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Donegal GAA thread

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In less than 24 hours I've gone from extremely downbeat and disappointed to have lost our grasp on the Anglo celt to being upbeat, positive and raring to go for the qualifier draw next week. Sentimentality aside, this is 100% the best outcome if we're serious about giving the all ireland a good rattle. Tough ulsters did not serve us well in the previous couple of years when the final stages arrived. I'm confident the players will be ready to step it up in the next round and if we have to head to Killarney or Cork, so be it. Making a provincial final gives home advantage surely but im not sure that's even a massive advantage to us this year anyway given that our fortress is unavailable. Delighted to hear Langan should return fairly soon. And of course, massive congratulations to Down who were well worth their win after an excellent and meticulously planned performance. I hope they can repeat it next week. Oh and someone mentioned 2013... totally different kettle of fish there. They might have been burnt out and hungover from the AI win but there were other matters internal to the county going on then with club fixtures and what not.
Onwards!

WeGoAgain (Donegal) - Posts: 166 - 27/04/2026 15:45:45    2669289

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Replying To farneygael3:  "Its a fantastic week in Monaghan, Senior U20 and Minors all flying. Real positive feel in the County"
One this season is fairly flying for the Monaghan seniors!!

NORTHMEN (Donegal) - Posts: 35 - 27/04/2026 15:57:47    2669291

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Replying To farneygael3:  "Its a fantastic week in Monaghan, Senior U20 and Minors all flying. Real positive feel in the County"
Best of luck to your underage teams, genuinely mean that. The 20s should have enough for tyrone if tyrone don't find anotger way to grind it out. But saying monaghan seniors are flying is a bit of a stretch surely!!!

WeGoAgain (Donegal) - Posts: 166 - 27/04/2026 16:20:24    2669297

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Donegal will be fine this season. Said it weeks ago after seeing ye in league final. Ye couldn't repeat that intensity every match had to be a lull ye have got your lull and as a result play two less matches so should be fresh come all ireland first round. Id be suprised if donegal are not there or thereabouts winning whole thing by end of season.

seanie08 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1978 - 27/04/2026 16:28:10    2669303

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Langan is the key. If he is gone, I genuinely think our chance at Sam goes without him at full tilt.

Yes bring on the All Ireland and I hope Down go on and win Ulster. Would be criminal if they end up in Tailteann Cup.

For us. Kerry or Cork wouldn't be bad and I'd give us a squeak to beat Kerry in Killarney but I'd be pig sick if we beat them three times this season and then they came back and beat us in a final.

Least attractive tie imo would be away to Roscommon. I'd prefer Galway in Salthill. Chance of an ambush there.

Would rather avoid Ulster finalists. Leinster finalists would be ok.

Long wait til then so sit back and enjoy the next couple of weeks without any pressure for now.

shaggykev (Donegal) - Posts: 428 - 27/04/2026 18:43:28    2669340

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Replying To WeGoAgain:  "In less than 24 hours I've gone from extremely downbeat and disappointed to have lost our grasp on the Anglo celt to being upbeat, positive and raring to go for the qualifier draw next week. Sentimentality aside, this is 100% the best outcome if we're serious about giving the all ireland a good rattle. Tough ulsters did not serve us well in the previous couple of years when the final stages arrived. I'm confident the players will be ready to step it up in the next round and if we have to head to Killarney or Cork, so be it. Making a provincial final gives home advantage surely but im not sure that's even a massive advantage to us this year anyway given that our fortress is unavailable. Delighted to hear Langan should return fairly soon. And of course, massive congratulations to Down who were well worth their win after an excellent and meticulously planned performance. I hope they can repeat it next week. Oh and someone mentioned 2013... totally different kettle of fish there. They might have been burnt out and hungover from the AI win but there were other matters internal to the county going on then with club fixtures and what not.
Onwards!"
Fair play for the positivity. Was listening back to the Donegal gaa podcast and rightly or wrongly martin mchugh was immediately jumping to a positive view about using it as an opportunity to target the all ireland. Eamon mcgee was the same on otb and he's been pretty consistent in this view for a good while. He did acknowledge there is no way in earth mcGuinness wouldn't target Ulster as he puts such a value in it. Personally it will be disappointing not to walking up the hill at clones and experiencing the complete joy in winning Ulster.

Regardless though you have to see the positives and go with it. The draw will obviously be a major factor in things. We will be away after that and up to the quarters it looks like a toss for home advantage so we could be back in letterkenny yet......

In relation to down I guess they will just about know if they need to beat armagh to get into the race for sam before throw in but I hope they can get to the same levels again and get through to the final.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 1001 - 27/04/2026 18:44:31    2669341

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Replying To seanie08:  "Donegal will be fine this season. Said it weeks ago after seeing ye in league final. Ye couldn't repeat that intensity every match had to be a lull ye have got your lull and as a result play two less matches so should be fresh come all ireland first round. Id be suprised if donegal are not there or thereabouts winning whole thing by end of season."
Whats your take on a potential Monaghan ambush of Derry?

A few people today at work were chatting about an Armagh v Derry Ulster final, and I said it could be a Down vs Monaghan final, but was met with silence and blank looks.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1788 - 27/04/2026 20:44:54    2669356

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No disrespect intended to Down here (It was great to see them win), but does anyone think that Jim engineered this loss? Donegal have their Ulster medals and Jim Mc Guinness knows it's almost impossible to peak 3 times in the one year. Donegal put a effort into winning the league and the last thing they need is a hard Ulster campaign unlike Kerry who can basically be at 60% in Munster and still be in the final.

Just a hunch/suspicion!

foreveryoung (USA) - Posts: 2504 - 27/04/2026 21:10:50    2669362

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Replying To veterngaa:  "What about the Donegal fans when Paddy Carr was was over yiz and Bonner too. Many fans wearing the 2012 jerseys yesterday ….."
Fair play for keeping an eye on everyone's jerseys, the hungry eye sees far!

Expertinall (UK) - Posts: 29 - 27/04/2026 23:07:58    2669398

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Replying To shaggykev:  "Langan is the key. If he is gone, I genuinely think our chance at Sam goes without him at full tilt.

Yes bring on the All Ireland and I hope Down go on and win Ulster. Would be criminal if they end up in Tailteann Cup.

For us. Kerry or Cork wouldn't be bad and I'd give us a squeak to beat Kerry in Killarney but I'd be pig sick if we beat them three times this season and then they came back and beat us in a final.

Least attractive tie imo would be away to Roscommon. I'd prefer Galway in Salthill. Chance of an ambush there.

Would rather avoid Ulster finalists. Leinster finalists would be ok.

Long wait til then so sit back and enjoy the next couple of weeks without any pressure for now."
I admire your optimism. A championship game away in Tralee would be class but I'd be fairly worried.
For me, an ideal first game of these two would be against a Westmeath, Kildare, Dublin or Louth. I know everyone loves Louth but we have battered them 2 years in a row.
We do owe Cork one as well.
Derry would be tough but winnable.
Armagh would be very very tricky away from home.

I wonder will Jim have the boys play a challenge match with a county that's in the same boat as us? 4 weeks is a long wait.

eddieSize5Balls (Donegal) - Posts: 344 - 28/04/2026 03:46:11    2669404

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Replying To foreveryoung:  "No disrespect intended to Down here (It was great to see them win), but does anyone think that Jim engineered this loss? Donegal have their Ulster medals and Jim Mc Guinness knows it's almost impossible to peak 3 times in the one year. Donegal put a effort into winning the league and the last thing they need is a hard Ulster campaign unlike Kerry who can basically be at 60% in Munster and still be in the final.

Just a hunch/suspicion!"
Ah yes blame kerry sometimes thst doesnt help kerry anyway cork test kwrry this year . Not their fault the redt are so behind. Excuses blaming kerry etc to say was engineered doubt that yes ye came back but doubt engineered. Anyway no guarantee ye get back either by the way ye will be there but not 100 percent guaranteed.

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1285 - 28/04/2026 09:15:33    2669419

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Replying To foreveryoung:  "No disrespect intended to Down here (It was great to see them win), but does anyone think that Jim engineered this loss? Donegal have their Ulster medals and Jim Mc Guinness knows it's almost impossible to peak 3 times in the one year. Donegal put a effort into winning the league and the last thing they need is a hard Ulster campaign unlike Kerry who can basically be at 60% in Munster and still be in the final.

Just a hunch/suspicion!"
this is only the second defeat as a manager Jim has in the ulster championship. Ulster medals are hard to come by and his record shows what that he loves this championship, so no way did he throw the game. Donegal where beaten by a better team on the day.

Kerry can only beat what is put infront of them, yes they get 1 competitive game in Munster a year, this is the fault of the other teams. Limerick/Clare/Tipp/Waterford are clearly hurling counties . Cork/Galway/Dublin are probably the only true duel county's.

Although I do hope you are right and Jim's boys lift Sam this year ;-)

ulsterrules (Donegal) - Posts: 275 - 28/04/2026 09:29:39    2669426

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Replying To eddieSize5Balls:  "I admire your optimism. A championship game away in Tralee would be class but I'd be fairly worried.
For me, an ideal first game of these two would be against a Westmeath, Kildare, Dublin or Louth. I know everyone loves Louth but we have battered them 2 years in a row.
We do owe Cork one as well.
Derry would be tough but winnable.
Armagh would be very very tricky away from home.

I wonder will Jim have the boys play a challenge match with a county that's in the same boat as us? 4 weeks is a long wait."
Eddie we probably could end up meeting roscommon again.

Tyrion (Donegal) - Posts: 175 - 28/04/2026 10:30:02    2669446

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Replying To Expertinall:  "Fair play for keeping an eye on everyone's jerseys, the hungry eye sees far!"
The fair weather supporters! Only out about when their is hint of success. That's the Donegal way. Azzuri jerseys. Think I heard some supporters wonder what the new rules were lol

veterngaa (Monaghan) - Posts: 1020 - 28/04/2026 11:56:15    2669474

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Replying To eddieSize5Balls:  "I admire your optimism. A championship game away in Tralee would be class but I'd be fairly worried.
For me, an ideal first game of these two would be against a Westmeath, Kildare, Dublin or Louth. I know everyone loves Louth but we have battered them 2 years in a row.
We do owe Cork one as well.
Derry would be tough but winnable.
Armagh would be very very tricky away from home.

I wonder will Jim have the boys play a challenge match with a county that's in the same boat as us? 4 weeks is a long wait."
True but im also thinking if we play Kerry , we will avoid them to the final and even if we lose, we'd have another chance to win two more games to make a quarter final.

Hence Kerry or Galway would be fine in my book.
See no advantage playing Rossies in The Hyde. Bad matchup for us.

shaggykev (Donegal) - Posts: 428 - 28/04/2026 14:04:23    2669529

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Replying To veterngaa:  "The fair weather supporters! Only out about when their is hint of success. That's the Donegal way. Azzuri jerseys. Think I heard some supporters wonder what the new rules were lol"
Ok let's talk about fair weather supporters.

Last game of the league, in Clones. We were assured of a league final and had a long trip to Croker the following week.

YET, we out numbered the Monaghan home 'support' by 3 to 1.

Riddle me that one?

peiledoir20 (Donegal) - Posts: 1578 - 28/04/2026 14:12:45    2669531

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Replying To foreveryoung:  "No disrespect intended to Down here (It was great to see them win), but does anyone think that Jim engineered this loss? Donegal have their Ulster medals and Jim Mc Guinness knows it's almost impossible to peak 3 times in the one year. Donegal put a effort into winning the league and the last thing they need is a hard Ulster campaign unlike Kerry who can basically be at 60% in Munster and still be in the final.

Just a hunch/suspicion!"
No, I genuinely don't. Down put in phenomenal effort, Conor Laverty said after the match that the whole team stopped work and everything for 2 weeks running into this game, they even travelled to Killarney for a challenge match with Kerry. They just put in huge effort and huge analysis of how we play and how we setup and they learned from our league games.

Down were the better team on the day, I think some of our players might not have been going full tilt at it, but take nothing away from Down, they are dangerous proposition now for Armagh next weekend.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1788 - 28/04/2026 15:41:19    2669557

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It was a disappointing result against Down, we were very flat and Down were just magnificent. We were very open at the back which was kind of worrying. Are we better served playing a zonal defence? I know it got a lot of negativity after the loss to Kerry last year but do we have enough man markers? We have a terrible record in Letterkenny for some strange reason.

Gallen had a great game, surely he shouldn't have been taken off. I know he is just back from injury but he looked like the only forward who could score from open play. The frees on the right hand side are a huge problem with Paddy retired and Ciaran Thompson not yet fit. There was one in the second half inside the arc and Michael kicked it backwards. Could Conor O'Donnell or Peadar Mogan kick these frees?

I am not overly concerned with the defeat, I think we will be ready the next day out. Having Ciaran Thompson back to kick those left footed frees would be a big help. Any update on the Langan injury? Jim mentioned that the rolled his ankle.

Best of luck to Down against Armagh. Ridiculous to think a team this good could be in the Tailtean Cup.

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1939 - 28/04/2026 16:19:33    2669570

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Replying To veterngaa:  "The fair weather supporters! Only out about when their is hint of success. That's the Donegal way. Azzuri jerseys. Think I heard some supporters wonder what the new rules were lol"
Cop yourself on. You probably didnt attend many of the Monaghan games this year, because if you did, you would know all about fair weather fans. Outnumbered 10 to 1 by Donegal fans in our own home in Clones for the final game of the league. Embarrassing it was. I suspect you dont attend that many of the United Parishes games either, judging by your knowledge of the Monaghan GAA scene.

ORIELMAN85 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1017 - 28/04/2026 16:41:47    2669582

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