“Sometimes we fall short a wee bit in terms of portraying our game into something it’s not” – McKaigue doesn’t agree with the analysis

Ulster may be a more difficult province to get out of and, if you were listening to Colm O’Rourke on Sunday, you’d have heard that it’s also a more difficult province to watch. “This is the bore of the century,” the Meath man said at one point during the game.

But McKaigue isn’t buying that narrative – he insists that both Derry and Donegal are as tactically astute a pair of teams as you’ll find.

“It’s hard to please everybody, but irrespective of what anybody thought of the game, you look at the amount of scores now being scored in inter-county football by comparison to 10/15 years ago and it’s chalk-and-cheese.

“Rory (Gallagher) is tactically brilliant and that Donegal team are also tactically brilliant, so I think that’s more of a reason why the game went into that pattern more than anything else.

“When teams are that well coached, that tactically attuned, and know the match-ups and all that, everything is premeditated, so the risks become heightened.

“Sunday was a game where the stakes were so high that the teams were unwilling to take so many risks. They were so well set up. Rory has made a massive difference, but he’s a hugely intelligent man.

"There's a huge number of kids here to be inspired by this sort of game, and what a bore it turns out to be for everybody…" – Colm O'Rourke has not been impressed as extra time begins.
💻 https://t.co/SaOmyVQ0xS…
📺 https://t.co/EvToNUEsDS
📻 https://t.co/wkh41D4bF8 #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/urct2wwZt9

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 29, 2022

“Donegal have a reputation over the last number of years of being fantastically defensive too. They don’t get the credit for how tactically well-tuned they are. Their attacks are premeditated and very well structured, they know exactly who they want to shoot and how they want to orchestrate the shot.

“You look at the number of scores they’ve got in Division 1 over the last two or three years and they’ve averaged 17-18 points. That’s not talked about much in the media. We want to use the term ‘defensive football’, we want to use the verbiage ‘arm-wrestles’, and that kind of stuff. But when you look at the stats of how much teams are scoring in inter-county now in comparison to 10 years ago, it’s day and night.

“Sometimes we fall short a wee bit in terms of portraying our game into something it’s not always. There’s a level of our game now, tactically and physically.

“Look at the crowds now going to the games. I think the game is in really good health and I know all the boys and girls that want to be playing GAA. I think GAA in Derry and in Ulster and beyond is in really good health at the minute. I honestly do believe that.”

And going back to what the win means to McKaigue and his county, he says that for all the struggles he’s endured as a Derry player – he’s played in the Division 1, 2, 3 and 4 finals in the football League – Sunday made it all worthwhile.