‘Process the moment’  - McGuinness trusting players to make the decisive indents 

There is a scene in Aliens where Ripley and Newt stumble across what looks like an impassable room full of hatching ‘face hugger’ eggs. 

They’re laid out in perfect formation. But with flamethrower to hand, Sigourney Weaver eventually decides to tiptoe in-and-around all that apparent danger. 

In the end, and out the other side, she toasts the entire crop as the Queen Xenomorph looks on helplessly. 

Watching certain elements of Donegal’s grinding win over Tyrone in the Ulster semi-final, I couldn’t help but think of that scene from James Cameron’s 1986 sci-fi classic. 

Tyrone had taken serious learnings from Derry’s naively arrogant approach and made sure they weren’t going to be caught out in the same manner. 

There was no reckless high pressing and they were quite happy to sit in with what was a very structured defensive/counter attack set-up. In the end, it could easily have gotten them over the line. 

Watching it back on TV, there were instances where that defensive shape stood static, in an almost zonal template. 

Realising this, the likes of Daire Ó Baoill and Shane O’Donnell - just like Ripley - decided to tiptoe in-and-around the numerous roadblocks to easily fire over the crossbar. 

The only conclusion you could draw, from the vantage point of the armchair at least, was that collective paralysis was a direct result from their hastily arranged gameplan. 

Donegal had spectacularly upset the odds the week previously by dumping reigning Ulster champions Derry out of the provincial running so the Red Hands had to really make those eight days in between count. 

Donegal, on the other hand, have been working on their shape since last December. And they don’t tailor it, for anyone. But there is a portion of their approach that leaves room for manoeuvre. 

And it’s why Donegal, more often than not, will get over the line when it comes to those ‘who blinks first’ type grinds.  

Fast-forward to last Friday evening’s press gathering at the Donegal Training Centre in Convoy, veteran sports hack Gerry McLaughlin innocently asked McGuinness about Tyrone’s apparent ‘mirroring’ of Donegal. 

But the Donegal boss explained that’s a narrative he doesn’t like - that sides mirror his. Of course, there is a large element of that sentiment that is undeniably true. 

But the point McGuinness makes is that there has to be scope or room for players to add their own brushstrokes to his canvas.

“Every game is a game in its own right and it carries its own unique set of circumstances,” he said. 

“I don’t know if I get that, in the sense of ‘mirroring’. We play differently every day.  Because the circumstances around personnel, with and against, also change from game to game. 

“You are either fearful of that or look to take advantage of all of that. So every single game and opposition are different. We are never the same every day. If you were, you’d be a sitting duck”.

Interestingly, having taken another look back at Armagh and the Division 2 league final this week, there was another glaring example of coaching suppressing instinct. 

Armagh would have gone into the game with a defined defensive structure, out of possession, and when Donegal were on the march. 

However, that shape didn’t make provisions for the individual - it was set up to counteract the collective. And that’s where the fall down often exists. 

It’s the threshold where coaching should end and ‘processing the moment’ takes over. 

Three of Ciaran Thomspon’s four points that afternoon in Croke Park came from Armagh not processing the moment. 

Instead of weighing the individual up on his own merits, they sat off to protect what they viewed as the ‘scoring zone’.

But all that did was allow the Glenties man time and space to take aim and fire over. It didn’t matter to Thompson that he was 50 yards from goal on each occasion. 

Asked about how much trust he places in his players to make tailored decisions to some of the situations they find themselves in, the 2012 All-Ireland winning manager explained: “Every system in the world, soccer of Gaelic football, will have strengths and weaknesses. 

“There are very few systems in the world that allow you to have it all your own way. It’s an impossibility really. If you’ve a tight structure, you’ll have certain players kicking from the outside. 

“If you go man to man, there will be gaps in behind. The question is when systems and structures are flexible like that, do your players have the flexibility and game intelligence to understand that there is a gap there and to change in real time. 

“You can always have an identity with what you bring but in terms of the gameplan and opposition, you have to have that flexibility. And the players are often the ones that you have to trust in the moment”.