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Awful first half today, lack of pace, energy or clarity in anything really. Happening quite a lot during this league.
Second half we brought much more pace to it but were wasteful and too lateral again. Frustratingly the game was there for us when we got back to 3 points down. Home record in Ballybofey gone. Good push from the lads in the second half but improvement needed for Dublin.
Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1431 - 13/03/2022 15:26:22
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Didn't get there today unfortunately so been watching on TG4. Considering how absolutely shocking the first half was, we did ok 2nd half and had Doherty's goal chance gone in who knows how it would have ended up. However a lot of the same problems from throughout the league, long long periods without a score to keep us ticking over even when under pressure. 3 points in a half of football, 1 from play? It's the same story every game so far this year even the wins. I admire others' optimism in what we can do this year but in all honesty I can't see us making any noise in championship if we keep up that sort of play, you just can't go those long periods without a score and expect to compete at championship.
Kevin Cassidy on commentary kept talking about how slow we were in build up and the difference with Monaghan. Obviously the circumstances of the game meant they had more space to exploit up front but they made sure as soon as the turnover happened that they looked up and tried to get a kick pass into that space. How often did we just slowly slowly solo with the ball and not pass it until Monaghan were well set. Bit of inexperience on display as well towards the end, Monaghan happy to foul to slow it down and we didn't look to restart quickly. Hopefully the younger lads will learn a lot from that today.
Disappointing to lose the home record in that manner but sure it is what it is. As long as we get a result in the last two games to keep our Div1 status and please god can we see a performance for 70 minutes. On the positives, once again McCole looked solid and did a decent job on McManus, in all honesty would you bring Neil McGee back in now with the form McCole has been showing? I love Neil but I would lean towards that number 3 jersey being McCole's now, he has shown more than enough for me. Jason McGee really grew into the game as well after that poor first half from everyone. And great to see McMenamin get a full game into his legs and for Jamie Brennan to appear off the bench too.
JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 13/03/2022 15:34:15
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Monaghan had several goal chances, so we did not deserve that game and probably should have got beat by more.
We never really looked like scoring a goal, and did not really open up Monaghan at any stage. Couple of players on today, wont be anywhere near the team come championship. Not going to mention names, as they did there best, they just have not got the quality for county football.
Still cannot understand why we insist on playing murphy out the field, we needed him in the square to provide a cutting edge and win possession close to goal.
Patton should not be allowed to go past his 21m line, he can sweep there. This nonsense of bringing or letting the keeper out any more is a liability and dangerous.
We need to get some of our regulars back soon, Langan in the middle is a big loss and has a great engine and always worth a few scores.
Lots of lateral passing again today, its to predictable, if the opposition follow our runners, we have no penintration.
This is why we need murphy in full forward, he can win dirty ball in there, with runners coming off him. We need to be way more direct.
The keeper (Donegal) - Posts: 711 - 13/03/2022 16:10:01
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Replying To JoeSoap: "Didn't get there today unfortunately so been watching on TG4. Considering how absolutely shocking the first half was, we did ok 2nd half and had Doherty's goal chance gone in who knows how it would have ended up. However a lot of the same problems from throughout the league, long long periods without a score to keep us ticking over even when under pressure. 3 points in a half of football, 1 from play? It's the same story every game so far this year even the wins. I admire others' optimism in what we can do this year but in all honesty I can't see us making any noise in championship if we keep up that sort of play, you just can't go those long periods without a score and expect to compete at championship.
Kevin Cassidy on commentary kept talking about how slow we were in build up and the difference with Monaghan. Obviously the circumstances of the game meant they had more space to exploit up front but they made sure as soon as the turnover happened that they looked up and tried to get a kick pass into that space. How often did we just slowly slowly solo with the ball and not pass it until Monaghan were well set. Bit of inexperience on display as well towards the end, Monaghan happy to foul to slow it down and we didn't look to restart quickly. Hopefully the younger lads will learn a lot from that today.
Disappointing to lose the home record in that manner but sure it is what it is. As long as we get a result in the last two games to keep our Div1 status and please god can we see a performance for 70 minutes. On the positives, once again McCole looked solid and did a decent job on McManus, in all honesty would you bring Neil McGee back in now with the form McCole has been showing? I love Neil but I would lean towards that number 3 jersey being McCole's now, he has shown more than enough for me. Jason McGee really grew into the game as well after that poor first half from everyone. And great to see McMenamin get a full game into his legs and for Jamie Brennan to appear off the bench too." That's a good post. Mccole did do well, especially in the circumstances and is the definitel fb. Though if Neil mcgee still has it he can start as one of the marking backs in the fb line. The first half was as bad a half as they ever played. I was concerned when looking at the starting team. No mcgonagle, mcfadden, langan, murphy (not starting) to bring the physicality needed. Gallen pulling out in the warm up. Unfortunately for him he's very injury prone. No shane o'donnell (sod) or mccellbhui who played great the last day. No niall o'donnell.
The continuity that brings was impacted. Even already Sod looks a starter (even more so after today!) and he's been great at bringing players into the game or giving the pass for the score. Conor o'donnell had very little impact and sod not playing impacted him a bit too I think.
In saying all that it doesn't forgive the team being so poor in the first half. There was zero energy and body language and workrate was not good. Murphy absolutely helped when he came on though that was because of injury to Thompson. You don't want to be without him either. A few of the squad players the got game time did not do much for their chances on getting onto the starting 15 later in the year.
Donegal had a good spell at the start of the second half but needed a goal and didn't get it. The early use of the subs made them tired near the end and really monaghan should have got another few goals to finish it off. It was good to see Jamie brennan but he can't be fully fit being strapped up like that.
They are very much in a relegation dog fight now and could easily go down and It is really hard to see donegal doing much this year based on today but you never know. They do need to get their best players fit again though to be in with any chance.
No doubt this forum will be hopping again over the next few days.
Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 853 - 13/03/2022 16:28:37
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Very poor performance again. Let's face it Monaghan aren't even the yardstick in ulster, never mind nationally, I didn't think they were impressive, they didn't have to be.
We were crying out for movement, a target up front and Murphy is introduced at mf! There is no forward plan at all. Kickouts were poor both on theirs and on our own. Id love to see the stats for our games for passes back v passes forward, must be at least 3 to 1. Mc Cole did well again and wasn't helped by hurson who doesn't seem to think it is a contact sport. Conor o Donnell was playing far too deep. Was really looking forward to seeing gallen starting but his injury woes continue. We can bleat on about injuries but the reality is were getting so close to championship that we need everyone fit soon. Of course no one remembers league results, but again I will emphasize it's the performances that are worrying.
Looking at dubs in Omagh today I'm not filled with confidence going to croke park next week.
totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 1076 - 13/03/2022 17:44:02
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We have lacked energy and aggression for years. Both come from Manager.
We have good footballers. Too many of the same type of footballer maybe.
DLlegends (Donegal) - Posts: 503 - 13/03/2022 18:09:31
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Disappointed again this evening, I thought we would have kicked on after the Tyrone game but another pathetic first half performance with the wind advantage too, when Murphy came on he steadied us up but we were never really at the races today, Monaghan battled hard and fully deserved the win.
Good battling in the second half but in all fairness at home against a team like Monaghan (and no disrespect to them but they are not one of the big 4 lets put it that way) we should be winning a game like that if we are any kind of contenders even for Ulster.
I hope Declan leaves Murphy in at FF for the Championship, I'd love to see him play in the position he was born for at least for his last few years in the county shirt, he would be such a great option to have in there.
Plenty of backwards passing again today and Sean Patton would need to cop on a wee bit, if we wanted him playing out the field he'd be selected there, he's going to get lobbed one of these days and it could cost us big time.
Look I know it's only the league, I think an improving Dublin will beat us the next day but the run out in Croker will do us good,
and then it's down to the final day, depending on how things go we will likely need to beat Armagh and that game is set to be in our bogey ground O'Donnell Park!!
Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3218 - 13/03/2022 19:24:40
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Positives first. Thought Mc Cole did well and Mc Fadden Ferry offers a lot on the ball. Ethan did well when introduced also. Our tackling looked good, for the first time in a while we are forcing turnovers/getting contact and winning the ball and breaking. Jason had a solid game. Looks to be going more direct with ball in hand. Good to see Daire O Baoill back also and young Doherty from N. Columba get a game.
Areas of concern.
Injuries. How many injuries do we have? Langan, Mc Gonagle, Mc Fadden, Niall, Mc Gee. Gallan and Mark Curran pulled up in the warm up also, Thompson again will be out for a while..
Then add the players who aren't and will struggle big time be up to full match fitness in time for championship.. Murphy, Brennan, Daire O B, Mc Menamin while back is still struggling fitness wise.
Then the lads missing today. Shane O Donnell, Jack Mc Kelvey.. Jesus we are in a huge mess.
It's fine having players "back" but when they don't do pre season or miss a large chunk of game time, it's basically their season over. They can't get up to full speed.
When teams give us the short kickout we seem to struggle a lot. We nearly prefer teams pushing up on our kickouts so Patton can come in to play. Cavan let us win our own short in the Ulster Final and we struggled badly.
The form of Ryan Mc Hugh. Needs his confidence back. It's a worry.
We look okay at the back but at what cost? Our attacking shape seems to have vanished? Albeit hard to read too much into it since we are missing so many.
TheRock2121 (Donegal) - Posts: 1208 - 13/03/2022 20:31:19
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The reason we played Murphy around the middle today was because we literally only had one player over the height of 5 foot 6 out around that area in Jason Mc Gee!!! So I don't understand the comments about this. We literally didn't have one other player to help Jason bar Michael so he had to go here.
Thomson, Langan, Mc Fadden, Mc Gonagle etc all injured so we had to play him here for today. I do agree that he should spend a large chunk of time inside once the other lads return.
TheRock2121 (Donegal) - Posts: 1208 - 13/03/2022 20:35:31
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Replying To TheRock2121: "Positives first. Thought Mc Cole did well and Mc Fadden Ferry offers a lot on the ball. Ethan did well when introduced also. Our tackling looked good, for the first time in a while we are forcing turnovers/getting contact and winning the ball and breaking. Jason had a solid game. Looks to be going more direct with ball in hand. Good to see Daire O Baoill back also and young Doherty from N. Columba get a game.
Areas of concern.
Injuries. How many injuries do we have? Langan, Mc Gonagle, Mc Fadden, Niall, Mc Gee. Gallan and Mark Curran pulled up in the warm up also, Thompson again will be out for a while..
Then add the players who aren't and will struggle big time be up to full match fitness in time for championship.. Murphy, Brennan, Daire O B, Mc Menamin while back is still struggling fitness wise.
Then the lads missing today. Shane O Donnell, Jack Mc Kelvey.. Jesus we are in a huge mess.
It's fine having players "back" but when they don't do pre season or miss a large chunk of game time, it's basically their season over. They can't get up to full speed.
When teams give us the short kickout we seem to struggle a lot. We nearly prefer teams pushing up on our kickouts so Patton can come in to play. Cavan let us win our own short in the Ulster Final and we struggled badly.
The form of Ryan Mc Hugh. Needs his confidence back. It's a worry.
We look okay at the back but at what cost? Our attacking shape seems to have vanished? Albeit hard to read too much into it since we are missing so many." Hi TheRock2121: What is causing all the injuries do you reckon. I know I asked this question before a few months ago but I will ask it again.
AudiMan (Donegal) - Posts: 684 - 13/03/2022 20:45:31
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Look it am as disappointed as most on here, there's days it goes for u days it dosnt. I taught most of the lads were slow in reaction today possibly training has ramped up a bit. It's a pity about farrah as we lacked a target man in there today how many times in the second half men making a run in and nothing in front of them only blue and white so turns back to recycle, things will get better keep the faith.
Tyrion (Donegal) - Posts: 165 - 13/03/2022 21:11:02
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Replying To TheRock2121: "The reason we played Murphy around the middle today was because we literally only had one player over the height of 5 foot 6 out around that area in Jason Mc Gee!!! So I don't understand the comments about this. We literally didn't have one other player to help Jason bar Michael so he had to go here.
Thomson, Langan, Mc Fadden, Mc Gonagle etc all injured so we had to play him here for today. I do agree that he should spend a large chunk of time inside once the other lads return." When we were missing all that power around the middle, why did he not start Paul Brennan. Brought him on at the very end when all was lost. He always fronts up, carries the fight.
We were absolutely shocking going forward. Physically we couldn't break the tackle, and our support runners weren't where they needed to be. I'd put some of that down to Hurson, personally I thought he had the blinkers on. McManus especially was getting frees for nothing, (McCole done well enough), yet Murphy, Mogan and Ben were checked and pulled at all day.
Just going to watch it back on the Player now, so will withhold further comment till then.
SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 797 - 13/03/2022 21:18:30
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Honest question how can any Donegal supporter pay into matches to watch them tactics.. shocking.. change needed on the line asap..
mick2007 (Monaghan) - Posts: 573 - 13/03/2022 21:21:53
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A lot of injuries at the moment which is a big concern. We can't sustain that kind of loss. No county could. First half line up was never going to cut it. As Tomas O'Shea pointed out we need to have more strings to our bow. When a team sets up defensively against us we need to be able to do more than just hand pass the ball to death. Monaghan showed by quick accurate long balls how you can quickly expose the opposition.
fionmaccumhaill (Donegal) - Posts: 45 - 13/03/2022 21:30:50
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I understand the reason he was out today, but did murphy win any aerial battles? I dont remember him fetching any high ball. The reality is our full forward line generally dont win dirty ball in there, and it has to be on a plate for them.
And the reason i would prefer murphy in there is we can drive in a few balls high, and at least murphy will fight for them. Especially the type of day it was, you never know where the ball could spill. The problem i have is even when we had all our midfielders available, murphy still comes out the field.
With injuries and the way we are playing, i am worried. Hopefully in the next few weeks players start to come back and we are ready for armagh.
At this stage, i dont really care about the league. Players get a run out in croke park next week and then fully focus on championship.
A lot can change in a few weeks, hopefully all positive changes
The keeper (Donegal) - Posts: 711 - 13/03/2022 21:42:29
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Replying To TheRock2121: "The reason we played Murphy around the middle today was because we literally only had one player over the height of 5 foot 6 out around that area in Jason Mc Gee!!! So I don't understand the comments about this. We literally didn't have one other player to help Jason bar Michael so he had to go here.
Thomson, Langan, Mc Fadden, Mc Gonagle etc all injured so we had to play him here for today. I do agree that he should spend a large chunk of time inside once the other lads return." You are completely accurate in your Murphy point. It was a needs must decision today and he had to go to the middle. If Donegal ever manage to get to close first choice then you'd want to seem him closer to goal.
More generally there's another challenge in that he's by far the best kick passer in the Donegal team as well. No aul wishy washy loopy kicks when he kicks it inside it's done with real power and conviction. Unfortunately I don't think any of the rest of then have that kicking ability. Donegal seem to be plenty of good academy work at underage. I hope they bring Murphy in to them how to kick the ball effectively.
Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 853 - 13/03/2022 21:48:12
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Replying To AudiMan: "Hi TheRock2121: What is causing all the injuries do you reckon. I know I asked this question before a few months ago but I will ask it again." Nobody knows why injuries happen even the top professional teams get them. Honestly at the moment it's injury after injury. One of the posters hit the nail on the head why Murphy had to be played around midfield.. if your missing Mc gonagle. Thomson. Langan. Hugh what do you expect. Mc gee done well . I am worried about the injuries but hopefully with 6 weeks to go we'll get back to full strength. Where to play Ryan is the teaser he has to play but where.
rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2618 - 13/03/2022 22:01:13
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Replying To rorysboys: "Nobody knows why injuries happen even the top professional teams get them. Honestly at the moment it's injury after injury. One of the posters hit the nail on the head why Murphy had to be played around midfield.. if your missing Mc gonagle. Thomson. Langan. Hugh what do you expect. Mc gee done well . I am worried about the injuries but hopefully with 6 weeks to go we'll get back to full strength. Where to play Ryan is the teaser he has to play but where." Does he have to play though Rory, on current form? I've always been a big fan of Ryan and especially in the summer with the dry, fast pitches. But he's been out of sorts to my eye for a good while now.
I liked the move inside against Tyrone more to take one of their main man out of the action but it didn't work to get Ryan involved. Kevin Cassidy said on commentary that he is better running on to play from deep to use his speed like Eoghan Bán, and I agree with that but that hasn't been working for him either. Maybe a spell on the bench would do him some good but then I suppose with all the injuries it's hard to also drop someone of Ryan's stature.
JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 14/03/2022 08:09:02
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Replying To mick2007: "Honest question how can any Donegal supporter pay into matches to watch them tactics.. shocking.. change needed on the line asap.." Your not a Monaghan man you were on after the Kerry defeat too. Get a life
rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2618 - 14/03/2022 08:16:13
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Replying To rorysboys: "Nobody knows why injuries happen even the top professional teams get them. Honestly at the moment it's injury after injury. One of the posters hit the nail on the head why Murphy had to be played around midfield.. if your missing Mc gonagle. Thomson. Langan. Hugh what do you expect. Mc gee done well . I am worried about the injuries but hopefully with 6 weeks to go we'll get back to full strength. Where to play Ryan is the teaser he has to play but where." Totally disagree I would definitely drop McHugh on form and maybe that would give him the spark he missing.
naomh_conaill_4 (Donegal) - Posts: 502 - 14/03/2022 08:48:59
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