BALLYBOFEY. A ridiculously balmy Wednesday evening in January. Donegal versus Armagh in the Dr McKenna Cup.
It’s the first road trip of the New Year. From Ballygawley roundabout onwards, traffic crawls at a snail’s pace until you see the signs for Stranorlar.
You hook left and from there the dark and winding road bobs along until the town lights appear.
And you can see the stubborn glow of the blinding floodlights of MacCumhaill Park a distance out.
Gaelic football brings life to towns like Ballybofey, especially in months like these.
A steward tells local GAA reporter Frank Craig at the back of the main stand that over 3,000 tickets were sold for the game.
When the turnstiles stop turning, the crowd for this glorified challenge game in the first week of January reaches 3,825.
It’s a remarkable figure and goes to show (if proof were needed) that the GAA is a way of life for so many.
The unseasonably warm weather probably added several hundred to the attendance.
So, too, did the mere presence of Jim McGuinness on the Donegal sidelines – back for another crack at the impossible with his native county.
McGuinness likes mountains.
After watching his far more experienced Donegal side school an Armagh U20 team on the night, McGuinness found himself conducting umpteen post-match interviews a few metres away from the changing rooms.
Among the various scrums were a stack of familiar faces among the GAA media world – all still punching their weight in an increasingly harsh industry – and the new manager still on first name terms with the local hacks, understanding their business, their relentless stream of questions and deadlines, all of us standing in the dark long after the 3,825 spectators had melted away.
We’ve all moved on since 2014 – the last time McGuinness talked to the same faces outside changing rooms – but, weirdly, it didn’t feel like it on Wednesday evening.
Here was the charismatic Glenties man back again – via Glasgow, China, America, nearby Derry City and a few other quieter coaching pitstops – nine-and-a-half years on, where the flecks of distinguished grey have overtaken the once jet-black mop of hair.
It’s been a unique journey for McGuinness, the experiences of which have undoubtedly made him a better, more rounded coach.
While a lot of those intervening years were spent in high-level soccer environs, Patrick McBrearty – the unmistakable new totem of the Donegal footballers – says the squad is already seeing the transferrable skills benefits.
“I suppose when you’ve a man with UEFA coaching badges you can notice the difference,” McBrearty said.
“I think the soccer experience has really helped him, but the training is as intensive as ever and I think the young lads there are really taking everything in and are loving every minute of it.”
A penny for McGuinness’s thoughts on the comparison between the squad he inherited in late ‘09 and the one he inherits today.
The class of 2010 to 2014 wasn’t short of leaders – although you mightn’t have thought it when McGuinness took over from John Joe Doherty.
Karl Lacey, Neil McGee, Eamonn McGee, Neil Gallagher, Paddy McGrath, Rory Kavanagh, Frank McGlynn, Ryan McHugh, Colm McFadden, Michael Murphy, Anthony Thompson, Patrick McBrearty and more all flourished under him.
There is undoubtedly talent in Donegal’s ranks right now but they’ll need new leaders to emerge just as they did at the beginning of the last decade.
Donegal have been an enigma over the last few seasons. Up until last season, you always thought they should be doing better.
And just when you thought they were made of the right stuff, their soft midriff would reveal itself, and an All-Ireland semi-final berth seemed as far away as ever.
But you would hope the county has come to terms with the retirement of Michael Murphy now and that Donegal’s stride can be a bit more confident in itself in 2024.
Sometimes teams simply have to ‘bottom out’ before rising again. There are similarities between the two times McGuinness has stepped into the managerial breach in his native county.
Amid Wednesday night’s post-match briefings – and indeed there were many of them – the tone was jovial.
McGuinness didn’t disguise the size of the task in front of him second time around, but he is a man who believes that there can be no ceiling to a group’s progress.
Asked if he felt there was less space for innovation in Gaelic football in 2024 compared to 2009, McGuinness rejected the proposition out of hand.
“No, not at all,” he said. “The job of the coach is to understand what the game is and how you can take advantage of it.
“We don’t want to be the same as everybody else, that’s for sure because in that situation the status quo will remain and the teams that are winning All-Irelands will continue to win All-Irelands – and that has been proven in history.
“So, for us, we know who we are – we are a team that’s normally in Division One and if we’re in Division Two, we’re not happy being in Division Two.
He added: “We’re a top eight, top 10, top 12 team, historically. We have to find a way to six, then to four, to two and to one, and that’s the reality - and we’re going to have to think long and hard about that and we’re going to have to be creative and come up with strategies and gameplans that puts us in that position, if at all possible.”
With McGuinness at the helm again, Donegal will be a fascinating watch.
What tactical tweaks, what structures and what anarchy can he conjure to get Donegal back in contention for NFL promotion, provincial and All-Ireland glory?
What we realised on Wednesday night is that Gaelic football needs figures like Jim McGuinness.
It’s people like him who’ll get us through the dark nights of January.