Donegal boss Jim McGuinness cultivating a mindset as much as anything else
As well as bringing structure and a gameplan to matters, McGuinness is bringing a mindset. Behind closed doors or, in Convoy’s case, closed fence, you have to wonder just how he’s achieved that
Watching Saturday night’s huge heavyweight unification bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, it was difficult not to marvel at the sheer depth the Ukrainian was able to dig to get the job done.
At the end of Round 8 Fury seemed to have found his groove. Watch it back, Usyk looked out of gas and out of ideas. But he was a man transformed when he left his stool for what transpired to be the fight’s definitive turning point.
A few minutes later and the only thing saving Fury from hitting the canvas were the ring ropes as Usyk buzzed him to the point that a stoppage seemed imminent.
The great boxing trainer Teddy Atlas talked after about digging deep or, as he described it, the amazing “intestinal fortitude” displayed by the winner.
Paraphrasing, Atlas explained that it was something that Usyk summoned, and that skill and coaching took a backseat in that crucial moment.
Atlas earned his spurs under the tutelage of another legendary figure, Cus D’Amato - the man who, amongst many other things, first put a pair of boxing gloves on a 12-year-old Mike Tyson.
Elaborating, he explained: “Cus D’Amoto used to say, ‘never forget that when two men’s skills are comparable at a certain level it will always come down to whose will is stronger.
“Will will always defeat skill. Fury showed great will himself to survive that ninth round but Usyk showed more”.
It got me thinking about ‘intestinal fortitude’ and how it rears its head in team sport. You can have all the skill in the world and the best laid plans backing that up.
But if the individuals in a team quit or down tools, even just a small percentage of them, the collective inevitably fails as a result.
Cultivating that is surely a skill but it’s so much tougher when you’re talking about 15 to 26 single parts.
Donegal showed real good old fashioned guts at certain stages of their Ulster SFC title win. Derry, first day out, was magic but subsequent wins over Tyrone and Armagh were anything but straightforward.
Against the Red Hands at Celtic Park, Donegal grabbed the first and last points of the regulation 70-plus minutes. But in between, they didn’t lead once - they were always on or, on, the periphery of parity.
Right at the death, 0-14 to 0-13 behind, they somehow dragged themselves level once more through Brendan McCole.
That feat, in the end, seemed to flip the previous dictating of matters as Donegal were the ones setting the tone in extra-time to eventually win out 0-18 to 0-16.
Armagh, in the provincial decider, found themselves four clear by the 54th minute at 0-15 to 0-11. Donegal would claw it back, to force extra-time at 0-15 each.
Late on in all of that, Jim McGuinness’ side found themselves 0-20 to 0-19 behind, with just seconds to go.
Odhran Doherty takes on huge responsibility, in the most nonchalant of fashions, to fire an equaliser. Then, on spot kicks, Donegal didn’t blink once to win out 6-5 in ‘sudden death’.
You could say Donegal have ridden their luck at times, no one would argue that point. But when you need to move onto your second hand of fingers to count those instances, their durability could easily be termed a habit.
There were some notable absentees, of course, but many of the same players refusing to buckle or fold in 2024 were involved in last term’s tame Ulster elimination at the hands of Down in Newry.
But as well as bringing structure and a gameplan to matters, McGuinness is bringing a mindset. Behind closed doors or, in Convoy’s case, closed fence, you have to wonder just how he’s achieved that.
You used to term training a horse to accept a rider as ‘breaking it in’. But it was a much crueller process that has thankfully long since changed.
I can only guess that McGuinness also knows that breaking and training are two very different things.
With so much sports science attached to modern GAA, you can still lean in over the odd pitch fence and see draconian measures at play when it comes to preparation.
But just looking at how his players carry themselves, and interact with their manager, they’re following his lead as opposed to bending to his will.
Standing on stage in Donegal Town last Sunday night, the Glenties man didn’t mince his words. With a sea of camera phones pointed his direction and in clear earshot of the rest of the country, he stated his and his team’s intentions from this point on.
“There’s only one thing left - that is the reality. We will go after that with everything we have.”
It was a candid declaration but also a very deliberate one. Online outlets latched onto his words almost instantly while the national papers, playing catch up, all carried it in the days that followed.
It was the most epic of finales to what had already been a brilliant day. The only thing really missing was a mic drop. But the Donegal supporters are living their best lives right now and they ate it up”.
It felt like a battle cry. And it’s going to be fascinating to see just how far Donegal travel in the All-Ireland series.
Tyrone, in Ballybofey on Saturday night, is the first hurdle in all of that. With three teams progressing from a section that also includes Clare and Cork, it’s difficultto envisage Donegal not progressing.
Tyrone coming to Ballybofey in championship should feel huge but the lack of jeopardy attached to the group stages means it’s still a little difficult to get too excited about it.
But closer to the weekend and, no doubt, closer to throw-in, you just hope instinct and an ingrained dislike for each other will means sparks will inevitably fly.