Ulster SFC 2015

Tom Joad

Ulster SFChampionship 2015:

Not sure if this is a runner or not but here goes anyway. Apart from in the individual county threads and there are only 2 active Ulster county ones, there is very little talk about the Ulster Championship so this thread is an effort to get some discussions going, especially with such a mouth watering preliminary round fixture set for this weekend.

Draw is as follows:

Ulster Senior Football Championship 2015:
Preliminary Round:
Dún na nGall v Tír Eoghain
Quarter Finals:
An Cabhán v Muineachán
Fear Manach v Aontroim
Doire v An Dún
Ard Mhacha v Dún na nGall / Tír Eoghain
Semi Finals:
An Cabhán / Muineachán v Fear Manach / Aontroim
Doire / An Dún v Ard Mhacha / Dún na nGall / Tír Eoghain

For me it is one of the most open championships in many years and most counties would have to reckon they are in with a chance to win it. Monaghan are being tipped by many and with the easier side of the draw, they have to be hot favourites to make a final at the least. The other side is harder to predict any everyone of the counties on that side are in with a shout of making the final.

My own prediction is that Donegal will make it through the harder side of the draw and that Cavan will beat Monaghan in Breffni and make it to the final after a war of atttrition with Fermanagh. Who knows after that?

Pighead

Tom Joad wrote: »

Ulster SFChampionship 2015:

Not sure if this is a runner or not but here goes anyway. Apart from in the individual county threads and there are only 2 active Ulster county ones, there is very little talk about the Ulster Championship so this thread is an effort to get some discussions going, especially with such a mouth watering preliminary round fixture set for this weekend.

Draw is as follows:

Ulster Senior Football Championship 2015:
Preliminary Round:
Dún na nGall v Tír Eoghain
Quarter Finals:
An Cabhán v Muineachán
Fear Manach v Aontroim
Doire v An Dún
Ard Mhacha v Dún na nGall / Tír Eoghain
Semi Finals:
An Cabhán / Muineachán v Fear Manach / Aontroim
Doire / An Dún v Ard Mhacha / Dún na nGall / Tír Eoghain

For me it is one of the most open championships in many years and most counties would have to reckon they are in with a chance to win it. Monaghan are being tipped by many and with the easier side of the draw, they have to be hot favourites to make a final at the least. The other side is harder to predict any everyone of the counties on that side are in with a shout of making the final.

My own prediction is that Donegal will make it through the harder side of the draw and that Cavan will beat Monaghan in Breffni and make it to the final after a war of atttrition with Fermanagh. Who knows after that?

Cavan to beat Monaghan? Doubt it. Monaghan have improved from last year while it seems Cavan have gone backwards slightly.

Would be a big shock if this Monaghan side can't reach the final. They are used to big games and with the two Wylies, Darren Hughes, Conor McManus and a resurgent Paul Finlay Monaghan can boast five genuine top class players to help see off the likes of Cavan.

Tom Joad

Pighead wrote: »

Cavan to beat Monaghan? Doubt it. Monaghan have improved from last year while it seems Cavan have gone backwards slightly.

Would be a big shock if this Monaghan side can't reach the final. They are used to big games and with the two Wylies, Darren Hughes, Conor McManus and a resurgent Paul Finlay Monaghan can boast five genuine top class players to help see off the likes of Cavan.

All this comes with the health warning that a) I'm from Cavan and b) I'm a blind optimist. (actual both things go well together).

It's in Breffni and a local derby so anything is possible.

shrewdness

Pighead wrote: »

Cavan to beat Monaghan? Doubt it. Monaghan have improved from last year while it seems Cavan have gone backwards slightly.

Would be a big shock if this Monaghan side can't reach the final. They are used to big games and with the two Wylies, Darren Hughes, Conor McManus and a resurgent Paul Finlay Monaghan can boast five genuine top class players to help see off the likes of Cavan.

I'd have Dessie Mone up there as one of their better players too, while Beggan has also become an important player for them.

However it seems Darren Hughes is a big doubt for the Cavan game, which is a massive blow as Monaghan are light enough around midfield as it is. I'd still expect Monaghan to win but it won't be easy. They're away in a local derby, so they'll have to be on form to secure the win as Cavan will definitely fancy their chances.

Alvin Holler

I'd be fairly confident that we (donegal) have the best team but whether we can string four wins together is going to be tough. I'd love to beat armagh in the athletic grounds anyway.

Hopefully Cavan can get a run either in Ulster or more likely the qualifiers.

LiamNeeson

Derry will shock people this year, Derry perform better when they aren't in the spotlight

Pighead

Monaghan V Donegal it is once more. Third year in a row these teams have reached the final which backs up the opinion that they are the two best teams in Ulster at the moment.

Can't believe that the bookies have Monaghan at 9/4 to win this one. Would have thought the odds would have been a lot shorter than that with maybe Donegal edging favouritism. Good news for Monaghan is that Drew Wylie is back in contention for a starting place following his cruciate scare. Will be a very physical, very close game but I fancy Monaghan to edge it. They've had a very good league campaign and this team have been involved in quite a number of big games over the last two or three years so shouldn't be phased for what will be a titantic battle.

cj maxx

So it seems that as expected monaghan and donegal have got to the final .
I was expecting a great game but weather forecast is for rain during the game which would hamper Monaghan a bit more i think than Donegal . If its tight near the end i think monaghans bench might nick it . Monaghan by 3 ( i hope ! )

Tom Joad

Really hard to predict how this will go and I can't see there being too much in it.

Will go for Monaghan to sneak it by a point and hopefully Cavan to beat Derry in the minor game.

Nidgeweasel

Monaghan's bench is key and I fear that will be the difference.

Boom__Boom

Looking at the teams both Donegal and Monaghan have played and how they have got on in their other championship games.

Monaghan 0-16 Cavan 0-15
Monaghan 1-20 Fermanagh 0-13

Cavan 2-22 London 0-11 - London were pretty poor by all accounts, which seems to be a big factor in the size of the score Cavan put up.
Cavan 1-16 Roscommon 3-17 - Cavan were very poor and Roscommon had it fairly comfortable
Fermanagh 1-21 Antrim 0-11 - A big win
Fermanagh 1-14 Roscomomon 0-16 - A very decent win - one of the sides who got promoted to Division 2 beating a side who got promoted to Division 1

Donegal 1-13 Tyrone 1-10
Donegal 2-11 Armagh 0-8
Donegal 1-09 Derry 0-10

Tyrone 1-14 Limerick 0-8 Tyrone ground out the win at home against a limited Limerick side.
Tyrone 1-10 Meath 0-11 - Goal was critical in a narrow win over an average enough Meath side
Armagh 2-17 Wicklow 2-7 - 2-3 to no score in the last 10 minutes with Wicklow missing 8 out of 9 kickable frees mean the scoreline doesn't really show how poor this was.
Armagh 0-12 Galway 1-12 - Galway were only average enough but Armagh were worse by all accounts.
Derry 1-17 Wexford 0-10 - Derry at home had it very comfortable against a Wexford side who got relegated to Division 4 and had pulled off a shock in the previous round by knocking out Down.

It's very hard to nail anything concrete down but Fermanagh's form has been good/very good since they lost to Monaghan while Cavan didn't really impress in the London game and looked very poor in the game against Roscommon. Tyrone have ground out wins but never looked like serious contenders while Armagh in the 2 games since the Donegal game have shown absolutely terrible form. Derry got a win over Wexford but the value of it has to be considered a bit questionable as Wexford would have known the odds of pulling off 2 shocks in a row were remote.

Redsoxfan

In 2013, Monaghan beat Antrim and Cavan on the way to the Final. And didn't look great. Donegal beat Tyrone and Down. Counted for nothing in the Final.

In 2014, Donegal beat Derry and Antrim. Monaghan beat Tyrone and Armagh. Didn't count for much in the Final.

Paths to the Final are irrelevant as far as I am concerned. Neither team has looked great in getting here, and as Rory Gallagher is fond of saying, Sunday's game 'will take on a life of it's own'. I wouldn't expect much of a spectacle. I just hope Donegal do better than what I saw in Letterkenny in March, which was the worst game of football I have ever attended.

Redsoxfan

Tom Joad wrote: »

Will go for Monaghan to sneak it by a point and hopefully Cavan to beat Derry in the minor game.

Whole Derry pulled a shock in the semi-final, I was very impressed with them. Very physical in the tackle, and have a proper star in Conor Glass. It would have been harsh on them if Donegal had scored that last minute penalty as they were much the better team. I know that this Cavan team come in with a good pedigree, but if Derry can match their semi-final performance, I wouldn't be surprised to see them winning. It's a pity we didn't make it a Donegal double header, but I'm looking forward to seeing the minor match anyway.

Tom Joad

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Whole Derry pulled a shock in the semi-final, I was very impressed with them. Very physical in the tackle, and have a proper star in Conor Glass. It would have been harsh on them if Donegal had scored that last minute penalty as they were much the better team. I know that this Cavan team come in with a good pedigree, but if Derry can match their semi-final performance, I wouldn't be surprised to see them winning. It's a pity we didn't make it a Donegal double header, but I'm looking forward to seeing the minor match anyway.

I think everyone in Cavan was preparing to meet Donegal in the final but won't be underestimating Derry. Agree that Conor Glass is a class act and one to watch for the future. Are there a lot of them Derry lads from Watty Graham's?

A win for Cavan would give a wee lift to the county after such a disappointing senior championship.

Redsoxfan

Tom Joad wrote:

I think everyone in Cavan was preparing to meet Donegal in the final but won't be underestimating Derry. Agree that Conor Glass is a class act and one to watch for the future. Are there a lot of them Derry lads from Watty Graham's?

I think Donegal might have been preparing to meet Cavan too..

No idea of the composition of the Derry team as I didn't buy a programme that day.

Will there be much of a crowd travelling from Cavan? Trying to decide on departure time to get decent parking on that side town.

Tom Joad

Redsoxfan wrote: »

I think Donegal might have been preparing to meet Cavan too..

No idea of the composition of the Derry team as I didn't buy a programme that day.

Will there be much of a crowd travelling from Cavan? Trying to decide on departure time to get decent parking on that side town.

There was still tickets available in Breffni today so we haven't used our full allocation. I can't see a big Cavan crowd to be honest - unfortunately the early start is working against me and I won't make it myself as I have a race is Swords at 10am (Damn TV coverage )