7. There’s a sizeable gulf between the elite and the rest
“Last Sunday the difference between the Derry-Westmeath game and the Dublin-Tyrone game was like the difference between the minor game and the senior match.
“Derry are in a state of the art fitness programme with Paddy Tally but the difference with what happened after was very stark. Physically and athletically Dublin and Tyrone are more imposing.
“I recently met Michael Darragh Macauley who is involved with Opt For Life and he had just trained himself for an hour and a half. We were having a bite to eat at lunchtime and then he was going training again afterwards.
“It’s like the life of a rugby international or a top class provincial player except the lads are not able to rest properly. It explains why our lads now are in sedentary work or staying on in third level because it is very difficult to do it otherwise.”
6. No one will touch Tyrone or Donegal in Ulster
“Oh aye, no chance. I can’t see them being beaten. Those two teams are the two teams in Ulster that can control the tempo of a game. No other Ulster team is able to do that. Donegal can go three points up and hold you three points behind for the rest of the game, quite comfortably.
“Tyrone can do exactly the same. They know how to kill a game and strangle a game. They’re in a totally different plane than any of the other teams, and any talk of Monaghan or Derry is fanciful.”
5. Jimmy Mc is extraordinary
“He’s immensely charismatic. Dermot McNicholl, my old teammate, told me that he was asked to make a motivational talk at St Pat’s Maghera – the current Hogan Cup winners – to the school teachers.
“It’s a huge school. 45 minutes he spoke without notes and all the teachers walked tall out of the assembly room. The place was buzzing for the next day, talking about how inspiring it had all been. He’s a very extraordinary person, and that’s going to be very important this year.”
Pic:INPHO/Presseye/Donna McBride
4. Donegal could be even better this year
“Think back to last year they should have blitzed Kerry but lost concentration in the last 10 minutes because they started thinking about Christ we are about to beat Kerry. They should have blitzed Cork and again it was psychologically that was Donegal saying I can’t believe this is actually happening. In the final with Mayo I thought they played their poorest game of the year
“They made a wild lot of mistakes and played well below themselves. I think this campaign where a scientist like Jim McGuinness will say look how many mistakes we made and yet we were quite comfortably All-Ireland champions. I think the league is irrelevant as far as Donegal is concerned and the only issue then is mentally.”
3. The Dubs have evolved under Jim Gavin
“Pat Gilroy put in place a good blanket defence and counter-attacking system, Jim is Gavin simply trying to increase the versatility of the Dubs. Because he has got no serious target man like Michael Murphy or Colm McFadden they are adopting a more flexible running game. They do kick the ball longer than Tyrone, for example.
“Gavin is doing he right thing. He is increasing his versatility, he is introducing very good forwards, particularly (Paul) Mannion. The pace of the team is incredible now.”
Dublin’s Paul Mannion with PJ Quinn and Martin Penrose of Tyrone
Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
2. But they still look like they could wilt under pressure
“You would have expected the Dubs to win by more last Sunday, if they were really where they need to be, and they didn’t do that. I felt that a lack of confidence started to spread through the team as the game went on. (Bernard) Brogan was taken off. Dean Rock’s two points came out of the blue at a time when it really looked as though Tyrone were more solid, more composed.
“So the big question mark is are the Dubs going to wilt? They looked, to me, like a team that are well capable of wilting under severe pressure. I just think that as the game wore on against Tyrone you could see them starting to accept ‘This is just the way it’s going to be.’
“Donegal never do that. You’ll see them – Donegal keep busting through and I just didn’t get that feel about that Dublin team, I’ve got to say, particularly their forwards.”
1. The GAA’s disciplinary system reminds him of Alice In Wonderland
“Appearing in the GAA courts is exactly like going before the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland. The higher courts are a different thing, particularly the DRA. The DRA is a respectable and respected court now. My concern for the DRA is that it’s looking to me as though they’re starting to become influenced by the politics.
“A few years ago, when Mr Justice O’Flaherty as was was one of the chairs, I thought they were taking an excellent independent direction. But I think now that, increasingly, their decisions are political. For example, I do not have any rational explanation for the DRA’s decision to endorse the Higher Education rule which is clearly unlawful.
“If you brought that rule into the High Court, into the Four Courts, it would be struck down immediately. And yet they endorsed that. So I’m very disappointed in that, and I just think that there’s a worrying drift towards politics in the DRA, when that should be something that’s pristine.”
