A VERY WISE man once reckoned you should live as if you were to die tomorrow and learn as if you were to live forever.
There is little evidence that when he mined that nugget of wisdom, Mahatma Gandhi had a futuristic Ulster football championship in mind, where winning it would be just a staging post on a by-road, far from the main highway.
However, as pre Ulster final dressing room speeches go, Gandhi’s words concisely wrap up the message which Kieran McGeeney and Jim McGuinness will seek to impart to their players as they head out into the Clones evening on Saturday.
Play as if your lives depend on it, but learn enough while doing so to ensure that you play so long into the summer that by the end you will be the only one left drawing breath.
It is a message that applies to both, but most pointedly to Donegal.
After all, in losing last year’s Ulster final to Donegal, it can be argued that McGeeney’s team absorbed all the lessons which they needed to heed.
Armagh's Stefan Campbell and Caolan McColgan of Donegal after last year's Ulster final. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
In a way, though, that is a little trite. In that game, on the balance of play, they were marginally the better team and lost in a post match lottery, but went onto win the All-Ireland, specifically against Kerry and Galway, by making being marginally the better team, the only margin they needed.
It could be argued that instead of being perceived to idle on a lead like they did in the Ulster final, they pushed on more aggressively at the business end of games in the All-Ireland series, but there is an element of neatly joining the dots about that.
After all, Armagh had chances to extend their four-point second half lead against Donegal but did not take them, while a goalkeeping error by Kerry’s Shane Ryan gifted them a way back into the semi-final and in the final Galway’s misfiring attack allowed them to stay within striking distance.
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Just as winners write history, those who end up top of the class can always point to the education that got them there even though it may not always be necessarily so.
However, there is a growing and gnawing sense within Donegal that lessons need to be learned and quick, one which has to a point supplanted the giddiness and optimism with which they bounced into the summer.
‘I was more confident before the Ulster championship but I can’t say now Donegal will win an All-Ireland based on what I have seen,’ 2012 All-Ireland winner Eamon McGee admitted, when speaking on the Irish Examiner podcast this week.
The Donegal football team. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
At the core of the angst expressed by McGee and felt by so many in Donegal is the fear that caution still trumps risk.
That is an accusation that has long been levelled at them as a legacy of McGuinness’ first reign, where a heavily invested defensive game-plan was weaponised by a fluent transitional attacking game.
There were times over the last decade when that pigeon-holing of Donegal felt lazy and outdated, but in recent months it has felt relevant again. Their reluctance, even with the return of Michael Murphy, to engage a kicking game has mystified, particularly given how carrying the balls through the lines left them a jaded and beaten team in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Galway.
They have managed just four goals in 10 games this season and while that is also down to execution, nothing exposes vulnerability in a defence like a ball delivered so quickly that gaps morph into chasms.
That is not to say that they have to relinquish an exhilarating running game, but they do need to find more than one way to skin the cat.
But a bigger issue, although not unrelated, is how the team is setting up defensively without the ball, where they are largely passive outside the 40 metre arc, but aggressively swarm the ball carrier inside it, targeting turn-overs.
It has been effective – they have not conceded more than a single goal in any game this season and have had four shut-outs – with turnovers usually leading to scores at the other end.
But that strategy also hides the obvious risks involved. They always looked the better team and in control against Monaghan, yet it was a game that was left balanced on a knife edge at the death primarily because of the five two-pointers they conceded.
To be fair, the concession of scores outside the arc is a given under the new rules, but by not squeezing higher against the stronger teams and better kickers, there is a bigger price to be factored in, one which Armagh are well positioned to charge.
The other consequence of the defensive swarm inside the 40 metre arc is that if the ball carrier is not mugged and gets it away, unprotected spaces open up in front of goal, the kind which a limited Down attack failed to exploit in last month’s semi-final.
Rest assured, as the air gets more rarified, the likes of Armagh and others will.
The sense that Donegal are still too anchored to a system too rigid for their own good was never more potent than in their under-20’s recent Ulster final defeat to Tyrone.
At the end of regulation time with two added minutes flashed up and the teams level, Donegal sat inside the arc and allowed Tyrone to drain the clock which they duly did before they kicked for the win.
That Conor O’Neill’s kick went wide was irrelevant, the mindset that Donegal were willing to take the risk of losing without giving themselves a chance to win most certainly was.
Some might argue that would not happen to the senior team, but that play came straight out of the playbook which McGuinness has called from thus far.
Perhaps it goes deeper than that.
They say that DNA does what it does and in the end you just have to dance to its music.
It may not happen on Saturday evening, but sooner rather than later, Donegal need to change the record.
Otherwise, they may find that if it is just all about playing like there is no tomorrow, it may also mean that there is no tomorrow.
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Does Donegal caution still trump risk as Armagh await in Ulster final test?
A VERY WISE man once reckoned you should live as if you were to die tomorrow and learn as if you were to live forever.
There is little evidence that when he mined that nugget of wisdom, Mahatma Gandhi had a futuristic Ulster football championship in mind, where winning it would be just a staging post on a by-road, far from the main highway.
However, as pre Ulster final dressing room speeches go, Gandhi’s words concisely wrap up the message which Kieran McGeeney and Jim McGuinness will seek to impart to their players as they head out into the Clones evening on Saturday.
Play as if your lives depend on it, but learn enough while doing so to ensure that you play so long into the summer that by the end you will be the only one left drawing breath.
It is a message that applies to both, but most pointedly to Donegal.
After all, in losing last year’s Ulster final to Donegal, it can be argued that McGeeney’s team absorbed all the lessons which they needed to heed.
In a way, though, that is a little trite. In that game, on the balance of play, they were marginally the better team and lost in a post match lottery, but went onto win the All-Ireland, specifically against Kerry and Galway, by making being marginally the better team, the only margin they needed.
It could be argued that instead of being perceived to idle on a lead like they did in the Ulster final, they pushed on more aggressively at the business end of games in the All-Ireland series, but there is an element of neatly joining the dots about that.
After all, Armagh had chances to extend their four-point second half lead against Donegal but did not take them, while a goalkeeping error by Kerry’s Shane Ryan gifted them a way back into the semi-final and in the final Galway’s misfiring attack allowed them to stay within striking distance.
Just as winners write history, those who end up top of the class can always point to the education that got them there even though it may not always be necessarily so.
However, there is a growing and gnawing sense within Donegal that lessons need to be learned and quick, one which has to a point supplanted the giddiness and optimism with which they bounced into the summer.
‘I was more confident before the Ulster championship but I can’t say now Donegal will win an All-Ireland based on what I have seen,’ 2012 All-Ireland winner Eamon McGee admitted, when speaking on the Irish Examiner podcast this week.
At the core of the angst expressed by McGee and felt by so many in Donegal is the fear that caution still trumps risk.
That is an accusation that has long been levelled at them as a legacy of McGuinness’ first reign, where a heavily invested defensive game-plan was weaponised by a fluent transitional attacking game.
There were times over the last decade when that pigeon-holing of Donegal felt lazy and outdated, but in recent months it has felt relevant again. Their reluctance, even with the return of Michael Murphy, to engage a kicking game has mystified, particularly given how carrying the balls through the lines left them a jaded and beaten team in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Galway.
They have managed just four goals in 10 games this season and while that is also down to execution, nothing exposes vulnerability in a defence like a ball delivered so quickly that gaps morph into chasms.
That is not to say that they have to relinquish an exhilarating running game, but they do need to find more than one way to skin the cat.
But a bigger issue, although not unrelated, is how the team is setting up defensively without the ball, where they are largely passive outside the 40 metre arc, but aggressively swarm the ball carrier inside it, targeting turn-overs.
It has been effective – they have not conceded more than a single goal in any game this season and have had four shut-outs – with turnovers usually leading to scores at the other end.
But that strategy also hides the obvious risks involved. They always looked the better team and in control against Monaghan, yet it was a game that was left balanced on a knife edge at the death primarily because of the five two-pointers they conceded.
To be fair, the concession of scores outside the arc is a given under the new rules, but by not squeezing higher against the stronger teams and better kickers, there is a bigger price to be factored in, one which Armagh are well positioned to charge.
The other consequence of the defensive swarm inside the 40 metre arc is that if the ball carrier is not mugged and gets it away, unprotected spaces open up in front of goal, the kind which a limited Down attack failed to exploit in last month’s semi-final.
Rest assured, as the air gets more rarified, the likes of Armagh and others will.
The sense that Donegal are still too anchored to a system too rigid for their own good was never more potent than in their under-20’s recent Ulster final defeat to Tyrone.
At the end of regulation time with two added minutes flashed up and the teams level, Donegal sat inside the arc and allowed Tyrone to drain the clock which they duly did before they kicked for the win.
That Conor O’Neill’s kick went wide was irrelevant, the mindset that Donegal were willing to take the risk of losing without giving themselves a chance to win most certainly was.
Some might argue that would not happen to the senior team, but that play came straight out of the playbook which McGuinness has called from thus far.
Perhaps it goes deeper than that.
They say that DNA does what it does and in the end you just have to dance to its music.
It may not happen on Saturday evening, but sooner rather than later, Donegal need to change the record.
Otherwise, they may find that if it is just all about playing like there is no tomorrow, it may also mean that there is no tomorrow.
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