Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

Ceist_Beag

Park in beside the church on the Stranorlar side of the bridge. I've always found that to be the handiest spot for getting away (to LK) after.

doc_17

Chapel car park will be off limits as Mass is at 6. Park over in Stranorlar though, maybe eat in Heeneys. Stand will be full from 6, o my get seats mow down or on the fringes at that stage. Head up to the clubhouse after the match and have a pint while the traffic settles. Or else leave early to avoid it.

gaelar29

doc_17 wrote: »

Chapel car park will be off limits as Mass is at 6. Park over in Stranorlar though, maybe eat in Heeneys. Stand will be full from 6, o my get seats mow down or on the fringes at that stage. Head up to the clubhouse after the match and have a pint while the traffic settles. Or else leave early to avoid it.

I second Heeneys too ( "u drop inn" on google maps) for a bite to eat before the game,.. Hit Stranorlar about 5 and you could maybe get parked on the main street itself, traffic will move quickly enough from there as a guard will be at the traffic lights giving match traffic priority towards Letterkenny..

blowitupref

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

It's a must win if you are inflating the importance of the league.

The only 'must win' game is Tyrone in May. And everything we do will be done with that in mind. Don't want to see Murphy or Neil McGee anywhere near it on Saturday.

McGee and Murphy named to start.

babybuilder

Temperature rising and Donegal starting to melt. Coming out second best in the physical exchanges. Can't understand why we're kicking long and inaccurately. McFadden ferry needs to be taken off.

babybuilder

Thankfully off now. Langan point. 0-15 to 1-9 great score to mchugh

babybuilder

5 left. Two points in it.

babybuilder

Ref the boll1x. One in it. Three left

babybuilder

Sly mayo stuff. Punch to the head. Thompson point. Two in it

henke

Big point dropped. Disappointing evening. Need to be winning matches from the position we were in.

babybuilder

henke wrote: »

Big point dropped. Disappointing evening. Need to be winning matches from the position we were in.

Too many errors in first half. Wish they'd learn to kick the fúking ball over the bar. Defenders looking at durkan coming through. Poor game management

ArnoldJRimmer

That was so ****ing annoying, clearly we should have won it, but a point is not terrible. A ton of cobwebs out there, and a few lads getting a properly competitive game for the first time

babybuilder

Doesn't matter if it's the first match or tenth. There are signs similar to last year that some of our young players melt when a championship zeal is applied.

charlie14

Blew that. They should have been put away 1st half.
Lacking in physicality when the pressure comes on.

ArnoldJRimmer

babybuilder wrote: »

Doesn't matter if it's the first match or tenth. There are signs similar to last year that some of our young players melt when a championship zeal is applied.

I'm willing to give benefit of the doubt on this game, as much as we left it behind us. And to your point, maybe another lesson learnt may not be a bad thing. Time will tell

On another note. some cheek by Horan to claim that they didn't get much from Coldrick. We're no angels, but we got few of the 50/50's

babybuilder

charlie14 wrote: »

Blew that. They should have been put away 1st half.
Lacking in physicality when the pressure comes on.

This is quite worrying about our lack of physicality. Also, we got yellow carded easier than mayo giving away stupid stuff. I suppose the bigger mass wins

babybuilder

Well done Rory Kavanagh. Called out Horans mention of referee.

charlie14

babybuilder wrote: »

This is quite worrying about our lack of physicality. Also, we got yellow carded easier than mayo giving away stupid stuff. I suppose the bigger mass wins

Lack of physicality was shown up in Castlebar, and going to be a worry again come the championship on tonight`s showing.

Redsoxfan

I like Jamie Brennan. But **** me he has a lot to answer for.

charlie14

Redsoxfan wrote: »

I like Jamie Brennan. But **** me he has a lot to answer for.

I like the lad as well, but his confidence seems to dip very easily and his game goes with it.

babybuilder

charlie14 wrote: »

I like the lad as well, but his confidence seems to dip very easily and his game goes with it.

He disappears unfortunately when things get tight. But he's not alone. No prospective winning team can afford players not up for it at crucial stages of big games

dog_pig

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

I'm willing to give benefit of the doubt on this game, as much as we left it behind us. And to your point, maybe another lesson learnt may not be a bad thing. Time will tell

On another note. some cheek by Horan to claim that they didn't get much from Coldrick. We're no angels, but we got few of the 50/50's

Did he actually say that? He complained about the referee even after they won last August.

doc_17

Horam was trolling

seligehgit

We got out of jail last night.

Many thanks for the super recommendation for Heeney's.

I can vouch for my fellow travellers that this was one of our most enjoyable ever away trips.The craic was ninety.

I truly can't express how sound out all the Donegal people were.Nothing less than I've always known nor experienced.

Ceist_Beag

We're far too reliant on Murphy for scores, it was very evident again on Saturday. Take him out of the team and we would really struggle.

Nidgeweasel

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

We're far too reliant on Murphy for scores, it was very evident again on Saturday. Take him out of the team and we would really struggle.

He's just an exceptional footballer. We'd struggle in a lot of ways without him.

Dust has settled now from Saturday evening. I was pissed off on the way home because we need to close out games better and to concede a goal like that, fine strike though it was, is unacceptable. Nice guys don't win football matches and the next time that happens in a game we need to cut the lad in two.

I think there's a lot of positives. We made a lot of chances, good chances, in the first half but our execution let us down. I'll put that down to it being the first day out and you would hope that would get better.

We lost our way for a bit in the second half but mayo introduced top players like O'Shea / Higgins / McLoughlin and we were introducing fringe players so as Mayo were getting stronger we were actually getting weaker but by and large they stuck to the job well.

19 points is a good return too and it should really have been 24 points + with the chances we had. We were comfortably the better team for the majority and I never once felt that Mayo would win.

The only way you develop a squad is through exposure like this and we have to hope we take our learning from this i.e be more clinical, close out a game. If we do that they it's been a useful run out.

Navan next. Meath will be targeting this one because they will know they can get close to us so it's going to be a tricky task.

Redsoxfan

We started with the stronger team, relative to what both first choice line ups would look like.

We created enough chanches to win. But we couldn't convert. Games are rarely won in the first half mind you. Was the wind really that strong? I didn't think so. And, it hardly picked up during the match. So given we were at home and could judge the wind in the warm up, no excuse.

Patton's kick outs were generally very good, he got one wrong by my reckoning. Not sure I would fault him for either goal. For the first, I'd blame the defence more, but what McGonagle was doing back there at that stage I don't know (more on that to come). And, looking at the footage, it's hard to see that Carr had goal in mind. For the second, who knows with the deflection. His weakness though is that he isn't aggressive enough at balls floated in. If he isn't up to it, it's probably the right decision to leave it to his defenders but it would be great if he could develop in that area.

I thought most (all?) of our players looked short of fitness, which is fair enough at this point. Would explain the injuries picked up and why Murphy spent most of the time at full forward.

I thought McGonagle was doing OK until he got injured. Can't make up my mind on what sort of game Langan had.

Aside from Michael's skills from the placed ball, the earlier than expected return and tremendous performance from Eoghan Bán was the high point for me. He could be the difference between Super 8s and Semi-Final.

Conor O'Donnell seemed to do OK, but hard to tell. Ward... Good enough going forward, but a terrible corner back. Morrison, didn't stand out,aside from his failure to stop Durcan. Couldn't really judge McKelvey or McCole. McClean did well. We really miss Gillespie. Can be very hard to tell who is supposed to be doing what and when sometimes.

Two nice points, but Jamie Brennan - messed up goal chance, didn't call mark and didn't throw himself onto the ponytail late on. I really like him but too many poor decisions on Saturday.

Our fitness will improve, so will that of many other teams. We should get some players back that will make a difference - Paddy McGrath, Stephen McMenamin, and others who might - Jason McGee and Daire O'Baoil.

Sunday's result could depend on whether Ryan McHugh is fit enough. I don't fear Meath - we beat them when it mattered last year but were lucky enough to do so during the first game. No doubt they will have their eye on Sunday as one of few possible chances to win points.

Given we have losses against Galway, Dublin, Kerry and Monaghan to come, we need to win to have a realistic shot of staying up.

dog_pig

So Leo has retired. Mightn’t have made the impact he wanted to last year but anyone unsure of his contribution to Donegal should watch the Road to the All-Ireland 2012 video and see how heavily he features. No All-Stars but 5 Ulsters and an All-Ireland isn’t a bad haul.

Redsoxfan

Fare thee well Leo McLoone. A fine career. Treated badly by thon hoor whose name I won't mention.

Nidgeweasel

That's a bit of a bolt from the blue. Didn't expect any more retiree's and didn't assume anything when wasn't listed this weekend.

I've thoroughly enjoyed watching Leo's career. As most posters know, I rate him very highly. He has been brilliant for Donegal (and his club) over his career.

I'm glad that there was redemption for him (and Frank) after the disgusting treatment at the hands of him from Fermanagh.

I will miss watching him play for Donegal. I also think he has plenty left and this is brilliant news for Naomh Conaill so a shot across the bow for Kilcar etc!