Donegal were rated virtual no hopes going into the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final, but they turned over a Dublin side, who would return with a vengence to win six Sam Maguires in a row.
It was a seismic shock that reverberated around the GAA world. But in the full view of time, what happened on Sunday afternoon, August 31, 2014, would prove cataclysmic for everyone else and cathartic for Dublin.
Diarmuid Connolly recalls the following year vividly - Gavin and his coaches drilling them so hard on the training field in 2015 that the players were almost driven to distraction.Dean Rock was born as Dublin’s dead ball king - and maybe the greatest free taker of all time - superseding a mixture of Bernard Brogan and Stephen Cluxton.Dublin wouldn’t be hit for three goals again under Gavin in Championship football.It didn’t come easily though. The minute details were drummed into them.
“It got so bad, at one stage lads were getting ratty and saying, ‘We don’t want to do this. We just want to play football.’ It’s on Youtube so it’s handy. That helps. He might throw it on at Christmas to relive that buzz one more time. “Unfortunately, we unleashed a wild beast that turned out to be one of the greatest teams to ever play the game.
“We thought it was just because they were beat but they came with an edge for the next six years like. It was a total turnover in their character.” “McGuinness still had to make the decision. He stayed with it. McGuinness did talk about four goals. We had bought into the McGuinness project.
Donegal GAA GAA Diarmuid Connolly Jim Gavin Jim Mcguinness
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