Everything changes after an All-Ireland final. Even after winning a 37th title there is the challenge of letting it all sink in. And after losing the chance to win a third title, there is the challenge of where to begin again.
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness has been pinpointing several uncertainties since Sunday's three-point defeat at Croke Park – particularly as to why his team didn't play to their full potential. The only thing he is certain of is that his future as manager won't be decided for several weeks yet, nor should the future of any of Donegal's older players.
Instead McGuinness has called for time so that everyone can feel certain about these things: “I done that last year and I done it the year before,” he says. “I will think about the players and the squad that we have. Do we want to move forward? Motivation? All these things come into it.”
Average age of 27
The average age of the Donegal team that started against Kerry on Sunday was 27, although six of those were over 30: goalkeeper Paul Durcan (30), Eamonn McGee (30), Karl Lacey (30), Neil Gallagher (31), Rory Kavanagh (32) and Colm McFadden (31). Indeed, the average was slightly skewed by 18-year-old Darrach O’Connor being drafted into the starting team.
Yet Ryan McHugh is only 20, and Paddy McBrearty (who very nearly turned the result back in Donegal's favour when introduced) is still only 22. Kavanagh had already hinted that 2014 was likely to be his last year, and McFadden might well see it that way too, although McHugh has little doubt Donegal will come back with equal force in 2015.
“Yeah, definitely, we’re a young enough team,” he says. “We’ve great belief in that dressing room as I think we’ve shown all year. I think we definitely can bounce back.”
However, whether or not his older brother Mark McHugh will be back for 2015 is still uncertain. McHugh is equally uncertain as to why Donegal couldn’t quite reach the same level of intensity they displayed against Dublin in their semi-final, although he admits Kerry’s own game had something to do with it.
Nerves
“The All-Ireland final is one of the biggest days in the calendar so nerves are always going to be at you. Against Dublin, everything went right for us. This time a few wee things didn’t go right. It happens. That’s Gaelic football. At least there’s always another day in Gaelic football. We knew coming in that Kerry were going to set up like that, very defensively. But they probably beat us all over the pitch, to be fair to them. We thought we had a game plan to go out and defeat Kerry – we just didn’t go out and do it. That’s as much our own fault. But Kerry definitely deserved the victory.”
It made for an afternoon of double disappointment for the McBrearty family, given Paddy’s younger brother Stephen was also part of the Donegal minor team that also lost to Kerry in their final, earlier on Sunday.
“It would have been nice if we did the double,” he says, “but these things happen in football. You take the wins with the losses and the losses with the wins. Kerry wanted the quick start and they got it. We got back and we felt that we were in a good place at half-time, but over the 70 minutes we weren’t good enough. Their second goal was a real blow, because we were probably in control of the game at that stage.
“But we probably never grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. And yeah, Kerry did play very defensively, so that’s frustrating, to be beaten by your own tactics, really.
“But I can’t see any of us retiring any time soon. I don’t know everyone’s personal situations. Other lads will have to take work and family life into account, and we’ll have to see over the winter months.”
