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donegal don't lose games in ballybofey, and i think that will be enough to see them home by 3 or 4
totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 916 - 08/05/2018 14:10:12 2097285 Link 0 |
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I expect this to be a high scoring game. Donegal seem to have moved in a different direction as have Cavan. Donegal were very unlucky during the national league; whilst it sounds strange with a bit of luck they could have won the majority of their games. The only concern with that is; was the traditional Donegal weakness back?! Good teams but no knowledge how to win the big games; this is something JmcG changed. I fancy Donegal to impress on Sunday though and after a titantic battle come through by a point or 2. This Donegal team are good enough to win an Ulster title, and I fancy them to do that this year. They have the best group of players in the Province and if they stay focused can prove that in July! I feel for Cavan as this is an awful draw for them so early in the year. sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 08/05/2018 14:30:54 2097286 Link 0 |
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This Donegal panel has all the necessary components required to win an All Ireland title, and dominate Ulster again. While they might not consistently win underage Minor or U21 Ulster's/All Ireland's, we are pretty good at producing a few top drawer players at every grade most years and collectively produce a top notch senior team. Momentum is what is badly needed now, we need our younger players getting and winning competitive games, building experience. It may take more time, but I think we are going in the right direction. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1112 - 08/05/2018 15:12:10 2097308 Link 0 |
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I would agree with most of your points - however have to disagree about Donegal having the components to win an All Ireland. Ulster football tends to have bursts of success with two or three teams competing for All Ireland's at the one time. I don't think we are in that sort of era at the minute. Ulster football is making steady progress but there are no Ulster teams capable of beating Dublin or Mayo in a big Championship game this year or next imo!!! Apart from those two though there are a number of Ulster teams capable of holding their own against the rest but I would be surprised if an Ulster county contests an All Ireland final in the next two years never mind win one. I don't see Tyrone taking the next step; they have been lucky Ulster was weak over the past number of years - they just don't have the forwards to win an All Ireland semi or final!! I would agree Donegal have the potential to go on a run in Ulster; collecting a few titles and as things stand may indeed be the next All Ireland winning Ulster county. However it would be a number of years before this happened and they would need to improve significantly - remember Kerry will be a major force again with 3 to 5 years, plus the potential in Galway.
sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 08/05/2018 15:44:39 2097318 Link 0 |
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Really? If you think we have the winning of an all Ireland title, there are a number of things that you must consider first. The last time a relegated team won the all Ireland. The size and quality of our panel. Our recent under age success compared to other counties. The field. Are we as good or have we as much to offer? I would say that our u21 and minor records are nowhere near other counties such as Dublin in the u21s, Galway in the u21s, even Tipp have a better recent history in the u21 competition getting to the final back a few years ago. Minors we got to the all Ireland final 4 years ago but have struggled since once out of the province. (one minor provincial since then too). This Imo is not good enough to compete for the all Ireland. I hope that we do as well as we can do this year. I think that Tyrone are a lot further down the road of development and will possibly push on.. Even Monaghan would be better positioned than us at the moment for a championship run. we need to get over Cavan on Sunday. I believe that it is going to be a draw. I also think you should look at cavans under age record and consider how good they could be this year too. You will notice that I have not even mentioned Dublin, Kerry or Mayo in this post until now. I would have very modest hopes about winning anything this year. Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 08/05/2018 15:52:21 2097320 Link 0 |
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Think Cavan can shade this one. Cavan by 2 points
fatkeeper (Dublin) - Posts: 316 - 08/05/2018 23:27:27 2097417 Link 0 |
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Steady on. Yes there is a decent squad there with lots of potential certainly capable of being competitive against some of the top sides but win an All Ireland? None of those minor or U-21 sides managed to win an AI and unfortunately Donegal have dropped off a bit since 2014. Players like Neil Gallagher, Rory Kavanagh, Karl Lacey and Eamon McGee have left leaving quite a void. As it is Donegal do not have a midfield near good enough to challenge the top sides so the next couple of years is about continuing to develop and closing that gap again. The super 8 is the place to do it no doubt so lets not look too far beyond Sunday against Cavan. Like Donegal they are on the 2nd tier behind the likes of the Dubs, Mayo, Tyrone and Kerry looking to close the gap. Hopefully Sunday will be a stepping stone to potentially maybe reaching an Ulster final and take it from there.
panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2781 - 08/05/2018 23:38:53 2097420 Link 0 |
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You are right comparing our underage success to other sides especially the sides you mentioned not to mention the crazy dominance Kerry have had at minor in recent years. Though saying that the underage set ups are producing decent players year on year. The problem is the same cannot be said on the management front which is crucial to any success. One thing that should be pointed out is that the timing of switching U-21 to U-20 and rules that have come with it could not have been any worse for Donegal. I know there are no guarantees and purely hypothetical but I believe the eligible crop at U-21 this year (i.e. 2015's minors) would have won Ulster in similar fashion to last years U-21's. Plus might have had a better shot at doing themselves justice outside of Ulster with a less punishing schedule unlike the extremely unfair and grueling schedule lasts years batch had. If we can beat Cavan Sunday and maybe get to an Ulster final and from there the super 8's I would be delighted. I definitely think it is possible and there is a squad of players good enough to belong there but that would be as far as my expectations would go. The experience gained there along with the experience some of our less experienced young players should gain in Division 2 next year should hopefully provide building blocks for the future and then who knows.
panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2781 - 08/05/2018 23:52:37 2097421 Link 1 |
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This is a really interesting game and difficult to know how good either side is. Donegal have been relegated from Division1 whereas Cavan have been promoted but not sure how much you can read into league form. Its a massive game for both sides, win and you are in with a decent chance of making the Ulster Final, lose and you face the long road in the qualifiers. Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1874 - 09/05/2018 11:02:52 2097487 Link 0 |
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Right. Enough of the silly buggers. Time to nail the colours to the mast. I may be proven wrong but I think we'll win because of a number of factors. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9133 - 09/05/2018 11:31:31 2097493 Link 0 |
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We will have to find form a notch up from the league in order to beat Cavan. If you look at any of our games, our defence was breached so many times. We could have leaked goals galore in the first 10 minutes v Mayo. Every time Kerry counter attacked against us they looked like netting. Same with the Dubs at times in Croke park. Kildare got a few and had one disallowed and missed 2 other sitters. I can't comment on the tyrone or Monaghan games as I wasn't at either of them, but we were well beaten in any event. Galway was the only game Imo that we were able to keep them in check and even then they did counter attack with a lot of danger a number of times in the game. My point is that I have followed donegal for a long time now, and whenever I read chat about how good we are, I get nervous. I think we need to be modest in our ambition and take a bit of the pressure of the players. We are a very unforgiving lot when it comes to following our county. I think we should learn from the past. Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 09/05/2018 12:07:06 2097509 Link 0 |
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I agree that we were porous during the league alright. But then again so were Cavan. In the Div 2 league final it was like an underage match. I think it would be naive in the extreme to expect to see similar from both Donegal and Cavan on Sunday. I think we'll see both teams trying to adopt a tighter ship approach. And should that happen I think Donegal have the better players to penetrate and get scores. Just my opinion though.
Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9133 - 09/05/2018 12:17:26 2097511 Link 0 |
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It would not shock if Cavan were to win here, thats clear. seanfinn (Monaghan) - Posts: 360 - 09/05/2018 12:25:24 2097518 Link 0 |
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Would anyone know of a reliable stream for the Donegal Cavan game this weekend, either live or a later viewing? I know it's on BBC 2 on the late showing.. in the Middle East and hoping to watch the game somehow or some way that is reliable and not likely to freeze! Any help appreciated Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1321 - 09/05/2018 18:12:21 2097644 Link 0 |
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If Donegal play anything like the same way as the league game in clones then Cavan have a serious chance and there is nothing to say Donegal have improved as the last game they played against Mayo was poor stuff. I know they are building there hopes on players coming back in but they would need to make a serious impact to improve the last few league games. mon07 (Monaghan) - Posts: 139 - 09/05/2018 20:18:00 2097668 Link 0 |
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Knowing how we play at times I'm going to say we will draw this Sunday and win the replay, I can see us leading and then getting caught late on whilst trying to keep possession and see out the game, I'm not convinced by Bonner's tactics, hope I'm wrong. Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2747 - 09/05/2018 21:05:35 2097676 Link 0 |
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During the league our defence went man to man with no sweeper and it was a disaster. The opposition forwards just pulled wide and their midfield and half back piled through. Mac Niallais is great going forward but doesn't track back well. I think it'll be Murphy out there again this year along with Hugh Mc Fadden and if we are going to go man to man in defence we'll need our two wing half forwards being able to track back too when needed. With the experience Frank Mc Glynn has I'd play him as our sweeper as he will keep that central channel manned even if the other defenders go man to man. Tir Conaill Abu (Donegal) - Posts: 1671 - 09/05/2018 22:23:14 2097701 Link 0 |
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Donegal, easy prediction and i'm not just saying that. there's just too much quality all over the pitch. too many good forwards and i really have no idea who will mark Mc Brearty with his current form. If Murphy and Mc Fadden start midfield you have a physical pairing that will easily combat our pair as they have been far from impressive all year in division 2. I'd have given Cavan a glimmer of hope had they beaten Roscommon and had a fit Mc Veety but as it stands taking all into account including the fact its in Ballybofey where Donegal haven't been beaten since 2010 its not going to happen. theweanling (Cavan) - Posts: 414 - 10/05/2018 11:33:07 2097798 Link 0 |
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Agree about our midfield, I'd imagine it'll be Gearoid and Clarke. Gearoid was poor during the league, I hope he's managed to find a bit of form lately. As for marking McBrearty I'd imagine Clarke will be given that role, personally I think he's more than capable of it. If not him, it'll be Faulkner.
Cavan_Shambles (Cavan) - Posts: 575 - 10/05/2018 13:24:17 2097828 Link 0 |
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Clarke will be busy marking both McBrearty and Murphy! Seriously, it will have to be Clarke around the middle and Faulkner marking PMB at the back. I can't see anyone else in the setup being mobile enough to cause problems for Donegal's midfield. McKiernan should not start- more often than not things just pass him by and management won't take him off! Use him as an impact sub in the forwards for the last 25 minutes and squeeze some value out of him. Hopefully Mackey will have gained something on the aerobic/stamina side in the last few weeks- him and McVeety are the major source of forward momentum for this team but he was struggling to last the 70 minutes. It might sound nuts but again I would be keeping him in reserve until the thing settles down. Donegal will likely have built their defensive plan against him but it could work to go with something different early on. What that something is, is something else entirely, but it's pretty certain that if Cavan are going to get a win it won't come from the usual sources (Mackey runs, McKiernan gimmes and Johnston points ) Overall, the league showed us that Cavan are slightly worse than Roscommon but got promoted, while Donegal are slightly worse than Mayo and got relegated. Other years we have seen Cavan supporters lose the run of themselves in the weeks before championship (after much less impressive league efforts) but this year is different. Lower than low-key. Something might be brewing within the tight-knit group that MMG has built. The blues by 2. MadgeKing (Cavan) - Posts: 493 - 10/05/2018 15:37:23 2097882 Link 0 |