Joe Brolly, look away.
Ulster football is about to send shockwaves through the rest of the country on Sunday as Tyrone head for Ballybofey for what can only be described as modern day warfare.
Michael Murphy spoke during the week about how competitive this clash between the two heavyweights of the north is going to be. “Whatever way people want to label it, we’ll let them do that.”
Rory Gallagher won’t give two monkeys about what people say about his team’s performance on Sunday. Mickey Harte will care even less. They want to win this first round clash and that’s the only thing that matters.
Both camps have been going through a rebirth of sorts this year. Donegal for obvious reasons with the departure of Jim McGuinness, the man who changed everything.
And Tyrone, under the same regime, sure, but they’re tearing up the floor boards.
The Red Hands might have got relegated this year but they did so practicing, harnessing, developing a new system.
They’re not looking to ‘Donegal’ Donegal this weekend, they’re looking to ‘Tyrone’ them.
Harte copped a load of flak during the league for his ultra conservative approach. At times, Tyrone flooded that many men back into defence that poor Darren McCurry was left fighting a lone battle in the forward line all by himself. But what an outlet to have.
And when they attacked, they attacked at break-neck speed. They won an All-Ireland in 2003 running the ball and then running the ball and then running the ball some more.
On Sunday, both McCurry and Conor McAliskey will be looking for space inside the Donegal blanket but if they’re not on first-time, they’ll have a stream of white jerseys coming in waves from deeper.
Just like Donegal are looking to free up Ryan McHugh, Peter Harte will be integral to the Tyrone set-up at half back as well. The classy footballer has proved instrumental at pulling the side’s strings from so deep in recent years but now that he has more protection around him, he can join in with the attack.
Sean Cavanagh won’t spend too much time inside but the number 14 jersey frees the Tyrone legend up to roam the park and occupy Donegal’s defence from wherever he wants.
If he and Matt Donnelly get linking and build up a head of steam, they could barge down the hosts’ first line of defence. It will come as a nice relief at times though knowing that they have McCurry and McAliskey running around like whippets beneath the posts.
Space will be hard to come by though against the best hole-pluggers in the country.
Donegal’s line-up allows for more flexibility.
When they’re not in possession, Neil Gallagher takes camp on the 45′ and he’s an absolute rock for the side as he hammers anything that moves in and around his battering ram shoulders.
Martin McElhinney will join him and so, too, will Christy Toye on occasion to put up a very real and very physical barricade first doors.
It also allows the like of Frank McGlynn and Karl Lacey to prowl around putting out fires wherever they’re needed and Ryan McHugh will more than likely take up a deeper role in front of the full back line. But when that ball is turned over guess what happens? McHugh, Lacey, and McGlynn are three of the most tireless, athletic players in Ireland and they spearhead a deadly, relentless counterattack for Donegal.
Last year’s first round clash in Derry saw Michael Murphy play a lot of the game out the field and he’ll do that this weekend, too. But even for a 10-minute burst, he went inside and finished Derry off with a frightening spell of ball-winning, assists, point-kicking and absolute havoc-wreaking.
That option is something Tyrone don’t have as well and it will allow the Donegal men to stretch their visitors more.
Here’s how you should expect a lot of the game to look.
With Ryan McHugh tucking in, one of the forwards dropping back, and the two midfielders taking station on the 45′, the Donegal rearguard fittingly looks like an anchor.
Tyrone will be even more conservative but they’ll be trying all the while to free up Peter Harte like McHugh will be released on the other side.
With Donnelly and Cavanagh roaming around the outskirts of the forward line, they’ll have enough power to win possession, hold possession, and even frighten the first branch of Donegal defenders because they can take a man on but McCurry and McAliskey, for all their pace and nippiness, will find ball hard to come by.
Donegal, on the other hand, have more dimensions with which to find their men inside. They’re in their fifth year of perfecting their style of play and, if Tyrone are relying on running power to get through the yellow wall, they could soon find themselves being overrun routinely.
By the masters.
This will be tight, this will be cagey, this will be an Ulster battle that will at times feel like a stand-off with two teams refusing to blink first.
But if it needs something different, if it turns into a foot race between the two, Donegal have the tools to see off Tyrone either way. And they can start their climb to a fifth straight provincial decider.
