Christy O'Connor: Donegal look on a different level, how can Cork get at them?

AT the end of the Donegal-Tyrone match last Saturday, as the Donegal hordes flooded onto the pitch, most of the Donegal players began sprinting for the dressing room.

For those that walked off the pitch, they did so in haste, just like Jim McGuinness. 

As the Donegal manager descended the steps down into the tunnel, quickly glancing his palm off hands from a multitude of outstretched arms, McGuinness was looking straight ahead. He was already focused on what was coming, not on what had just already happened.

Within minutes, McGuinness and his players were on the team bus getting a garda escort through the huge crowd as they headed to their training base in Convoy to begin their recovery process.

“The turnaround is very sharp,” said McGuinness. “And on top of that we have a very long travel.” 

Donegal look on a different level to Cork, having beaten Derry, Tyrone (twice) and Armagh (after penalties) in the space of just five weeks. 

Just four weeks after edging past Tyrone after extra-time in an Ulster semi-final, Donegal took Tyrone apart last Saturday in Ballybofey.

As they showed in 2011, 2012 and 2014, Donegal have a habit of turning into that different animal as Ulster champions under McGuinness.

McGuinness and Donegal have already declared their intent so the big opportunity for Cork now is to find out just how close, or how far, they are away from taming such a big-game animal.

The last time Cork went up against McGuinness’ Donegal, they got clawed and torn to pieces. 

Cork had some difficult days during the league but their opening round mauling to Donegal was their most chastening.

Donegal got 11 of their 21 scores that afternoon from turnovers, with six of those scores originating from Donegal turning over Cork players in an attacking position close to the Donegal goal. 

Cork were repeatedly sucked into the same trap – and consistently punished for it.

Cork turned over the ball on 24 occasions, but it was just a hard struggle from the word go, especially given how much of a high press Donegal put on the Cork kick-out. It took Cork a while to recover but they did. 

SOLID

The latter half of the league was extremely positive. The performance against Kerry was solid, with Cork showing none of the hesitation that had crippled them so often in the past against Kerry.

The high-octane, high-energy game Cork came with was always going to be difficult to sustain. 

Cork had 1-6 on the board after 18 minutes but only managing 0-6 for the remaining minutes underlined how much they were leaking gas from the first half. Cork only got off seven shots in the second half.

Division 2 sides always struggle to match the pace and intensity and quality that Division 1 teams are more regularly exposed and used to. Donegal were a Division 2 side this spring but they look as primed and powerful as any of the top sides.

Cork showed nowhere near that level of performance against Clare two weeks ago but there were still aspects of that display that were highly impressive, and which will be important again now on Saturday.

In the 69th minute of the Clare game, Brian McNamara went on a penetrating run from midfield that took him to just outside the Cork 20-metre line. As McNamara was about to pull the trigger though, there were three Cork players around him, with Brian O’Driscoll eventually forcing the turnover.

That play, and how it worked out, was the trend of the second half, and, ultimately, the match; on eight occasions in that second half, Cork turned over Clare in a good attacking position when they were 30 metres or less from the Cork goal.

Clare didn’t always help themselves in those positions, primarily through their decision-making, often through taking extra steps and bringing the ball into the tackle.

In total, Clare turned over the ball 22 times but over half of those turnovers stemmed from Cork’s heat in the tackle or from applying enough pressure that forced Clare into taking the wrong decision.

Despite all that possession Cork secured from the 10 turnovers in the second half, they only sourced two points off it. 

On the other hand, there is devil in the detail because Cork squandered some of those chances from not being clinical enough, especially in the third quarter; in that period, Cork hit the post, rattled the crossbar and dropped two shots short. 

Cork’s conversion rate in that second half was 50%, the exact same it had been in the first half.

Still, Cork’s accuracy was clinical when it really needed to be – they nailed five of their last six shots, which was technically five of their last five as a brilliant save from Stephen Ryan came after the advantage rule had been played, and Cork converted the subsequent free.

When Cork failed to convert so much of that possession off turnovers, they were much more efficient off kick-outs, sourcing five second-half points off Chris Kelly’s restarts. Despite being in control at half-time, and in additional time, Cork diced with danger throughout that second half. But when it mattered, they found a way.

The challenge now is to see if they can find another way against Donegal. 

Can Cork force those turnovers in their own defence when Donegal’s running angles and pace are unlike anything they have yet faced in this championship? 

Can Cork counter-attack with the pace they’ll need to against this defence? Can they be more clinical?

This is another ultimate test to see how close or far away Cork are from taming a big-game animal.