Mac's View: Five star performance from Donegal on Saturday against Tyrone

It was a Five Star display from Donegal on Saturday in MacCumhaill Park against Tyrone and one that was a joy to watch. We could have scored three goals in the first half and I was really disappointed we didn’t get the third one which could have been the goal of the season.

Ciaran Thompson’s finish scraped the outside of the post but the build-up play was so slick with Niall O’Donnell and Michael Langan involved.

Even before the game I was impressed with the drills that Jim McGuinness was doing with the Donegal squad. I turned to Philip McGlynn and I was saying to him this team is in unreal shape.

And I gather from my sources down in Cork that they might not be as fit as they should be and that could be a real factor coming down the stretch next Saturday in Pairc Ui Rinn. Make no mistake about it, Cork will not be easy to beat down there, and they have taken the game out of Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

But getting back to  last Saturday against Tyrone, it was a great display from Donegal. Ryan McHugh was fantastic in defence and in so many different ways. He was a powerhouse coming forward and when we got ahead he just took control of affairs and ran the game.

Big Jason McGee gets better and better at midfield. I was worried for him when he took that tumble onto his back after the throw-in, but he got up and got on with it and then contributed a couple of points also. 

Eoghan Ban Gallagher has added further pace to the side and he is better coming from the back. When he dips the shoulder he is hard to stop and it is great that he is injury free at the right time. It has been a long wait for him since the beginning of February.

Michael Langan is improving with every game and had his best game of the year on Saturday, much more involved than in the other games.

Peadar Mogan is just special. There’s a fitness in the squad which means they are so far ahead of the rest at the moment.

I have to say, with a certain amount of Tyrone blood in me, I was disappointed with the turnout from their county to support the team. Of the 16,800 that were there, was there many more than 1,800?

I went into Brady’s restaurant before the game and I met a Tyrone lady with her two sons and daughter. They told me that Celtic had won the Scottish Cup 1-0, which made my day. But looking around the town the Tyrone flags were non-existent.

And this Tyrone side are not a bad side. But they did seem to be out on their feet at the end of the game. Mattie Donnelly was limited to very little and it was a good move taking Patrick McBrearty out on him.

I was quite amazed that they took Darren McCurry off as he had been their top scorer with four points. But then maybe he just wasn’t up to tracking Peadar Mogan, which is not an easy task.

It was a super performance all round from Donegal and now they go to Cork in a confident mood. It is a big game because the winner will be top of the table and, more than likely, group winners. I hear that the final game against Clare is fixed for Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon and hopefully we will be going there as leaders.

If we can win down in Cork we will guarantee ourselves a two week lead-in to the remaining games.

It is a bank holiday weekend but I’m hearing that there will be a good number of Donegal supporters heading to Cork this weekend. My wife, Cautie, a proud Cork woman, is even cheering for Donegal. During the Ulster final she couldn’t watch at the end and went into the laundry room and began praying for Jim.

The trip to Cork also brings back memories of the time they blackguarded us in 1990 with the field unplayable and us with over 1,000 supporters down. I heard afterwards that they were never going to play that game because they were only back from a two week holiday on the Friday as All-Ireland champions and one of the squad got married on the Saturday.

NICKEY RACKARD FINAL

It is a big weekend also for our hurlers who will take on Mayo in the Nickey Rackard Cup final in Croke Park on Sunday. They have been super this year and hats off to Mickey McCann and his management team along with the players. Hopefully they can take home the cup on Sunday evening. The game is live on TG4 and we will be watching.

The All-Ireland Gaeltacht competition is also on this weekend in the Cill na Martra club in West Cork. That is the home club of former GAA secretary, Sean O Siochain and they have a former well-known player in Noel O’Leary. I remember bringing a Donegal team down there to play a challenge and we were so short that I named myself in the subs. It was around 2003 and my son Seanie was in charge of the U-21s and left them with him at home. I remember telling the goalkeeper Tony Blake on the way down that he would be playing corner-forward and a young lad from Glen, Gerard McGill, was in goal.

Good luck to all the Donegal teams playing in the Gaeltacht competition this weekend.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell.