Burning Issue: Who’s it gonna be, Mayo or Donegal for Sam?

It's the most novel All-Ireland Football Final pairing for years but who's going to come out on top, Mayo or Donegal? Two JOE staffers argue it out.

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Declan Whooley says… Last year saw condemnation all round for Donegal as they reached an All-Ireland semi-final playing a particularly defensive system.

This season has seen the Tir Chonaill men add more attacking flair to their game and they have well and truly beaten all six opponents thus far. On Sunday Donegal should complete their mission and bring Sam back to frenzied supporters for only the second time ever.

No one can argue the route that Donegal have taken to reach the final. Ulster was annexed by beating Cavan, Derry, Tyrone and Down by an average of more than seven points each. Goals were added and just one goal – from a penalty – conceded.

Jimmy McGuinness’ men then overcame two of the game’s heavyweights in Munster, kingpins Kerry and Cork. Both of these games were two-point victories but the Kingdom, for all their skill, struggled to break them down, while Cork scored a consolation goal at the death.

If these two counties could not break down that defensive system – two teams who have won six Sam Maguires in the past eight years – what chance have this Mayo side?

The build up to Sunday has been at fever pitch, but Donegal seem to be really going into overdrive. The county chairman has even said it is bordering on going over-the-top, but Jimmy McGuinness is the perfect man to keep his charges grounded. The sports psychologist will be conscious of the hype and can do little to dampen it, but he will attempt to use it to his side’s advantage.

On the playing field, Donegal are the bookies’ favourites for a reason. The defensive system is well-known, and Mark McHugh is again a vital cog here. In the semi-final against Cork he was quiet in the opening half when Cork pushed high up the pitch before dictating the play after the break. He will be vying with Karl Lacey for Player of the Year should Donegal prevail.

The full-back line has been impressive behind the strongest half-back line this year, with Anthony Thompson a revelation at wing-back.

Midfield had been average at best but Rory Kavanagh and Neil Gallagher were outstanding in the semi-final, dominating their opponents from the outset. If these two manage to break even against Barry Moran and Aidan O’Shea then the writing will be on the wall for the Mayo men.

The inside line will give Mayo plenty of food for thought. Colm McFadden, while wasteful at times last time out, is having his best season in years and will be a threat from the first whistle. Captain Michael Murphy is now not the sole scoring threat and his battle with Ger Cafferkey will be fascinating, while Paddy McBrearty completes an inside line that is capable of winning any type of ball.

McBrearty could well be the big man for the big occasion. Against Cork he was beating his man all ends up but was not receiving enough supply of ball. Should the 19-year-old get a run at the Mayo defence on Sunday he will cause serious problems.

For all the defensive talk, when Donegal attack it is launched from defence. Karl Lacey and Anthony Thompson often burst forward and are not strangers to finding themselves on the scoresheet.

The Donegal defence has the measure of the Mayo attack unless James Horan can produce something that has so far eluded Tyrone, Kerry and Cork.

While Mayo will have the hunger on Sunday, I think they will ultimately fall short due to a lack of scoring threats.

Donegal is bracing itself for the mother of all celebrations and it is due to get underway Sunday night.

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Conor Heneghan says... For fear of putting the hex on my native Mayo, I had convinced myself after the semi-final that there would be no way I would be offering forth my opinion about the possible outcome of the All-Ireland Final. Yet here we are...

Of course, whatever reasons I put forward for a Mayo win could come back to haunt me if things don’t go to plan on Sunday, but if you’re going to talk about hexes and omens pointing towards a win for either side you’d be here all day.

For that reason, I will place no stock in me causing a possible hex, nor will I read anything into the fact that Mayo’s last four All-Ireland defeats have come against teams wearing some variation of green and yellow. Nor that this is the 20th anniversary of Donegal’s maiden and only All-Ireland triumph. Nor that the curse supposedly put on Mayo teams since 1951 is still haunting the men from the west.

Similarly, on Mayo’s side, it is a futile exercise to talk about a man from Stradbally refereeing the final as he did in 1951 or that the 1951 All-Ireland occurred on 23 September, as it will this year. Take some comfort from those omens if you will, but they won’t make a blind bit of difference to the final outcome.

No, clichéd and all as it sounds, it will come down to who performs better on the day and who can win the tactical battle and although the level of hype associated with this final is because it’s such a novel pairing, it’s also going to be a fascinating football match.

Listen to the majority of pundits in the aftermath of their All-Ireland semi-final victory over Cork – particularly one northern analyst on The Sunday Game – and you’d be convinced that Donegal were and are unbeatable.

The level of praise that greeted Donegal’s path to the final was as overblown as the criticism they had received a year earlier. Sure, they were damn impressive in negotiating one of the hardest routes to the final in years, but no team is unbeatable and getting caught up in talk like that can be incredibly dangerous for a team.

Thankfully for Donegal, they have a manager and a group of players whose feet are welded firmly to the ground and won’t be affected by such idle and misplaced chat. They know they’re good, but they’ll know they’ll have to be equally as good if not better if they are to go the whole way.

In contrast to Donegal, most of the analysis on Mayo’s semi-final victory focussed on Dublin and how they weren’t the same team as last year. They hadn’t the hunger or desire and too few of their key players just weren’t performing up to scratch.

Granted, some of that was true, but if they hadn’t the desire they surely put up one hell of a fight before bowing out. As far as their opponents were concerned, precious little heed was paid to the fact that the Dublin defence had rarely come up against an attack that moved so incessantly and were capable of kicking accurately from long range.

Accurate kicking and Mayo forwards aren’t terms that usually go together in the same sentence, but as with many aspects of the current Mayo side, this one is different from what has gone before.

They’re tougher, they’re mentally stronger and they don’t deserve to be tarred with the same brush as their predecessors who descended on Croke Park in September and left with their tails firmly between their legs.

That said, they’re going to have to produce one helluva performance to ensure all-time legendary status in their own county, because this Donegal team is a serious outfit. Moving the ball as quickly as possible at all times and not letting Donegal dictate the terms is crucial. If Donegal get on top early and get a stranglehold on the game, it could be a slow, painful death for the men in green and red. Cork managed to delay that happening until the second half, but when it did happen, there was no coming back.

Cork, though, fell into the trap of trying to play Donegal at their own game rather than focussing on their own. It is something that won’t or at least shouldn’t happen to Mayo; they didn’t change their ways for the Dubs and they won’t now.

Go toe to toe with the Donegal lads and see who’s standing at the end. It won’t be easy, but anyone who knows Mayo football know they never do it the easy way.

So, hex or no hex, I’m going for my own boys to do the business on Sunday. There are no airs or graces about James Horan’s men but the sense of belief in the ranks is palpable.

We believe in them too.