Jimmy’s winning matches…
Jimmy’s winning games…
Jimmy’s bringing Sammy back to Donegal again…
Those were the words, sung with great enthusiasm if not always in the right key as, 20 years after last winning the All Ireland Football Championship, Donegal claimed their second national title on Sunday at a packed Croke Park.
The stadium seemed heavily dominated by the men, women and children from the North and the festivities are likely to continue throughout much of the week and likely months ahead.
As much as anything this victory is seen as the work of a manager, Jim McGuinness, who developed a plan, brought the players along and achieved the holy grail for a football crazy county that has rarely delivered at the top level.
Twelve months ago Donegal lost to Dublin in a semi final and the howls of derision were loud around the sport at the arch defensive nature of the way his side was set up to play.  A long winter of discontent with a book published by star player Kevin Cassidy that saw his leaving the panel, followed by five losses in the early weeks of 2012, suggested it would be a long time again before Donegal got that far and certainly that it would not be under McGuinness.
But then the season turned, with star players like Neil Gallagher returning from injury and the second phase of McGuinness’ plan coming to fruition.  An early goal against Cork in a National League encounter at Ballybofey lit the fire that remained burning across the county last night.  The man who scored that, Michael Murphy, was the same man who scored the early goal against Mayo which built a platform Donegal were not giving up.
The defence of last year remains but it has built into a fast counter attacking side where scores are as likely from the full back line as from the talismanic attacking duo of Murphy and Colm McFadden.  The team is super-fit, better drilled that any team in the country, and came into this victory the hard way winning the Ulster Provincial title from the preliminary round for the second year in a row, then knocking out Kerry and Cork before yesterday’s moment in the sun.
Just like Donegal, many businesses will go through painful transition when changing their model to suit the circumstances in which they operate.  It will often be the instinct and the drive of the management team that either floats or sinks the endeavour and McGuinness has been crowned a mastermind now further afield than his own native boundaries.
This is no doubt a very talented group of players but the key ingredient was the planning and execution of McGuinness.  Twice previously overlooked for the role he came through the hard way but now is assured his place in history.
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