Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

harpsman

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Doesn't take away from the fact that Papa is miles better than him.

It's a non-runner.

It is relevant though.
If he was totally unready to replace Durcan then Id be very worried but imo he is ready to step up. New players need gametime to improve, especially goalkeepers so hes obviously going to look inferior to Durkan until he gets more match practice and experience.

With that he might turn out to be as good as Durcan, who was no great shakes himself when he started out.

harpsman

Looking forward to Saturday night. I wonder if our shocking attempts to tackle are just down to it only being league or part of a more serious pattern.
If the latter then we need to get some tackle coaching quick-maybe start by getting players to stop standing bolt upright and sticking an arm out as the ball carrier runs past him.

I do remember in 2014 league people on here were worried about tackling as well,especially McLoone and that worked out ok in the end. Lets hope for the same.

Redsoxfan

Nidgeweasel wrote:

Colm Anthony to feature on Saturday by the sounds of it.

I expect next to nothing from him this year.

Redsoxfan

harpsman wrote:

I do remember in 2014 league people on here were worried about tackling as well,especially McLoone and that worked out ok in the end. Lets hope for the same.

It only worked out ok because he played half back during the league but half forward in the Championship, right?

Redsoxfan

Nidgeweasel wrote:

I hope it's not narky.

Same as that.

harpsman

Redsoxfan wrote: »

It only worked out ok because he played half back during the league but half forward in the Championship, right?

Correct, but I think it was also due to the standard of play improving alot between league and championship.

Im hoping last weeks performance down to heavy training or something. Possibly not too fussed about a league semi although Id imagine we'll be going all out to beat Monaghan in Clones. A win at Croke Park would also be nice:)

K-9

I'd say the heavy training has something to do with it. Whether that is really significant, I'm not sure, I'm sure plenty of other counties are doing it to.

ghostfacekilla

Not guaranteed to make it back into the squad, I know but when is Jigger expected to start full training does anyone know?

Redsoxfan

harpsman wrote:

Id imagine we'll be going all out to beat Monaghan in Clones.

It's in Castleblayney and unless both teams need to win it will be absolutely dire.

jjdonegal

Redsoxfan wrote: »

It's in Castleblayney and unless both teams need to win it will be absolutely dire.

Barring some awful luck we will be safe anyway. As you said; absolutely dire are words that will not do justice to what we will have to watch if both of us are safe next weekend.
Keep the damage to a minimum tomorrow please God and we can relax next weekend.

K-9

Mayo have to lose and Monaghan get a result for the Castleblaney match to be meaningless?

Well we could be chasing a S/F appearance! Cork should be on 6 points unless Down do a Lazuras.

Nidgeweasel

Will the dubs even be that fussed tonight?

Alvin Holler

ghostfacekilla wrote: »

Not guaranteed to make it back into the squad, I know but when is Jigger expected to start full training does anyone know?

I think I heard April/may. He's going to miss the 21's campaign anyway.

Alvin Holler

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Will the dubs even be that fussed tonight?

They shouldn't be that fussed but I don't think they like us that much. Probably would like to give us a bit of a beating.

K-9

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Will the dubs even be that fussed tonight?

I'd wonder how fussed they've been so far! The league this year just doesn't seem to have the quality it had 3 or 4 years ago. Fair play to Roscommon but Down have been a joke.

Nidgeweasel

Dublin team out. Some weaknesses in there, particularly in the defence. Hope Murphy is just left inside as he could take Cooper to the cleaners, no cluxton either. Can expose that lack of experience/unfamiliarly of the back 3.

Theyve a decent midfield. Not a spectacular partnership by anymeans but they should be looking to do well out of that. I quite like Bastic myself. Gets on with things, good head on his shoulders.

Their half forward line is a worry. No need to extol the virtues of Paul Flynn. We're light in the half backs. Eoghan Ban, Ryan McHugh etc. Be a good run for one of the newer lads to track Kilkenny actually. McGlynn is a big loss. Maybe Karl will play at 6 which will shore things up.

Not overly concerned with their full forward line. Costello and Kilkenny shouldnt be that much trouble for their markers, by that I mean it's not a massive miss match. Never worry that much about Bernard Brogan either. Good player, dangerous player but we've got Neil so they sort of cancel each other out. He gets a chance he'll punish so don't give him a chance. Worked well for us previously.

It should be (team pending) a decent match up tonight actually. Neither team really needs a win. Dublin are never going to be at full pelt, we've had a few weeks off after two pathetic displays of indiscipline etc so you would hope we'll be abit more honest in our approach.

Really wouldnt mind a clean open game and no acting the bollox from anyone.

jjdonegal

K-9 wrote: »

Mayo have to lose and Monaghan get a result for the Castleblaney match to be meaningless?

Well we could be chasing a S/F appearance! Cork should be on 6 points unless Down do a Lazuras.

Basically we need a very very unlucky turn in points difference for us to be in a relegation battle as its likely there will be more than 2 on 6 points. I think we are 25+ ahead of Mayo and Cork but I could be wrong on that. As someone said earlier; with no preliminary round this year a semi would be not thr worst thing in the world.

Redsoxfan

Cluxton a big loss for Dublin. Their bench is strong. I would be surprised if we win, our league record against them and away from home in the league is awful.

jjdonegal

Mate texted me there - has 4 spare tickets free to a good home. 2 in 305 and 2 in 308. PM me if you interested and I'll pass you on details if they still available.

bob skunkhouse

Hard not to agree with Alan Brogan.

Dire crap altogether! I don't see anything new from Gallagher.

Nidgeweasel

What was the f*cking point of that?

Utter shít.

dog_pig

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

What was the f*cking point of that?

Utter shít.

Well I imagine still being in the game with less than 5 minutes left despite not really having played particularly well, will mean that there is some sort of significance to be gleaned from the performance. We were playing the All-Ireland champions at home after all.

The game only really looked like getting away from us once Murphy was dismissed and we had two definite goal chances (one saved off the line) in addition to a couple of points that went astray.

I felt like that the game was there for the taking at times but any impetus we had left the pitch along with Murphy.

I suppose I should add that I'm not particularly bothered about the way the team set up. Dublin brought plenty of men back into their own half when they had to as well, having learnt a severe lesson against us in 2014.

Nidgeweasel

dog_pig wrote: »

Well I imagine still being in the game with less than 5 minutes left despite not really having played particularly well, will mean that there is some sort of significance to be gleaned from the performance. We were playing the All-Ireland champions at home after all.

The game only really looked like getting away from us once Murphy was dismissed and we had two definite goal chances (one saved off the line) in addition to a couple of points that went astray.

I felt like that the game was there for the taking at times but any impetus we had left the pitch along with Murphy.

I suppose I should add that I'm not particularly bothered about the way the team set up. Dublin brought plenty of men back into their own half when they had to as well, having learnt a severe lesson against us in 2014.

It was absolutely wretched.

We know we can stiffle teams with everyone behind the ball. So can most teams. We also know we will struggle to win.

A complete waste of time. Seriously worrying that that crowd on the line thought it a good idea. Dublin weren't at full strength and lacked intensity as I had thought they might as they're already through. Any sort of competent display would have stood us in far better stead.

No intention to win that game. F*cking atrocious.

ghostfacekilla

Missing Cluxton, Connolly, MDMA and a few more, I wouldn't take a lot from it. Our lads looked like their tanks were completely empty at around 55mins.
Nice to see a few young fellas get a chance to get a feel for Croke Park against a formidable opposition with the seniors.
Nausea inducing Mark McHugh, how much more do we have to endure as a county.
Our discipline letting us down again.
Patrick McBrearty looking fairly sharp and the engine of Ryan McHugh never failing to impress.
Our goalkeeper looked terrified until Murphy went down to soothe his nerves (and fix his boot)
Was I the only person who thought he was changing boots to take the kickouts for the rest of the match?
Blonde moment.

dog_pig

ghostfacekilla wrote: »

Missing Cluxton, Connolly, MDMA and a few more, I wouldn't take a lot from it. Our lads looked like their tanks were completely empty at around 55mins.
Nice to see a few young fellas get a chance to get a feel for Croke Park against a formidable opposition with the seniors.
Nausea inducing Mark McHugh, how much more do we have to endure as a county.
Our discipline letting us down again.
Patrick McBrearty looking fairly sharp and the engine of Ryan McHugh never failing to impress.
Our goalkeeper looked terrified until Murphy went down to soothe his nerves (and fix his boot)
Was I the only person who thought he was changing boots to take the kickouts for the rest of the match?
Blonde moment.

When I saw Murphy over with McGinley I did think for a second he was going to have a go at a couple. Was pretty entertaining watching the reaction from the Hill when he was changing his boots.

We weren't getting much return from kickouts again. Is there anywhere to see statistics from the match?

I thought Anthony Thompson looked off the pace a bit. Is he not fully fit?

babybuilder

This was a non-event sort of game and nothing at stake as such. Being at the game I come away thinking Dublin were just just going through the motions whereas Donegal's performance was a slight improvement on the last day.
Positives were some good scores from McBrearty, McGee, Kavanagh and a magnificent solo effort by Murphy. We formed a tighter blanket in defense and gave away fewer frees. In the first half one or two transitions from defense to attack worked but these were sporadic. The last 15 minutes was a different story.

At the moment we have several players not at the races. Mc Niallais, Thompson, Mark McHugh were and have been very poor. Mc Loon was poor and made a couple of errors which led to his substitution. Lacey is a pale shadow of a once magnificent player. We continue to play of what can only be described as a "rugby league" style which is easy to defend against. Ryan McHugh has great acceleration and change in direction but he plays far too deep to have a real scoring threat. Eoin McHugh has similar skill set but some one should tell him he is allowed to shoot.

The sending off of Murphy was pivotal and Donegal noticeably tired towards the end and Dublin ran out easy winners. Second half saw far more mistakes from Donegal's messing about. Toye was particularly guilty as was Hugh McFadden(no surprise). Why was Paddy McGrath taken off? He had a torrid time I think marking McMenamin but could have been switched. Shortly afterwards Dublin got the decisive goal.

The one dimensional style that we adopt needs so much energy and fitness. At one stage in the second half I thought we might scrape over the line but looking back we don't offer enough going forward. I'm not a fan of McBrearty as he is so predictable and never has any tricks up his sleeve to beat defenders. Martin Reilly needs to be played up front and I cannot understand what he's supposed to be doing out the field.

I think it is time that some strong opinions are offered by people who know the game in Donegal. Journalists and former players and county board officials have a duty to question where the current style of playing is heading.

corny

dog_pig wrote: »

Dublin brought plenty of men back into their own half when they had to as well, having learnt a severe lesson against us in 2014.

They did but they were just following the ball. Donegal were so slow in their build up play it was natural for Dublin to funnel back. Had Donegal moved it faster they might have got joy up the centre with Lowndes and Cooper not being a great spine. Not one long ball was dropped in either. Point is we don't know what Dublin learned because Donegal asked no questions.

babybuilder

Forgot to mention - anyone notice tonight that when any Donegal back received the ball from a short kick out all the Donagal players run towards him bringing their markers with them thus congesting the space. Talk about making life difficult for themselves.

Steve The Barman

"Nausea inducing Mark McHugh"


what does that even mean?

munster87

Steve The Barman wrote: »

"Nausea inducing Mark McHugh"


what does that even mean?

He was dire when introduced and has been for a long while now