Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

moghrasa

ghostfacekilla wrote: »

Packing the bench with injured and unfit players have been a norm with Bonner thinking he’s fooling the opposition, well it backfired today.
They could not change things on the line today when things weren’t working.
The team cohesion was dreadful today.

I would say it might be worth giving strong consideration to what standard of leadership we would want for the last year or two of Murphy’s playing career.

That aside, well done for those who committed and gave us some good sporting moments during these times and well done to Cavan. Relentless performance, the hunger was so evident. The celebrations will be huge in the county tonight and i’ll definitely be shouting for them against the swagger of the men from the capital.

That’s it for another year.

Completely with you on this. I'll be backing the Cavan boys from here on out. Im not sure what Cavan folk make of us but they've more than won my respect after two consecutive Ulster finals where they fought like dogs.

Ollieboy

ghostfacekilla wrote: »

Packing the bench with injured and unfit players have been a norm with Bonner thinking he’s fooling the opposition, well it backfired today.
They could not change things on the line today when things weren’t working.
The team cohesion was dreadful today.

I would say it might be worth giving strong consideration to what standard of leadership we would want for the last year or two of Murphy’s playing career.

That aside, well done for those who committed and gave us some good sporting moments during these times and well done to Cavan. Relentless performance, the hunger was so evident. The celebrations will be huge in the county tonight and i’ll definitely be shouting for them against the swagger of the men from the capital.

That’s it for another year.

I have to agree, Declan is a great guy but not good enough for this level, but to be honest very few are.

babybuilder

Two years in which our lack of physicality was shown up. Cavan were great today. We don't seem to be able to handle the hard shots. Too many not up to it. What was it Mike Tyson said. Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face.

henke

You would worry about the psychological effect of that result on this team. Good age profile but Murphy isn't getting any younger and Tyrone under new management could be a force going forward in Ulster. I wonder will this management team continue.

Rolo2010

henke wrote: »

You would worry about the psychological effect of that result on this team. Good age profile but Murphy isn't getting any younger and Tyrone under new management could be a force going forward in Ulster. I wonder will this management team continue.

I don't think they can. Maybe they could if they won a qualifier game and got to the SF. This game was a real test. Do or die. We didn't perform to the required standard or what was expected by the fans.

Nidgeweasel

Dreadful performance against a division 3 side who arent that good. What a mess. Thank god we are not playing dublin.

ghostfacekilla

It’s hard to know what candidates would be a step up. No standout club manager within the county. Jimmy committed to the other ball game.

After beating Tyrone, hard to know what Mickey Harte could add but he has the experience.

The number 2 becoming number 1 didn’t work out too well with RG but hard to know what Rochford in the hotseat could add that he hasn’t already.

henke

I don't know the answer on who could take this team on and do something with them. Jim seems focussed on soccer but he still has the passion for GAA. Go all out and try to tempt him there is a team there he could get something out of of. Pretty long shot he could go for it though.

blahfckingblah

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Dreadful performance against a division 3 side who arent that good. What a mess. Thank god we are not playing dublin.

Disrespectful.

UrbanFret

I find Donegal fans very honest and gracious in defeat.deserves to be acknowledged. Thank you. Huge effort from Cavan. Caps off a great campaign from us after the disappointment of relegation.
A crack at the Dubs to look forward to now.

babybuilder

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Dreadful performance against a division 3 side who arent that good. What a mess. Thank god we are not playing dublin.

By that reasoning we should be in division three. They were good enough to beat us. Our guys have melted in games where total commitment and hard physical contact was required. Soft with no fight. Agree with the latter part. Dublin would have beaten us comfortably.

fullstop

Are this team working with a psychologist? If they are they might want to get a new one and if not they might want to get one. 3 years running when the pressure has come on in a big game they’ve crumbled.

I_NoScoped_JFK

Probably fair to say that if mayo go on and win it, donegal are the new bridesmaids, could arguably take their title of chokers.

I thought they were nailed on for a big year when they knocked out their rivals Tyrone, however they always lift their game for them and showed a lot more physicality and playing on the edge than they did today.

Even if mayo don't, bonner's era will ultimately be seen as a failure. Say what you want about blooding new players and getting rid of the old, no big results outside of ulster and no steel or fire in the bellies of these players when it matters. They won two in a row when Tyrone had faltered and hartes era was coming to an end.

A bit like kerry, most of the County were thinking "what will we do about Dublin"

Cavan_King

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

Dreadful performance against a division 3 side who arent that good. What a mess. Thank god we are not playing dublin.

Mickey Graham openly said when he came in last year that his priority was winning Championship games, not League matches.

He played seven debutants against Kildare in the league this year, thinking we’d suffer injuries with the hectic schedule to get lads blooded.

He also ran the bolox off the lads ahead of the Roscommon game to have them ready for Monaghan. League position is not everything as us and Tipp have showed today.

Thankfully the other Donegal people are not as ungraceful as you in defeat. Perhaps you should cast your mind back to 2012 and the fantastic reception Donegal got when travelling home through Cavan.

Donegal are a fantastic football team and hopefully we’ll go for round 3 in an Ulster final next year.

Murphy14

When the chips are down we seem to crumble but that’s not taking away from Cavan deserving victors today !
Don’t want to be laying blame on anyone’s door because players and management will be hurting more than any of us . Again we should be learning or be battled hardened to get over the line

charlie14

Cavan_King wrote: »

Mickey Graham openly said when he came in last year that his priority was winning Championship games, not League matches.

He played seven debutants against Kildare in the league this year, thinking we’d suffer injuries with the hectic schedule to get lads blooded.

He also ran the bolox off the lads ahead of the Roscommon game to have them ready for Monaghan. League position is not everything as us and Tipp have showed today.

Thankfully the other Donegal people are not as ungraceful as you in defeat. Perhaps you should cast your mind back to 2012 and the fantastic reception Donegal got when travelling home through Cavan.

Donegal are a fantastic football team and hopefully we’ll go for round 3 in an Ulster final next year.

Fair play, Cavan are worthy champions. We can have no complaints.The reception we got in 2012 was a wonderful gesture and will long be remembered. A great sporting county with great fans. If we have to lose an Ulster final then there`s no county I would sooner lose it to.
Not in great form now you can imagine, but happy for your captain and keeper Raymond Galligan and his family. Engaged to a Donegal woman and a relation of my own. Great keeper and a thorough gentleman.
Good luck in the semi final and I`ll be shouting for ye.

Redsoxfan

First off, congratulations to Cavan. Played like champions from the moment the ball was thrown in. Clearly means a lot to them and when you see the emotion shown by Graham and Ray Galligan during the interviews you are glad we have a Championship this year. Thomas Galligan was immense.

Desperate day for Donegal. Hard to know where this team goes from here.

We played the game with a man extra for 20 minutes. Aside from our play during their first black card we were largely rubbish. Couldn't compete with their intensity.

Our best 2 players today were Neil McGee and Hugh McFadden. Watching Neil McGee it felt like he was a man who was giving it everything because there may not be another day.

Patton needed to do better.

Guys like Langan, Jamie Brennan, Niall O'Donnell were found wanting when it mattered most.

Michael gave it what he could but feels like this is the beginning of the end.

Other than maybe the emergence of Mogan, and the fact that we stayed in Division 1, it's hard to take much from 2020. This team isn't really moving forward. I'm not really looking forward to what 2021 holds on the football field as it feels like it will be more of the same.

Nidgeweasel

blahfckingblah wrote: »

Disrespectful.

Don’t think it is.

Cavan were completely the better team and thoroughly deserved to win and fair play to them. Great for a county to bridge such a long gap.

Doesn’t change that they are a division 3 team and in my
opinion they are no great shakes (as will be proven in the next few years). Calamitous level of performance from Donegal. The joys of Knock out football.

Nidgeweasel

[quote="Redsoxfan;115386424"Watching Neil McGee it felt like he was a man who was giving it everything because there may not be another day.
[/quote]

Think you’re right. Suspect we will hear him and Paddy McGrath stepping away in the next few weeks.

And you’re right about this team not moving forward. Today was a pathetic performance and one of the worst donegal performances I can remember.

That is 3 times in 3 years with a game to get into an all ireland semi final that they have not got the job done. 2018 you can point to a lack of conditioning as Tyrone finished the stronger, 2019 you can point to having to go to the Lion’s den in Mayo and a youngish side got bullied by the ultimate old dogs for the hard road . So on to 2020 and with the experience of the past 2 years today’s performance was nothing short of a disgrace. There is clearly a gulf in class between the two sides and to be outfought like that is completely unacceptable and speaks to much bigger problems.

The systems failure up front points to issues on the line. Not good enough.

I suspect we are in for a few difficult years now as we transition post Neil McGee, Paddy McGrath etc (and rochford) and the last few years of Michael.

We have some good young players and the bones of a good squad but nothing much coming through at underage and we have a lack of mobility. We desperately need to try to uncover some new mobile defenders (or just man markers). Don’t know where these players are because I haven’t seen them in club games.

A really poor end to the year and one which I suspect will linger for a while with serious questions to be asked of this squad and management in the coming weeks.

Normally quite positive with Donegal but this is a bad defeat and it’s a definite bookmark for 2018-2020, a serious blot on the copybook not getting to a semi final. Need to use the league (if it goes ahead) to blood some more younger players.

RoyalCelt

Unlucky lads but let's be honest cavan saved you from a pasting in 2 weeks.

Redsoxfan

Neither owes Donegal anything at this point.

Disappointing for Neil if he steps away without his 6th Ulster title. But he had a decent season all things considered. One of our finest.

I'd like to see Paddy McGrath give it one more go, if he can stay fit. We aren't blessed with solid backs.

Nidgeweasel

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Neither owes Donegal anything at this point.

Disappointing for Neil if he steps away without his 6th Ulster title. But he had a decent season all things considered. One of our finest.

I'd like to see Paddy McGrath give it one more go, if he can stay fit. We aren't blessed with solid backs.

Two exceptional footballers and more importantly, two really good guys. Will wish them both well if this is the end with nothing but appreciation and good memories.

Solomon Pleasant

That’s a tough one to take today.

Man for man, we’re a better team than Cavan, but they wanted it so much more. Fair play to them, hope they win it to ****.

To the people questioning Bonner and saying his time is a failure, it’s not.

He’s won 2 Ulsters in 3 years. Took over Donegal when we were in a bad place and should he leave, the panel is in decent enough nick for a new manager. Sure, you can criticise the teams’ mental strength, tactics at times and substitutions but we went 19 years without an ulster - don’t forget that. He’s got us 2 in 3 years.

Sad ending to what was such a great championship for Donegal up until today.

For now, it’s done.

fullstop

Solomon Pleasant wrote: »

That’s a tough one to take today.

Man for man, we’re a better team than Cavan, but they wanted it so much more. Fair play to them, hope they win it to ****.

Not a hope of that unfortunately. They’ll be lucky to stay within 15 of Dublin.

Ceist_Beag

Desperate performance, very hard to say what went wrong because there were so many who played well below their best. I do think it's probably the last we will see of Neil, the finest fullback Donegal has ever produced. And agree that this was the first game where I thought we need to start thinking about life after Murphy. Before anyone jumps on that, I'm not saying he's on the way out but we need to figure out how to best use him and let others do the spade work.
Some players really hid yesterday and I'm afraid once again a certain corner forward disappeared in a big game. He does really well in the early rounds but Jamie Brennan hasn't produced on the big day for us time and again. He wasn't alone yesterday but it's becoming something of an issue with him now.
Thompson on the bench was a really strange one and has anyone heard yet why Gallen was not in the panel?
All that aside, I don't agree with the Declan out calls and I don't agree that the team is not evolving. We now have a midfield which was very much an issue when he took over. We have big strong athletic players around the middle that can all play a bit of ball. We also have some exciting younger players coming through. My biggest concern under Declan is that we have introduced no real defenders in his time. He relies too much on the system and not enough on individual defenders doing their job. But given who we had before him I would be very slow to call for his removal and I do see enough progress under him (and Rochford to give him his due) to warrant another term.
Finally, fair play to Cavan, they were superb yesterday. To pick out just one man, I think it is fitting that Gearoid McKiernan has finally won an Ulster medal, he deserves it. They were completely written off against us yesterday, at half time against Monaghan and at half time against Down. They will be completely written off again against Dublin. So good luck to them, I'll be cheering for them to defy the odds again.

moghrasa

Solomon Pleasant wrote: »

To the people questioning Bonner and saying his time is a failure, it’s not.

He’s won 2 Ulsters in 3 years. Took over Donegal when we were in a bad place and should he leave, the panel is in decent enough nick for a new manager. Sure, you can criticise the teams’ mental strength, tactics at times and substitutions but we went 19 years without an ulster - don’t forget that. He’s got us 2 in 3 years.

I definitely think that the real answer lies somewhere between these views. Bonners time, if he were to leave before the start of next championship, surely isn't a failure. As you say, 3 seasons and 2 Ulster titles is good innings for a county with fewer than a dozen of them. If we cast our minds back to the qualifier against Galway in Sligo, and the ensuing R*ry G*llagher masterclass, youd have been forgiven for thinking we'd blown a golden era and that Tyrone were probably going to have their way in Ulster for a number of years. Declan is no failure and he has the team well positioned.

The only mark against him is our performances in do or die matches. In Ballybofey, Castlebar and now Armagh all three of these defeats stank of complacency and naïvety. We were getting roughed up and the boys didn't really know how to react. Undoubtedly a part of that is the players responsibility to make sure they're up for the match but I have to wonder if that's the way Declan has them. I feel like particularly Castlebar and yesterday are two peas in a pod. We went into both games as favourites and didn't know what to do when the underdog opponent came for a fight. People can say what they want about Jim McGuinness, but if he was on that touchline yesterday you would have no doubts whatsoever of the mindset of his players going into a big championship game.

I'm not going to be calling for heads here, but at the same time its a conversation worth having as to whether we have the right crew for this ship.

Goodluck2me

Anyone know why Gallen wasn’t in the squad?

A few observations from me ...
1. Jamie Brennan is a great man when things are going well but seems to disappear or panic when it’s not
2. PmB wasn’t match fit and he definitely upsets the balance of that forward line. I can’t put my finger on it but he’s more selfish I think and we don’t seem to be anywhere near as potent with him in attack. Unless he scores a wonder point off his first shot he also seems to force things. Pure confidence player.
3. Gallen and Thompson sorely missed. If they weren’t injured I really can’t understand how they weren’t playing given their form so far.
4. Neil McGee incredible again, top class leadership taking on the ball but it felt like no one was showing for it, though Cavan marked very well all day.
5. It’s a young team but Theyre going to need to Murphy to take advantage and he doesn’t have many years left. I actually think Bonner has done well, we forget how bad try RG years were. I think we should target the league in 2021 and try to win some big games as we have no been shown up three years in a row. It’s not a lack of quality or game plan, it’s a mentality. It was so obvious from 15 mins in that Cavan were going to be more up for it and donegal just can’t afford to be half-arsed in Attitude.

willabur

Lads,

Cavan man here. Can I just say your guys are a credit to ye how they reacted to the result yesterday. No doubt they looked beyond yesterday to bigger prizes and as such it must have stung deeply. Despite that they hung around and paid respect to Cavan in their moment.
Massive respect lads, ye will come good again, too good not to

Nidgeweasel

Gallen was injured and Thompson was carrying a knock.

Donegalroyal

Really disappointing day, reminded me a lot of Monaghan in 2013 where we just looked stunned at the levels of intensity the opposition brought. Cavan played like a team possessed and we just did not match their aggression.

Hard to know where this team goes from here, really talented bunch, but, just seem to lack that edge and shy away when teams get in their faces. Don't think a new manager is necessarily the answer to that.

Gallen and Thompson would not have made the difference yesterday if they were fit, would not have been given the time and space on the ball. Really missed Mcmenamin and McFadden Ferry as they would have brought great tenacity, our defence just seemed to stand off them, lots of shadowing.

Well done to Cavan, full value for their victory.