'One dimensional' Donegal need to evolve - Ciarán Whelan

When the dust settles on the 2024 All-Ireland football championship, regardless of who wins the novel final between Galway and Armagh, Donegal will be one of the stories of the year.

Jim McGuinness returned to the hotseat for a second stint in charge to much fanfare, and it was a timely boost given the depths the county had fallen to in 2023.

Relegation from the top tier of the league, a limp Ulster exit, a mid-season managerial departure and a campaign that ended in a meek loss to Tyrone, the 2012 All-Ireland winning manager has had an enormous impact in a first year in charge.

Their supporters might suggest that but for a fortuitous Paul Conroy goal, they would be heading to Croke Park for an all-Ulster All-Ireland decider, but a second-half fade out saw the Tribesmen prevail by two points.

While the quality of long-range shooting from the likes of Jason McGee, Michael Langan and Ciarán Thompson was of the highest quality, they were ultimately unable to cause enough trouble in the inside forward line.

Speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast, Ciarán Whelan suggested that similar to McGuinness first year in charge back in 2011 – when Donegal famously came a cropper at the penultimate stage after a dour, low-scoring game against Dublin – they will have to tweak their offensive options to make the next step.

Galway went long for the majority of their kickouts and done really well on it. When they got at Donegal early on, they caused them problems.

In the second half, McGuinness realised they were getting hurt on the long kickouts and dropped off.

While some of Galway's big names didn’t have the impact they would have liked, Whelan says Galway’s running game from the half-back line, the ability to find space around the D and quick hands