Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

I think as draws go this wasn’t the worst outcome, not much by way of travel and plenty familiarity. I would have preferred Tyrone last but that’s ok. Decent opportunity to broaden the squad now, get some rest into Murphy.

It`s a better group than the one we would have been in had we lost the Ulster Final, but it`s still tougher than the other two groups. Not that I would for a second even think about sacrificing Ulster for a handier group, but from how crazy this format is for the AI Championship we would have been in a better position by losing to Monaghan who are in a group with Louth, Clare and Down.

That said, seeing as we are where we are. Tyrone first game gives us home advantage wheras last would have been a neutral venue, and I`m happier with our away game being Cavan than Mayo.

Got sorted this afternoon. Good value on the surface, but it will I suppose depend on which stand/terrace they allocate the tickets too. Can’t see them being premium seats.

Jason is a big loss for tomorrow. It really limits our options around the middle.

McGee is a big loss. On the plus side it`s good to see Ban Gallagher named on the bench. From the team published hopefully Patton will play. There was a lot of speculation that the injury he picked up in the Ulster final would rule him out.

https://highlandradio.com/2025/05/24/no-excuses-from-jim-mcguinness-we-just-didnt-show-up/

No excuses. Fair enough.

The drop of from Patton to Mulreany is huge and very disruptive. Stats might say we did ok on our own kick out but it was far from the sort of possessions we can expect with Patton in goals. This is 'fine' - not many (any?) counties have a goalie as good as SP and it's not reasonable to expect that his backup will be anywhere near his level.

Too many fellas seemed off the pace. Conditions didn't help handling or running but that's the same for both teams.

Folks giving out about Gallen but on the other side Canavan didn't score from play. It wasn't the sort of game where inside forwards got many chances. I don't buy it that he's 'hiding' etc.

Normally, DOB, Mogan, Ryan are scoring but Mogan didn't start, Ryan scored one and missed a few more and DOB well off it going both ways.

Losing McGonagle didn't help but that's the way, every team has to deal with injuries.

Thought that when we got the lead we'd see it out but like the Ulster Final, couldn't score for a long enough time after that.

Very disappointing but not fatal. It feels like this has been coming, pity it had to happen at home but it's probably our hardest game in the group.

Massive pressure on next 2 games. Even scoring difference needs to be a thing next day out - absolutely need to win, and can't take that for granted, but a good score might be important too.

Whatever happens next weekend, it will now really be decided by the Mayo game. Win and we're through but lose that and we could very well be out.

Was SMM injured? Felt he should have been on ahead of McHugh and OMcFF if he was fit.

McGee has missed a lot of time.

yere not losing to this current version of mayo. Mgmt have lost the dressing room and it’s a slow bicycle race to the end

it was a strange performance all round. Hard to tell where the problem lay. I think the best we can hope for is a preliminary quarter final. If we beat Cavan & Mayo that would be 4 points. If Tyrone lose to Mayo but beat Cavan they’d also have 4. Would they top the group on the head to head rule or does score difference apply in the first place, I know I’m making a lot of assumptions after one game but the permutations seem endless.

Thank you for the info, definitely all to play for, we need to be well prepped for Cavan next weekend.

Donegal cannot get Armagh again in the preliminaries or quarter-finals. However, they have a one third chance of meeting one of Armagh/Dublin/Galway in the preliminary QF, so it would might suit Donegal for Armagh to be in the preliminary QFs as they could not meet them and the other probable teams Louth etc are more manageable. On the other hand if Armagh headed their group, then two QF opponents (Armagh and Tyrone) would be ruled out for Donegal, so it would be a toss between Kerry or Monaghan. Donegal might prefer another Ulster game in that choice.

That was poor. As a spectator, getting absolutely drowned as well as the late throw-in didn’t help.

Hard to know where to start. I thought Murphy, Langan, Roarty, Ryan, McCole and EBG did well, and Hughie seemed to put in a huge energy even if one of his mistakes led to a point on the other end. Bar McBrearty’s miss when he came, he did well with the two pointer, and was starved of possession afterwards.

Daire O Baoill is far too inconsistent to start, and I think we need mimic Armagh to have two good keepers going forward for next year. We have a forwards problem. I could see Paddy being over the hill next year, with very little on the horizon to replace him, looking at the club scene. Donegal, even through our bleak years produced lethal forwards, but now seem to be producing great half backs, probably as a result of nobody wanting to play in the forward line during the defensive football era, as they were always marked by too many defenders, making it a hateful job.
Really surprised NOD didn’t get a starting berth, and more surprised he wasn’t brought on as a sub? Was he injured.

COD didn’t turn up. Oisin needs to be benched and used as an impact sub to earn his spot.

McGonagle looked in serious discomfort walking across the field to the dugouts when the game was over. It didn’t look good.

If I remember right, Jim said last year before the deciding and implementation of our current rules, which have resulted in more scores, that you need 24pts to win a match. The 20pts we managed fell short of what’s needed in new money, and with only 5 players getting on the scoresheet, our spread was criminally thin.

Either way, I don’t think we’ve the squad depth to survive a one week break to the quarter finals and think that the game ultimately blew our best chance of an all ireland this year.

It's no coincidence that the only remaining unbeaten team in the Championship are Kerry. Donegal have played top tier teams from the word go & it's going to be difficult from here on in. We need a big performance against Cavan. Mayo have always been a bogey team for us & it's hard to gauge just where they are right now. It's virtually knock out football from now on.

A win against Cavan is essential, a preliminary quarter final is the best we can hope for & maybe the draw will be kind to us.