Devenney: Sledging is an Ulster ‘weapon’
It’s Gallagher’s team now, says Donegal’s Devenney Captain Murphy is ‘like Liverpool’s Molby in his pomp’
BRENDAN DEVENNEY has claimed that sledging is predominantly an Ulster problem and that his native Donegal had to adopt it as a ‘weapon’ to keep up with the top teams in the province. Speaking ahead of Donegal’s Ulster semi-final against Derry, the former Tír Chonaill star said: ‘It started in Ulster. As an Ulster person, I’m not about to say it doesn’t happen. ‘It probably started in club football in certain counties in the north. ‘It wasn’t in Donegal initially; it wasn’t in Monaghan. But it became big. It’s almost as if it’s a part of the make-up of Ulster and if Donegal didn’t join in, it’s like a weapon. ‘So if some boys are at you, certain boys on your team are ready to take them on. ‘The top four teams, which is Tyrone, Monaghan, Donegal and Armagh, I think Donegal and Monaghan had to respond — which is unfortunate. ‘But I don’t think they would necessarily need to instigate it. ‘As you saw against Armagh, Donegal didn’t need to do any mouthing,’ added Devenney.
BRENDAN DEVENNEY has admitted that he feared Donegal would fall from grace when Jim McGuinness quit, comparing it to Manchester United in the wake of Alex Ferguson’s departure.
However, in the wake of Donegal’s hammering of Armagh in the Ulster quarter-final, and comprehensive defeat of Tyrone in the preliminary round, former attacker Devenney feels the new coach has already stepped out of McGuinness’ shadow.
‘There was a huge fear. And it was like the Alex Ferguson thing, who is going to come in? When [Rory] Gallagher was named my immediate reaction was “perfect”, because he knows the whole game inside out and can steady the ship. But if anything he has looked at it and improved things.
‘This is Rory’s team now. Up until the Armagh game everybody had been giving McGuinness the credit for all this, but after the Armagh game it became Rory’s team,’ said Devenney.
‘He deserves huge credit — that was all coaching and all tactics. Everything Donegal did was all from the training ground and it’s stuff that wasn’t done before.’
In his day, Devenney was a quicksilver attacker for Donegal, a player who carried the brunt of the scoring threat on so many occasions.
A talented soccer player in his own right, he went on to compare the county’s current attacking talisman Michael Murphy to former Liverpool favourite Jan Molby.