When the dust settles on the 2024 All-Ireland football championship, regardless of who wins the novel final between Galway and Armagh, Donegal will be one of the stories of the year.
Jim McGuinness returned to the hotseat for a second stint in charge to much fanfare, and it was a timely boost given the depths the county had fallen to in 2023.
Relegation from the top tier of the league, a limp Ulster exit, a mid-season managerial departure and a campaign that ended in a meek loss to Tyrone, the 2012 All-Ireland winning manager has had an enormous impact in a first year in charge.
Their supporters might suggest that but for a fortuitous Paul Conroy goal, they would be heading to Croke Park for an all-Ulster All-Ireland decider, but a second-half fade out saw the Tribesmen prevail by two points.
While the quality of long-range shooting from the likes of Jason McGee, Michael Langan and Ciarán Thompson was of the highest quality, they were ultimately unable to cause enough trouble in the inside forward line.
Speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast, Ciarán Whelan suggested that similar to McGuinness first year in charge back in 2011 – when Donegal famously came a cropper at the penultimate stage after a dour, low-scoring game against Dublin – they will have to tweak their offensive options to make the next step.
Galway went long for the majority of their kick-outs, which worked really well. When they got at Donegal early on, they caused them problems.
In the second half, McGuinness realised they were getting hurt on the long kick-outs and dropped off.
While some of Galway's big names didn’t have the impact they would have liked, Whelan says Galway’s running game from the half-back line, the ability to find space around the D and quick hands allowed scoring opportunities for the Tribes, something their opponents struggled to replicate themselves.
"I felt they were one dimensional. They don’t kick the ball and they carry it up the field all the time and Galway were able to get into position and cut off the threat of Ryan McHugh and Peadar Mogan
"They weren’t getting in behind, there was no long ball option. They don’t move the ball fast by foot, they are extremely accurate, and have such a good range of shooters, but it was Galway that are battle hardened and can just mix it up more and change their game."
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final, Armagh v Galway, on Sunday 28 July from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
