Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

Redsoxfan

doc_17 wrote:

I'd fear for us if we were drawn away to Clare or against Mayo anywhere

Based on today's performance, we look vulnerable to anyone, anywhere now.

I still think we have enough good players but collectively we are a mess.

#roryout

Don2012

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Based on today's performance, we look vulnerable to anyone, anywhere now.

I still think we have enough good players but collectively we are a mess.

#roryout

How much further will we go?

charlie14

Don2012 wrote: »

How much further will we go?

Avoid Mayo, get a home draw tomorrow and we could win that, but I`m afraid that will be as far as it goes.

Redsoxfan

charlie14 wrote:

Avoid Mayo, get a home draw tomorrow and we could win that, but I`m afraid that will be as far as it goes.

I would tend to agree but yesterday's performance was very disappointing.

Reading the Meath thread sounds like they set up exactly like we do. That's got the makings of a complete ****efest!

I dunno much about Clare this year but I know that if Gary Brennan is playing we will get hosed at midfield. Again.

downthemiddle

If Jim has earned a trip to China then Rory and Maxi have surely earned a one way ticket to Outer Mongolia.

downthemiddle

charlie14 wrote: »

Avoid Mayo, get a home draw tomorrow and we could win that, but I`m afraid that will be as far as it goes.

It's a strange one because only Clare of the four teams appear to have any confidence going into the next round. If we get a home draw we have a chance against anyone, away and we are in trouble. Win the next round and then we would get either Cork or Roscommon/Galway. Another quarter final appearance would mask many of our difficulties. The way we are playing it shouldn't be an issue.

raiders11

downthemiddle wrote: »

It's a strange one because only Clare of the four teams appear to have any confidence going into the next round. If we get a home draw we have a chance against anyone, away and we are in trouble. Win the next round and then we would get either Cork or Roscommon/Galway. Another quarter final appearance would mask many of our difficulties. The way we are playing it shouldn't be an issue.

Is it definitely home/away or neutral ground?

And on a more positive note, congratulations to the ladies today who won their second Ulster title:D

Redsoxfan

raiders11 wrote:

Is it definitely home/away or neutral ground?

Definitely home/away.

squareball1988

Meath in Navan.

Winnable, unfortunately.

Ceist_Beag

Definitely got the weakest of the 3 possible teams remaining. Meath look very average and seemed lucky to beat Sligo at home. We should have enough to beat them but you do have to wonder what is the point.
We're not improving as a team - there is no great plan that we're working towards. As far as I can see we're a team who are overcoached and lacking confidence in their own ability and in any freedom to do their own thing. I don't see us trying to do things differently - if anything they are regressing so I really don't see the point in us continuing to progress through the qualifiers because we will get a beating if we get as far as the quarter finals, there is no doubt in my mind about that. Kerry would absolutely embarrass us in Croke park.

#RoryOut

ArnoldJRimmer

Maybe its the amount of drugs in my system from an extreme toothache, but I'm happy with that draw. No basis for any optimism given recent performances, but its a decent test against a solid division 2 team.

eddie73

Meath away is a good draw as it will get the backs to the wall and out of ballybofey. I would be confident of a better performance

Sonny678

I know Donegal will be favourites but a Meath win is not out of the question.
Meath are not as bad as people want them to be . They're not as good as Meath people want them to be either. But they are one of the youngest teams in country with some good young players and the best manager they have had since Boylan.

This season has been the usual first season , with mixing the good with the bad. It took O Neill and Walsh 3 years to make big progress with Kildare and Galway. But there has been some encouraging signs for Meath agmost the bad results v Kildare.

Meath hammered Clare and Derry in the league . Both of these teams looked good in the championship so far. Meath also defeated Galway a team Kildare couldn't beat twice. Some of their displays at the end of the league was some of best I have seen in 10 years. They scored 27 points v Louth and could have had scored 4 or 5 goals. This is one of highest point total scored ever in a Gaelic football championship match. But the wheels fell of v Kildare.

Kildare always up their game v Meath and give their best performances in the championship v Meath eg 97 98 03 2010 2011 2017. These are the best Kildare performance of the last 20 years. All against Meath. Meath always underestimate Kildare. Looking at the Sligo game the defeat for a young Meath team v kildare has effected the morale. McEntee has his work cut out to get them right for next week.
So Donegal are deservedly favourites.

But I will say two things
1 Meath are very hard to beat in Navan. Very rarely beaten in Navan. Even in this decade our worst since the 30s we have won well over 95 per cent of games in Navan. And I think we have lost 1 time in the championship in Navan in nearly 50 years. It's a kip. But when Meath get going in Navan the crowd get behind them and Meath can be difficult to beat here. They're record Navan is one of the best home records in the country for any county.

2 Meath usually play better v the top teams. In our glory years 40s 50s 60s 80s and 90s this was a fact. But even this decade when we play top teams we up our game. We played Tyrone twice in the championship recently and gave them both times a good rattle. And I remeber played Donegal in 14 in the league in Ballybofey . The year Donegal defeated Dublin and reached the final. Meath had played dreadfully before the Donegal game in two previous games. Out of nowhere we were excellent v Donegal. And only for a dubious free we would have won.

And times this year I was really impressed with Meath . Our fitness is much better. We have a bit more fight. Comebacks v Cork and Sligo that are happening this year would not have happened last few years.

We are still inconsistent and we don't know what tactics to go with . It's a classic first year clearing out the bad petrol out of the system for Meath this year. Mixing the good with the bad with the damn right awful.

If we play like we did v Kildare and Sligo Donegal will Hammer us. But if we play like we did v Galway Cork Clare Derry and Fermanagh in the league. We have a great chance of winning. What Meath will turn up. Surely McEntee cannot sort out all the problems in a week.


But I wouldn't right us off . We are a coming team. It could take til 2019 til you see a strong Meath team . But we do have some good young players . And the performance v kildare is not a reflection of that. Alott of people are writing of this Meath team even though they are 3 or 4 years of their peak .

I never seen a young team just starting off been written of so much. We wouldn't see this teams full worth til 2019 -2020. The same for Donegal who also have a promising young team with some serious talent. The only thing is I think Meath have a better manager.
Anyway it could be a cracker. Or it could be blanket defence v blanket defence. I think it is an intriguing contest.

overshoot

Sonny678 wrote: »

The same for Donegal who also have a promising young team with some serious talent. The only thing is I think Meath have a better manager.
Anyway it could be a cracker. Or it could be blanket defence v blanket defence. I think it is an intriguing contest.

Both are young but I think we have the few quality experienced heads which should hopefully see us through. Your right though home advantage and the manager could level the playing field. Its by no means a done deal.

Cant see us having a very long summer, unless we get some very kind draws. joe.ie or someone gave us a good chance of making the semis if we avoided mayo this round. Galway was in the quarter i think. I'd be happy enough with the young lads getting as many championship games as possible under their belts.

Ceist_Beag

overshoot wrote: »

Cant see us having a very long summer, unless we get some very kind draws. joe.ie or someone gave us a good chance of making the semis if we avoided mayo this round. Galway was in the quarter i think. I'd be happy enough with the young lads getting as many championship games as possible under their belts.

I might be wrong but I believe the two teams who come out of the A qualifiers can get Kerry or Galway in the quarters so at this stage there is no certainty that it would be Galway.

Nidgeweasel

Good draw. I would hope that Navan would suit us.

Problem is though, I fear that our confidence is at a new low. Their body language on Saturday was horrendous and while historically we were a decent backdoor team I don't see the momentum coming under Wallace and Vomit.

overshoot

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

I might be wrong but I believe the two teams who come out of the A qualifiers can get Kerry or Galway in the quarters so at this stage there is no certainty that it would be Galway.

Can mayo play Galway again? It seemed to think there were high odds of them.
Either way, not sure if we can beat either. Not sure we will be around long enough to have that issue!

Ceist_Beag

overshoot wrote: »

Can mayo play Galway again? It seemed to think there were high odds of them.

The only rule for the quarters is that the provincial losers cannot meet the winners who beat them. If possible they will keep teams from meeting each other again so if Mayo make it to the quarters then most likely the other team will play Galway alright but there are a few hurdles to cross before we can be sure of anything there.

overshoot wrote: »

Either way, not sure if we can beat either. Not sure we will be around long enough to have that issue!

Agreed.

Oh and can't make a post now without my signature

#RoryOut

Redsoxfan

Ceist_Beag wrote:

Oh and can't make a post now without my signature


#RoryOut

You're welcome ; -)

doc_17

Does anyone really want to for me out how we would do against Kerry in an All Ireland QF? I suppose you have to go as far as you can, but it wouldn't be pretty.

Not that one

Totally irrelevant, but Donegal Meath in Croke Park 2002, (followed by Sligo whipping Tyrone) was the day Donegal wore a amber/black jersey because of the colour clash, and it was nicest Donegal jersey i've seen used by us (I dont know how to load images - but someone might if interested).

Early in the week ,but i havent heard much excitement/build up for the trip to Navan, and i'm guessing it will be later in the week, before people will decide to travel or not.
I've always enjoyed the buzz of away qualifier matches and Donegal playing against a large vocal home crowd - Kildare 2001.
Hopefully we'll travel well as supporters, as it must be demoralising for a team, if they cannot hear their own support.

Is the Navan ground easy to get close to or will parking be much of an issue?

Jayop

Whipped?

poppers

There is an retail park with free parking just after the M3 exit for navan. Its about 10-15 minute walk into pairc tailteann from there.

Redsoxfan

Not that one wrote:

Totally irrelevant, but Donegal Meath in Croke Park 2002, (followed by Sligo whipping Tyrone) was the day Donegal wore a amber/black jersey because of the colour clash, and it was nicest Donegal jersey i've seen used by us (I dont know how to load images - but someone might if interested).

Effectively an Ulster jersey, with Donegal crest and sponsor. We wore similar back in 1990. Down wore something similar in the All Ireland Final in 2010.

Traditionally, when Counties had to change they would wear a kit based on their Provincial colours due to a clash but nowadays most have a dedicated change kit. Some Counties still use Provincial colours.

Since we moved back to gold and green in 1992 we have worn the old first choice kit (green with a gold hoop) or the blue Roscommon jersey or latterly white.

The Green and Gold should be the change kit over white IMHO.

Nidgeweasel

Too black and amber for my liking.

Shades of St Eunan's. *spits*.

boxer.fan

Heard rumblings of an abandoned match at the burn road last weekend. Anyone get the story?

Don2012

Why has RTE decided to show the Mayo match this weekend again! Should have been the Donegal match !

squareball1988

Don2012 wrote:

Why has RTE decided to show the Mayo match this weekend again! Should have been the Donegal match !

Based on the Longford and Sligo matches someone in RTE rightfully decided TV license payers deserve better. Thankfully I'm away this weekend with absolutely no way to watch the match.

squareball1988

Not that one wrote:

Totally irrelevant, but Donegal Meath in Croke Park 2002, (followed by Sligo whipping Tyrone) was the day Donegal wore a amber/black jersey because of the colour clash, and it was nicest Donegal jersey i've seen used by us (I dont know how to load images - but someone might if interested).

Great photo of Jim and Michael Hegarty celebrating after that match. I remember Michael Collins, the ref, being a right bollix
that day.

dog_pig

Good interview with Eamon McGee on Second Captains earlier.