2019 All Ireland Senior Football Championship *Mod note: Post #1*

rossie1977

Donegal have played better teams than Dublin so far. Yes Cavan are Division 2 next season and Meath Division 1 but in terms of fitness, conditioning, preparation, defending etc Cavan should be quite a bit ahead of Meath right now.

dog_pig

rossie1977 wrote: »

Way system is setup now that likely won't ever happen again. Offaly, Laois or Westmeath are not finishing top 2 in their group this year e.g

I'm not trying to offer an opinion either way on whether it will happen again, you had said that it had only happened once since 2010 which isn't the case.

Loafing Oaf

rossie1977 wrote: »

Donegal have played better teams than Dublin so far.

:eek: Have they?

Pogue eile

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

:eek: Have they?

There is a second have missing, but I think its obvious from the second sentence what he is saying - and he's correct.

Loafing Oaf

Pogue eile wrote: »

There is a second have missing, but I think its obvious from the second sentence what he is saying - and he's correct.

Okay yes it is sorry:o

Pogue eile

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Okay yes it is sorry:o

Wasn't having a go mate, I actually had the same ''WTF?'' moment before I read the second sentence

Nidgeweasel

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

I would not like to be any team going to Ballybofey.
Surely they will get out of the Super 8's this year?

Would you say the same if the group was Donegal, Tyrone, Kerry, Galway?

Alot of bluster going around the place. Nobody knows what the lay of the land is until after the draw.

Donegal are being overhyped by the media because they need a challenger and everyone else has cocked up.

JJJackal

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Would you say the same if the group was Donegal, Tyrone, Kerry, Galway?

Alot of bluster going around the place. Nobody knows what the lay of the land is until after the draw.

Donegal are being overhyped by the media because they need a challenger and everyone else has cocked up.

That would be some group! Very competitive - you wouldnt fancy Donegal to get out of it

Pogue eile

JJJackal wrote: »

That would be some group! Very competitive - you wouldnt fancy Donegal to get out of it

Why not? I would put good money on it in fact.

eagle eye

JJJackal wrote:

That would be some group! Very competitive - you wouldnt fancy Donegal to get out of it

Yes I would.

ToBeFrank123

Dublin v Donegal final for me. I think only Tyrone have a chance of disrupting the party.

munster87

I would fancy their chances somewhat as well but I wouldn’t be blowing them completely out of proportion either. Someone on here said in a group with Mayo, Tyrone and Kerry, Donegal should be 1/5 to get through! Another poster said that they should be outright favourites for the all Ireland ahead of Dublin!
They lost to Fermanagh and Tipperary this season already in the league!
Some comments to be making.

Nidgeweasel

JJJackal wrote: »

That would be some group! Very competitive - you wouldnt fancy Donegal to get out of it

It certainly wouldn't be a given that's for sure. And there you have it, all of a sudden the narrative changes!

Too many column and news-feed inches to fill with noise nowadays.

Pogue eile

As I posted on the Donegal thread, there is no pleasing GAA fans.

Praise them and its noise and trying to set them up for a fall, dont lavish them with praise and all of a sudden the calls for some recognition start coming!!

Put yourself in the position of a journalist covering the football championship, where the result is almost a forgone conclusion, what else can they do but try to find an alternative narrative, Donegal are the obvious candidate at this stage. They have to write something about the bloody thing.

ToBeFrank123

Even though I see Donegal reaching the final, Dublin should still have a comfortable victory, as on paper they have much better players on the bench. Many good teams could stay with Dublin until about the 50th minute but once they start emptying the bench its usually game over. Until the likes of Donegal, Tyrone or Mayo solve this problem of strength in depth, Dublin will remain on top and adding to their AIs.

rossie1977

Having success at underage level particularly under 21 is the main way to add strength in depth. Dublins current squad strength comes from the fact they won four under 21 all Irelands between 2010-17 with seven Leinster titles from 2009-17.

I don’t think the current under 20 system is much benefit as players are younger and less physically ready to just step into senior and any half decent under 20 will declare for senior meaning they then can't play under 20 then which stunts their development.

JJJackal

Pogue eile wrote: »

Why not? I would put good money on it in fact.

I would fancy Kerry no.1, close between Donegal and Tyrone for no.2 and probably Galway 4

I am from Galway so I cant be accused of a county bias as I suggest they would be 4th favourite

JJJackal

ToBeFrank123 wrote: »

Even though I see Donegal reaching the final, Dublin should still have a comfortable victory, as on paper they have much better players on the bench. Many good teams could stay with Dublin until about the 50th minute but once they start emptying the bench its usually game over. Until the likes of Donegal, Tyrone or Mayo solve this problem of strength in depth, Dublin will remain on top and adding to their AIs.

I agree Dublin are favourites to win - there best chance of been beaten is if someone catches them a bit cold in a semi or with an unexpected game plan. Mayo I would imagine would be best placed to do this - as they play better against Dublin than they do against any other team

henke

JJJackal wrote: »

I would fancy Kerry no.1, close between Donegal and Tyrone for no.2 and probably Galway 4

I am from Galway so I cant be accused of a county bias as I suggest they would be 4th favourite

I think Galway may even struggle to make Super 8s. They weren't good in the Connacht final. They have some good players but don't look to have kicked on from last year.

JJJackal

henke wrote: »

I think Galway may even struggle to make Super 8s. They weren't good in the Connacht final. They have some good players but don't look to have kicked on from last year.

You are right - I was going on a hypothetical someone else posted on the previous page

They will be a better outfit with Comer back

charlie14

munster87 wrote: »

I would fancy their chances somewhat as well but I wouldn’t be blowing them completely out of proportion either. Someone on here said in a group with Mayo, Tyrone and Kerry, Donegal should be 1/5 to get through! Another poster said that they should be outright favourites for the all Ireland ahead of Dublin!
They lost to Fermanagh and Tipperary this season already in the league!
Some comments to be making.

League form has little to do with championship. Mayo won Div 1 yet lost to Roscommon, who were relegated, a few weeks later.
Donegal did not appear to be overly pushed about the league. Using it to rest senior players, test out young lads by giving them game time with an eye to the championship, and still won Div 2.

When it came to the championship they beat Fermanagh in their own back yard without having to raise much of a sweat.

seligehgit

JJJackal wrote: »

I agree Dublin are favourites to win - there best chance of been beaten is if someone catches them a bit cold in a semi or with an unexpected game plan. Mayo I would imagine would be best placed to do this - as they play better against Dublin than they do against any other team

Mayo have incurred two very serious setbacks injury wise in the last fortnight without considering Cillian O Connor's long term absence.

I'm struggling to muster any great optimism re our prospects.

This is likely to be season of rebuilding for the future.Reaching the super 8s may be limit of our ambitions.

threeball

JJJackal wrote: »

You are right - I was going on a hypothetical someone else posted on the previous page

They will be a better outfit with Comer back

Comer wont be at the races for weeks yet. He couldnt even make a mark in his club comeback by all accounts.
Galways problems run much deeper. It seems a very disjointed unhappy camp with not many buying into the football style and who could blame them. There's some dead weight too which needs trimming. Doubt we'll make the super 8s and wouldn't be unhappy with that.

ToBeFrank123

seligehgit wrote: »

Mayo have incurred two very serious setbacks injury wise in the last fortnight without considering Cillian O Connor's long term absence.

I'm struggling to muster any great optimism re our prospects.

This is likely to be season of rebuilding for the future.Reaching the super 8s may be limit of our ambitions.

Reaching Super8s would definitely be an achievement but like others I wouldn't be shocked if Mayo didn't make it to them. A team like Mayo cannot afford to lose 4 or 5 top stars. Only Dublin could afford to do that and it not make a difference. Every other county has limited playing resources. Kerry seem to be feeling the loss of Peter Crowley in defence for example. Donegal were always diminished when Murphy or McBrearty were injured. As you say this will be a year for rebuilding with Mayo.

mcgragger

In my opinion Dublin will win if they get to the final. Cant see them losing in a final.

If its Donegal v Dublin in the semi then that's the game to get them.

Could be a last 4 of Dublin Cork Kerry and Donegal.

Thats my shout.

jr86

JJJackal wrote: »

You are right - I was going on a hypothetical someone else posted on the previous page

They will be a better outfit with Comer back

He only came on in a club game last week. I'd be surprised to see him start a game this year tbh, unless they got to a semi but it ain't looking likely

gormdubhgorm

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Would you say the same if the group was Donegal, Tyrone, Kerry, Galway?

Alot of bluster going around the place. Nobody knows what the lay of the land is until after the draw.

Donegal are being overhyped by the media because they need a challenger and everyone else has cocked up.

I am basing my assessment of what I have seen from Donegal in the last two and a half years - with those raft of young lads who were mixed with the old guard in 2017. They are bubbling under for a while now.
Plus crucially they can vary thier style of play.

Looking at it logically Galway are a team who are not making the best use of thier players, because of management style.
The defensive style seems to be there to mask a weak full back line,
They are very rigid in thier mindset, and easy for a team to set up against not much variation there.
So I think Donegal would beat them.

Kerry know only how to attack and have a very soft underbelly - division 3 defending. (Which surprised me)
So I think there is a good chance that Donegal get the better of them as well with thier forwards - Brennan McBreaty, Murphy.

Tyrone are the funny one - they are trying to change thier style of play.
But Donegal seem to have the measure of them in Ulster, and can not only beat them but control games against them.

Murphy is like having 2 players at this stage he is that good now - plus he is the de facto manager on the pitch.
If he gets injured that would change the dynamic a lot.

Stoner

gormdubhgorm wrote:

Murphy is like having 2 players at this stage he is that good now - plus he is the de facto manager on the pitch. If he gets injured that would change the dynamic a lot.

I think Donegal have a number of players that will attempt something unpredictable, capable in their positions but you'd need to be switched on playing them, they always had it in "this" team. Lacey was great at it as was the older McHugh, drifting into positions maybe 2 or 3 times in a game, but at the right time.

McHugh and McGrath are good at it now, but some lad you might have though was a bit of a Donkey will turn it on too.

A lot of good players, team players do this, Darragh O'Se wrote about it too. Have a few tricks just for the big day, hidden from the stat men.

Donegal can set up a number of different ways. TBH I think we can forget about this Tyrone team now in their current format, Donegal washed away most of the grounds that they had shown they are not predictable. Galway are probably there too, their manager doesn't agree, they've some lovely footballers that can kick from distance but there's nothing unexpected with them at the moment.

Mayo have always been able to set up differently and have handled Donegal, Kerry and Tyrone in recent years, However I agree with some of the others, C O'Connor is a huge loss for them as he is involved in so many of their scores, who knows when he's back on form, now throw in DO'C, with their best midfielder Parsons out too. I can't see them reaching that standard without them.

This year imo there is only Kerry, Donegal and Dublin with the tools to do it, and Kerry look very soft down the middle, it's possible that they have little answer are the moment to a M Murphy or MDMA running straight at them given the injuries they have in the half backline too.

Sonny678

A link to Peter Cavanans analysis below of Sundays match, worth a read

https://www.skysports.com/gaa/pundits/news/30553/11748698/peter-canavan-column-meath-are-being-unfairly-criticised

The_Honeybadger

Stoner wrote: »

I think Donegal have a number of players that will attempt something unpredictable, capable in their positions but you'd need to be switched on playing them, they always had it in "this" team. Lacey was great at it as was the older McHugh, drifting into positions maybe 2 or 3 times in a game, but at the right time.

McHugh and McGrath are good at it now, but some lad you might have though was a bit of a Donkey will turn it on too.

A lot of good players, team players do this, Darragh O'Se wrote about it too. Have a few tricks just for the big day, hidden from the stat men.

Donegal can set up a number of different ways. TBH I think we can forget about this Tyrone team now in their current format, Donegal washed away most of the grounds that they had shown they are not predictable. Galway are probably there too, their manager doesn't agree, they've some lovely footballers that can kick from distance but there's nothing unexpected with them at the moment.

Mayo have always been able to set up differently and have handled Donegal, Kerry and Tyrone in recent years, However I agree with some of the others, C O'Connor is a huge loss for them as he is involved in so many of their scores, who knows when he's back on form, now throw in DO'C, with their best midfielder Parsons out too. I can't see them reaching that standard without them.

This year imo there is only Kerry, Donegal and Dublin with the tools to do it, and Kerry look very soft down the middle, it's possible that they have little answer are the moment to a M Murphy or MDMA running straight at them given the injuries they have in the half backline too.

I’d agree but I’d probably leave Tyrone in there as potentially good enough on a given day to upset the dubs, probably more so than Kerry actually. Tyrone were poor this time last year as well and went on to make the final.

Mayo truly have been hexed by injuries. I think their chance was gone anyway but there is no way they have the depth to cope with all those losses.