'Donegal are not like Dublin or Kerry who can just turn up and win games' - Clerkin

Former Monaghan player Dick Clerkin believes Jim McGuinness and his Donegal side need to take huge lessons from their defeat to Cork last weekend with the Farney man citing them as a team with potential, but far from the finished product yet. 

Speaking on the Throw-In Podcast earlier this week, the Monaghan legend stated that Donegal took their eye off the ball against Cork and allowed the Rebel County to run rings around them, similar to what Donegal did to Derry in Celtic Park in the first round of the Ulster championship. 

Shipping three goals in Páirc Uí Rinn in what was a 3-9 to 0-16 point defeat against the Munster side, Clerkin feels that maybe Donegal have gotten a bit ahead of themselves at the moment where they think they might be a bit better than they are, which Clerkin feels has always been a major criticism of McGuinness’s sides. 

“It was a head-scratcher of a result really,” Clerkin admitted. “I just assumed Donegal would do their housework and get back up the road, but when someone told me that Cork won that game, I just couldn’t believe it. 

“I don’t think it was just that they lost (which was surprising), but rather they conceded three goals, because Donegal berated Derry for being so poor, and now here’s Donegal taking their eye off the ball and conceding three goals.” 

Clerkin compares this result in a similar way to when his Monaghan side overcame Donegal in the 2013 Ulster final, where the Farney man felt that McGuinness’s team took their eye off the ball that day and went in a little too confident. 

“The one criticism I’ve always had of Jim McGuinness, and it has raised its head a few times, was that at times a bit of complacency can set in, and they get caught. That’s how we beat them in the 2013 Ulster final. We just went at them, and they turned up thinking the game was won before the ball was even kicked,” said the former midfielder. 

“I don’t think Donegal are good enough to play in third gear against a team that turns up and plays in fourth and fifth. That’s always been my sense of Donegal, that when they’re on their game in terms of structure and intensity, they’re as good as anybody, but they’re not like Dublin or Kerry that can just turn up and win games in third gear. 

“From the highlights of the game that we could see, Donegal just looked like a team that wasn’t tuned in mentally because we saw Cork players just running freely through the Donegal defense and we were wondering, where were the Donegal players that we’re so accustomed to seeing closing teams down? 

“I think Donegal were just caught on the day and just weren’t tuned in, and that can seep into a team where they think they might be a little bit better than they are.” 

However, Clerkin still feels that while this is a setback, it happened at a good time, and it gives McGuinness and Donegal a chance to learn from their mistakes and make sure it doesn’t happen again. 

“I think McGuinness is lucky to get that defeat when he did so that he can now correct the damage and finish top of the group, and it’ll be a lesson learned for both him and his group of players where they think, ‘right, there’s potential here, but we’re not there yet’. 

“They’re effectively a Division 2 team on an upward trajectory and that’s what they played like, but at the same time, huge credit to Cork.”