar Mogan being an example as a lot of his work was being done back in defence.

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The Donegal support in Clones was well below the figure of 15,000 that was put in the public arena last week, probably not much more than half of that but Manus Boyle feels there are a number of issues which feed into this and also the reason why Derry had such big support.

"I can understand that as Derry have been starved of success for a very long time and they saw it as a great opportunity to turn over Donegal, who have been part of Ulster finals 10 times in the last 12 years," said Boyle, who also feels that watching Donegal at the moment might not be that attractive.

"I say this with the great respect to the players, but it can be a hard watch. It's slow, ponderous; it's mirror image. It's different when you're playing; they will tell you it's the most enjoyable thing that they do. I have no problem with that if that's the way they want to play. It's up to other teams to break that down. I often said that about Dublin. If someone wants to be better than them, then they have to come up with something different."

Boyle points out that Donegal have been there so many times and with Covid some people have avoided gatherings while the cost of trips to Clones are very costly for families.

Boyle also hit out at the criticism being handed out to manager Declan Bonner, not just after the Ulster final, but for some time now.

"I considered myself a good friend of Declan Bonner and I have the utmost respect for him. And the criticism levelled at Bonner from different supporters this last number of weeks has been out of order. It is not as if Declan rolled into town and took senior team manager. He took the job at U-16, U-18 and U-21s. He's worked for clubs around the county. He lives and breathes it and given his life to Donegal.

"I always go back to something that Kevin Cassidy said and I have huge admiration for him for saying it. It was after when John Joe Doherty was criticised after Donegal getting beat in Crossmaglen in 2010 in a back door game, where  Cassidy said the players have to take responsibility. It was they who crossed the white line, it is up to them.

"I know there will be nobody hurting as much as the Donegal players in the next few days and if there is anyone who can turn around the group and get them on the right road again it will be Bonner. He has that sort of personality. There's an aspect to him, if you don't know him, he's unbelievable with people and he will get the best out of them.  But if the players are  not in the right place, it wouldn't matter if it was Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp or Ronan O'Gara.

"Jim McGuinness took the Sam Maguire back to Donegal in 2012 but he didn't score a point, didn't make a tackle, didn't score a goal or make a save. Paul Durcan, Michael Murphy, Colm McFadden, Karl Lacey, Frank McGlynn, etc., did all that.

"Sometimes we place so much emphasis on the managers and the coaches, that we forget that the people who do the hard work are the players. I know the group of players will hurt having not won that game on Sunday."

As for the Qualifiers, Boyle feels that it would probably be better for Donegal to avoid the big guns in the draw.

"Either way, I think it doesn't really matter. It would probably be better to avoid the Ulster teams and Mayo and get a handier draw. It would allow players carrying niggling injuries an extra week to recover," says Boyle, who feels that the pride that the players have and the hurt of losing on Sunday will be a spur.

"That would allow them to get their feet under them again," said Boyle, who feels that they will have a point to prove.