Louth are suited to playing Donegal but they will need a near perfect performance to win

Jimmy may be winning matches but drawing Donegal is likely a better outcome for Ger Brennan and his Louth players than the alternative, which was a derby clash with Armagh.

While the Tír Chonaill outfit are humming under their manager with the Midas touch, Jim McGuinness, their team profile is much similar to the Wee county’s and that will allow the Reds to approach the fixture in a manner that suits themselves.

Had the Orchard men been the opposition, it would have required a more abrasive, physical approach and given the light but rapid make-up of a host of Louth players, including Ryan Burns and especially Craig Lennon, the likelihood is that Armagh would have earmarked certain targets for heavy treatment.

For a running team like Louth who rely upon counter-attacking and require a high shooting efficiency in front of the posts, the ingredients were there for a rather uncomfortable outing at Croke Park, especially given the breadth of scoring talent in Armagh’s reserves.

Having a really experienced referee in Cavan’s Joe McQuillan, who won’t get caught up in the mystique that surrounds McGuinness and his team, is a plus point from a Wee county perspective. The Kill-native has already overseen the Reds this year, in their National League triumph against Kildare where there was barely a decision that was contested, and his appointment, as such a senior official, will please the players as much as it should observers.

Donegal’s compilation is strikingly akin to that of the Reds. They have a very reliable, assured goalkeeper whose restarts provide a platform for offensive forays, a defence that contains a combination of man-markers and those who specialise in transition phases, a traditional if athletic midfield pairing, as well as two key forwards along with four who are as effective in one half as they are in the other.

Ultimately, McGuinness will be looking to reduce the influence of Ciarán Keenan and Sam Mulroy, without overlooking the potentially match-winning threat of Burns. On the flip side, Brennan must devise a strategy to limit the output of Paddy McBrearty and particularly Oisín Gallen.

The Ulster champions have lost just twice since McGuinness, who played in Donegal’s first All-Ireland victory back in 1992 and then presided over the success of 20 years later, returned to the hotseat. Derry bettered them in the McKenna Cup final, while Cork ended their 12-match unbeaten streak in the Sam Maguire round robin.

Indeed, the latter reverse is most significant from a Louth perspective for not only does it display a blueprint as to how to overcome the men from the hills but having since beaten the Rebels in a knockout tie, the Reds should not feel intimidated or overawed by the mystique around what is unfolding in the north-west.

The National League meeting was the first between the counties in a decade and just the second in 18 seasons. Both went the way of the favourites but back in 2006, after a replay, Louth saw off Donegal to annex the Division 2 crown at Kingspan Breffni.

That title was captured by the Tír Chonaill in the spring and they had five points to spare in their round five tussle with the Wee county in Ballyshannon. But since that 1-17 to 0-15 reverse, Louth have won six of their nine matches, with their only defeats in that period coming against the cream of the country’s crop, Dublin and Kerry.

So the outfit McGuinness will be preparing his side for on this occasion will be a much more resilient, confident and organised bunch than the one which took to the pitch in March having been beaten in three of their previous four encounters.

The main sticking point is whether Wee can amass a sum capable of winning the match. Donegal are ferocious in the tackle but extremely disciplined, tending not to concede frees within scoring range. This was a trait of the first squad McGuinness built and looks to be the case once again.

Mulroy is by far and away the Reds’ leading scorer but of the 3-37 he has registered over seven championship matches this term, only 1-4 has come from play. His dead-ball prowess is renowned country-wide and while it is a phenomenal weapon for the team to have, the reality is that once you remain controlled and measured in the tackle, while blocking up the areas of maximum opportunity, it greatly hampers Louth’s chances of tallying what they need to on any given day.

Now, obviously, the majority of fouls are as a consequence of desperation on the challenger’s part whereby if the ball-carrier slips through, there is a danger that they could engineer a major. Or at least that’s how it seems to be with a Louth team whose creativity and invention has the capacity to carve incisions in the densest of blanket defences.

Keenan is a specialist in this regard while the timing of Lennon’s darts are often precisely on cue and he could hold the key to success on Sunday afternoon. For Cork made Donegal pay with three goals on the counter-attack at Páirc Uí Rinn and they don’t have a bullet like Lennon in their arsenal. Far from it, as Louth supporters saw in Inniskeen last weekend.

Equally, though, Ryan McHugh will need extra-close attention in the vast spaces of Croke Park. He hasn’t got the same explosive quality but remains among the shrewdest operators on the inter-county scene and has a track record of delivering in matches of magnitude.

Here’s to a Louth and Kerry double on Sunday afternoon...

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