Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

downthemiddle · 05-08-2018 10:06PM

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

You make it sound like it’s my first time.

I hope Monaghan beat them. I'd hate to have to support the Dubs in the final.

Ceist_Beag · 05-08-2018 11:05PM

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

I’ll need to watch it back but it was surprising how many of our boys were gassing with 10-15 to play.

This. We were empty even before the first goal and were hanging on. Tyrone were physically stronger and fitter and this is what won it for them. Not sure about some of the substitutions but I'm not sure if it would have mattered who we brought on. Leo was very good for about 15 minutes in the second half but disappeared after that. Murphy was very poor today, he has some days like that where he just looks stuck to the ground. We made some poor choices but I think some of that was down to tiredness and some due to inexperience (Langan and Brennan made a number of these in the second half)
But hey the team is young and it's been a good season so hopefully they can learn from this.

Ceist_Beag · 05-08-2018 11:08PM

That **** of throwing in the ball to stop kickouts too, it happened in Monaghan Kerry and again today, it needs to stop.

Don2012 · 05-08-2018 11:14PM

Although we had a good season I still find today hard to take in, threw it away in the second half and losing at home. And to top it all off on the way home I had tyrone supporters say to me "what happened! And use Ulster Champions too" grrrrrrr...

doc_17 · 05-08-2018 11:47PM

Amprodude wrote: »

absolutely a freak goal.

2 freak goals

doc_17 · 05-08-2018 11:54PM

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

That **** of throwing in the ball to stop kickouts too, it happened in Monaghan Kerry and again today, it needs to stop.

It’s funny, the first time I ever saw that was DB’s teams at minor/21. Karma perhapss

I hope Monaghan hammer the ****e out of them. There’s nothing you could like about them. Nothing.

The next Tyrone f****r that says Joe McQuillan is against them I swear to God I’ll take the head a the bas***d. Odhran scores a great point early in 2nd and immediately gets pulled to the ground...tries to get up and on with and gets pulled down again. McQuillan runs over and books both players.

babybuilder · 06-08-2018 12:13AM

Best team won. Tyrone s bench much more effective than ours. The game turned out as I feared. We couldn't match Tyrone when they stepped on the gas. However ten minutes into the second half we were four in the lead but fatigue to our key players coupled with the changes from the Tyrone bench finished us. Midfield were gone, paul Brennan getting turned over repeatedly, soloing down blind alleys and no one showing. Wouldn't agree about the majority of Tyrone supporters who I always find decent. Ref ruined the game with constant blowing up. I hope they beat Monaghan.

Nidgeweasel · 06-08-2018 12:58AM

downthemiddle wrote: »

I hope Monaghan beat them. I'd hate to have to support the Dubs in the final.

I’m used to it after 2013,2016,2017!

Ceist_Beag · 07-08-2018 08:55AM

doc_17 wrote: »

The next Tyrone f****r that says Joe McQuillan is against them I swear to God I’ll take the head a the bas***d. Odhran scores a great point early in 2nd and immediately gets pulled to the ground...tries to get up and on with and gets pulled down again. McQuillan runs over and books both players.

Look I know it goes against your point but there were definitely two of them in it. Odhran was very much pulling down Cavanagh as well - to prevent him being available for the kick out. I watched it from the start and both were guilty.
If there is one blatant point to argue with McQuillan it was the clear and obvious second yellow (or probably more correctly a black) for Cavanagh when he hauled down Ryan right in front of the referee! :mad: Joe looked at it, seemed to signal his intent to come back to it once play broke ... but then did absolutely nothing about it! That could have changed the outcome of the game.

Murphy14 · 07-08-2018 11:18AM

Lads the ref got calls wrong some would argue that Ryan could have got a black in1st half no doubting Cavanagh could have walked too but he had a massive game for them, again we lacked explosive pace when we could have turned the screw imho this was the time to bring in mulligan & O' Baoill. But look we were beaten we move on. On a side note the photo doing the rounds of a throne player making an obscene gesture to the crowd has no place in our games

LoughNeagh2017 · 07-08-2018 01:08PM

I noticed that the Donegal trainer is my old PE teacher, him and Tony Collins former Fermanagh player were the teachers at the time, they made everyone call them sir in the roll call, if you forgot they would wait until you remembered.

In other matters, Donegal fans always miss out on such an easy sledge on Tyrone people, County Tyrone is named after a Donegal man, Eoghan MacNeill, maybe they didn't teach that at school, I didn't know either until I read it on wikipedia.

charlie14 · 07-08-2018 01:14PM

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

Look I know it goes against your point but there were definitely two of them in it. Odhran was very much pulling down Cavanagh as well - to prevent him being available for the kick out. I watched it from the start and both were guilty.
If there is one blatant point to argue with McQuillan it was the clear and obvious second yellow (or probably more correctly a black) for Cavanagh when he hauled down Ryan right in front of the referee! :mad: Joe looked at it, seemed to signal his intent to come back to it once play broke ... but then did absolutely nothing about it! That could have changed the outcome of the game.

McQuillan clearly chickened out on that call. To me at least he clearly signaled intent to come back to it. Said to the nephew at the time "that`s Cavanagh gone". Couldn`t believe he then so blatantly ignored it.
The other was the incident that led to McNiallais having to go off. Right in front of us with McQuillan not a yard away watching it McNaillais had two hands wrapped around his waist and dragged down. He just ignored it and when McNaillais was obviously in trouble, then came back as if he hadn`t a clue what happened.

Thought Tyrone sold him enough pups on the day when diving in on outstretched arms for him to open kennels.
That said overall they were probably the better team, but some of their supporters really are a dose.
Happy enough with the year overall. Never thought we were yet up to the level required to win an AI this year, and after watching them Sunday at least I will console myself that barring Dublin falling apart, they are not good enough to win it either.

LoughNeagh2017 · 07-08-2018 01:14PM

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

A terrible breed of people. Loud, obnoxious, arrogant. Hopefully they spent plenty around the place anyway and the place gets a good wash after they’ve gone home.

On the game, didn’t expect to win but thought we looked ok. Definitely deserving winners they way they pushed on and won it. McNamee and Cavanagh exceptional. Quite concerning how badly it unraveled for us but they are more experienced and clearly better conditioned.

Ulster championship highlight of an otherwise ‘ok’ year with plenty to improve on.

I dislike them too but only because of how they always try to claim things as their own like the red hand and the O'Neills, I am O'Neill of county Derry hence why they irritate me.

flasher0030 · 07-08-2018 02:19PM

doc_17 wrote: »

It’s funny, the first time I ever saw that was DB’s teams at minor/21. Karma perhapss

I hope Monaghan hammer the ****e out of them. There’s nothing you could like about them. Nothing.

The next Tyrone f****r that says Joe McQuillan is against them I swear to God I’ll take the head a the bas***d. Odhran scores a great point early in 2nd and immediately gets pulled to the ground...tries to get up and on with and gets pulled down again. McQuillan runs over and books both players.

Mattie Donnelly?? Outstanding footballer. Getting through 3 Donegal players, and pointed off the left peg.

Nidgeweasel · 07-08-2018 06:02PM

flasher0030 wrote: »

Mattie Donnelly?? Outstanding footballer. Getting through 3 Donegal players, and pointed off the left peg.

In other words, a Tyrone huar.

doc_17 · 07-08-2018 06:53PM

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

Look I know it goes against your point but there were definitely two of them in it. Odhran was very much pulling down Cavanagh as well - to prevent him being available for the kick out. I watched it from the start and both were guilty.
If there is one blatant point to argue with McQuillan it was the clear and obvious second yellow (or probably more correctly a black) for Cavanagh when he hauled down Ryan right in front of the referee! :mad: Joe looked at it, seemed to signal his intent to come back to it once play broke ... but then did absolutely nothing about it! That could have changed the outcome of the game.

Not that I’m gonna fall out with about it but what Cavanagh did merited a black, twice. He pulled Odhran to the ground twice. MacNiallais did nothing but try and get up. As for interfering with him winning the kick out, a couple of shoves, same as Meyler(or was it McShane marking Ryan - I always get them mixed up!!) was at ALL DAY LONG.

Lads, we were robbed blind with how Cavanagh was allowed to play on Sunday and it’s mot good enough. This thing of both teams at it is nonsense. Not to that extent. Both teams will walk the tightrope but Cavanagh cut the tightrope down with the referee watching.

Redsoxfan · 07-08-2018 08:53PM

Well, that was very disappointing if not exactly surprising.

Game followed a standard template for Donegal Championship performances this year up to the 4th quarter. But then, meltdown. Once Tyrone scored the goal, I feared the worst. We actually kept in touch briefly, but they ran us ragged in the last 10 plus added time. But any day Paddy McGrath scores a point you feel it's going to be a good day.

Tyrone didn't really do anything surprising, they did what they always do. What was a surprise was the impact of their bench, with Brennan the chief danger. Let's face it, he was somewhat of an unknown quantity at this level because he got injured when he did. But it always looked like they had the stronger bench than us, it just didn't feel like it was going to be so significant.

But they also got big games from their more experienced players - McNamee, Cavanagh, Harte (late on), Morgan (somewhat) and Donnelly all had serious impact. Other than Frank McGlynn, I can't really say who of the Donegal older generation played well.
It was as well Eoghan Ban started. It could well have been worse without him.

Dunno at all at all about some of the subs we made. I can only assume Frank was taken off for GPS reasons or else it was arranged in advance. Brennan an obvious choice to replace, but I don't know if he's good enough. Martin McElhinney? Why now? He has missed a lot of time. Couldn't see how he was going to have an impact and sure enough, did nothing. Mark McHugh was on far too early - his only role now should be to kill time. Good to see Niall O'Donnell getting his first championship point but others might wonder why he was ahead of them. No issue with Marty O'Reilly - more like the sort of player we needed to see. A Thompson? Hardly likely to have an impact the way we needed. We didn't see enough of the others come the Championship to know if they are really good enough.

Not going to cry about the referee. He took action against Tyrone early for the usual ****e that happens to Ryan McHugh that most referees ignore. And, if Cavanagh should have gone, you could say the same for McLoone. And Ryan McHugh himself seemed to fear the worst when Joe went in to consult with the umpires. Some soft enough scoreable frees for both sides. And our crude 'tackling' on Donnelly and Meyler didn't leave him with much choice when they ran at us.

Leo McLoone did well at times but **** me he was a liability defending against the run.

We didn't beat anyone better than us at the start of the year. 14 man Kildare in the league and away to Roscommon in the championship are the 'marquee' wins but that's pushing it - everyone else beat them too.

A few things need to happen now IMHO

If we are going to commit so many to the attack, all our players need to be comfortable in possession. This is clearly not the case at the moment. We also need more pace. Ryan McHugh can't do it all.

Getting back to Division One would be good, but the biggest issue for me in the league next year is build the squad we need to compete with the likes of Tyrone for 70+ minutes. Guys like Mulligan and O'Baoil and Stephen McBrearty need to see more game time. Michael Carroll should be encouraged to return, and after Sunday I'd nearly like to see Eoin McHugh back involved. Niall O'Donnell and Jason McGee will hopefully commit to the Seniors. And we need more beyond that. Are McCleneghan and McGonagle good enough? Need to find out more next year. There's at least 3 or 4 who started or came on at the weekend who don't look good enough at the highest level.

Patton was a good addition. Eoghan Ban looks like being a top quality player. Langan showed flashes, but not enough to say what his long term prospects are. Jamie Brennan will be a fine complementary player to Paddy. I don't know about Stephen McMenamin one way or another. Other than Eoghan Ban all of them have things to work on next year.

Paddy needs to be given all the time he needs to come back in the best possible shape.

And doesn't it seem like the old 'strength and conditioning' need work?

Anyway, all the best to Monaghan.

babybuilder · 09-08-2018 11:52AM

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Well, that was very disappointing if not exactly surprising.

Game followed a standard template for Donegal Championship performances this year up to the 4th quarter. But then, meltdown. Once Tyrone scored the goal, I feared the worst. We actually kept in touch briefly, but they ran us ragged in the last 10 plus added time. But any day Paddy McGrath scores a point you feel it's going to be a good day.

Tyrone didn't really do anything surprising, they did what they always do. What was a surprise was the impact of their bench, with Brennan the chief danger. Let's face it, he was somewhat of an unknown quantity at this level because he got injured when he did. But it always looked like they had the stronger bench than us, it just didn't feel like it was going to be so significant.

But they also got big games from their more experienced players - McNamee, Cavanagh, Harte (late on), Morgan (somewhat) and Donnelly all had serious impact. Other than Frank McGlynn, I can't really say who of the Donegal older generation played well.
It was as well Eoghan Ban started. It could well have been worse without him.

Dunno at all at all about some of the subs we made. I can only assume Frank was taken off for GPS reasons or else it was arranged in advance. Brennan an obvious choice to replace, but I don't know if he's good enough. Martin McElhinney? Why now? He has missed a lot of time. Couldn't see how he was going to have an impact and sure enough, did nothing. Mark McHugh was on far too early - his only role now should be to kill time. Good to see Niall O'Donnell getting his first championship point but others might wonder why he was ahead of them. No issue with Marty O'Reilly - more like the sort of player we needed to see. A Thompson? Hardly likely to have an impact the way we needed. We didn't see enough of the others come the Championship to know if they are really good enough.

Not going to cry about the referee. He took action against Tyrone early for the usual ****e that happens to Ryan McHugh that most referees ignore. And, if Cavanagh should have gone, you could say the same for McLoone. And Ryan McHugh himself seemed to fear the worst when Joe went in to consult with the umpires. Some soft enough scoreable frees for both sides. And our crude 'tackling' on Donnelly and Meyler didn't leave him with much choice when they ran at us.

Leo McLoone did well at times but **** me he was a liability defending against the run.

We didn't beat anyone better than us at the start of the year. 14 man Kildare in the league and away to Roscommon in the championship are the 'marquee' wins but that's pushing it - everyone else beat them too.

A few things need to happen now IMHO

If we are going to commit so many to the attack, all our players need to be comfortable in possession. This is clearly not the case at the moment. We also need more pace. Ryan McHugh can't do it all.

Getting back to Division One would be good, but the biggest issue for me in the league next year is build the squad we need to compete with the likes of Tyrone for 70+ minutes. Guys like Mulligan and O'Baoil and Stephen McBrearty need to see more game time. Michael Carroll should be encouraged to return, and after Sunday I'd nearly like to see Eoin McHugh back involved. Niall O'Donnell and Jason McGee will hopefully commit to the Seniors. And we need more beyond that. Are McCleneghan and McGonagle good enough? Need to find out more next year. There's at least 3 or 4 who started or came on at the weekend who don't look good enough at the highest level.

Patton was a good addition. Eoghan Ban looks like being a top quality player. Langan showed flashes, but not enough to say what his long term prospects are. Jamie Brennan will be a fine complementary player to Paddy. I don't know about Stephen McMenamin one way or another. Other than Eoghan Ban all of them have things to work on next year.

Paddy needs to be given all the time he needs to come back in the best possible shape.

And doesn't it seem like the old 'strength and conditioning' need work?

Anyway, all the best to Monaghan.

Met former all Ireland winning manager other day. He mentioned us needing 4 or 5 additions to the panel in order to complete at the next level. Have to agree. Also, we need more dynamic individuals who have a turn of pace as well as good footballing skills.

Redsoxfan · 09-08-2018 12:10PM

And we need our full forward to play as a forward. This is no longer a debate for me.

charlie14 · 09-08-2018 02:00PM

Redsoxfan wrote: »

And we need our full forward to play as a forward. This is no longer a debate for me.

I would love to see Murphy permanently played at full forward, but we really need to get at least one more mid-fielder who can actually field a high ball. Hugh Mc Fadden showed some good glimpses this year, but in saying that the quality of the opposition has to be considered. Plus his tackling isn`t the greatest. Totally wrong footed on a number of occasions on Sunday. McLoone works hard and is industrious around the center, but McElhinney didn`t add much when coming in.
Jamie Brennan can win ball, but what he does with it when he gets it is a problem.He seems to have no confidence to shoot when close in, certainly not for goal, and ran into blind alleys getting turned over. That may be harsh on the lad, but there is definitely potential there.

McNiallais I felt at times this year showed what he can be capable off.
Patton has come on in leaps and bounds and a great find, although there were times this year we were not giving him options on some kick-outs that we could have.

Our defense I am still not convinced, that may be as much too do with how we now play as anything, but when you see how Tyrone backs can strip a player off a ball even on a one to one, then there is something lacking there imo.

Hopefully for the league lads like Eoin McHugh, Martin O Reilly, Stephen Mc Brearty, Niall O Donnelly, and young Mulligan will commit and get experience and that Paddy comes back as good as ever.
Regardless, I am certainly a lot more optimistic at the end of this year than I have been for the last few, so fair play to Bonner, all his management team and especially all the panel for their commitment and again giving us a team we can be proud off.

doc_17 · 10-08-2018 09:46AM

So all leagues have to be finished before championship gets underway. Gonna put a wee bit of pressure on some division 2 teams to get it done.

Just saw that it was costing €15000 per week to run the senior team in May. That isn’t sustainable when couple wothnthe increasing number of games supporters are attending. Donegal have had 19 matches this year. It’s hard to turn to those supporters and try and fundraise off them.

charlie14 · 10-08-2018 08:50PM

doc_17 wrote: »

So all leagues have to be finished before championship gets underway. Gonna put a wee bit of pressure on some division 2 teams to get it done.

Just saw that it was costing €15000 per week to run the senior team in May. That isn’t sustainable when couple wothnthe increasing number of games supporters are attending. Donegal have had 19 matches this year. It’s hard to turn to those supporters and try and fundraise off them.

Pretty much the norm nowadays it seems. 2017 the Roscommon county secretary said their senior football team was costing 15,000 per week and that was with Croke Park oversight because of a rescue mission due to a 550,000 debt.
2017 the spend by the Donegal county board covering all county teams was 952,887. An increase of 50,155 from 2016.

With the increase in ticket revenue from the Super 8`s compared to the old Q/F system, and with us reaching them plus winning Ulster, I would imagine the monies from both the Ulster Council and Croke Park should be well up on what the county board received last year.

doc_17 · 10-08-2018 09:05PM

charlie14 wrote: »

Pretty much the norm nowadays it seems. 2017 the Roscommon county secretary said their senior football team was costing 15,000 per week and that was with Croke Park oversight because of a rescue mission due to a 550,000 debt.
2017 the spend by the Donegal county board covering all county teams was 952,887. An increase of 50,155 from 2016.

With the increase in ticket revenue from the Super 8`s compared to the old Q/F system, and with us reaching them plus winning Ulster, I would imagine the monies from both the Ulster Council and Croke Park should be well up on what the county board received last year.

The finances are on a knife edge. Struggling to get funding for the training centre. Co Board meetings aren’t about clubs anymore, they’re about raising money to keep the senior team going. And I know that’s all a lot of Donegal supporters care about but we’re running clubs and club football into the ground.

charlie14 · 10-08-2018 09:28PM

doc_17 wrote: »

The finances are on a knife edge. Struggling to get funding for the training centre. Co Board meetings aren’t about clubs anymore, they’re about raising money to keep the senior team going. And I know that’s all a lot of Donegal supporter care about but we’re running clubs and club football into the ground.

Couldn`t agree more, but that is just how it is all over the country. Counties with deep pockets are throwing money at county teams trying to buy success and the rest are forced to follow if for nothing other than running to stand still.

If they should fall back in the pecking order then they are afraid they will end up in a downward spiral with ever decreasing supporters paying through the gate and subsequent loss of sponsorship revenue

It`s a crazy situation that is heading the way of rugby where provincial teams are draining money that would in the past have gone to local teams to develop young players. Same as GAA county teams and clubs.

The only way I can see it changing for the betterment of GAA overall is for Croke Park to impose caps on what can be spent on county teams.
Going by the situation in Roscommon in 2017 where they were spending 15,000 a week on their senior football team where there was Croke Park oversight due to a 550,000 debt, it doesn`t look as if we will get capped figures from there anytime soon.

doc_17 · 10-08-2018 09:45PM

charlie14 wrote: »

Couldn`t agree more, but that is just how it is all over the country. Counties with deep pockets are throwing money at county teams trying to buy success and the rest are forced to follow if for nothing other than running to stand still.

If they should fall back in the pecking order then they are afraid they will end up in a downward spiral with ever decreasing supporters paying through the gate and subsequent loss of sponsorship revenue

It`s a crazy situation that is heading the way of rugby where provincial teams are draining money that would in the past have gone to local teams to develop young players. Same as GAA county teams and clubs.

The only way I can see it changing for the betterment of GAA overall is for Croke Park to impose caps on what can be spent on county teams.
Going by the situation in Roscommon in 2017 where they were spending 15,000 a week on their senior football team where there was Croke Park oversight due to a 550,000 debt, it doesn`t look as if we will get capped figures from there anytime soon.

Gate receipts in the main go to provincial councils and Croke Park. You can’t fund this madnes through that.

Redsoxfan · 10-08-2018 10:13PM

Who the **** spends that money on a field in Convoy...

doc_17 · 10-08-2018 10:59PM

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Who the **** spends that money on a field in Convoy...

It’s needed. There’s 4 fields there’s now and each one being used. The real cost is the building

Redsoxfan · 10-08-2018 11:00PM

doc_17 wrote:

Itâ€™s needed. Thereâ€™s 4 fields thereâ€™s now and each one being used. The real cost is the building

Of course it's needed.

The money paid for the field at the time it was paid was highly questionable.

charlie14 · 10-08-2018 11:27PM

doc_17 wrote: »

Gate receipts in the main go to provincial councils and Croke Park. You can’t fund this madnes through that.

They do, but the further a team goes in their provincial championship and the AI series the more they receive from both afaik.

I`m not condoning the sums spent on county teams, but unless Croke Park steps in and does something about it, I cannot see it changing.
Like RSF when it comes to spending vast sums of money you do not have, I would have great doubts about the wisdom of these so called centers of excellence.

charlie14 · 10-08-2018 11:34PM

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Of course it's needed.

The money paid for the field at the time it was paid was highly questionable.

Could have been worse.
The Galway Hurling Board have abandoned their plans for a center at Athenry taking a 2 - 2.5 million hit on the purchase price of the land.

Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

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