Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

Jmcmen

Ceist Beag I have to agree with you 100% on your post. The Classon introduction was squad management suicide IMO

Rory is a massive loss.

Short Summer this year I would think unfortunately.

Nidgeweasel

There's some amount of nonsense being chucked about on this now. All sorts of cretins lining up to air their unhelpful and quite pointless views.

McHugh's a big loss but he's gone, we have to forget about him. Hopefully it unites the players that are left and we push on.

Under 3 weeks till Championship. That should be the focus, and will be under JMG.

Redsoxfan

A good piece here from Peter Campbell of the Deomcrat. He doesn't sugarcoat things, but he keeps a sense of perspective also. I assume it was written before the McHugh departure, but most of what he says still holds very true in the aftermath of yesterday's news.

Redsoxfan

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

McHugh's a big loss but he's gone, we have to forget about him. Hopefully it unites the players that are left and we push on.

Under 3 weeks till Championship. That should be the focus, and will be under JMG.

Fully agree, except there is just over 3 weeks until the Championship

Nidgeweasel

Redsoxfan wrote: »

A good piece here from Peter Campbell of the Deomcrat. He doesn't sugarcoat things, but he keeps a sense of perspective also. I assume it was written before the McHugh departure, but most of what he says still holds very true in the aftermath of yesterday's news.

I don't rate the democrat but Peter Campbell is a very balanced and honest writer.

An interesting read.

Redsoxfan

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

I don't rate the democrat but Peter Campbell is a very balanced and honest writer.

An interesting read.

You don't? In general or on Donegal GAA? They are as good as any other of the local papers on GAA IMHO.

Nidgeweasel

Redsoxfan wrote: »

You don't? In general or on Donegal GAA? They are as good as any other of the local papers on GAA IMHO.

Don't get me wrong, the Democrat is extremely useful, in particular, for the club scene and they do good coverage of Donegal GAA generally. That's important.

I just don't really rate the level of insight or analysis in it most of the time. Just a personal view on it.

*Should have added. They're the best paper in the county for GAA imo. Which admittedly doesn't say an awful lot.

mufc1993

What's the story with Richie Feeney? Not getting a look in yet again!

Redsoxfan

mufc1993 wrote: »

What's the story with Richie Feeney? Not getting a look in yet again!

The transfer went in last night and we hope he will be wearing the number 10 shirt in Celtic Park on 25 May....

Coillte_Bhoy

mufc1993 wrote: »

What's the story with Richie Feeney? Not getting a look in yet again!

You lost?:pac:

mufc1993

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

You lost?:pac:

Damn. Had the Mayo discussion open in another tab.. whoops!!

Nidgeweasel

mufc1993 wrote: »

Damn. Had the Mayo discussion open in another tab.. whoops!!

Good lad. Thought I'd gone mad for a second. The only Richie Feeney I could think of was your own!

Gary Neville

IMO - Poople are far too quick to write off Donegal - AI odds went from 11/1 to 25/1 in Apr alone. The winner of the tie in Celtic Park have every chance of getting to the Ulster Final with all due respect to Fermanagh and Antrim. The outlook might be very different by then.

I assume that Donegal worked very hard in Portugal and the league final came in the middle of intensive training too. I'd guess that the focus was on the Derry tie and not the League Final.

Obviously going into that match without Kavenagh and McHugh will make things more difficult but I would see it as a 50/50 game and the winners could yet play a big role in the AI Series.

Dublin seem well out in front at this stage but the chasing pack are all a a similar level - someone will get momentum and launch a decent challenge - Donegal could well be that side.

Nidgeweasel

Gary Neville wrote: »

IMO - Poople are far too quick to write off Donegal - AI odds went from 11/1 to 25/1 in Apr alone.

.

Maybe Jimmy has a few pound on it. Like Fargo Boyle and the Sheep.

seamonkey92

We are in bother boys. But sure hopefully it will all work out in the end. Jimmy might be winning matches again some time soon . (Hopefully)

Gary Neville

Jmcmen wrote: »

Ceist Beag I have to agree with you 100% on your post. The Classon introduction was squad management suicide IMO

Rory is a massive loss.

Short Summer this year I would think unfortunately.

Colm Keys is suggesting the same in the Indo today. He says that Gallagher was a big influence on Mark McHugh. Anyone know exactly why Gallagher was fired ?

The media are still stirring this one - they are suggesting that senior players were unhappy with the intensity and amount of training sessions in Portugal and that some senior players have had a trained relationship with McGuinness in recent months. Anyone know if this is rubbish ?


Ypu don't expect Donegal to beat Derry, so then, Jmcmen ? Obviously Kavanagh and McHugh will be missed but Donegal should still have enough IMO. Massive game with the winners likely to make the U Final.

Redsoxfan

Here is the Colm Keys piece.
And here is another from Ian O'Riordan

Plenty of conjecture in both, a few inaccuracies in O'Riordan's. The attempt to link what went on this week to club v county is pure ****e of course.

Gary Neville wrote:

Anyone know exactly why Gallagher was fired ?

It's old news at this stage. What it comes down to is that Jim is the manager and it's his way or the highway. The reasons for Gallagher and Curran leaving weren't minuted or anything.

Gary Neville

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Here is the Colm Keys piece.
And here is another from Ian O'Riordan

Plenty of conjecture in both, a few inaccuracies in O'Riordan's. The attempt to link what went on this week to club v county is pure ****e of course.



It's old news at this stage. What it comes down to is that Jim is the manager and it's his way or the highway. The reasons for Gallagher and Curran leaving weren't minuted or anything.

Here's an extract from the Keys Piece :-

Donegal's squad remains the most limited of the top teams. During the league just 20 players started games (seven started all eight games), with three – Michael Murphy Neil McGee and Paul Durcan, playing every minute of every game – That figure would have been four had Colm McFadden not been black-carded against Monaghan.
Beyond the 20 who started, some featured for just a handful of minutes at the back end of games. Thomas McKinley and Gary McFadden fell into this category and, when their numbers weren't flashed in Sunday's league final, they too opted to leave.

They will have only 18 available v Derry.

Looks like they will be going to Celtic Park with a squad that's lacking lads with competitive football played. A surprising scenario IMO.

Redsoxfan

Gary Neville wrote: »

They will have only 18 available v Derry.

Looks like they will be going to Celtic Park with a squad that's lacking lads with competitive football played. A surprising scenario IMO.

David Walsh, Marty O'Reilly and Paddy McGrath should all be available and all have championship experience, very signifcant experience in the case of Walsh and McGrath. Paddy's lack of game time in the last six months would be a concern. None of these three started during the league.

Yes our squad is small, perhaps deliberately so. All in all, 28 players saw some game time during the league, with 3 players seeing less than 10 minutes in total (Gary McFadden and Stephen McLaughlin were 2 of the 3, I can't recall the other lad at the moment, could have been Smyth, could even have been O'Reilly who has surprisingly featured very little).

There are other players around the county who were good enough to have played during the league (and indeed some have championship experience) but (a) they weren't willing or interested in committing to what is asked of them or (b) they weren't going to be up to championship standard anyway. Two lads who saw championship action last season (Bradley and Wherrity) have emigrated.

No point in giving players time during the league just for the sake of it, unless we wanted to risk not getting promoted IMHO.

Redsoxfan

Not a bad piece of insight and analysis (;)) from Manus Boyle in the Democrat

http://www.donegaldemocrat.ie/sport/gaelic-games/manus-boyle-donegal-players-need-a-break-to-re-focus-for-derry-1-6035773

He's right about the sweeper - we certainly didn't really deploy McHugh in that way during the league this year. Question is, will we do it for the championship and if so, who will fill that role? Ryan McHugh is the obvious choice.

Ceist_Beag

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Not a bad piece of insight and analysis (;)) from Manus Boyle in the Democrat

Good article alright. I'm not sure Ryan can slot into the sweeper role, especially when he hasn't been tried there all season. I don't know if he has the same ability as Mark in that regard but certainly a good point by Manus that we're much more exposed without someone performing that role. I'm not sure if Lacey has the legs for it but certainly I think he has the game for it - but his performances so far this year suggest he's not up to the fitness needed for that role.

Gary Neville

Redsoxfan wrote: »

David Walsh, Marty O'Reilly and Paddy McGrath should all be available and all have championship experience, very signifcant experience in the case of Walsh and McGrath. Paddy's lack of game time in the last six months would be a concern. None of these three started during the league.

Yes our squad is small, perhaps deliberately so. All in all, 28 players saw some game time during the league, with 3 players seeing less than 10 minutes in total (Gary McFadden and Stephen McLaughlin were 2 of the 3, I can't recall the other lad at the moment, could have been Smyth, could even have been O'Reilly who has surprisingly featured very little).

There are other players around the county who were good enough to have played during the league (and indeed some have championship experience) but (a) they weren't willing or interested in committing to what is asked of them or (b) they weren't going to be up to championship standard anyway. Two lads who saw championship action last season (Bradley and Wherrity) have emigrated.

No point in giving players time during the league just for the sake of it, unless we wanted to risk not getting promoted IMHO.

From reading Keys article, you would get the impression that the Donegal bench for Celtic Park will have seen little league action - You've pointed out that 25 lads saw a decent amount of game time and without Kavanagh and McHugh that's down to 23 but that's not an issue.

McGuinness is well aware of the quality of the players available and didn't need to experiment in the league.

How do you call the Derry v Donegal tie ?

Nidgeweasel

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Not a bad piece of insight and analysis (;)) from Manus Boyle in the Democrat

http://www.donegaldemocrat.ie/sport/gaelic-games/manus-boyle-donegal-players-need-a-break-to-re-focus-for-derry-1-6035773

He's right about the sweeper - we certainly didn't really deploy McHugh in that way during the league this year. Question is, will we do it for the championship and if so, who will fill that role? Ryan McHugh is the obvious choice.

Didn't rate it myself!

Redsoxfan

Gary Neville wrote: »

How do you call the Derry v Donegal tie ?

I really don't know. If we can rediscover the intensity we have shown in the past, I think we will beat them. If we are as flat as we were last Sunday, we won't.

As I said before, the scene right now is very similar to the Tyrone game last summer. I really didn't know what to make of our chances back then, but I predicted us to win anyway.

Redsoxfan

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

Good article alright. I'm not sure Ryan can slot into the sweeper role, especially when he hasn't been tried there all season. I don't know if he has the same ability as Mark in that regard but certainly a good point by Manus that we're much more exposed without someone performing that role. I'm not sure if Lacey has the legs for it but certainly I think he has the game for it - but his performances so far this year suggest he's not up to the fitness needed for that role.

Ryan has played corner back, half back and half forward. He's also a very intelligent footballer. I think he would be well able for it.

Lacey - whether he could do it depends on his fitness (which I think isn't bad, no worse than anyone else at present), but also depends on Paddy McGrath - if Paddy is not fit to start, then Lacey should be in the corner IMHO.

If he weren't needed at midfield, especially on 25 May, I think McElhinney could do a fine job at McHugh's 2012 role.

Declan Walsh is comfortable on the ball and a strong runner, not a great defender. Would be good for the role also.

Wild cards - David Walsh and Marty O'Reilly. In my opinion, Walsh is a very intelligent footballer and can be a good passer of the ball. O'Reilly has a great engine and gets up and down well. In addition, he has played at half back for the U-21s and half forward for the seniors.

This all assumes of course we will revert to using a sweeper and we persist with Leo McLoone at centre half back.

All in all, I think Ryan McHugh will be the replacement for his brother at 10. Where he is actually deployed is another matter.

I am thinking on my starting 15 for 25 May and what I think will happen. I'll post it up at some stage in the next 3 weeks. I'm sure ye can't wait :pac:

Gary Neville

Jim McGuinness made some very intersting points in his recent interview - Indo - here's an extract.

McGuinness feels that if Donegal could overcome Derry they would be in a very strong position logistically to regain lost ground. On that count he feels it should be easier for Dublin to retain an All-Ireland title.

"One of the big problems for us is the geography. This year we've people in Belfast, Dublin, Galway and Limerick driving up the road. They're arriving fatigued. Because they're working we're training later, so we start at 8 o'clock and it's 10 o'clock before they're getting a bite to eat. And then they're getting into a car and going to Dublin.

"So that's one, two in the morning. That's a massive commitment. Dublin don't have that problem. We have to fork out €1.75m on a centre of excellence and Dublin get one handed to them, which is handy and which is worth €20m," he said, referring to the proposed GAA unit in Abbotstown that will be open to all counties when it is completed.



Hard to argue with what he's saying. It's only when it's pointed out, that you fully appreciate the geographical disadvantage for a county like Donegal - that plus the limited playing resources, illustrates then enormity of the 2012 achievement.

harpsman

In fairness, hes kinda statin the bleedin obvious re geography. Not sure if some of his other comments wont come accross as whingin, ie the bit about Dublin and the reporting of rows over fixtures,even if what he is saying is largely true.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/donegal-boss-jim-mcguinness-fears-black-card-diving-epidemic-30265156.html

Dyr

I think he wants the GAA to move donegal to somewhere just off the coast of louth

if so many of his players are based in dublin why not hold some training sessions there? he might even get to use the swish facility that the dubs had "handed to them" :pac:


his whinging about the black card is the sound of a man who knows the jig is up, the ould drag-n-drop tactics won't work anymore

harpsman

Bambi wrote: »

I think he wants the GAA to move donegal to somewhere just off the coast of louth

if so many of his players are based in dublin why not hold some training sessions there? he might even get to use the swish facility that the dubs had "handed to them" :pac:


his whinging about the black card is the sound of a man who knows the jig is up, the ould drag-n-drop tactics won't work anymore

I think if youd actually watched any of Donegals matches when they won the all ireland youd have seen that not conceding frees was a huge part of their game. But sure then you might have to think for yourself instead of just repeatin what you heard some other blow hard say.

fullstop

Bambi wrote: »

I think he wants the GAA to move donegal to somewhere just off the coast of louth

if so many of his players are based in dublin why not hold some training sessions there? he might even get to use the swish facility that the dubs had "handed to them" :pac:


his whinging about the black card is the sound of a man who knows the jig is up, the ould drag-n-drop tactics won't work anymore

Ah yeah that'd make sense :rolleyes:

Or maybe he could give them all jobs in Donegal