rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2404 - 07/04/2022 15:31:49    2410166

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2748 - 07/04/2022 16:00:05    2410172

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2404 - 07/04/2022 17:17:35    2410184

Best of luck to the under twenties tonight against Tyrone. Seemingly Tyrone have 3 or 4 lads back since the Leo Murphy cup final including Cush who is highly rated along with Rurari Canavan. Mugsy talking up the group saying there are lads there more than capable of stepping up into the senior set up to replace some of the departures. Donegals strength is their backline so hopefully they can keep Tyrone under wraps while using their pace their to put some of the Tyrone attackers on the back foot. Best wishes to all involved and lets hope there will be an Ulster final to look forward to.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2782 - 08/04/2022 12:47:25    2410240

Best of luck from me too to the under 20s. The team and their management team have clearly put big work into this year and the last number of years for that matter and fingers crossed for them.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 693 - 08/04/2022 14:18:29    2410257

Good luck Gary and the lads tonight. Hopefully they can beat Tyrone again. Be nice to have a Ulster final to look too.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2404 - 08/04/2022 15:15:00    2410273

Best of luck to the u20's tonight, live coverage on Highland from 8pm.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2748 - 08/04/2022 19:19:41    2410306

Great game. watched it on TG4 Youtube channel, unlucky but I suppose Tyrone deserved it in the end, best of luck to them in the final, some great young players there from both counties.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2748 - 08/04/2022 22:04:25    2410324

A valiant effort by the team, they certainly died with their boots on. Had a great chance to win it at the end of normal time with the 15 dropping it short only 20 metres out. You're really better off putting the boot through it in those instances. Luckily young Canavan didn't punish us from the subsequent free.

The big difference was the Tyrone 14, a monster of a man for that age group and a good footballer to boot. We just couldn't get a handle on him and that was the difference in the end really.

Really impressed by young Dunleavy lad and Carlos O'Reilly when he came on.

peiledoir20 (Donegal) - Posts: 801 - 09/04/2022 08:36:21    2410328

Hard luck to the U20s who lost out in a thriller last night. Very talented bunch of lads, disappointing that in 4 years working with squad u17 and u20, manager couldn't get them to an Ulster Final .

erneboys (Fermanagh) - Posts: 52 - 09/04/2022 10:26:50    2410335

Banging kickouts down the middle not very smart.Outfoxed by Tyrone who peaked for game last night not 3 weeks ago.

neutral (None) - Posts: 358 - 09/04/2022 10:59:08    2410340

Condolences to the 20s last night great effort all around and can see that tyrone team going all the way now. Few easy wides especially in the first half and we would have been there before extra time, such is life hopefully our boys will look back on it and realise the quality they have and stay with it now.

Tyrion (Donegal) - Posts: 160 - 09/04/2022 11:02:31    2410341

Hard luck to the under 20s. It was all left on the pitch and they never stopped going and just got beat. I've seen mcglennan play a few times and never seem him dominate the way he did last night. He was a beast. He probably did tire a little in the second half and it donegal did get more joy but he really came back into it in extra time. Two of their goals were directly from his catches and by donegal pushing up it created man on man and the goals were there for tyrone. In the normal course of events you would have conceded the kick outs but tyrones start and good use of the wind made that less of an option.

Tyrone were the more dominant team and Donegal did struggle to make real inroads until the goals, though then should probably have won it in normal time. It looked good at the start of extra time but the first goal in extra time by tyrone was a killer and ultimately the crucial score.

Donegal management seemed aggrieved by the treatment of mcgroddy. Blocking runs taking him out of the attacking play. I suppose that's going to happen and tyrone management did target him and mcglynn. And maybe that's were more of a scoring threat would have helped especially in the first half. O'reilly really added to the overall attacking threat in the second half and dunleavy from around the middle was excellent throughout. He hit some great scores. Mccolgan also had some good moments and he's got very good pace. At senior level they should be looking to develop him into a corner back. I think some of the players have been in the extended senior squad and hopefully they'll be back training with the seniors as it will help their development.

Tyrone have some real quality and it's three years of good minors making up this team. You'd have to fancy them now though cavan will learn a lot from the video. They just might not be good enough. Although canavan had some very good moments his game management and shot selection was poor enough at times.

A few other more general points. I still fail to understand why this is still not an under 21 competition. Most of the players are even next year are unlikely to be fully ready for senior and with that only some will ever play senior and you've cut off that off for them. I suppose sigerson is now that bridging gap between two two so hopefully lyit and keep pushing in that. Then working it's way down minor should still be under 18.
I'd also like to see black card rule cleaned up. It should be for cynical play and not just restricted to trip, pull down and the body collide. It's far to narrow and almost forces a ref to give back cards when it's not really cynical and real cynical play goes unpunished.

Hard luck again to them and fair play to them and their management for all the hard work.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 693 - 09/04/2022 12:20:48    2410354

Excellent game of football last night between two teams who showed great character and desire throughout. Commiserations to the Donegal team and management. Hopefully some of these lads can harness the hurt of losing last night into having successful careers with the Donegal seniors which they're more than capable of doing. In truth Tyrone were deserving winners and played the better more effective football throughout. It was only through a couple of Donegal goals that both had an element of luck that the tide turned. In fairness to the Donegal lads the heads could've dropped after the Tyrone goal especially after missing what seemed an excellent opportunity to reply with one of their own almost immediately to playing their best football of the match and kicking 3 points to tie it up and leaving a great chance behind them to go one up. There was an element of justice to Canavan missing the free given how wasteful Donegal were from frees and dead ball situations especially in the first half. I actually thought going into extra time that Donegal had all the momentum and looked to have the greater energy levels but the second Tyrone goal was a killer. You have to say hats off to Tyrone as Donegal had them hemmed in but they showed great skill and composure to work the ball up the field and score the goal. How it actually went in I'm still not sure but working the chance to do so was excellent. McGleenan was colossal for Tyrone but they also had the better attackers in Canavan, Cush, Bogue and Rurari Mchugh who somewhat scarily is underage for the next 2 years. They were able to combine hand and foot passing to find space more effectively throughout and got their scores a little easier I felt. Too often Donegal were over elaborate and sideways in their play meaning Tyrone were able to get a defensive structure in place time and time again. Really impressed with Kealan Dunleavy the last two games. He kicked some great scores last night and was a real leader. Bobby McGettigan again didn't sleep on the opportunities when they arose to him putting the ball in the back of the net. Eoin Dowling showed great composure nailing a couple of frees under alot of pressure and was excellent around the middle especially against a player as good as McGleenan. Carlos O'Reilly had a positive impact of the bench. I thought the backline worked tirelessly and were tenacious in defense throughout. Plus showed amazing energy by getting up and supporting the attack especially in the second like you would see from the Mayo seniors with Tobin and McColgan especially to the forefront. Looking forward this Tyrone team will take some stopping and I hope they do go all the way as I enjoyed watching them play even if I didn't enjoy the result last night.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2782 - 09/04/2022 12:46:23    2410358

It was a cracking tie last night and unfortunately we came out on the wrong side of the result. I have to admit I feared the worst in the first half. Tyrone looked to be comfortably on top & we were struggling to make any real inroads. But the lads kept plugging away and big McGettigan was clinical with the goal chances. We also showed great persevcerence to get back level after conceding a goal, and with a wee bit more composure could have won it right at the death in normal time.

I thought that we might have had the legs in ET. Again, a bit more composure and cuteness was probably needed when we got the first two scores. I'm still baffled as to how the Tyrone lad got in for their second goal. Once they got that wee boost they didn't look back and were deserving winners. It was good to see our boys keep going right to the end, and who knows - if they were could have moved the ball a small bit quicker in that last counter attack, maybe we could have worked a goal opportunity. That's a harsh thing to say though because some much effort had been put in up to that point.

Sometimes a sore defeat like that can spur you on to greater things. Hopefully these lads can stick at it now and push on into the senior ranks.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9136 - 09/04/2022 14:26:26    2410368

Not much to add to what has been said here,Tyrone's total dominance from contested kickouts and also winning most of the breaks when McLeenan and McHugh didn't win primary ball.This was a surprise to me because they were good on breaking ball on the in the other games,Their transition was also halted early usually only getting to the 50 before getting clogged up.The problem being players not getting their heads up,always waiting for the man on the shoulder, granted the movement up front wasn't great either.This problem is endemic in Donegal football and you would think that these underage teams would be coached to play differently to bear fruit for the future.They were caught out from long kickouts for two of the goals, the ball moved quickly ,a couple of quick passes and the ball is in the back of the net.I don't think our team would be capable of those type of killer plays.
Despite all these faults we could nearly have won the game and that is testimony to their never say die spirit and determination which was brilliant.Could anybody tell me how Tyrone got that first goal of theirs in extra time.From where I was sitting it looked very bad work letting that one in which I think was the crucial score of the entire game. .To be objective about the whole thing Tyrone were a classier and more intelligent team.No doubt however, we have players that can make the step up and that determination that is in them is a great ingredient to have.
One question ,why was Doherty not playing last night.Great things had been said about him recently.He was there togged out on the bench.

gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1057 - 09/04/2022 15:49:05    2410377

greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 471 - 09/04/2022 17:42:01    2410391

Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1321 - 09/04/2022 20:03:37    2410408

You'd wonder how that habit of lateral short passing and passing backways crept into the football in this county, we are much better as was said when we go at teams, I'd rather see us playing to win rather than trying not to lose if that makes sense,
Future looks bright but we need better leadership, if we had the likes of Jack O'Connor and Buckley managing/coaching the talent we have we'd have a better chance of winning the big one again.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2748 - 09/04/2022 21:29:41    2410414

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 693 - 10/04/2022 09:42:21    2410419