Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

Slattsy

Well done lads.
Have to admit I thought we'd win comfortably but by God I called that wrong.
Ye were immense and thoroughly deserved it.
Go win it now!

ArielAtom

Lads,

Big congrats. I thought it was going to be a tight one with Dublin nicking it. I can't see Kerry living with ye after yesterdays performance.

Again well done from a gutted Dub.

PS. Football was also a winner yesterday.

muffler

ArielAtom wrote: »

PS. Football was also a winner yesterday.

No truer words

Great football from Donegal yesterday, clean good counter attacking football. The cynical football has transferred to Kerry this year it appears, however the Kerry biased media will not bring attention to that.

Hope ye win the final ye're the only team that deserve it at this stage .;)

Rightwing

Well done to Dún na nGall. Hope you go on and beat Kerry now, and beat them good.

Ceist_Beag

I have to say, walking out of Croke Park yesterday was the proudest I've ever felt as a Donegal man. Minors were magnificent and showed the same composure we've come to expect from the seniors so it's great to see that the influence is extending beyond the senior panel. Jim McGuinness walk tall my man, you are forever ingrained in our hearts. You are an absolute genius of a man and the team are to a man heroes all. I don't think I've ever witnessed such a heroic, confident, controlled display of football against what I think will still be regarded as possibly the best football team ever (I fully expect Dublin to be the dominant team of the decade).
The two McGees and Paddy, what a truly outstanding fullback line. Big Neil and Odhran were immense in midfield, real men and some of the fielding by themselves and Murphy was magnificent (along with some exceptional fielding by Dublin as well). Ryan McHugh, what can I say, an absolute diamond of a player. I could name all 19/20 players who played a part yesterday to be honest.
As Nidge said, we're going for another AI - I don't think anyone in the county even thought about that until now, wtf indeed!

boxer.fan

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

I have to say, walking out of Croke Park yesterday was the proudest I've ever felt as a Donegal man. Minors were magnificent and showed the same composure we've come to expect from the seniors so it's great to see that the influence is extending beyond the senior panel. Jim McGuinness walk tall my man, you are forever ingrained in our hearts. You are an absolute genius of a man and the team are to a man heroes all. I don't think I've ever witnessed such a heroic, confident, controlled display of football against what I think will still be regarded as possibly the best football team ever (I fully expect Dublin to be the dominant team of the decade).
The two McGees and Paddy, what a truly outstanding fullback line. Big Neil and Odhran were immense in midfield, real men and some of the fielding by themselves and Murphy was magnificent (along with some exceptional fielding by Dublin as well). Ryan McHugh, what can I say, an absolute diamond of a player. I could name all 19/20 players who played a part yesterday to be honest.
As Nidge said, we're going for another AI - I don't think anyone in the county even thought about that until now, wtf indeed!

Well said.

I think Christy Toye deserves a mention. Things seemed to turn around as soon as he came on the field.

CurryFlavoured

Well done on the deserved win.

Your players are a credit and McGuinness is a fantastic manager. He had a plan and nobody panicked when you went behind, we were well beaten on the sideline for sure. McGee, Murph and Gallagher were top class, McHugh is a star as well. Very clever footballer.

Redsoxfan

Still can't believe it. What a great afternoon in Croke Park.

A brilliant win for our minors - let's not forget that this was the first time these lads had played in Croke Park - set the tone. I'd love to see Stephen McBrearty with the senior team next year.

As for the seniors, well, there are no words. I knew we could do it, I just didn't think we would. We got a few wee breaks, but we were very good regardless.

Special mention for Colm Anthony. I'm on record in this thread saying that I wouldn't have started him. That wee smile after his goal into the Hill end - priceless. Delighted for him.

I signed off the forum in the lead up to the game becuase a lot of what was being said about Donegal was too hard to stomach. Fair play to those of ye who stuck your neck out and called the win and stuck up for Jim and our players.

Hard to believe we're in our second All Ireland Final in three years and our minors are there too. A great time to be a Donegal supporter.

Nidgeweasel

My head hurts.

Timmyctc

Ah. The old Donegal winning hangover. How I havent missed it.

royster999

Is this McGuinness' last year ?

Timmyctc

royster999 wrote: »

Is this McGuinness' last year ?

He intimated as much pre-Championship afair

K-9

royster999 wrote: »

Is this McGuinness' last year ?

Who knows? They've a chance to not just go down in Donegal GAA history but the overall history of the GAA as a damn, fine team.

Still hasn't sunk in. Gallagher, Frank McGlynn, McNiallis, McBrearty (hard to believe some don't rate him) all deserve mention too, and as said, Colm was fantastic considering the form he was in. Very unselfish, simple pass for the first goal when the obvious thing to do was punch it over the bar.

Timmyctc

K-9 wrote: »

Who knows? They've a chance to not just go down in Donegal GAA history but the overall history of the GAA as a damn, fine team.

Still hasn't sunk in. Gallagher, Frank McGlynn, McNiallis, McBrearty (hard to believe some don't rate him) all deserve mention too, and as said, Colm was fantastic considering the form he was in. Very unselfish, simple pass for the first goal when the obvious thing to do was punch it over the bar.

What did Colm end up with scorewise yday?

royster999

Timmyctc wrote: »

He intimated as much pre-Championship afair

Be some way to cap it off by winning an AI given the obstacles he's had the last year
!

K-9

Timmyctc wrote: »

What did Colm end up with scorewise yday?

1-3

keane2097

If Donegal win it again this year Jim will have to go down as amongst the very, very greatest managers ever in the game even after such a short tenure in charge.

Pretty amazing stuff, who would have thought two weeks ago that Donegal would end up favourites for the All Ireland!?

Looking forward to a great day out, had a lot of fun with Donegal fans after the QF in 2012.

Cartel Mike

I'd say Devenney's original predictions in hindsight looked pretty spot on . Although I caught a few mins of Off the ball on the radio on Friday and he all but retracted most of it .Probably kicking himself now tbf!

I think it's fair to say judging from his articles and commentary that Brolly is all but an honorary donegal man these days and he had written up the donegal/dublin meeting months ago with as usual some very insightfull analysis.He gets a hard time but imo opinion there isn't anyone out there with that same level of insighfullnes. He looked imo a bit imotional after the game yesterday like he was really relieved we'd won.

BonnieSituation

I'm just about to re-watch it. But Spillane has already wound me up with his comments about the game on Saturday.

Looking forward to seeing that 15-20min change.

shiibata

Well, first of all must hang my head in shame re thinking we would get thumped, should have known "in Jim we trust"....
Was in Bedford, England as the young fella was running in the UK Championships so had to hunt down place for watching the games.. Found an Irish pub and watched Mayo/Kerry Saturday, great drama and excitement, even the locals with no interest were glued to it, then after the game, the chit chat of how can Kerry stop Dublin and lads being very critical of Donegal....well, was i a proud man the next day, every neutral had gone from critical to being staunch Donegal fans...jaysus, what a performance....fair play to young McHugh, although when he kicked ball into Cluxton hands at 4-2 and they got 3 quick fire points after, i thought was gonna b turning point but was proved wrong again....fair play to all the players, all heroes but from what i seen on tv, thought big Neil was immense(will do the shop no harm,lol). Big Neil v Dublin power running game, well seemed only one winner there and the under dog prevailed strongly....Wee word of praise for the townie too, Frank the Tank....
As for Jim, well, if he hasnt buried all his critics 6 foot under now, he never will....
Obviously didnt see minor game but great credit due there too, first minor final ever....

Timmyctc

BonnieSituation wrote: »

I'm just about to re-watch it. But Spillane has already wound me up with his comments about the game on Saturday.

Looking forward to seeing that 15-20min change.

What did Spillane say this time?

BonnieSituation

Timmyctc wrote: »

What did Spillane say this time?

Ah just his usual "Kerry is the bastion of all that is glorious about football".

Completely neglected to talk about the ref or Mayo. I've the match paused while I listen to Off The Ball.

realweirdo

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Ah just his usual "Kerry is the bastion of all that is glorious about football".

Completely neglected to talk about the ref or Mayo. I've the match paused while I listen to Off The Ball.

Vomit inducing if he said that. Kerry are no different in some respects to any team in the modern era. At many stages of the game they had 10 or 12 men behind the ball like the best of the Northern teams. As for lumping it into the big man, it may be caveman football but it seems to work for them to a point. That point being when they come up against a manager who has half decent tactics, which Donegal will have.

keane2097

I think there's been slightly more to Kerry than lumping the ball into the big man over the course of the last two years tbf.

realweirdo

keane2097 wrote: »

I think there's been slightly more to Kerry than lumping the ball into the big man over the course of the last two years tbf.

Fair point, but you have to admit, it's plan B. And an effective plan B it has been when Kerry are up against it. Over the course of the two games, Donaghy played a massive part. JOD is a player Mayo can handle and did so in the first game, until Donaghy put the goal on a plate for him. In the second game too, Donaghy was a nightmare to handle for Cafferkey. The first Kerry penalty came through Donaghy. All in all, when you play a high ball into Donaghy it causes consternation in a defence that isn't set up to handle him, which Mayo weren't. The second penalty too he probably indirectly played a role.

In other words the high ball into Donaghy played a massive part of Kerry's draw the first day and win the second. I honestly don't think they could have won without him, talented and all that some Kerry forwards are.

I think if Donegal can cancel the Donaghy effect, they will win on AI final day and by a margin. McGuinness will know this.

keane2097

I'm not convinced he'll start the final at all, but not to drag the Donegal thread all akimbo the main point is Pat Spillane is a troll and hopefully people won't associate his opinions with the rest of us.

I think donegal's style of play is great to watch fwiw

harpsman

padd b1975 wrote: »

Very unfair on the rest if he does, couldn't. hack it when the chips were down so like Kevin Classidy it should only be guys with 100% total commitment at all times.

Ah now I think thats unfair on the lad-hes only 24 and hes given a huge amount to Donegal football already-i saw him play in the league and not only was he playing poorly but you could tell he was out of sorts mentally-the amount that these lads have to put in is superhuman for amateurs- you cant just skip a training session when youre not in the mood.

He also had college finals i think, so i think he made a brave decision to just walk away for a while when he wasnt physically or mentally able to give 100%.

BTW I would have thought theres absolute zero chance of him being called in for final.

The_Honeybadger

realweirdo wrote: »

I think if Donegal can cancel the Donaghy effect, they will win on AI final day and by a margin. McGuinness will know this.

Not sure what way fitzmaurice will play it but don't be surprised if Donaghy doesn't start the final. Pumping high balls on top of Donegals excellent defence will be pointless and fitzmaurice will know this. It would be extremely hard on Donaghy of course, who played a massive part on Saturday and in the first drawn game.

harpsman

yop wrote: »

Well done lads, I had ye at 7/1 to win it as I saw a major chance of a win. Dublin weren't tested and the game plan was superb.
Good luck in final.

Fair play-we were all sying 7/1 crazy but not many put their money...