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Replying To greenfan: "Unfortunately with the current cost of living, many families in a county like Donegal simply may not be able to afford to go to every game. For a couple and 2 children the tickets would cost 46 euro. Add the cost of petrol or diesel needed to travel from some parts of the county on top of that and the cost of the game goes to 70 or 80 euro, without getting anything to eat or drink. Times are tough out there for a lot people trying to make ends meet." I take your point but I'm sure mayo is similar to ourselves. Take it from me we all struggle to afford games. But I do it. If you go round every pub inDonegal yesterday a lot of them would be full out with people. Watching the game.. so it's not all about money rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2632 - 25/04/2022 13:41:54 2413093 Link
Replying To rorysboys: "I take your point but I'm sure mayo is similar to ourselves. Take it from me we all struggle to afford games. But I do it. If you go round every pub inDonegal yesterday a lot of them would be full out with people. Watching the game.. so it's not all about money" I would say that people struggling and Donegal being a big county as well as many people being spread around the country has an impact on our attendance - I know of a few others based in Belfast like myself that didn't make the trip although I had a full car with me. But you know yourself and we all do on this board that we're also a bandwagon county at times. I'd say if we make it to Croke Park there will be plenty coming out of the woodwork, it's the same as it always is with us. I'd say there's a real core of 20k or so Donegal fans and for whatever reason not all of us made the match yesterday but you know yourself the 40 thousand or whatever that might show up to Croke Park are not going to show up for the first match of championship against Armagh. JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 25/04/2022 14:20:53 2413109 Link
That was a really terrific performance from Donegal, probably our best championship game since the 2019 Super 8 game against Kerry in 2019. We started strongly, kept pushing forward for the entire match and finished strongly. It was really heartening to play an entire match mostly on the front foot, we have been very inconsistent recently and even when we did play well it was usually for one half. Our defence were very good especially the full back line, McCole continues his great form but McMenamin and Ward also very strong. It was great to see Ryan McHugh back to form, Ban made some terrific runs. Jason McGee had a towering performance, was man of the match until he to go off. Hughie had a great first half but tired in the second, that long lay off during the winter with injury has meant he is not at peak fitness. Michael Murphy was really terrific, played most of the game up front and no doubt that is his best position. Hopefully he gets an injury free run now. Langan played well and his fitness will improve. I am really impressed with Shane O'Donnell, what a player this young man is. He can do everything, could easily play half back if needed. The form of Jamie Brennan is very worrying, he seems to have lost his confidence. I am a big fan and really hoping he can come good. Injuries have taken their toll on him. Armagh were disappointing, they had a good spell in the first half and at the start of the second half but never had a sustained period of pressure. They were unlucky with the disallowed goal, it was difficult to see a foul there, definitely wasn't square ball. Rory Gruggan was fantastic and Stefan Campbell did well when introduced. I still think Armagh can have a good run in the qualifiers and if they can avoid Mayo I expect them to reach the All-Ireland quarter finals. They had a bad day at the office but can recover, they have plenty of good players. Finally well done to Declan Bonner, he got all the calls right for this game. I have been critical with some of our lackluster performance during the league but credit where its due, we came out all guns blazing for the championship. The league quickly gets forgotten after a good championship display. He also made the correct call with not appealing the suspensions, accepted the rule of law and got on with it. My only negative is that we have a slavish insistence on running the ball, we never look to kick the ball into Murphy, McBrearty and Brennan. They were available but the players outfield never look up for the pass inside. I believe that is the way we will play under Bonner and there is no point labouring on it, just feel against better teams its hard to run through them. Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1910 - 26/04/2022 09:35:13 2413244 Link
It was a good win, but I wouldn't get too carried away with it, as a number of concerns are outstanding as we move forward, which better teams will take full advantage of. Armagh's first half kick-outs provided us with a springboard, we struggled when they pressed up in the 2nd half and put pressure on our short kick-out. Mayo 2019, Cavan 2020 and Derry 2021 basically let us have short kick-outs and put pressure on our runners coming out of defence and had great success, which we seen on Sunday too to a lesser extent. This is something we need to be guarded against, something we need to be aware of and anticipate. What really impressed me was our attacking incisions, it wasn't just lateral play and patient play, we ran at them and caused serious trouble repeatedly. Michael Murphy, Michael Langan, Ciaran Thompson, Jason McGee etc all cutting in with runners ahead of them inside giving options, it was impressive and we could have racked up a much larger score. There was a lot of sloppy play, it wasn't the most clinical game, but we are getting a lot of attacking players back and its starting to show on the scoreboard. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1385 - 26/04/2022 12:13:59 2413302 Link
Replying To Commodore: "It was a good win, but I wouldn't get too carried away with it, as a number of concerns are outstanding as we move forward, which better teams will take full advantage of. Armagh's first half kick-outs provided us with a springboard, we struggled when they pressed up in the 2nd half and put pressure on our short kick-out. Mayo 2019, Cavan 2020 and Derry 2021 basically let us have short kick-outs and put pressure on our runners coming out of defence and had great success, which we seen on Sunday too to a lesser extent. This is something we need to be guarded against, something we need to be aware of and anticipate. What really impressed me was our attacking incisions, it wasn't just lateral play and patient play, we ran at them and caused serious trouble repeatedly. Michael Murphy, Michael Langan, Ciaran Thompson, Jason McGee etc all cutting in with runners ahead of them inside giving options, it was impressive and we could have racked up a much larger score. There was a lot of sloppy play, it wasn't the most clinical game, but we are getting a lot of attacking players back and its starting to show on the scoreboard." I agree we can be a lot better, bags of potential, I'd like to see us mix up the thing a bit and kick it in quicker to the forwards some of the time, I couldn't believe the naivety of the Armagh kickouts, you'd have to wonder about McGeeney, surely big Donaghy would know what the problem was and changed the strategy? I think we have the potential to all the way, jes I'd love to see Michael Murphy lift the Sam Maguire again, we have the talent to do it I have no doubt, I have a feeling this is going to be a great Championship, hope we can keep every man fit and keep the focus and keep improving. Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3271 - 26/04/2022 13:48:42 2413335 Link
Replying To Commodore: "It was a good win, but I wouldn't get too carried away with it, as a number of concerns are outstanding as we move forward, which better teams will take full advantage of. Armagh's first half kick-outs provided us with a springboard, we struggled when they pressed up in the 2nd half and put pressure on our short kick-out. Mayo 2019, Cavan 2020 and Derry 2021 basically let us have short kick-outs and put pressure on our runners coming out of defence and had great success, which we seen on Sunday too to a lesser extent. This is something we need to be guarded against, something we need to be aware of and anticipate. What really impressed me was our attacking incisions, it wasn't just lateral play and patient play, we ran at them and caused serious trouble repeatedly. Michael Murphy, Michael Langan, Ciaran Thompson, Jason McGee etc all cutting in with runners ahead of them inside giving options, it was impressive and we could have racked up a much larger score. There was a lot of sloppy play, it wasn't the most clinical game, but we are getting a lot of attacking players back and its starting to show on the scoreboard." Agree with you there. As much as I wanted us to give Armagh a good hammering it's probably better in a way that we didn't rack up a huge score. The hype machine would've gone into overdrive. Mickey Graham is a shrewd operator and we've suffered before against his Cavan team. No doubt he'll play the poor mouth in the build up, that they were operating in Division 4 and we were in Division 1 etc. But we need to respect them and go about our business in the right way. I think we do have better players than them, but it counts for nothing if the focus and hunger isn't right. Any word yet on where it'll be played? I'm hoping Clones. I'd say Cavan would love another crack at us in the Athletic Grounds. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9819 - 26/04/2022 14:13:05 2413345 Link
Replying To Tirchonaill1: "I agree we can be a lot better, bags of potential, I'd like to see us mix up the thing a bit and kick it in quicker to the forwards some of the time, I couldn't believe the naivety of the Armagh kickouts, you'd have to wonder about McGeeney, surely big Donaghy would know what the problem was and changed the strategy? I think we have the potential to all the way, jes I'd love to see Michael Murphy lift the Sam Maguire again, we have the talent to do it I have no doubt, I have a feeling this is going to be a great Championship, hope we can keep every man fit and keep the focus and keep improving." It would be a fantastic thing to see, the great man lifting Sam a decade on from his first. It would cap a brilliant county career. Momentum and luck with injuries will be huge this year in my opinion. Everyone is tipping Kerry at the minute. But that's far too simplistic an outlook. Various scenarios could emerge the further we get into the Championship. e.g. if Mayo regroup and get their injured men back and up to speed like Mullin, O'Connor and Durcan. They could meet an undercooked Kerry in the quarter final and who knwos what would happen. Imagine a scenario where Donegal win Ulster and get a right rattle at some team in Croke Park in the QF? Injury free and with a bit of momentum and confidence behind them who knows where it could lead. The talent is undeniably there. The beauty of sport. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9819 - 26/04/2022 15:02:34 2413364 Link
Replying To Lockjaw: "Agree with you there. As much as I wanted us to give Armagh a good hammering it's probably better in a way that we didn't rack up a huge score. The hype machine would've gone into overdrive. Mickey Graham is a shrewd operator and we've suffered before against his Cavan team. No doubt he'll play the poor mouth in the build up, that they were operating in Division 4 and we were in Division 1 etc. But we need to respect them and go about our business in the right way. I think we do have better players than them, but it counts for nothing if the focus and hunger isn't right. Any word yet on where it'll be played? I'm hoping Clones. I'd say Cavan would love another crack at us in the Athletic Grounds." The venues & times for the 2022 Ulster Senior Football Championship Semi Finals have been confirmed: Cavan v Donegal Clones 4pm Sunday 8th May Monaghan/Down v Tyrone/Derry Athletic Grounds 4pm Sunday 15th May greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 680 - 26/04/2022 20:01:30 2413454 Link
No more than my Mayo friends, some amount of delusion in here too if ye think ye will put a rattle in for the All Ireland based on what's gone on so far. If Armagh had a bit of composure about themselves that would have been a much closer game, Armagh missing about 7/8 scores in good scoring areas should be a big worry for ye. I don't think Tyrone or Derry will be so forgiving in Ulster, or Dublin/Kerry if ye get further. . ahsure. (Galway) - Posts: 1707 - 26/04/2022 22:04:51 2413472 Link
Replying To ahsure.: "No more than my Mayo friends, some amount of delusion in here too if ye think ye will put a rattle in for the All Ireland based on what's gone on so far. If Armagh had a bit of composure about themselves that would have been a much closer game, Armagh missing about 7/8 scores in good scoring areas should be a big worry for ye. I don't think Tyrone or Derry will be so forgiving in Ulster, or Dublin/Kerry if ye get further. ." Go away with your ifs. If Armagh had more composure? That's complete conjecture, for they had absolutely none on the day. You could play what ifs all day long. What if Donegal had been more accurate? Won over half Armagh's kickouts and only got 2 scores off it. Sure we could play what ifs all day. Typical of Galway. Beat Mayo once and ye are out of the woodwork. Won't be long now until the Rossies make it a hattrick against Galway for the season. papa_pump (Donegal) - Posts: 74 - 27/04/2022 09:25:25 2413492 Link
Replying To ahsure.: "No more than my Mayo friends, some amount of delusion in here too if ye think ye will put a rattle in for the All Ireland based on what's gone on so far. If Armagh had a bit of composure about themselves that would have been a much closer game, Armagh missing about 7/8 scores in good scoring areas should be a big worry for ye. I don't think Tyrone or Derry will be so forgiving in Ulster, or Dublin/Kerry if ye get further. ." If the ref played the 2 mins wasted time Galway caused in added time ye wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be surprised if Galway is gone by the QF's of the AI and thats not be saying Donegal will definitely be there I just Don't see Galway there. naomh_conaill_4 (Donegal) - Posts: 502 - 27/04/2022 09:41:16 2413498 Link
Replying To ahsure.: "No more than my Mayo friends, some amount of delusion in here too if ye think ye will put a rattle in for the All Ireland based on what's gone on so far. If Armagh had a bit of composure about themselves that would have been a much closer game, Armagh missing about 7/8 scores in good scoring areas should be a big worry for ye. I don't think Tyrone or Derry will be so forgiving in Ulster, or Dublin/Kerry if ye get further. ." Ah here, sure what if we had been more clinical in the first half. In the second half Shane O'Donnell and Michael Langan could have scored goals by being a bit more ruthless. Noone from Donegal is saying it was a perfect performance. Show me one team who has put in a perfect performance so far. We're not thinking of Dublin/Kerry because Cavan need to be respected and we need to overcome them first. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9819 - 27/04/2022 09:45:07 2413502 Link
Replying To Lockjaw: "Agree with you there. As much as I wanted us to give Armagh a good hammering it's probably better in a way that we didn't rack up a huge score. The hype machine would've gone into overdrive. Mickey Graham is a shrewd operator and we've suffered before against his Cavan team. No doubt he'll play the poor mouth in the build up, that they were operating in Division 4 and we were in Division 1 etc. But we need to respect them and go about our business in the right way. I think we do have better players than them, but it counts for nothing if the focus and hunger isn't right. Any word yet on where it'll be played? I'm hoping Clones. I'd say Cavan would love another crack at us in the Athletic Grounds." Cavan are not to be underestimated, neither them nor Tipperary should have been in Division 4, both are at least Division 1 or 2 level teams when at full strength. Cavan have serious talent in their ranks, stemming from a strong underage setup and in Mickey Graham they have a good manager. Raymond Galligan is a top goalkeeper, they are solid defensively and have the likes of Gearoid McKiernan, Thomas Galligan and Killian Clarke pulling strings around middle and have unearthed a quality forward in Paddy Lynch. Not to forget Conor Madden. In 2020 we beat Tyrone, hammered Armagh and took Cavan too lightly with one eye on Dublin 2 weeks after the Ulster final. We got a match-ups wrong, and didn't bring any real intensity, it was like we thought could prevail in 2nd gear. I think this match will be different, we will be out to avenge that defeat. However Cavan will themselves want to prove they really are at 2020 level, but I think we have enough quality to win and probably win by 7-12 points. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1385 - 27/04/2022 10:06:35 2413515 Link
Replying To ahsure.: "No more than my Mayo friends, some amount of delusion in here too if ye think ye will put a rattle in for the All Ireland based on what's gone on so far. If Armagh had a bit of composure about themselves that would have been a much closer game, Armagh missing about 7/8 scores in good scoring areas should be a big worry for ye. I don't think Tyrone or Derry will be so forgiving in Ulster, or Dublin/Kerry if ye get further. ." If we'd our shooting boots on in the first half we would have been 10 points up more than likely. We also missed at least one other huge goal chance. Armagh had a purple patch after half time and didn't get a single score out of it, so they were wasteful yes. But we were much more wasteful over the full game. There's absolutely no doubt we were miles ahead of them at the weekend. Of course someone like Tyrone, Dublin, Kerry and Mayo would have capitalised a lot more on our mistakes especially early in that 2nd half. That's why it's good to have it happen against a team at Armagh's level and hopefully we can iron out the kinks going forward. JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 27/04/2022 10:28:47 2413527 Link
Replying To ahsure.: "No more than my Mayo friends, some amount of delusion in here too if ye think ye will put a rattle in for the All Ireland based on what's gone on so far. If Armagh had a bit of composure about themselves that would have been a much closer game, Armagh missing about 7/8 scores in good scoring areas should be a big worry for ye. I don't think Tyrone or Derry will be so forgiving in Ulster, or Dublin/Kerry if ye get further. ." Galway have the All Ireland sewn up sure. If Armagh had scored those 7/8 chances and Donegal had have scored 7 out of the 11 chances they squandered in the first half alone it probably would have been a closer game. Maybe Donegal won't be as forgiven against a Tyrone or Derry team. And to be honest I think any of the top teams including Donegal will make mince meat of Galway. I agree with the poster that said Galway will be out in the QF because realistically they don't belong at the top table in 2022. MurphBalls (Donegal) - Posts: 178 - 27/04/2022 10:39:20 2413532 Link
With all due respect, I have never once mentioned or outlined our All Ireland credentials. I personally don't think we have a good enough team to mount an AI challenge and I am happy to accept that. Not to say that won't change in the years to come. But this thread isn't about Galway, it's about Donegal and my observation (for what it's worth, not a lot) is that your team will not be at the business end of the championship either. My opinion appears to be a bit of a sore point, but it's just that… an opinion. ahsure. (Galway) - Posts: 1707 - 27/04/2022 12:17:51 2413571 Link
Good performance on Sunday outside the first 10 minutes in the second half. One item of note was the continues targetinging of Mcfadden when he was carrying the ball out of defence and his overturning the ball. I could at least 4 times he either gave away the ball or lost it in the tackle that lead to Armagh points 3 of them in the second half. Caolan Mcgonagle needs to come in in that position. Also Odhran Mcfadden Ferry to start the next day as well. Any word on Osion Gallen will he be available on time for Cavan as even a sub option would be a big boost. IN_THRU (Donegal) - Posts: 23 - 27/04/2022 13:22:07 2413601 Link
Great to see Jason McGee hitting good form on Sunday. Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3852 - 27/04/2022 14:01:35 2413623 Link
Replying To ahsure.: "With all due respect, I have never once mentioned or outlined our All Ireland credentials. I personally don't think we have a good enough team to mount an AI challenge and I am happy to accept that. Not to say that won't change in the years to come. But this thread isn't about Galway, it's about Donegal and my observation (for what it's worth, not a lot) is that your team will not be at the business end of the championship either. My opinion appears to be a bit of a sore point, but it's just that… an opinion." You come into the Donegal thread to call Donegal supporters deluded. What response were you expecting? papa_pump (Donegal) - Posts: 74 - 27/04/2022 14:04:53 2413626 Link
On another note, our minors had a very impressive win over Fermanagh last Saturday. They put in a clinical performance, with Glenswilly forward Gildea scoring 2-3 or 4 in a man of the match display. Others that were very good was Martin from Mac Cumhaills and Mc Gee from Cloughaneely. They play Derry next in Owenbeg on May 7th. donegaldouble (Donegal) - Posts: 318 - 28/04/2022 14:55:06 2413897 Link