Donegal must up their 'level of physicality and intensity' - Manus Boyle

Donegal will have to up their level of physicality and intensity if they are to challenge for major honours this year.

And Gaelic football could be in danger of becoming a bit like basketball as some referees are inclined to blow for the slightest tackle as players are going down with increasing rapidity.

Also, the time has passed for Donegal to be so reliant on Michael Murphy and Paddy McBrearty for the bulk of their scores - those are the firm views of Donegal 1992 All-Ireland winner Manus Boyle as he ponders the future for his county.

Donegal have failed to get into the All-Ireland semi-finals since 2014, despite winning two Ulster titles on the trot in 2018 and 2019 and contesting three finals in a row under Declan Bonner. Speaking ahead of the Dr McKenna Cup semi-final clash with Derry last night, Boyle believes the county has players as good as there are in the country but they need to get more physical.

“I am not talking about foul, sly or dirty play but I feel we just do not have quite the same ferocity in the tackle that the likes of Tyrone, Kerry, Dublin and Mayo bring to their game,” Boyle told DonegalLive.

“There were some encouraging signs from both Donegal and Down last week as they really went at, it but there has been a trend in recent years which has diminished the physicality and if we let that continue the danger is that the game could go a bit like basketball as we have nearly all the other elements of that game which has its own great merits.

“Every game has to have some sort of physicality and our game needs to have a level of physicality, otherwise the likes of hurling which has the physicality becomes the game that will all go to watch”.

With wins over Down and then Antrim, using a host of players including nine debutants first night out, Donegal have build up a decent panel of players.

“It is very hard to tell from a few Dr McKenna Cup matches but definitely the last few years have been disappointing,” Boyle added. “Donegal know that they are measured on their championship results and a second year of not getting to an Ulster final with the squad we have would be a disappointment. We need to get back to an Ulster final and we need to be competitive there. And if we can get there that would be a good year and stay in Division One.

“Tyrone will be there, but I think that Monaghan, Armagh and Derry will pose plenty of questions too, as Ulster is the strongest province”.

Donegal missed out on All-Ireland semi-final spots by inches following their three Ulster final appearances in Bonner’s first three years in charge, losing to Tyrone and Mayo in the final outings of the Super 8s, then going down to Cavan in the Ulster final of 2020, with the All-Ireland series straight knock-out that year and the year after.

“We just don’t seem to be able to get over the big matches,” Boyle said. “Four years ago Tyrone came to Ballybofey in the Super 8s and we were Ulster champions and they went on to an All-Ireland final and we were out.

“A year later we needed a result against Mayo, and they brought that intensity and ferocity in the tackle that we seem at times to lack. Intensity and ferocity in the tackle is a big difference between the top teams and the rest.

“I just think that if you want to compete with the top teams, you need that physicality and I am not talking about dirt but about that sustained tackling with intent, with a ferocity that has been missing for a while in Donegal.

"You need that in abundance. For a long time, there we have been too nice in my opinion. We are not a huge side, we have a lot of the same kind of footballers who are small and fast and if you look at young Shane O’Donnell has a huge future ahead of him and he is one to watch and he has great DNA. If you look at the Kerry forwards, they have a lot of big men like David Clifford and Sean O’Shea and Paul Geaney”.

And while Donegal have been very well-prepared fitness wise, Boyle insists there has been too much of a dependence on Michael Murphy, Paddy McBrearty, Jamie Brennan, Neil McGee and Shaun Patton.

“We need others to come forward to take over that mantle to allow Murphy not to have to play so many games or play so deep,” Boyle added. “And the pressure of having to get scores all the time should not always be on Murphy and McBrearty.

“Jamie Brennan has been very good for the past few years. Michael Langan is definitely the player to take over the Murphy mantle.

“Of course, there will never be another Michael Murphy but Langan can step up and make a real impression. Hugh McFadden has had a terrible injury so it is going to take a while for him to get back to himself and these are all big players but it is time the younger lads stepped up”.