Former Donegal boss Jim McGuinness has excellently dissected the tactical battle that was Sunday's Ulster final and heaped praise on Monaghan's manager Malachy O'Rourke.
Writing in his weekly Irish Times column, McGuinness explains how Rory Gallagher has changed Donegal's defensive system this year:
Donegal’s defensive structure has been excellent all summer. But they are calibrated to defend no further out than their 50. During my time with Donegal, our game plan was predicated on overwhelming teams with defensive intensity.
This year, it is not about pushing out and asking questions. They are inviting teams into their web, turning them over and striking at speed, exploiting the space and looking to hit Patrick inside with direct ball.
Indeed it was evident to all and sundry that they were deploying this tactic on Sunday, with McBrearty the only forward left up for the majority of the first half in particular.
However, Monaghan were clearly prepared for this defensive tactic and refused to be drawn into the 'web.' Instead they opted to play over and back in front, waiting on their chance to strike.
As McGuinness points out:
Interestingly, they sought to kick-pass the ball rather than hand-pass it, thus shifting the Donegal unit over and back the pitch. So they were swinging the entire Donegal unit from side to side.
Their former manager stops short of overly criticising Donegal's game but does state that their intensity was not there on Sunday. You can read his whole piece here.
