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Donegal GAA thread

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Replying To peiledoir20:  "Definitely unfair to call him a free kick merchant but I feel he has been over hyped. His biggest haul came against New York a couple of years ago. He probably looks a bit better given the rest of the Mayo forwards fall so short. Roarty marshalled him well yesterday and even outscored him from play."
He doesn't score enough from play in big games but always has a big total in league and championship. Most of his scores are from Frees. No one hypes him apart from Mayo fans. If that is their marquee forward for the next while, they'll struggle to win a Connacht never mind an all Ireland.

eddieSize5Balls (Donegal) - Posts: 292 - 16/02/2026 19:04:23    2656877

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Replying To eddieSize5Balls:  "Mayo always have excuses when they lose even from our own fans. We should be beating Roscommon and Monaghan and if we do, with 10 points we lost certainly would be in a final. So a final definitely is on the horizon.
Armagh have been poor lately too and Galway would be a toss up.


Mulreaney was good but he's not going to displace Patton, let's be serious. Pattons kickouts are the best in the country.

The new young boys did it well. We should have a good u20 year it would seem.

I am still holding out some hope Paddy is coaxed back for championship."
Lol...you couldn't wait to retire him 2 years ago!!!

chancer (Donegal) - Posts: 37 - 16/02/2026 20:12:28    2656891

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Replying To Commodore:  "I'd need to see the stats from both for proper comparison on kick-outs, Mulreanny isn't bad at short or medium range, and he saved us from conceding a couple of goals in the 2nd half yesterday.

Patton has that long-range ability if the opposition do press up, but most teams counteract that now by pushing the keeper out to the 45 for kickouts. But its still a serious threat to have within our arsenal, as you never know when a team might leave that gap exposed."
Gavin Mulreany has been a credit to himself in this league campaign but respectively when Patton is back the number 1 spot will be his again. Military precision from kickouts is the single most important part of the new rules. I wouldn't go as far as Geezer to call it "piggery", but you have to give yourself every chance on the kickout under the new rules. Patton has a longer range and is more capable of picking a man. I think in this regard we have played to Mulreanys strengths in the last 3 games, but I also don't think it's coincidence that all 3 of our opponents copped on to us in the second half of each fixture.

This isn't a comment on Gavin or Sean, but I think it's something we got badly wrong in July against Kerry. We had two games of evidence whereby they hijacked Tyrone and Armagh's kickout, and we left High and Jason on the bench. I can see where management were coming from trying to keep something in reserve but it was too little too late. I'm also not so naive as to ignore the fact that Ryan and Ciaran were unfortunately lost far too early in the game (especially Ciaran T for fielding and twos), and I won't imply that the final was lost on one dimension rather than being a culmination of several things going against us. I do however think that Jim is taking a once bitten twice shy approach by loading up the middle with big men.

To support that, I think we end up going with the keeper most capable of servicing them and Gavin Mulreany is very unfortunate to have such a keeper as Sean Patton ahead of him. And we are very lucky to have such a capable deputy

papa_pump (Donegal) - Posts: 90 - 16/02/2026 21:48:41    2656914

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Replying To chancer:  "Lol...you couldn't wait to retire him 2 years ago!!!"
He was finished as a starter long ago but He can offer something from the bench

eddieSize5Balls (Donegal) - Posts: 292 - 17/02/2026 00:14:04    2656928

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A great start to the year with a 100% record across the McKenna Cup and National League.
We're more or less safe now which is objective number 1 achieved. This weekend will be interesting. It would be nice to beat Armagh for a number of reasons,
1. Because beating Armagh is always nice.
2. It keeps our momentum going.
3. Lays down another wee psychological marker. as good as Armagh have been in recent years, they can't ever seem to get the better of us.
4. It puts Armagh under a wee bit of pressure in terms of Div 1 status.

Beyond that, it will be good to see some squad members get some game time.

I'd just be a wee bit nervous about all the plamás we're getting nationally at the moment. Winning games in the Spring is great and all, but as we know it's the summer when the real action starts. But, all in all, a great time to be a Donegal supporter, long may it continue.

Just a side note - interesting to hear that Darragh Canavan is heading away to Australia for a month. The timing is interesting. Does it hint that Tyrone don't consider themselves realistic contenders? I know the chat is that he'll be home for Championship, but a month out of training and competitive action at this time of year isn't great preparation for one of their star men?

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10237 - 17/02/2026 10:10:53    2656958

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Paddy's knee is goosed, he'll hardly be playing for the Kilcar ones never mind Donegal in the championship

ModernMaharaja (Donegal) - Posts: 134 - 17/02/2026 11:00:48    2656971

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Replying To eddieSize5Balls:  "He was finished as a starter long ago but He can offer something from the bench"
Retired because of injury. Time to look forward with the new players.

greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 754 - 17/02/2026 11:25:20    2656975

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I watched many older people arriving at the ground very early on Sunday and still not getting a seat.There were a lot of young fit people and indeed a lot of coats in the seats which hardly seems fair but perhaps unavoidable.You cannot expect huge seating capacity at secondary grounds such as Letterkenny or Ballyshannon but you probably would have had the same situation in Ballybofey.This got me thinking that all county grounds should have far more covered seating.The majority of county grounds would have about 3-5k seats on one side of the ground.I don't know what this would cost but it is something we should be aiming for in this day and age.Maybe if the other side of the field was covered without seats??.It is a long stand for older supporters on a wet winters day.If it was a bus or train fitter people would be giving up their seats.

gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1226 - 17/02/2026 14:54:17    2657008

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Replying To chancer:  "Lol...you couldn't wait to retire him 2 years ago!!!"
The same experts were saying hugh mc fadden was never a county player a good few years ago..

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2686 - 17/02/2026 15:29:20    2657014

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Replying To Commodore:  "I wouldn't get too carried away with chat of League finals, Mayo were not at full strength and the elements was a factor that first half. We got Dublin on opening league match, they came back strong at us and a understrength Kerry side came back strong at us, as did Mayo yesterday. We have tough games against Armagh, Galway, Roscommon and Monaghan still ahead. I would expect at least 3 of those teams to present a more complete 70 minute performance and not allow us to get ahead at HT, which will be likely if we are fielding more inexperienced players in those games for long periods.

Mulreaney is really challenging for a starting place in the summer, in fact, I think Shaun Patton will be fighting now to get back in the team.

McCahill had a brilliant debut, definitely looks like a bright addition, both him and Shea Malone injecting energy into our attack. Defensively"
I don't think talk of getting to a league final is getting carried away with those remaining fixtures. The challenges will be welcome especially if there are big rotations. Looking forward to seeing what the more inexperienced lads do and where it takes us. However I would agree in not getting too carried away in the scheme of overall things at this time of the year.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2910 - 17/02/2026 17:22:19    2657027

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