Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

Redsoxfan

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

So who exactly is on the backroom team this year? So far we have McDaid, Maxi and now this lad Cooney, is that right? I take it Damien, John Duffy and Paul McGonagle are all gone?

Former County Secretary AM O'Fearraigh is 'logistics manager' or something along those lines. I believe he did a fine job in his role as Secretary with regard to organisation of team matters etc and the new person, while probably a capable administrator, may not be suitable or interested to helping out on the line etc.

The rest are gone. Diver is Ardara U-21 manager as far as I know.

Redsoxfan

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

He reminds me of Christy. High hopes for this lad.

Christy was always a more powerful footballer even in his younger days. I'd say MacNiallais is more talented/skillful to be honest.

Anyway, Christy = class; MacNiallais = so far so good, but I don't think I'd like to be relying on him at midfield.

Nidgeweasel

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Christy was always a more powerful footballer even in his younger days. I'd say MacNiallais is more talented/skillful to be honest.

Anyway, Christy = class; MacNiallais = so far so good, but I don't think I'd like to be relying on him at midfield.

Is agree with that, macniallis is still a wee bit like bambi on ice. Christy was very direct and powerful as you say. Probably just the emergence, big goals in croker etc.

Anyway, Fermanagh game moved to Ballyshannon this Sunday.

ghostfacekilla

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Is agree with that, macniallis is still a wee bit like bambi on ice. Christy was very direct and powerful as you say. Probably just the emergence, big goals in croker etc.

Anyway, Fermanagh game moved to Ballyshannon this Sunday.

Christy can run at and through 3/4 individual tackles on the ball. Odhran is too light or maybe not battle hardened enough for this but he is showing serious promise. I'd be over the moon to see a significant improvement in Jigger this year as he has without a doubt the potential ability to absolutely terrorise top table defences if nurtured and utilised correctly and perhaps a more prominent starting role in a more central position in the forwards for McBrearty during the league to give him an opportunity to make it his own for the years ahead.

Nidgeweasel

Reports (unconfirmed to my mind as yet) that Rory Kavanagh has retired.


*Edit:* http://m.donegaldemocrat.ie/sport/gaelic-games/exclusive-rory-kavanagh-announces-his-retirement-from-inter-county-football-with-donegal-1-6522257

Confirmed.

A shame as he could still have contributed. Probably the commitment, to still have to do that level of work for what may be a reduced role would be a grind.

Anyway, good luck to him in the future.

Ceist_Beag

Donegal Democrat are running with the story this morning so it sounds like he has confirmed it himself as he is quoted (I doubt they would run the story otherwise). With all the talk of Christy and Odhran, I think personally Odhran is more similar to Rory in style than to Christy. It would have been nice to see Rory carry on for another year but he owes us nothing so good luck to him.

Nidgeweasel

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

Donegal Democrat are running with the story this morning so it sounds like he has confirmed it himself as he is quoted (I doubt they would run the story otherwise). With all the talk of Christy and Odhran, I think personally Odhran is more similar to Rory in style than to Christy. It would have been nice to see Rory carry on for another year but he owes us nothing so good luck to him.

Aye, just edited the post there. I seen it on one of those result pages via Facebook. They have an irritating habit of not providing their source.

Redsoxfan

Aye, it's true, Alan Foley has it in the Democrat.

It was going to happen at some point, shame it was this year. Massive problems for us ahead there in future years. Rory and Neil have been an outstanding partnership. Neil will almost certainly go next year, as will Christy.

Without someone better alongside him, Martin McElhinney is not up to the job. Hopefully he can step up alongside Neil this year, but after that, I dunno. MacNiallais is a forward to me.

I believe that McGuinness was impressed with Caolan McGonagle from the minors last year. Tony McClenaghan looked more like a suitable candidate for midfield than a centre half back to me. Hopefully we can get one or both of them involved in the next few years.

All the best to you Rory. You gave us some great memories over the years.

ghostfacekilla

Caolan's free taking ability is meant to be astonishing. I wouldn't be knowledgeable on his best side but either way, it'd be a talent that would be much needed once Colm Anthony hangs up his boots.

Alvin Holler

ghostfacekilla wrote: »

Caolan's free taking ability is meant to be astonishing. I wouldn't be knowledgeable on his best side but either way, it'd be a talent that would be much needed once Colm Anthony hangs up his boots.

He hit a couple of nice long range frees and 45's last year for the minors. Think he is right footed. He didn't hit any close ones or at an angle so hard to know how good he is.

Sad to see Rory go but he's been a great servant. Makes me feel really old as all the Donegal team are now younger than me

Nidgeweasel

Alvin Holler wrote: »

Makes me feel really old as all the Donegal team are now younger than me

It won't get any better I'm afraid!

ArnoldJRimmer

Alvin Holler wrote: »

Makes me feel really old as all the Donegal team are now younger than me

Could be worse, you could also be older than the manager. Sure Rory Gallagher's only a young lad!

charlie14

Alvin Holler wrote: »

He hit a couple of nice long range frees and 45's last year for the minors. Think he is right footed. He didn't hit any close ones or at an angle so hard to know how good he is.

Sad to see Rory go but he's been a great servant. Makes me feel really old as all the Donegal team are now younger than me [/QUOTE

If you think that makes you feel old, imagine how I feel after reading that and realising I`m older than all the 92 team

Good luck to Rory Kavanagh. Sad to see him go. A great servant to Donegal who contributed in no small way to some unforgetable days.

Redsoxfan

Some good news as Anthony Thompson has committed to travel over to be available for league games.

To be honest, I'd like to see the likes of Ciaran McGinley and Cory Gallagher get game time during the league to see what they are like, but I'm happy that Thompson still wants to be involved.

Redsoxfan

Alvin Holler wrote: »

He hit a couple of nice long range frees and 45's last year for the minors. Think he is right footed. He didn't hit any close ones or at an angle so hard to know how good he is.

Himself and Campbell were quite the double act for Buncrana in the minors the year before I believe. Campbell is an interesting player also.

I think Lorcan Connor was taking the short range frees for the minors last year.

I see Paul McGonigle is managing the Buncrana minors this year.

Redsoxfan

That was close. Nearly ended up in a semi final in January.

Nidgeweasel

Him from sligo is refereeing our league opener.

Redsoxfan

Nidgeweasel wrote:

Him from sligo is refereeing our league opener.

Wonder if he will find a way to send off Rory Kavanagh?

Redsoxfan

Disappointed to hear that Eoin McHugh won't be available for Saturday (virus).

With Colm McFadden out, Paddy McBrearty gets another chance to show he's ready to assume the bulk of the scoring next to Michael.

As Anthony Thompson only seems to have committed to play recently, I am assuming he won't be considered. Neil McGee is out and I don't know how much Karl Lacey will feature. I would guess a backline of McGrath, E McGee, E Doherty, Frank, Declan Walsh, McGinley?

Nidgeweasel

Bricks dropped out of the panel.

Not content with being a squad player seemingly.

Fair enough I suppose although the reality is he's not good enough to be a starter. Wonder will this have any sort of an impact on Leo.

overshoot

hard to blame him, been a lot of effort for a few cameo appearances and just when mcfadden is starting to fade, o'connor jumps past him which had to be disheartening.
Would probably make a lot of county teams but just not at highest of levels, and we are fortunate to have a few of that calibre at the minute

Ceist_Beag

As you say Nidge, I don't think Brick was good enough. He showed a lot of promise as an u21 but hasn't come on since. He still would have been a good man to have on the bench but given the commitment these days it's not unexpected that he left.

So what do you all want from the League campaign this year? Personally I would like to see us stay safe from relegation but am not too bothered after that. I would be happy if some of the more long serving players were rested as much as possible during the league as it could be a long hard summer ahead. If we can get some more game time for some of the promising young lads all the better - it would be nice to see a couple more like Ryan and Odhran break through this year.

Redsoxfan

Mixed views on Brick. Don't think he was good enough, but showed flashes, still relatively young. Tried hard during the league last year. While we are all hopeful on Jigger, aside from the Antrim game last year, he showed only glimpses of ability. Hopefully he kicks on this year.

I'd like to see the likes of Lacey and possibly others used sparingly during the league, but I suppose the hard yards are done in Convoy (if it's open...) and not really on the pitch so maybe missing a game is of no real benefit unless they are also allowed time out from training.

I'd like to see the likes of Ciaran McGinley, Cory Gallagher and Eoin McHugh in action this spring. I'd like to see Martin McElhinney, Jigger and even Hugh McFadden step up and show more. I'm interested to see how Colm McFadden looks and if Mark McHugh has rediscovered his spark.

I'd be interested to see if we change our set up under Rory, but we won't really know until the summer - Jim McGuinness didn't really show his hand too much during the league.

I'd like to stay in Division One - we should be able to win at least three of four of our home games - I am not expecting to win in Dublin or Castlebar and we are playing Kerry late enough in the day that they might need to points.

I won't make it to Ballybofey this week - hopefully it's the only game I'll miss this year (aside from the McKenna Cup of course...). Good job it's on Setanta.

Looking forward to reading a review from anyone who makes it to Ballybofey.

Nidgeweasel

And to be fair to brick, he has contributed in his own way over the last four years and you can tell how much he loves being involved with Donegal.

Could have contributed in a similar way again I suppose but good luck to him.

Redsoxfan

I believe that a team will be named tomorrow. What sort of nonsense is that.

Redsoxfan

If anyone has not got it yet, I'd recommend picking up a copy of Four Summers. Doesn't go into anything in great detail, but a good summary of the McGuinness era. Lest we forget...

Nidgeweasel

Redsoxfan wrote: »

If anyone has not got it yet, I'd recommend picking up a copy of Four Summers. Doesn't go into anything in great detail, but a good summary of the McGuinness era. Lest we forget...

I got it there off for Christmas. In truth I was slightly disappointed in it as I assumed it would be something similar to "Sams for the hills" by the same two.

Still well worth the few pound though.

You know, I don't like to keep saying it. But Jim McGuinness. Fúck me, it was a bit special wasn't it.

I think as time goes on and we look back it'll be a shake of the head and a sigh.

Redsoxfan

So team named for Derry (from Highland)

Durcan
McGrath
E McGee
McGlynn
R McHugh
Lacey
McGinley
Gallagher
Toye
M McHugh
McElhinney
MacNiallais
McBrearty
Murphy
O'Reilly

If everyone is fit enough, we should be good enough to win.

Redsoxfan

Nidge - I get what you are saying about Four Summers. Luckily enough, I was warned what to expect so wasn't really disappointed. Given when it came out, it was never going to have any great depth. Hopefully we get some more insight into McGuinness at a later stage but I'd say that will take a while.

It's just a nice remembrance of the last four years. Even looking at line ups and team photos is interesting to me. Some great photos within too.

A fierce amount of sniping at the national meeja too!

Much to my disappointment, I have never read Sams for the Hills. If anyone knows where I can get a copy or wants to lend me theirs, please let me know!

johnohanlon

Derry will get relegated this year so I would expect Donegal to win