Éamonn Fitzmaurice identified three key areas of improvement for Donegal from last year's All-Ireland final defeat in getting the better of Kerry and securing league silverware.
Jim McGuinness’ side, while fortunate not to have seen talisman Michael Murphy dismissed for a strike on Dylan Casey, were fully deserving of their 13-point victory over the Kingdom in Sunday’s Allianz Football League Division 1 decider.
Leading by eight points at the break, a scoring purple patch - where they found the back of the Kerry net three times in as many minutes - ensured it was a comfortable afternoon for the Tir Chonaill men.
Ryan McHugh admitted the victory, as impressive as it was, did little to ease the pain of losing the All-Ireland final to the Kingdom in 2025, but Fitzmaurice told this week’s RTÉ GAA podcast that he observed three clear differences in approach from the All-Ireland final defeat.
Éamonn Fitzmaurice gives three 'tweaks' that proved key for Donegal 🎙️
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) March 30, 2026
Two-pointers, kickouts and defensive pressure are areas that were improved from last year's All-Ireland final.
'We wondered if they were bothered about the league... But they were bothered about Kerry' 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/GbqbkrcIK8
Two-pointers
Back in July, David Clifford kicked the most memorable two-pointer of the season when Kerry worked down the first-half clock and waited for their moment after the hooter. The Fossa man kicked over in style in a match-defining score, while he added two more over the course of the game. Seán O’Shea raised two more orange flags from placed balls, while Donegal failed to register one from play or frees.
Sunday marked a sharp contrast.
"Donegal have shown their hand a little bit, which is interesting," Fitzmaurice said. "The two-pointers was an obvious one. Donegal had four, Kerry had one. That was a flip from last summer, where it was 5-0 to Kerry."
Kickouts/Michael Murphy
"I thought Donegal were very clever in that they weren’t going to allow Kerry get those little chipped kickouts to the two and four, kickouts that they got away last summer," he said.
"Shane Ryan is probably better at those than Shane Murphy, but at the same time, Donegal were adamant that they were not going to allow that to happen so they pushed four, and sometimes five up there into the full-forward line. Players that can chase and not caught out for pace.
"In last July’s final, Michael Murphy was the target for Kerry in terms of making him run after those (kickouts) into the corners. He was outside in the middle of the field contesting the kickouts, which he is very good at. That was clever."
Defensive pressure
"I thought the way they used goalkeeper Gavin Mulreany on the edge of the small square on account of one of the Kerry forwards, to give them an extra back to go after Kerry, was excellent," Fitzmaurice said.
"The Conor O’Donnell goal, while it came after three minutes of possession, that started when Michael Langan initially forced the turnover on Dylan Geaney. They went up the field and built the attack and eventually got the goal.
"In last year’s final, they didn’t do that. They allowed the likes of Paudie Clifford to dictate Kerry’s attack and sit back into a defensive shape.
"They have made little alterations to add to what they did last summer and they look so impressive."
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