If it’s individual battles you’re expecting, you’ve come to the wrong place…
You can expect to hear the phrase ‘positions don’t matter in Gaelic Football these days’ quite a lot, eh, these days, but there should almost be a drinking game surrounding its use in the lead up to and during Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final between Dublin and Donegal so often are you likely to hear it this weekend.
As a result, our look at the three battles that’ll decide Sunday’s game is a little different from normal in that there is little focus on one-on-one individual battles, but that in itself is what makes it such a potentially fascinating encounter. Dublin might be un-backable favourites, but don’t rule out a surprise or two along the way.
The Dublin full-back line v Colm McFadden
It’s been fairly obvious that Colm McFadden hasn’t enjoyed his most productive season in the Championship so far, but in fairness to him, his isolation in the Donegal full-forward line has had a lot to do with it at times.
When Michael Murphy took up more advanced positions against Monaghan McFadden looked more like his old self, but the need for Murphy’s services elsewhere in that game and throughout the season have affected McFadden’s performances.
Jim McGuinness may well have an ace up his sleeve (a week long camp in Johnstown House suggests that he probably will) but the need to bolster the defence against Dublin’s rampaging attack suggests that McFadden might be more isolated on Sunday than he has been all season to date and while Murphy might be close by some of the time, he’ll hardly be there for the 70 minutes.
How effective McFadden can be then depends on whether or not the men paying attention to him in the Dublin full-back line decide to venture further forward when their markers inevitably retreat beyond the halfway line. The problem for Donegal if they use such a tactic is that they will automatically concede kickouts to Dublin (see below), which most informed observers these days appear to believe is an absolute no-no.
McFadden will need a big improvement if he’s to return to something close to 2012 levels, but his form to date and the probability of being surrounded by a number of free Dublin defenders because of Donegal’s defensive approach suggests he could be in for another frustrating afternoon on Sunday.
The Dublin half-forward line vs the Donegal half-back line… and the Donegal midfield… and the Donegal half-forward line
OK, we might have exaggerated for effect, but there’s no getting away from the fact that Paul Flynn, Diarmuid Connolly and whoever actually starts on the 40 for Dublin on Sunday are going to do an awful lot of heavy lifting in an effort to provide for their counterparts inside.
If, and there’s no guarantee it will happen, Donegal do go as ultra-defensive as has been mooted (2011 levels perhaps?), then the first wall Dublin will meet will be around the Donegal midfield and half-back line and they’ll have to be clever about how to progress from there.
Thankfully for the Dubs, they have two of the cleverest half-forwards in the business in Paul Flynn and Diarmuid Connolly, both of whom are-hard working, are excellent kick-passers and are well capable of taking their own scores from 40 metres out and beyond.
Taking some of those scores from long range early doors might coax some Donegal defenders further out the field and leave a little more space for the Brogans inside, but you can be pretty certain that how to counteract the threat of numbers 10 and 12 in blue will have formed a key part of Jim McGuinness’ tactical planning this week.
The Dublin restart versus the Donegal restart
One of the most analysed areas of Gaelic football these days is the kickout. Tactics are specifically drawn up for, precision kicking by keepers is prized more than shot stopping and stats on how successful a team is in this aspect of the game is usually a good indicator of how the game will pan out.
We wonder will Sunday buck that trend. If, as expected Donegal retreat back, then the best kicker in the game, Dublin’s Stephen Cluxton, will have his pick of players to kick to, with most of his defensive six free. In theory, Dublin should be able to claim every one of their own kickouts, an astounding thought considering how good they are with the ball.
Conversely, at the other end, you could see enormous, suffocating, gladiatorial battles for ball from Paul Durcan’s restarts. Donegal will be forced to kick long as Dublin press so high and so hard. And, with hordes of men in yellow shirts back in their own half as a matter of course, the battle for ball could be titanic.
By sheer weight of number Donegal should win more than their fair share but what they do with it then will be key. Not turning it over in their own half will have been drilled into them by McGuinness, but that will be easier said than done.
We can’t see how Donegal can win by surrendering the ball to Dublin on every kickout, but we can’t wait to see them try.
