All-Ireland final preview: Now is the time for Donegal

All-Ireland SFC final

Donegal v Kerry

Sunday, Croke Park, 3.30pm

By Michael McMullan

IT was convincing in 1992 when Donegal bossed Dublin to lift Sam for the first time. In 2012, a well-versed training ground routine morphed into an early Michael Murphy goal Mayo never recovered from.

Two finals, two wins. A 100 per cent record.

In 2014, it was regret. This time Donegal were on the wrong end of a rehearsed move.

Kingdom boss Éamonn Fitzmaurice engineered Kieran Donaghy and James O’Donoghue to take the McGee brothers off the square. Paul Geaney had a height advantage over Paddy McGrath. One v one. A high ball and a Geaney goal inside the first minute.

While a kick-out error led to Kieran Donaghy bagging a second Kerry goal, Patrick McBrearty (twice) and Neil McGee kicked scores to cancel the goal. Almost instantly.

It wasn’t enough. Kerry held all the cards, leading by three points with the two minutes of stoppage time gone, until Donegal came with a late throw of the dice.

Killian Young held up Michael Murphy who offloaded to McBrearty. His goal chance was blocked by Anthony Maher. Shane Ryan got a swat at it before Colm McFadden’s fisted effort from the rebound came off the butt of the post.

A tight angle. A half chance. Sin é. Emptiness for Donegal. Kerry champions for the 37th time. With a 34 per cent scoring efficient, to Donegal’s 50, goals win games.

Eleven years on, the 2014 final will have no tactical significance. A new era. A new set of rules Fitzmaurice and Murphy helped craft.

Paul Murphy is the only likely Kerry starter from 2014 this weekend. Donegal will keep their eyes on Paul Geaney’s injury during the warm-up. Cian O’Neill is back along the line for Kerry.

Murphy and Ryan McHugh will be certain starters. Like 2014, Patrick McBrearty is likely to be held in reserve. McFadden and Neil McGee are now in the backroom team under McGuinness.

The hurt of 2014 will still be there. Defeat ensures that. In his book, Until Victory Always, McGuinness noted an “odd feeling” in the dressing room. There was an unusual quietness.

“This game needs to be played now,” he told them. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not next month or next year.

In the numb feeling of Monday’s homecoming, McGuinness walked over to selectors Paul McGonagle and Damian Diver.

“We are ready to play the final now,” he told them, after surveying the players’ body language. That’s the nugget Donegal will take from 2014. A one percenter.

With Caolan McGonagle coming on against Meath, Donegal will be picking from a full hand this weekend.

The Buncrana man opens up a selection debate, especially in how they deal with David Clifford who leads the Kerry scoring charts and is playing like a man possessed.

Brendan McCole is the likely man-marker with Donegal having the luxury of watching Kerry’s wins over Armagh and Tyrone.

The Orchard sat deep to negate the Kerry goal threat. Their problem was not pushing out on Seán O Shea’s two-point arsenal.

Tyrone went man-on-man with Paudie Clifford and O’Shea. It worked to an extent.

Their problem was two-fold – the loss of Rory Brennan’s positional sense as a sitting number six and giving away too much ball.

It left Kerry with ammo to feed David Clifford. At the other end, their straight-line balls in suited Jason Foley’s pace in a way a diagonal ball would’ve tested him. Like Lacey to Murphy in ‘12.

In the same way it was a tough call to drop Armagh’s Peter McGrane in last year’s final, whoever would make way for a possible McGonagle return would have to suck it up.

McGonagle sitting deep until O’Shea gets into the two-point parish could be solution number one.

McHugh’s game intelligence to know when to sit off and when to mark Paudie Clifford may be the other part.

It will demand everybody else to take ownership of a performance like there is no tomorrow. Like there wasn’t in 2014.

It may involve Ciarán Moore tracking Joe O’Connor’s every move and making sure he has to defend as much as he attacks.

Kerry will have their concerns too. While they’ve played in fits and starts, Donegal carry threats. Murphy wasn’t there last year. Conor O’Donnell’s 3-33, with just one point from a free, is in All-Star form. Another addition since 2024.

Michae Langan needs watched. Donegal’s collective runners will run and run until Brendan Cawley’s final whistle. Kerry will want to prove they had the legs too. Think how they hammered Armagh’s hammer. Ravenous.

Of Kerry’s top 10 scorers, only David Clifford (11-83), O’Shea, Paul and Dylan Geaney have scored more than 20 points each across their 16 games.

Having played one game more, all but one of Donegal’s top 10, Moore, have breached the 20-point mark. That’s their balance.

What if Donegal close down Shane Ryan’s short kick-out option like Tyrone did early on?

In terms of the bench, Donegal (2.3 points per game) and Kerry (2.5) are quite similar in terms of their return in the championship. Killian Spillane (0-6) and Patrick McBrearty (0-7) are the main men.

Kerry might keep Evan Looney, Tom O’Sullivan or Tadhg Morley back like they did Shane Enright when McBrearty came on in 2014.

Dress it up any way you want, this is a 50-50 game. A cliché but a reality. Kerry’s top three assassins bring danger. Donegal’s wider lens can snap another moment in history.

Back to 2014 and McGuinness. This game needs to be played now.

LAST TIME

2025 NFL Donegal 0-23 Kerry 1-18
DONEGAL dug out a two-point win in this refixed game in Killarney to make it two wins from as many games to continue their steady start to 20205.

Donegal rallied with two points from substitute Jamie Brennan and another from Conor O’Donnell to hold off a fast-finishing home side.

Kerry: S Ryan; D Bourke, J Foley, T O’Sullivan (0-1); G O’Sullivan (0-1), T Morley, S O’Brien; D O’Connor (1-1), BD O’Sullivan (0-1); P Clifford (0-2), S O’Shea (0-5, 2f, 1tpf), Ci Trant; C Geaney (0-3, 2f), D O’Sullivan, D Geaney (0-3)
Subs: M Breen for Morley, R Murphy for Trant, P Geaney for D O’Sullivan, C Ó Beaglaoich (0-1) for BD O’Sullivan, K Spillane for C Geaney

Donegal: S Patton; EB Gallagher (0-1), B McCole, F Roarty; R McHugh (0-5, 1tp), C McGonagle, P Mogan (0-1); M Langan, H McFadden; D Ó Baoill, S O’Donnell (0-1), C Moore (0-1); O Gallen (0-3, 1tp), C Thompson (0-2), C O’Donnell (0-3)
Subs: P McBrearty (0-3, 1tpf) for Langan, J Brennan (0-2) for McFadden, E McHugh for Ó Baoill, M Curran for McHugh, O Doherty for Gallen

LAST FIVE MEETINGS
2025 NFL Kerry 1-18 Donegal 0-23
2023 NFL Donegal 0-13 Kerry 1-9
2022 NFL Kerry 1-13 Donegal 1-7
2020 NFL Kerry 2-18 Donegal 0-10
2019 SFC Kerry 1-20 Donegal 1-20

SEASON SO FAR

DONEGAL

NFL
Donegal 0-20 Dublin 0-16
Kerry 1-18 Donegal 0-23
Donegal 0-21 Armagh 1-10
Galway 0-21 Donegal 0-14
Donegal 1-22 Derry 1-19
Donegal 0-19 Tyrone 0-25
Mayo 1-18 Donegal 1-16

ULSTER SFC
Donegal 1-25 Derry 1-15
Donegal 0-23 Monaghan 0-21
Donegal 1-19 Down 0-16
Donegal 2-23 Armagh 0-28

ALL-IRELAND SFC
Donegal 0-20 Tyrone 2-17
Cavan 1-13 Donegal 3-26
Donegal 0-19 Mayo 1-15
Donegal 2-22 Louth 0-12
Donegal 1-26 Monaghan 1-20
Donegal 3-26 Meath 0-15

KERRY

NFL
Derry 1-24 Kerry 5-15
Kerry 1-18 Donegal 0-23
Kerry 1-15 Dublin 0-19
Tyrone 2-13 Kerry 3-13
Mayo 0-21 Kerry 1-16
Kerry 2-21 Armagh 0-17
Galway 2-19 Kerry 3-24
Kerry 1-18 Mayo 1-12

Munster SFC
Cork 1-25 Kerry 3-21
Kerry 4-20 Clare 0-21

All-Ireland SFC
Kerry 3-18 Roscommon 0-17
Cork 0-20 Kerry 1-28
Kerry 0-16 Meath 1-22
Kerry 3-20 Cavan 1-17
Kerry 0-32 Armagh 1-21
Kerry 1-20 Tyrone 0-17

TOP SCORERS

DONEGAL
Michael Murphy 0-52 (12f, 6tpf, 5 45)
Conor O’Donnell 3-33 (1f)
Ciarán Thompson 1-37 (6tp, 6f, 1tpf)

KERRY
David Clifford 11-83 (27f, 11tp, 1tpf)
Seán O’Shea 1-61 (17f, 8tp, 7tpf)
Paul Geaney 6-30 (12f, 1 m, 2 45)