Malachy Clerkin: Jim McGuinness’ return makes Donegal a serious proposition again

If Jim McGuinness’s return to Donegal does one thing and nothing else, it changes everyone’s attitude to the county. At a stroke, they are a serious proposition again. Maybe not contenders for Sam but definitely the sort of crowd who could torpedo the notions of another team who think it might be their year. As a first step along the road, that shouldn’t be underestimated.

Think of it in terms of the England rugby team. Watching them groan and creak their way through last Saturday brought a certain sense of relief. It wasn’t just that Ireland were able to beat them out the gate, it was that they were able to do it without needing to be in tip-top shape themselves. The relief came from being able to go into a World Cup mentally sidelining the only European team ever to win one.

Thing is, England will come back at some stage. We know that. It might be a few root-and-branch reviews away but they’ll get there eventually. They’ll win Grand Slams and be World Cup contenders again at some stage, maybe not even that far off into the future. But for now, Ireland and the All Blacks and everyone else can see that England are in a down phase and that hay is to be made.

There was a bit of that about Donegal in 2023. The other counties in and around the top of the game – and particularly the Ulster counties – looked at Donegal and saw something they hadn’t seen for well over a decade. A soft touch. A handy two points in the league, where Tyrone, Monaghan, Armagh, Mayo and Roscommon all had victories, most of them comfortable ones. Not a factor in the Ulster championship, where they handed Down their first win in three years.

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And despite beating Clare and Monaghan in the round-robin stage of the All-Ireland – the latter performance their best of the whole year and a reminder they have enough about them to only fall so far – it took no great effort from Tyrone in the preliminary quarter-final to send them packing. Along the way, they gave Paddy Carr the road mid-season. Chaos ruled and all of their peer counties slept a little easier in their beds. McGuinness’s return ends that.

His first job will be to establish what Donegal’s floor is. Promotion from Division Two next year is no given – Armagh and Cork were both All-Ireland quarter-finalists this season, Louth were the stickiest team in the league in any division. McGuinness will be sharing sidelines with Kieran McGeeney, Mickey Harte, Glenn Ryan, Colm O’Rourke and John Cleary. Plenty of big beasts roaming the land. That said, Donegal have bounced straight back to up Division One after their last two relegations so they know the road.

The big imponderable surrounds exactly what level of talent McGuinness has at his disposal. Donegal’s last Ulster under-20 title came so long ago, it was an under-21 one. The 2017 team that hammered Derry in that final contained the likes of Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Michael Langan, Brendan McCole, Stephen McMenamin, Jason McGee and Jamie Brennan. All six are still part of the squad and in their prime. Add in an elite goalkeeper in Shaun Patten, a two-time All-Star in Ryan McHugh, a rejuvenated Oisín Gallen and Patrick McBrearty who is somehow still only 30 and on the face of it, McGuinness surely has a core group there to build on.

He may well have no real choice in the matter. The idea that the hills are forever teeming with ready-made young footballers hasn’t really borne fruit over the past while. That under-21 Ulster title in 2017 followed minor titles in 2014 and 2016 but there hasn’t been one at either grade since. Amazingly, the senior team’s last All-Ireland semi-final was when McGuinness was in charge – the shock of all shocks against Dublin in 2014. Tipperary, Galway, Derry and Monaghan have all been to the last four twice since Donegal were last there.

So there’s plenty of distance to be made up and nothing is guaranteed. The one thing we can presume is that McGuinness will be ruthless in scrubbing out whatever inefficiencies are in the Donegal system. If his dressing room is filled with a veteran group that only needs to be organised and motivated properly to take their place among the nations of the earth, we’ll find that out. If they’re simply not good enough, that will become apparent too.

One way or the other, the year of dismissing Donegal as a busted flush is over. Everyone else will take note.