Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

Redsoxfan

Anyone got the U20 panel or will there be a big reveal when they play Monaghan?

downthemiddle

Maurice Deegan on Saturday night. I'd prefer Jim Gavin.

Redsoxfan

I like it.

Get the excuses in beforehand.

downthemiddle

Redsoxfan wrote: »

I like it.

Get the excuses in beforehand.

I'm just concerned with parts of the stand closed that they won't have room for Maurice's ego.

squareball1988

Judging by the kinds of goals we've conceded so far I'd imagine Dublin are well capable of putting 3 or 4 past us.

I'll be there but can't say I'm looking forward to it. Don't imagine we'll be breaking our Croke Park hoodoo anytime soon.

agfasfos

Just wondering what the parking will be like this weekend. Have never been in Croker for a Saturday night League match, any suggestions welcome.

squareball1988

agfasfos wrote: »

Just wondering what the parking will be like this weekend. Have never been in Croker for a Saturday night League match, any suggestions welcome.

there's an MMA event on in the Point Depot on Sat night too. I'd normally suggest parking in and around the Docklands or Ringsend and suck up the 30min walk but i imagine the whole area will b very congested on Sat night.

agfasfos

squareball1988 wrote: »

there's an MMA event on in the Point Depot on Sat night too. I'd normally suggest parking in and around the Docklands or Ringsend and suck up the 30min walk but i imagine the whole area will b very congested on Sat night.

I thought Clonliffe College might be an option but with the Point event who knows.

LilNiall

Not driven to Croke Park in a couple of years but used to park in Whitehall and walk/bus in. Free and on the road home afterwards.

Redsoxfan

Anyone not using their ST tonight?

Redsoxfan

Penalties are a great idea.

Redsoxfan

Pish.

ArnoldJRimmer

A criminal waste of goal chances in that game

Nidgeweasel

Should have won that pulling up.

Real Jekyll and Hyde stuff. Will try take the positive but we’ve got a lot of lads there just there for the sake of it.

Huge game next week.

Goodluck2me

Gave it away to them, coughing up possession so often and so needlessly is what lost that game. Patton’s brain fart was an exception and I’d never expect to see that again, what annoys me is the same faces running into trouble so regularly, and Paul Brennan’s woeful shooting.
Another night for Jamie Brennan being anonymous too, he’s such a binary player either brilliant or rubbish, but Murphy was class again. Even the dubs around were nudging their youngsters to watch him and you mightn’t see the likes of him again.
Also, can’t understand how teams don’t make more use of the advanced mark. So much space but they’re kicking balls in to bounce in front of the man, when an extra few yards would be certain points.

dog_pig

Goodluck2me wrote: »

Gave it away to them, coughing up possession so often and so needlessly is what lost that game. Patton’s brain fart was an exception and I’d never expect to see that again, what annoys me is the same faces running into trouble so regularly, and Paul Brennan’s woeful shooting.
Another night for Jamie Brennan being anonymous too, he’s such a binary player either brilliant or rubbish, but Murphy was class again. Even the dubs around were nudging their youngsters to watch him and you mightn’t see the likes of him again.
Also, can’t understand how teams don’t make more use of the advanced mark. So much space but they’re kicking balls in to bounce in front of the man, when an extra few yards would be certain points.

I think that's very harsh on Brennan to be honest, I thought he was playing well until he had to go off injured. I haven't watched the game back but that was my impression from being there. I hope he's not out for next weekend.

Murphy14

Monaghan looked impressive today we need to turn them over in ballyshannon..

Goodluck2me

dog_pig wrote: »

I think that's very harsh on Brennan to be honest, I thought he was playing well until he had to go off injured. I haven't watched the game back but that was my impression from being there. I hope he's not out for next weekend.

He showed for the ball well in fairness to him, but I’d expect that from a player of his class. I’m being harsher on him because he’s excellent and I rate him highly.

Redsoxfan

Murphy14 wrote: »

Monaghan looked impressive today we need to turn them over in ballyshannon..

Might not be enough.

poppers

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Might not be enough.

cant see mayo or meath getting more than 5pts id say 1 more win keeps us up.

LilNiall

Agreed. 2 one points defeats and a decent win v Meath should mean we have a decent points difference too-providing we dont ship a heavy defeat in the remaining games. One more win should do us.

ArnoldJRimmer

On the one hand, looking at the remaining fixtures, and judging on some of the results today, i think we should do enough to be safe

On the other hand, our ability to self destruct every time we've been in Division One in recent years means we could very well find a way to go down again

Redsoxfan

Problem is, under DB, we haven't yet beaten anyone in Divison One other than those that have been relegated (Kildare) or will be relegated (Meath).

Aside from beating Throne last summer, we haven't been able to beat the top teams.

We'll lose in Kerry. Against Throne, who knows. They might have lost McShane (again). They might need the points too.

If we needed to get 2 points from the Monaghan game I wouldn't be backing us to get it.

Nidgeweasel

Redsoxfan wrote: »

If we needed to get 2 points from the Monaghan game I wouldn't be backing us to get it.

I'll be backing us to beat Monaghan at home. Think we need to lose the negativity a bit.

Watched the game back, lots of the performance on Saturday night was actually very good. I'm thinking really about the way we held possession, some of the variation to our attacking play and our restarts.

Some of our less experienced guys got a really useful run out and I was really impressed with Michael Langan (during the first half in particular) and he has been a real highlight of the league for us.

Bonner spoke about being punished at this level and he's right, a couple of times we got turned over needlessly and easily in bad positions and it led to scores that kept Dublin ticking over when they were really struggling to get motoring. Comerford made three brilliant saves but they were 3 gilt edge chances from a Donegal point of view that were high percentage chances and should have been taken, we tried blasting through when the thing to do was probably try to pass it into the net.

Not often you play Dublin in croke park when they're not really at the races and it's frustrating to not get anything out of it. Won't even mention the officiating and the melee at the end, pathetic stuff.

There's enough in the performances to date to build on and be positive about, I would imagine you will see a more resolute Donegal on Sunday and set up a bit deeper and grind out a win. I'm expecting a reaction to all the slagging that's going on and seeing a bit of the bastard back in Donegal defending a lead.

Ceist_Beag

Agree with Nidge that there is a lot to be positive about despite the results. When I compared our game to that of others I think there are some things we are doing much better than other teams. The pace and variation in our attacks is improving all the time. I would still have a concern over our inability to convert this to scores frequently enough but it's better to be creating the chances so hopefully lads will grow in confidence and take scores that are on.
I do think we are carrying a couple of lads right now, lads who don't deserve to be starting. But overall the trajectory is promising. I also expect us to beat Monaghan at home.

doc_17

The equalising point around the 60 min mark was horrific stuff. We had him on the ground on the end line with two players around him and he’s able to get up and put it over without anyone landing another glove on him?

Some of our better known players are struggling for a bit for form.

Redsoxfan

First off, Michael was lucky to stay on - McGeary was sent off for less yesterday. It's crazy stuff, no idea what goes through his head at times.

We made a pigs ear of our goal chances. Their was no finesse to any finish, just blasted efforts. Comerford did well, but he didn't have to stretch much. Felt EBG should have done better in the lead up to Paddy McBrearty's effort but that's nit picking. The move involving Patton, Murphy and McHugh was beautiful, but you need to convert when you get that far.

Patton's mistake was very frustrating. I'd have concerns about his presence, but on Saturday, Neil McGee had done a decent job of holding off Mannion and it was a clean catch that he just made a balls of. So it's hopefully an outlier.

Whatever good Langan did was cancelled out by the amount of times he turned over the ball. He's not a new player at this stage, we should be seeing some consistency but we don't.

Hugh did what Hugh does - but took his goal really well which was a bonus - delighted for him. If we had a fetcher and carrier to pair with him, he'd look a lot better. But even then, at one stage in the 2nd half, he was contesting possession with Bugler and the ball looked like it was going dead - he could have nailed Bugler - legally - with a hard shoulder, but stood off and Bugler was able to keep the ball in and recycle it. Awful.

Mogan looked lost until he came a bit deeper. Took his scores well. Might be able to contribute from the bench.

Our defending is rubbish. Aside from EBG, nobody else is up to it. Neil McGee tries, but he's not the force he was. Stephen McMenamin will improve us from a personnel perspective, but we will see if the system tightens in any way. I wouldn't know what to expect from Paddy McGrath if/when he is back. Ryan McHugh is not a defender. Disappointed in McFadden Ferry. O'Baoil looks OK going forward, last pass aside, which even if it wasn't to Neil McGee, was a bad pass, but again, I don't know what he offers at the back. Get rid of Ward, move Ryan forward and see what Morrison and McCole are up to if we want to build.

Half forward line a huge issue. Brennan offers nothing. I'm giving McGonagle the benefit of the doubt, but I don't think he offers much. Thompson isn't up to much - if Paddy McBrearty is back, we are sorted for a left footed free taker so his value decreases. I get that we need to pick bigger fellas in that line and guys that are willing to work hard, but honestly, none of them are physical enough nor are they good enough footballers. Niall O'Donnell should be starting and maybe it's because he has missed time that's he's not, but FFS play him ahead of Brennan on Sunday.

I have been at 3 out of the 4 games now and fair enough, I'm a glass half empty sort, but I honestly don't see much to be positive about. Mayo and Dublin were fielding below strength teams, way more so than we were, and we couldn't hold leads. We rely far too heavily on Michael to be the spark - if he doesn't come deep or McHugh doesn't break off a run, nobody else, aside from EBG, has enough football in them to create anything. They are just links in a chain. We were only able to hold possession on Saturday outside the scoring zone, once we got into it and the pressure is but on our ball carrier, we turn over too much ball.

I got the order of the games wrong, so it's Monaghan up first, which isn't quite must win. But, if we don't, then the pressure going into the last game will be intense. Look at how worked up Declan and Michael are getting with referees. Must mean something.

bob skunkhouse

Redsoxfan wrote: »

First off, Michael was lucky to stay on - McGeary was sent off for less yesterday. It's crazy stuff, no idea what goes through his head at times.

Couldn't agree more. I suspect it's 'laying down a marker' type stuff, but a few times he does cross the line and one of these days he'll cross once to often

Redsoxfan wrote: »

We made a pigs ear of our goal chances. Their was no finesse to any finish, just blasted efforts. Comerford did well, but he didn't have to stretch much. Felt EBG should have done better in the lead up to Paddy McBrearty's effort but that's nit picking. The move involving Patton, Murphy and McHugh was beautiful, but you need to convert when you get that far.

Rather than going right he should have hand passed straight away in to McB. He'd would have had plenty of time to pick his spot or round the keeper at that stage.

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Whatever good Langan did was cancelled out by the amount of times he turned over the ball. He's not a new player at this stage, we should be seeing some consistency but we don't.

I think Langan is having a very good season to date. Fair enough he's an inclination to run into trouble but by and large is holding his own in midfield against whomever he's come up against.

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Hugh did what Hugh does - but took his goal really well which was a bonus - delighted for him. If we had a fetcher and carrier to pair with him, he'd look a lot better. But even then, at one stage in the 2nd half, he was contesting possession with Bugler and the ball looked like it was going dead - he could have nailed Bugler - legally - with a hard shoulder, but stood off and Bugler was able to keep the ball in and recycle it. Awful.

I'd like to see Hugh play centre half back. Leave Langan and Magee in midfield and use Hugh as a blocker there - a la Rambo Gavigan. Too many goals conceded by fellas running straight through the heart of our defense. I also think he doesn't manage his game fitness well. There was one occasion where he was chasing back along the Cusack stand side and was slower than a cart ass. I don't think he's blessed with speed but jaysus, the grass was growing faster than he was running. Few times I've noticed him out on his feet around the 60 mark. Be interesting to see his stats for the final ten mins.

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Mogan looked lost until he came a bit deeper. Took his scores well. Might be able to contribute from the bench.

Needs to learn how to tackle. Gave away a free every time he went for a tackle

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Our defending is rubbish.

Agreed, as is our tackling. Need to improve on both if we want a serious shot at Sam.

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Get rid of Ward, move Ryan forward and see what Morrison and McCole are up to if we want to build.

I think Ward is doing ok actually. Wont light the place up (bar his MOTM v a terrible Derry team in the McKenna cup), but I'd rather see McCole into defense than McHugh and keeping Ward somewhere in the back 6 - for now.

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Half forward line a huge issue. Brennan offers nothing. I'm giving McGonagle the benefit of the doubt, but I don't think he offers much. Thompson isn't up to much - if Paddy McBrearty is back, we are sorted for a left footed free taker so his value decreases. I get that we need to pick bigger fellas in that line and guys that are willing to work hard, but honestly, none of them are physical enough nor are they good enough footballers. Niall O'Donnell should be starting and maybe it's because he has missed time that's he's not, but FFS play him ahead of Brennan on Sunday.

Sorry but I don't rate McGonigle at all. He might win the odd ball in a kick out, but that's about it. Too slow in tracking back and doesn't read the game. I'd agree about sticking Ryan in at half forward. Thompson is getting better with each game and played well against Galway

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Mayo and Dublin were fielding below strength teams, way more so than we were, and we couldn't hold leads.

Wouldn't agree with the first part of this. Of the team that started v Mayo we were missing Paddy McB, Niall O'D, Jason Magee, Oisin Gallen, Stephen McMen, Paddy McGrath to think off. These 6 lads would be expecting to start on the first 15 come championship. 5 points up v Mayo, 7 points up v Galway, 5 points up v Dublin. "Can't hold a lead" is an understatement and badly needs addressing.

Redsoxfan wrote: »

We rely far too heavily on Michael to be the spark - if he doesn't come deep or McHugh doesn't break off a run, nobody else, aside from EBG, has enough football in them to create anything. They are just links in a chain.

Isn't everyone just a link in the chain? It's just a matter of how strong that chain is. There's no doubt there's a few weak links there, but in fairness there's no team out there that has a rock solid 15. Dublin and Kerry being the closest to it at the moment.

Redsoxfan wrote: »

We were only able to hold possession on Saturday outside the scoring zone, once we got into it and the pressure is but on our ball carrier, we turn over too much ball.

I agree with this but I also recall a certain EBG getting dispossessed waaaay to easily playing in the Ulster finals (V Tyrone under Rory G.)

I'll leave on a positive. There was one move over on the Hogan stand side in the second half of the game that - I think - resulted in a Paddy Mc score. If I recall it was Niall O'Donnell throwing a dummy to the left and then cutting back in on his right. Might seem simple enough but he completely fooled the Dublin defender to set up an attack, which led to the score. If counties continue to set up defensively within the '45, then its this type of finesse and slinky movement that's key to breaking through.

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doc_17

Good result for the 20s today. Aaron Doherty should be in the senior panel once they finish up.

gaelar29

doc_17 wrote: »

Good result for the 20s today. Aaron Doherty should be in the senior panel once they finish up.

Was exceptional again today, keeper made some big saves too but Down should have been nearly out of sight at half time....