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Donegal GAA Discussion Thread

harpsman

Thought I d throw this up see if theres any interest.
Opinions on new backroom team,reasons for departure of old one, McGuinness claim that his players had 9 games in 11 weeks during championship season, possible new players or anything else!!

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2moreMinutes

It's not that every loss we have ever suffered is followed by stories of drinking, unrest or falling out amongst the squad. To be fair, over the years, the stories were generally 100% factual.

It's that these stories are generally preceded by a loss. There's a very subtle difference between the two. The difference is also a very logical reason why these stories arise and it's not because anyone thinks we have a divine right to win every game so these stories are used as an excuse.
If you take a deep breath and think about these recent stories, they make perfect sense when taken in a chronological order instead of just lumping them all together as being unconnected 'typical stories'.

harpsman

2moreMinutes wrote: »

It's not that every loss we have ever suffered is followed by stories of drinking, unrest or falling out amongst the squad. To be fair, over the years, the stories were generally 100% factual.

It's that these stories are generally preceded by a loss. There's a very subtle difference between the two. The difference is also a very logical reason why these stories arise and it's not because anyone thinks we have a divine right to win every game so these stories are used as an excuse.
If you take a deep breath and think about these recent stories, they make perfect sense when taken in a chronological order instead of just lumping them all together as being unconnected 'typical stories'.

I hope you dont take offence, but that is literally gibberish. The words dont really make any sense.

Re the "drinking" stories Im sure that whatever behaviour is being referred to didnt just start after the Derry game but there wasnt a mention of it til after we lost a game.

On an unrelated matter Mark McHugh was one of our best players and almost turned the game around on his own in the 2nd half, albeit by total diving for frees!!

2moreMinutes

harpsman wrote: »

I hope you dont take offence, but that is literally gibberish. The words dont really make any sense.

Re the "drinking" stories Im sure that whatever behaviour is being referred to didnt just start after the Derry game but there wasnt a mention of it til after we lost a game.

On an unrelated matter Mark McHugh was one of our best players and almost turned the game around on his own in the 2nd half, albeit by total diving for frees!!

No offence taken at all. English can be difficult for some people.

eddie73

Would also agree that drinking stories can no longer be used as an excuse for losing. There is nothing wrong with losing, but when you start saying we lost because our panel were out boozing and/or fighting, then it is a self fulfilling prophecy that we are going to lose anyway.

Nidgeweasel

Well they were well rattled last Sunday so we'll see the drinking excuses flood back if we get beat.

Oh, ould Donegal GAA, how I haven't missed you!

harpsman

Anyone read Jim on the Ulster Final-sorry if posted already.

Jim McGuinness: Monaghan’s smart game plan gets them over the line
Despite this painful Ulster final defeat, I wouldn’t be writing Donegal off just yet

Donegal’s Michael Murphy in action against Monaghan’s Vinny Corey and Darren Hughes. It seemed to me Murphy played injured at Clones. Photograph: Cathal Noonan/Inpho
Donegal’s Michael Murphy in action against Monaghan’s Vinny Corey and Darren Hughes. It seemed to me Murphy played injured at Clones. Photograph: Cathal Noonan/Inpho

Jim McGuinness
Tue, Jul 21, 2015, 06:00
I arrived in Glasgow airport on Sunday and saw a few Donegal jerseys gathered around the bar as I reached the top of the escalator. I arrived when the Ulster final was in its 68th minute and saw the closing stages. The Donegal lads in the bar jumped off their seats when Patrick McBrearty took that last shot and there was a second when we were all celebrating. Then we realised it was waved wide. Monaghan prevailed by a point.
It was so disappointing and I immediately thought of how devastated the boys would be. They cherish the Ulster championship and losing a final so narrowly after such a tough draw was severe. Celtic had a pre-season friendly against Eibar in the Basque region so I couldn’t be in Clones and it was a strange sensation sitting down at home that evening to watch the recording knowing the result.
What I saw was basically a tale of two game plans. It struck me that Malachy O’Rourke had done the very same thing: watched games on tape. My bet is he absolutely ravaged the DVD of last year’s Ulster final for every detail he could find and that he also closely studied each of Donegal’s championship games this year.
Donegal went into Clones on Sunday with a plan that has carried them past Tyrone, Armagh and Derry. From the outset, Rory Gallagher decided to go with a one-man-up formation, leaving Paddy McBrearty inside and dropping everyone else deep inside the 45. It is an interesting strategy and it worked very well against Tyrone and Armagh because both those teams man-marked Donegal men and left Patrick in space inside.
Donegal’s defensive structure has been excellent all summer. But they are calibrated to defend no further out than their 50. During my time with Donegal, our game plan was predicated on overwhelming teams with defensive intensity. This year, it is not about pushing out and asking questions. They are inviting teams into their web, turning them over and striking at speed, exploiting the space and looking to hit Patrick inside with direct ball.
The bait
Monaghan studied all this and didn’t take the bait. Defensively, they man marked inside and had a double sweeper, one on the left and one of the right of Patrick and then had everyone else marking their men. They negated the long ball option into Patrick by leaving three back regardless of what happened down the field. Patrick scored a fine early point but it was on the loop: as the match developed there was very little ball kicked in by Donegal.
So once Monaghan’s game plan developed, they forced Donegal to run the ball and support off the shoulder. The Monaghan players were very successful in stifling that too and regrouped quickly around their own 45 and so forced the Donegal boys to play lateral passes, all of which made Donegal look ponderous on attack. The other consequence for Donegal was that they had 14 men trying to get up and support the ball and then tracking back on defence. It was very demanding and draining on a hot day.
Once Donegal got back to their 45 to defend was when Monaghan really began to turn the screw. I counted double digit instances where they carried the ball up along the Gerry Arthurs stand side and they were right out about three metres from the sideline until they hit the 45 and then they turned and bounced the ball back and recycled it to the far wing. So they played keep ball just beyond Donegal’s line of defence.
Interestingly, they sought to kick-pass the ball rather than hand-pass it, thus shifting the Donegal unit over and back the pitch. So they were swinging the entire Donegal unit from side to side while also looking to drop the shoulder and make an incision or to find space for shots on the wing. They didn’t care how long it took or if the ball went wide. They knew they had cover behind them and it was about patience, steadily wearing Donegal down.
Last year when we played Monaghan we had a thing called a double switch, where we would switch from the left to right wing and back again. There were elements of that in what Monaghan did on Sunday. Karl O’Connell’s point in the first half – left to right wing and coming onto the ball at pace and wrong-footing the defence; that is off the training pitch.
Scores like that give a team a massive infusion of confidence because they can see something they worked on coming off. You could see the pattern starting to come into the play as early as the ten-minute mark. They were also looking to get their very strong runners like Dessie Mone and the Hughes boys to punch holes.
Monaghan looked very composed and had huge belief in their game plan. Donegal tried to respond by pushing Michael Murphy inside a few times. For instance, Neil Gallagher sent a long ball in to him but it was a three on one situation he was coping with. I noticed that, by the 28th minute, Donegal were defensively more stretched across the width of the pitch in order to deal with the attacks coming down both flanks.
Consequently, they weren’t as compact as they had been throughout the campaign. They were thinned out and it meant that there was more opportunity for incisions. Monaghan began to pick little holes and that is when it went from 0-4 to 0-3 to 0-8 to 0-4 very quickly.
Goal chance
So suddenly Donegal were in under pressure. It reminded me of 2011 when Tyrone were rampant against us and they went 0-6 to 0-1 ahead and then had a goal chance. I can remember my heart sinking on the sideline because they looked so well organised and so well-coached. When you are in a defensive structure and you are trying to get hands and pressure on the ball and you know the opposition are really well coached, it is very frustrating.
Monaghan excelled at not taking the ball into contact. It meant Donegal couldn’t do what they wanted to do: tackle. They took that weapon away from Donegal while running them all over the field.
And it was very difficult for Donegal to adjust. That is a key point about football at this level. If you know what a team is going to do, then you have a chance to beat them. And in Clones, Monaghan took the field with an iron-cast mindset that they knew what the Donegal boys would do. Asking a team to adjust – to push out, say, – off the cuff is very difficult.
It t is conceivable Monaghan have been rehearsing that game plan for months. So even when Donegal started to see what Monaghan were at, it was difficult for them to adjust and to respond to it. Conor McManus’s point after Monaghan worked ferociously hard to force a turnover on Christy Toye was a critical moment. It was a psychological blow for Donegal and a statement of intent by Monaghan. McManus seemed to identify that when he tipped Neil McGee on the chest.
At 0-9 to 0-4 it looked like the game was over. Facing a defensive team like Monaghan, it is a big ask. The positive in the second half was that the McHughs and Frank McGlynn were starting to run the ball with some aggression. They were needed because it was a very testing day for Donegal.
Karl Lacey’s departure must have given the Monaghan players a great fillip. Monaghan seemed to be making tactical substitutes whereas ours were a response to the game. Owen Duffy came off after 45 minutes and Dermot Malone after 55 in the second half: both are pure workers.
Because of the set-up of both teams, from the fifth minute to the 60th minute, Donegal just couldn’t get traction. Late in the game, McBrearty kicked a couple of fantastic points – just as he did last year. The wide was tough on him at the end but I think Patrick’s performances all summer have been one of the main reasons Donegal made it to the Ulster final.
Moving freely
Donegal rallied really well and they never gave in. But the game was lost over the 70. Monaghan people won’t like to hear this but it seems to me Michael Murphy played injured. He was heavily strapped and he wasn’t moving freely. For the ball he kicked away that led to Conor McManus’s last point before the break, he was unable to chase back the way he normally does.
In fact, what was notable about that score is that two Monaghan men made the transition to attack after Fintan Kelly got possession and they ran past five Donegal players. Donegal were fatigued by that stage from the running they did. Michael’s injury would have been easier on him if he had been full forward and it would have tied up a few more of Monaghan’s players.
Donegal’s defensive shape has been exceptional this year. But the defensive intensity has not been there. The Donegal game plan has been predicated on outwitting players inside the 45. However, Monaghan didn’t’t fall into that trap and focussed on retaining possession and not letting Donegal get close to the ball.
During Donegal’s rally, they struggled to find supporting players. Even the two McHughs were running in isolation. The support play that Donegal are usually so good at just wasn’t there. They kicked a lot of wides but most of those shots were under extreme pressure because of the way that Monaghan set up.
Hats off to Monaghan. Conor McManus had a fabulous game and underlined that he is one of the classiest forwards in the game. I thought Neil McGee did well on him but McManus’s points were of the highest order. Karl O’Connell and Frank McGlynn showed they are among the leading half-backs in the championship so far and both goalkeepers were excellent in their kick-outs and ball retention.
The defeat will be painful for Donegal but they will learn so much from it. The key for Donegal now is to respond to the challenges they encountered on Sunday. Despite the result, I feel Donegal are better placed to go further in the All-Ireland than the Ulster champions. What we saw on Sunday was a very smart game plan executed to the letter of the law by Monaghan yet they still just about got over the line. That is because Donegal have high-calibre players. Donegal will be hit hard by this but they have two weeks now to take a breath. I wouldn’t be writing them off just yet.

Nidgeweasel

Disagree with some of what Jim has said. First time for everything I suppose. His analysis of the game is fairly level though as you'd expect mind.

I don't think our defensive structure has been excellent all summer at all. We've been too easily cut through at times in each of our games.

Also Jim has failed to mention that the usual hunger and appetite to get up in support wasn't there against Derry either.

Is 2 weeks going to be enough to get that spark back or a bit of life into those legs? Highly doubtful if 2013 is anything to go by.

Jim's also said were better placed to go further which is a nonsense really. Monaghan have a clear path to the final ahead of them for me, as we would have done had we won even given our deficiencies and lethargy. You'd fancy them to really up it for Tyrone and then you've Kerry in a semi. We have to get past Galway and then Mayo and then deal with the dubs. We've had two shíte draws this year in truth. Ulster was a pig and so is the qualifier/AI series.

And without going over old ground I really don't think Monaghan were any great shakes themselves. But for poor shooting we could well have scabbed a result, would that have been a smarter game plan then? where they were unable to score for the last 25 minutes or so etc.

Brolly's assessment made the most sense for me. Monaghan simply made less mistakes. The end of the first half was horrific from us, Christy and Michael both gifting handy scores. In a game that is so attritional that really is suicide stuff.

Monaghan can (and have) played far better than they showed themselves during the final too. From what I've heard O'Rourke read the riot act behind closed doors afterwards, probably to focus the minds on the QF but imo Monaghan are a far better outfit than they showed the last day too. It wasn't like 2013 where we were absolutely terrorised in all departments from start to finish. Ransacked that day, their intensity was absolutely breathtaking.

They can definitely go up a notch which is exactly the position they need to be in. Tyrone is the draw for them too. Added spice.

Redsoxfan

Our shot conversion rate was actually worse against Derry (34%) than it was against Monaghan (38%).

But that's been declining every year since 2012. It kinda coincides with Michael Murphy starting to play everywhere but full forward. He didn't take a shot from play against Monaghan. But McFadden has also declined since then also (0/4 against Monaghan).

Ceist_Beag

Yeah agreed Nidge, for the most part it's a decent piece by Jim but there a couple more things I would take disagree with. He says Donegal only left 1 up and this would have tired them out - yet he fails to mention that for large parts of that first half Monaghan left absolutely nobody up. Also, in the first half Monaghan committed a lot more men ahead of the ball when attacking than Donegal did - no doubt this played a part in how Monaghan tired in the second half but it goes against the point Jim was making (that Donegal were being asked to work harder). Also he says that Monaghan were operating up both wings effectively but tbh in that first half practically all the attacks were on the Hill side of the field - any attacks down the Gerry Arthur side were dealt with (bar the turnover ball that Christy lost but again this came from an attack on the Hill side).
As Nidge said tho, I definitely think Monaghan are well placed to make a push for a spot in the final this year - I expect them to get past Tyrone and their game with Kerry could be a cracker.
Obviously Jim knows the boys better than any of us so I'm hoping his optimism is well placed but I find it hard to share it at the minute tbh.

Redsoxfan

I was expecting to see something different against Monaghan. More intensity, more imagination than I had seen in any game to date this year. But it wasn't there, and that with an Ulster title on the line.

So I think we can beat Galway based on the fact that we had shown enough to beat Tyrone, Derry and Armagh. But I don't expect it to be easy, and if I see men running into the Galway half with no support or Neil Gallagher at full forward, I don't know how well I will take it.

I rate Monaghan and am really looking forward to their game with Tyrone. I'd expect them to win, but it should be a good battle.

2moreMinutes

On the off chance anyone isn't already sorted, I have 4 adult (€20) & 2 kids (free) tickets that we won't be using this weekend for a variety of different reasons. They're for lower Cusack, section 305, row R. Even though theres a gazillion tickets going for the game, if anyone wants them, just gimme a PM.

eddie73

I think it is very easy for Jim to be optimistic, from a safe distance this time. His analysis is bang on, but he is not correct about our prospects being stronger relative to monaghans as someone said earlier. We will be blessed to beat galway. And if we do, I really fear for the lads on the form of the last 2 matches. We have to play as well as we did for the armagh game, and that means for 70 minutes as well. We could give anyone a game on that showing, but it is in with the big boys hereafter.In all honesty, if you are going to be in a situation where you are pushing for an all ireland, you have to look as good as we looked at in 2012. We only showed it twice last year, and never looked like winning the final. We are well off the pace recently, and for that reason I am very worried.

jjdonegal

eddie73 wrote: »

I think it is very easy for Jim to be optimistic, from a safe distance this time. His analysis is bang on, but he is not correct about our prospects being stronger relative to monaghans as someone said earlier. We will be blessed to beat galway. And if we do, I really fear for the lads on the form of the last 2 matches. We have to play as well as we did for the armagh game, and that means for 70 minutes as well. We could give anyone a game on that showing, but it is in with the big boys hereafter.In all honesty, if you are going to be in a situation where you are pushing for an all ireland, you have to look as good as we looked at in 2012. We only showed it twice last year, and never looked like winning the final. We are well off the pace recently, and for that reason I am very worried.

I might be the only person who thinks this but I believe we'd beat very few of the top teams on the Armagh showing. They were absolutely diabolical which has been shown since.
We alternated the full forward but the same trick has been useless in 2 games since.
We scored 1-2 in the 2nd half (I think) which is not good enough.
My biggest fear going into the Monaghan game was that too much was being read in to the Armagh game; who had since proven they were absolutely atrocious and would have made any top 10 team look good with the intensity of their play that day.
As you said; we are WAY of the pace; on a par with a Tyrone team who I cannot quite gauge yet and not much better than Derry who are not great.
I might sound harsh but id like to think I'm a realist. Galway will be an almighty slog which I expect us to sneak through but forget it after that.

Redsoxfan

Aye, I would almost disregard the Armagh performance based on how they played and set up.

I mean, who else is going to go man for man on Paddy McBrearty? Armagh did and we made hay. But Ciaran McKeever didn't do the job he was presumably asked to do.

If we were playing last year's edition of Galway, I would be over the moon. They had absolutely not defensive structure or intensity. This year they have improved.

babybuilder

Interesting that Jim McGuinness should believe that Donegal will progress further than Monaghan from last weeks article.

In this weeks Irish Times he argues that the Provincial losers are at a significant disadvantage compared to those teams who have been knocked out in the early stages off the championship. He reasons that this is why Cork were so dismal against Kildare. The shock of the loss and plans going awry weigh heavily on the losers. Reading this article I have to believe that McGuinness knows that Donegal will find the path ahead of them insurmountable.

In his analysis of the game he correctly points out that Monaghan prepared from early on for the likely final against Donegal. It begs the question, how did Donegal prepare if at all?

Nidgeweasel

Good article by Peter Campbell.

http://m.donegaldemocrat.ie/sport/gaelic-games/can-donegal-recover-from-ulster-final-defeat-after-intense-campaign-1-6866998

Donegal’s championship season is hanging precariously after their one point defeat in the Ulster final in Clones on Sunday last.

Patrick McBrearty’s last gasp chance seemed to be on its way over, but must have just tailed off. From most vantage points in St. Tiernach’s Park, it seemed as if it was over and we were headed for a replay.

The one telling factor which hints that the umpire’s decision was correct came when there was no big protest from the Donegal players. If you had wanted any player taking the shot to tie up the game you would have chosen McBrearty as he was by far and away Donegal’s best performer up front.

As for whether it was a point or not, we will never really know. Without Hawk Eye we have to accept what was a real disappointing end to a below par day for Donegal.

Apart from a good first five minutes, the first half was one where the Donegal players seemed well short of the intensity needed to succeed on Ulster final day. Monaghan were on top in virtually every position with only Frank McGlynn able to raise a gallop against the tide.

Despite that they would have got to the sanctity of the dressing room just two points in arrears but for two sloppy turnovers just before the break with Conor McManus punishing both in clinical style.

In the end that was the difference between Monaghan and Donegal on Sunday last - clinical finishing.

From a Donegal point of view you can’t fault Patrick McBrearty and if his final effort had been given as a point he would probably have picked up the man of the match award. As it was, Conor McManus deservedly picked up the gong - both finishing with 0-6 to their name.

Donegal were much, much better in the second half and when they ran at Monaghan they got some reward. McBrearty and Michael Murphy were on song from frees and if Donegal could have continued with their running game they would probably have engineered enough scores to win the game.

But they didn’t have the energy levels to sustain that running game and some of the shot selections were very untypical Donegal. Indeed, at times the patience and control that was a mark of Donegal teams of recent years was not to be seen.

Over the full hour only Frank McGlynn, Neil Gallagher and Patrick McBrearty returned a consistent performance. The McHughs were to the fore in the second half; Neil McGee had a titanic struggle with McManus and only one of the Monaghan man’s three points from play could be attributed to him getting the better of McGee.

Paul Durcan did nothing wrong in goals; Eamon McGee kept Kieran Hughes occupied, but after that there were deficiencies in the Donegal display.

There were outside factors. It was clearly obvious that Michael Murphy was less than fully fit. The rumour in the county on Friday that he was suffering from a knee injury which was being continuously iced the previous weekend sadly had substance. Then the loss of Karl Lacey to a knee injury five minutes into the second was another blow.

With Lacey off and Murphy only a shadow of himself, it was always going to be a big assignment, especially as Donegal were four points in arrears at the time - 0-9 to 0-5.

Donegal won the final 30+ minutes of the half 0-5 to 0-2, but ultimately those injuries were contributing factors. The 11 second half wides was the other statistic which left Donegal on the wrong side of the result.

WHERE TO NOW?

After a gruelling Ulster campaign Donegal must take on Galway in Croke Park in Round 4 of the Qualifiers and after that, Mayo will be lying in wait for an All-Ireland quarter-final a week later on Saturday, August 8th.

Can we expect this bunch of Donegal players to be able to lift themselves to be competitive against Galway and then, seven days later, take on a Mayo side who have played just two games in the championship to date? They gave Sligo a hiding in the Connacht final last week after having five weeks rest following their win over Galway in their only other game.

Donegal had to peak for their first game of the Ulster championship, the preliminary round tie with Tyrone on Sunday, 17th May. They then had to peak again for a trip to the Athletic Grounds to face Armagh on June 14th before having a tough encounter with Derry in the Ulster semi-final just two weeks later on June 28th.

Donegal had three weeks to prepare for the Ulster final while Monaghan (having played Cavan and Fermanagh) had four weeks between their Ulster semi-final and final.

That is the lop-sided nature of the Ulster and Connacht championships.

At the start of the year I wrote that if Donegal were to win the Ulster Championship in 2015 it would be the equivalent of winning the All-Ireland title. I think that has been proved correct.

The competitiveness of the Ulster championship is not replicated in any of the other provinces so to come through the preliminary round and not get through the front door to Croke Park is an arduous route.

In 2013 when Donegal had to go through Round 4 of the Qualifiers, they were running on empty when they reached Croke Park and Mayo were lying in wait.

There is a fear that the present Donegal team could end in the same watery grave. If the injuries to Michael Murphy and Karl Lacey are not cleared for Saturday week, then there is a possibility that reaching the quarter-finals may be a bridge too far.

At present Patrick McBrearty, despite being well short of full fitness, has had a fantastic year while Michael Murphy continues to be clinical from placed balls. But after that the Donegal forwards are not contributing nearly enough scores to win games at the business end of the championship. The only others on target on Sunday were Karl Lacey and Frank McGlynn with early scores.

The spread of four players scoring and only three points from play on Sunday last was never going to be enough to win a provincial title. Monaghan had their homework done and they had Conor McManus.

Added Time

The only issue Donegal could have with the final was the time added on in the second half by referee, David Coldrick. It seems that three minutes is the maximum that any referee will add on at the end of the second half of a Gaelic football match.

The three minutes allowed on Sunday was less almost equivalent to the time Monaghan ‘keeper Rory Beggan was down receiving treatment for an injury sustained after a Donegal point in the second half. The stoppage seemed tactical as Beggan showed absolutely no sign of the injury as he took the subsequent kick-out, but it was not allowed for in the time added on.

Indeed, I have not attended a game of Gaelic football where anything other than three minutes has been added. Has some edict been handed down from Croke Park on this issue? I’m not saying that Donegal wouldn’t do the same thing if they were ahead, but referees must take this time wasting into account and deal with it accordingly.

Donegal have to lick their wounds (and injuries) and prepare for Galway. They are a proud bunch and deserve a much better hand of cards than that dealt to them in 2015.

Their route of choice would have been through the front door. Given the tough road they have travelled you have to be worried about what the immediate future holds.

Ollieboy

It looks like we'll need to beat the following teams to win Sam:

Galway (who I would be very worried about)
Mayo (I can see a re-run of 2013 match and scoreline if we get pass Galway)
Dublin
Kerry

That's a very big ask from any team.

If they get beaten by Galway/Mayo, I could see a few players calling it a day, which would be a sad way for it to end.

But let's keep hoping, because I'm sure the lads really want it and I'll be behind them all the way.

But the draw as being very unfair to us this year.

doc_17

Ollieboy wrote: »

It looks like we'll need to beat the following teams to win Sam:

Galway (who I would be very worried about)
Mayo (I can see a re-run of 2013 match and scoreline if we get pass Galway)
Dublin
Kerry

That's a very big ask from any team.

If they get beaten by Galway/Mayo, I could see a few players calling it a day, which would be a sad way for it to end.

But let's keep hoping, because I'm sure the lads really want it and I'll be behind them all the way.

But the draw as being very unfair to us this year.

Apart from a meaningless game against Sligo that's Mayo's route to Sam! Obviously substituting Donegal for Mayo.

eddie73

If ulster teams are going to be able to compete at both provincial and all ireland level, they will need the benefit of a more friendly draw, or if not, manage somehow to stay injury free during the campaign, and win the provincial honors and push on.

My fear this year was vindicated. As we sat and watched an excellent and tough donegal performance in the middle of may, I thought to myself that we were peaking about 2 months earlier than other contenders. The challenge now is being vanquished ulster finalists, and full of injuries, rather than going out in the first or second round of ulster, regrouping and ticking over against mediocre sides and coming into croke park to play a provincial runner up in better shape than we are in now.

Look at Tyrone in 2013. They went out in the first round against us, and got to the all ireland semis putting in a brave performance against a team who absolutely tore us apart a couple of weeks before hand. We were provincial runners up, yet could you say that we were worse than tyrone in 2013? Well we beat them in ballybofey, yet come august, we were an absolutely shambolic team. This year is almost identical, with the exception that we have played one extra game, and are looking down the barrel of an almost identical scenario re fixtures.

Last year, monaghan were hockied by dublin by 20 odd points, whilst going into a 6 day turnaround to face them in croke park. Provincial runners up, a very tough ulster draw that saw them play tyrone, armagh twice, and us in the final. Followed by extra time against kildare. They were in utterly no shape to take on dublin.

Either go in the back door early, or win your province. Dont be a runner up in a provincial final.

There is the pattern of history, and either the ulster council begin to seed counties or omit counties who were in the back door the previous year, or we expect more of the same year in year out. Its not fair on the lads, and there are those in the county who expect them to go out and not only beat galway, but to get back on track against mayo. This is fairly delusional.

I really hope the lads make a good account of themselves at the weekend.

Ceist_Beag

Ok so 2 days before the match and all is quiet so can we assume those rumours were nothing more than that and that Big Neil is happily ensconced in the camp?
Are there any positive rumours on the injury front, especially around Paddy and Michael?

jjdonegal

I thimk going out in the first round would have doomed us earlier. I thimk our A game is based around such intensity that we need the 3 weeks minimum between games. Honestly I think we would have struggled to go as far as Tyrone have as weird as that sounds as I thimk 7/14 day turnovers would have a huge detremental effect on us.
Hope there is no rain Sat as in 305 D.

jjdonegal

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

Ok so 2 days before the match and all is quiet so can we assume those rumours were nothing more than that and that Big Neil is happily ensconced in the camp?
Are there any positive rumours on the injury front, especially around Paddy and Michael?

I'd say and hope total BS. Fingers crossed. No rumours of injuries that I've heard of but it's normally Friday the ones with substance filter out ive always found.

eddie73

In terms of winning something during the year, then you have to give ulster a good rattle. When you consider 2 of Dublin, Mayo and Kerry are going to be disappointed this year in terms of winning sam, then it is a wake up call to those of us who have unreasonable expectations about success. It probably is one of the hardest competitions to win that is played anywhere in the world.

I would love to have won ulster this year, but I am not sore that we didnt. The only disappointment that I feel is that we are not seeing the best of our players, as they are not able to perform consistently well for reasons aforementioned.

Redsoxfan

Panel for Galway game

1 Durcan
2.McGrath
3 N McGee
4 E McGee
5 R McHugh
6 Thompson
7 McGlynn
8 Big Neil
9 McElhinney
10 Toye
11 MacNiallais
12 M McHugh
13 McBrearty
14 Murphy
15 Colm Anthony
16 MA McGinley
17 Doherty
18 Declan Walsh
19 O'Reilly
20 David Walsh
21 Hugh McFadden
22 Leo McLoone
23 Gary McFadden
24 EB Gallagher
25 C McGinley
26 McLaughlin

Redsoxfan

OK, I know that the team named may not start, but I'm tired of seeing Ryan McHugh named in the backs.

sob1467

Have just read that according to UTV Sport that Michael Murphy is out of the match tomorrow because he is injured. It will be desperate news if true.

Nidgeweasel

sob1467 wrote: »

Have just read that according to UTV Sport that Michael Murphy is out of the match tomorrow because he is injured. It will be desperate news if true.

It's according to DV.

He's said Murphy is 100% out on a UTV show.

Obviously if this is true this is catastrophic.

(Edit* DV = Brendan Devenney incase you're from outside of the county.)

Redsoxfan

Lol

Nidgeweasel

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Lol

Was my first thought to be fair. Goebels has nothing on Brendan!

Wouldn't surprise me if he was out though given the way things have done recently but i had thought he was passed fit.

doc_17

Well if he is out Paddy McBrearty will get lots of extra attention! I'd say Devenney believes it if he said it.