Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

Redsoxfan

Lemlin wrote: »

Conditions are brutal everywhere tonight. Breffni should be in good keep though. If ye make it through, it's a repeat of last year's final.

And we have! 15-10. See ye in Enniskillen, ye pulled away well in the end.

Third time we play Cavan in five years, Donegal win in 2010 and Cavan won in 2013.

Cavan on 12 match unbeaten run in Ulster - last team to beat them managed by Jim McGuinness and captain was Michael Murphy.

Massive proposition.

Lemlin

Redsoxfan wrote: »

And we have! 15-10. See ye in Enniskillen, ye pulled away well in the end.

Third time we play Cavan in five years, Donegal win in 2010 and Cavan won in 2013.

Cavan on 12 match unbeaten run in Ulster - last team to beat them managed by Jim McGuinness and captain was Michael Murphy.

Massive proposition.

We've lost once in 15 matches alright. Ye won't be easily beat though.

I reckon we could see two of the best young players in Ulster go head to head. Killian Clarke vs Patrick McBrearty.

Redsoxfan

So after predicting Enniskillen, the Ulster U-21 Final has of course been fixed for Athletic Grounds Armagh on Wednesday night at 8pm.

Suits me and Cavan, not so much folks from South West or North East Donegal.

Tom Joad

Redsoxfan wrote: »

So after predicting Enniskillen, the Ulster U-21 Final has of course been fixed for Athletic Grounds Armagh on Wednesday night at 8pm.

Suits me and Cavan, not so much folks from South West or North East Donegal.

Doesn't really suit too many in Cavan tbh. Brewster must be in an awful state or there is a conspiracy to keep us out of our second home .

It's a strange call to play it in Armagh when Brewster was the obvious choice.

overshoot

would have thought healy park would even have been a better option even than armagh!

Redsoxfan

overshoot wrote: »

would have thought healy park would even have been a better option even than armagh!

But sure they couldn't play yesterday's game at Healy or Brewster!

Armagh seems to be the least risky option.

Are Healy and Brewster not Prunty Pitches?

Lemlin

Redsoxfan wrote: »

So after predicting Enniskillen, the Ulster U-21 Final has of course been fixed for Athletic Grounds Armagh on Wednesday night at 8pm.

Suits me and Cavan, not so much folks from South West or North East Donegal.

Doesn't suit Cavan at all. We'd far prefer Brewster. It's like our second home at this stage.

Redsoxfan

Lemlin wrote: »

Doesn't suit Cavan at all. We'd far prefer Brewster. It's like our second home at this stage.

Ah here it suits people travelling from Cavan more than South West or North East Donegal, that's all.

No matter, decision made, hopefully no late changes next week.

SM746

Some great positives from today - Lacey seemed more prominent; hopefully in preparation for a move to 6 soon, Rory Kav again very good and an excellent kick pass for Murphys goal and that is something I would like to see us use more. Overall very happy with the performance but 2 small things. Once again some very bad kickouts from DurcanI and I hope we get this sorted soon. Quality of ref again was shocking poor and I say that full in the knowledge that we got many decisions from him. Just so inconsistent.
On a side not as petty as it might seem I'm satisfied that we got a small measure of revenge against Armagh as they have inflicted some miserable days on me. Grimley on the radio after reinforced this satisfaction as he is a man I have little time for. Nice to focus on Derry now and hopefully those semis fixed for Croke Park as I want to watch them.

Redsoxfan

It's always a good day when you win, and after a series of very average performances, it was good that we looked good at times again today.

For whatever reason, Mark McHugh didn't start, and he wasn't on the bench. He was acting as a ball boy in the warm up. Dunno what was wrong with him. Truth be told, aside from the first game against Laois, he hasn't been great. Still, hopefully he's not injured in any meaningful way. Good to see Paddy McGrath stretching and taking part in the warm up. Still not sure what we can expect from him this year, but would be great to see him get some time in the league final in three weeks time.

Best for Donegal were the two McGees and Rory Kavangh. Big Neil got through a lot of good work, especially breaking ball, it was good to see him starting. The Murphy goal was very well taken, although he might have got away with a wee push.

Paddy McBreaty - two points off the bench, again. And two fine points too. Hopefully a good omen for Wednesday night.

McGuinness also saw fit to introduce Hugh McFadden and Ryan McHugh ahead of lads like Declan Walsh, Luke Keaney and even Gary McFadden (i.e. lads who haven't seen much game time and aren't playing on Wednesday night). Ryan McHugh did well (as is generally the case), McFadden didn't do a lot wrong or have much of an impact, I suspect he is sent out and told what to do and just does it.

Bad points - kickouts (again), centre half back at times, relatively poor form of our inside forwards. And another goal conceded - that's an average of one a game in Division Two. We also failed to pick up Armagh's playmaker (A Kernan) in much the same way as we struggled to pin down Conor Laverty in Newry. And, when faced with a blanket defence, we seemed clueless. We got the goal from a long ball move (kickout to net was 8 seconds apparently) - we need more of this when faced with such tactics, which we are sure to see again.

Ref watch: Fergal Kelly (who?) frustrated everyone, especially Paul Grimley and Colm McFadden felt he got a raw deal as well.

tl;dr? Donegal promoted, Armagh relegated

Redsoxfan

SM746 wrote: »

Rory Kav again very good and an excellent kick pass for Murphys goal and that is something I would like to see us use more.

Snap - just posted at same time.

SM746 wrote: »

Once again some very bad kickouts from Durcan and I hope we get this sorted soon.

Yes, some were very bad, and one led indirectly to the goal.

SM746 wrote: »

Nice to focus on Derry now and hopefully those semis fixed for Croke Park as I want to watch them.

Yes, I will be heading in to Croke Park on Sunday to see what all the fuss is about.

SM746

Funny enough I was in Red Neds after the game and was told this little bit of trivia - last time Armagh relegated to Div3 was 77; same year they reached the AI final I was told. No fear of a repeat this year I would confidently predict

Redsoxfan

Only fair to mention the hurlers - winners of the Division 3A title in Markievicz Park today beating Roscommon 4-12 to 2-14.

But, hurling being hurling, they now must play off against Fingal (eh? That's not even a county...) to see if they can be promoted to Division 2B.

2moreMinutes

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Only fair to mention the hurlers - winners of the Division 3A title in Markievicz Park today beating Roscommon 4-12 to 2-14.

But, hurling being hurling, they now must play off against Fingal (eh? That's not even a county...) to see if they can be promoted to Division 2B.

With the utmost of respect to the Donegal hurlers, I had assumed that Roscommon would have been a clear step ahead of us. Good to see us do well in recent years even if theres a lot of people (including me tbf) who only really look for their results as a matter of course.

Nidgeweasel

Is the final this sunday?

Redsoxfan

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Is the final this sunday?

Are you mad? Do you know nothing of the GAA? It's on the 27th of April.

Next weekend, Division One semi-finals (only semi-finals in Division One for some reason), then the hurling semi-finals, then the Division One and Two Finals.

In between, the Donegal team head to Portugal for warm weather training. Would have been useful last year ahead of Clones....

Nidgeweasel

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Are you mad? Do you know nothing of the GAA? It's on the 27th of April.

Next weekend, Division One semi-finals (only semi-finals in Division One for some reason), then the hurling semi-finals, then the Division One and Two Finals.

In between, the Donegal team head to Portugal for warm weather training. Would have been useful last year ahead of Clones....

Sorry, seen something above about croke park this week. Im hungover and tired!

Redsoxfan

Anyone else going to Armagh on Wednesday night? €10 at the gate. Nice ground, both stand and terrace are covered. Planning on making the trip myself.

RMDrive

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Anyone else going to Armagh on Wednesday night? €10 at the gate. Nice ground, both stand and terrace are covered. Planning on making the trip myself.

On a school night! Not a chance I'm afraid. Will depend n Highland to keep me company.

harpsman

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Anyone else going to Armagh on Wednesday night? €10 at the gate. Nice ground, both stand and terrace are covered. Planning on making the trip myself.

Might be lazy too and listen on radio.My bad. Were you at game on Sunday? Sounded poor enough after bright start. Still, got the job done i suppose. Will miss league final too so will have to wait for Celtic Park. Imagine that will be a sell out too. Have been there once, but never saw Donegal play there.

Redsoxfan

RMDrive wrote: »

On a school night! Not a chance I'm afraid. Will depend n Highland to keep me company.

Jaysus. Stick to Twitter. It's bad enough when Comack is given the mic to cover the whole half, when the f**king Country Show go to him for an update it's a complete disaster. Last week, they kept saying 'we'll being going to Breffni Park in a minute' but only went twice in the second half, and one of those times Comack wasn't there.

Or, if you can bear it, Northern Sound may have the decency to cover the whole game.

Redsoxfan

harpsman wrote: »

Might be lazy too and listen on radio.My bad. Were you at game on Sunday? Sounded poor enough after bright start. Still, got the job done i suppose. Will miss league final too so will have to wait for Celtic Park. Imagine that will be a sell out too. Have been there once, but never saw Donegal play there.

It's a handy enough run for me vs folks from Donegal.

Aye, I was there on Sunday, gave brief thoughts above. It was a mixed performance, good enough start, good enough burst after half time, but aside from that, there wasn't too much to get excited about. Indeed, the same worrying things we have seen happening lately continued, and I don't necessarily think these can be just put down to 'ah shur it's only the league'.

Rory Kavanagh has been the player of the League and hopefully that form continues to the Championship.

Not too confident about tomorrow night as I don't know if we have improved significantly from last year. We have lost Odhran MacNiallais and Luke Keaney and these lads haven't been replaced with anyone of a similar standard/reputation. Things that might give me some confidence - Ryan McHugh wasn't fit last year and had to go off early enough in the game. We've seen how good he can be during the League this year. I don't think Eoin McHugh was fully fit last year either, and he seemed to have a very good game against Armagh in last week's semi-final.

Paddy McBrearty seemed to have a good Sigerson and has been very good in limited action for Donegal in the League, but yet he was unimpressive when starting against Louth. The U-21s lean very heavily on him, they will go how he goes. Jigger is a year older and had a great McLarnon, but has been carrying an injury since the final.

Hugh McFadden is very talented, but I'm not sure as to how well suited he is to be the main man at midfield. He's up against a Cavan senior too.

Aside from that, like last year, I know little of the rest of the players, much to my disappointment, but it's hard to get to midweek games from the Pale.

I hope that we give Cavan a better game for 60 minutes than we did last year.

Lemlin

The bookies have Cavan at 1/2 to win this one which is even surprising us down here. Opinion is divided about this group. Some think it is the best team yet, others think it is the weakest.

The worrying part is that our best players are all in the backs. The forwards lack a cutting edge and that could be our undoing.

Killian Clarke at full back is one of the best young players in the country. He's into his third year as a Cavan senior now and won an Ulster All Star last year. He was thrown in at the deep end two years ago by Terry and Tommy O'Connor roasted him for Kikdare in the championship when he was only 19 but he hasn't looked back since. I'd expect him to pick up McBrearty if he is causing problems.

Watch out for Michael Argue at midfield too. A 6 foot 6 19 year old giant who managed to play his way into a role with the seniors last year and featured against Derry and Kerry.

Should be a cracking game between two good sides.

Redsoxfan

Based on who ye have beaten, Cavan would appear to have the obvious edge. But, Donegal had beaten Derry and Tyrone on our way to the Final last year.

We rely heavily on McBrearty, so if ye can avoid giving away frees and hold him quiet from play, we could struggle to get scores elsewhere, but, both Ryan McHugh and Hugh McFadden are well able to take a score both from play and from frees (long range fres too).

Jigger could be the wild card, but his fitness is probably not great, and I am still not sure if he's ready for this level even if he is no longer a minor.

One player I didn't mention above is Marty O'Reilly, who has a fair chunk of senior experience, but was kind of disappointing in last year's final. He has potential, but I have yet to see him fully deliver.

Hoping for a good game also. We were very flat at times last year and it never really felt like we had the beating of Cavan. I hope the weather allows for a good game, the grass on the pitch seemed a bit long on Sunday and I'm not sure anyone should be bouncing the ball.

2moreMinutes

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Anyone else going to Armagh on Wednesday night? €10 at the gate. Nice ground, both stand and terrace are covered. Planning on making the trip myself.

A few of us def would have went only for, ummm, some other match being on tv tomorrow night. Had it half planned over the weekend before we copped on that Utd were on Weds night this week. Chances are at 8.30 tomorrow night, I'll wish I had went instead.

I'll be tuning into the tweet machine for updates. I'd rather send pigeons for updates rather than listen to Highland.

Lemlin

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Based on who ye have beaten, Cavan would appear to have the obvious edge. But, Donegal had beaten Derry and Tyrone on our way to the Final last year.

We rely heavily on McBrearty, so if ye can avoid giving away frees and hold him quiet from play, we could struggle to get scores elsewhere, but, both Ryan McHugh and Hugh McFadden are well able to take a score both from play and from frees (long range fres too).

Jigger could be the wild card, but his fitness is probably not great, and I am still not sure if he's ready for this level even if he is no longer a minor.

One player I didn't mention above is Marty O'Reilly, who has a fair chunk of senior experience, but was kind of disappointing in last year's final. He has potential, but I have yet to see him fully deliver.

Hoping for a good game also. We were very flat at times last year and it never really felt like we had the beating of Cavan. I hope the weather allows for a good game, the grass on the pitch seemed a bit long on Sunday and I'm not sure anyone should be bouncing the ball.

It's not just the route we've had that had impressed a few people down here. It's the way we've beaten teams.

Cavan 3-10, Derry 0-12 in Derry
Cavan 1-11, Tyrone 0-6
Cavan 1-7, Monaghan 0-4.

As you can see from those results, we've had very comprehensive victories and we're only letting in an average of seven points a game so that clearly shows where our strength lies.

The Monaghan game was a real battle for our lads and will have hardened them. Monaghan set out to do everything they could to stop us playing. Michael Argue in particular was heavily targeted.

The fact our lads came out the other side of it so well showed a great resolve.

Redsoxfan

Rush to Armagh and once I get into ground they announce throw in delayed 15 minutes.

Anyway, fine evening although there could be rain yet.

Apparently Highland are doing the right thing and covering the entire game.

RMDrive

Great 2nd half performance but not to be. Kilcar did their best to win it for us but sounded like we made some bad decisions when we were 2 point up.

Redsoxfan

Dear oh dear. Not long back from Armagh. I was tempted to leave at half time after a dire first half!

Will provide a report tomorrow. Disappointing to lose in the end, but at least we had a lead to throw away, unlike last year.

By my reckoning, in the second half, Cavan had kicked one point from a free up to the 28th minute. They scored 1-3 in the last five minutes played (2 minutes of normal time plus 3 minutes added on)

Lemlin

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Dear oh dear. Not long back from Armagh. I was tempted to leave at half time after a dire first half!

Will provide a report tomorrow. Disappointing to lose in the end, but at least we had a lead to throw away, unlike last year.

By my reckoning, in the second half, Cavan had kicked one point from a free up to the 28th minute. They scored 1-3 in the last five minutes played (2 minutes of normal time plus 3 minutes added on)

You are correct. Timeline below from Cavan GAA Twitter feed:

@CavanCoBoardGaa: Ulster U21 C'ship Final: (2nd half,27 min) Cavan 1-3 Donegal 0-8 #UlsterU21

@CavanCoBoardGaa: Ulster U21 C'ship Final: (2nd half,29 min) Cavan 2-3 Donegal 0-8 #UlsterU21
Liam Buchanan goal

@CavanCoBoardGaa: Ulster U21 C'ship Final: (2nd half,29 min) Cavan 2-4 Donegal 0-8 #UlsterU21
Michael Argue high & over d bar

@CavanCoBoardGaa: Ulster U21 C'ship Final: (2nd half,31 min) Cavan 2-5 Donegal 0-8 #UlsterU21
Joe Dillon free in

@CavanCoBoardGaa: Ulster U21 C'ship Final Result: Cavan 2-6 Donegal 0-8 #UlsterU21 #champions