Congrats to Tyrone who were thoroughly deserving winners on the day. The conditioning and experience of the Tyrone team along with a more effective bench were the winning of the game. The fear that Tyrone are that bit further down the line came to fruition today and you could see that even when the teams were warming up. Donegal are in a similar position to where Tyrone were in 2015 but got the bonus of an Ulster title this year given how the draw worked out. Donegal weathered the early storm but were somewhat lucky to be going in ahead at half time given the Tyrone free taking and a keeper malfunction for the goal. We missed a trick not kicking on just after half time when there was possibly more goals there for the taking. Once Tyrone got their first goal Donegal failed to react, lost their shape and concentration plus the kickouts went to pot. I thought Mcquillan was poor and Tyrone got more of the calls in this respect. There were numerous frees not given with fouls on Odhran and ban sticking out. Plus Neil McGee got punished in the first half for an excellent tackle on the ball. Nothing was done either about the Tyrone mentor constantly running onto the pitch or how an extra ball got kicked in from the sideline when Patton was trying to get his kicks away quickly in the 2nd half. Not taking away from Tyrone who as I already stated totally deserved it. Special mention to Colm Cavanagh who was fantastic in the second half and Lee Brennan who was a game changer off the bench.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2782 - 05/08/2018 21:03:24    2129662

bigboon (Tyrone) - Posts: 50 - 05/08/2018 21:05:57    2129663

NaomhNaille (Donegal) - Posts: 124 - 05/08/2018 21:18:55    2129667

i dunno lads people are on about the tyrone subs making the difference i think donegal ran outta steam and it didn't matter who came on as they were out on there legs murphy and mchugh very quiet in the last 20 minutes but still it was a good last 20 and will give ourfellas another challenge to overcome

prideof85 (Monaghan) - Posts: 851 - 05/08/2018 21:28:49    2129675

Wally (Tyrone) - Posts: 913 - 05/08/2018 21:41:30    2129693

My match prediction was right I'm sorry to say, if we had Paddy Mc Brearty today we might have done it but we tried our best, great goal from Michael and some great individual performances from both teams, them young fellas of ours have learned a lot this year and I'm really looking forward to next year already,
well done to Tyrone and I hope ye go all the way and win it now, I'm a Tyrone fan from here on in.
Tir Chonaill Abu.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2756 - 05/08/2018 21:43:46    2129697

Yes, Donegal seemed to run out of steam for sure in the final quarter. One cynical aspect of the game which was allowed to go unchecked was one of the Tyrone backroom staff with a green bib continually kicking a second ball onto the pitch every time the Donegal goalie went to take a quick kick out in the last 10 minutes and slowing the game up. It happened at least 5 or 6 times before the linesman intervened and sent him to the dugout. If I had been on that side of the pitch I'd have jumped the fence myself and put him in the dugout. How did the Donegal bench allow this to continually go unchecked and why did McQuillan do nothing about it earlier when it was obvious what was going on.

Lifford Gael (Donegal) - Posts: 1925 - 05/08/2018 21:46:14    2129698

I'm going to say something controversial....i would rather watch Tyrone than Dublin.

When they cut loose they are for more exciting. Unreal final 20min from them.

I just cant understand why they dont play in that style from the start of the match.

lambofgod (Mayo) - Posts: 116 - 05/08/2018 21:47:15    2129699

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2782 - 05/08/2018 22:10:27    2129713

InishowenMan (Donegal) - Posts: 216 - 05/08/2018 22:14:43    2129716

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 05/08/2018 22:24:45    2129727

Dergforeeva (Tyrone) - Posts: 90 - 05/08/2018 23:29:50    2129760

Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1321 - 05/08/2018 23:36:18    2129766

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 05/08/2018 23:59:30    2129772

ulsterrules (Donegal) - Posts: 259 - 06/08/2018 00:03:46    2129773

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 06/08/2018 00:12:00    2129778

Well beaten by a very strong Tyrone outfit who were far stronger in the last quarter.
To be outscored 2-7 to 0-2 in that period will be very disappointing for Declan & the team but better to know where you arec.f. than live in a fools paradise.
Best of luck to Tyrone & I wish them well from here on in.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 06/08/2018 09:24:08    2129859

cacsmckilly (Tyrone) - Posts: 1294 - 06/08/2018 09:29:39    2129861

Hard to take how it ended up but you have to give credit to Tyrone's conditioning and impact from the bench, they really kicked on after Paddy McGrath's point which put us 4 points up. I can talk about individual incidents that grate with me but regardless of whether it was a free or not, Odhrán going off seemed to really impact the entire team. I was on the other side of the pitch so couldn't tell if it was a fair hit, but after that point we looked out of ideas and energy in our attacks.

I expected Tyrone to put up a score of 20ish points and I mentioned earlier a lot would depend on our own attacks and how clinical we were, unfortunately in the second half we tailed off badly but again, Tyrone were excellent and upped the intensity in the tackle. Murphy missed a couple of 45s as well which aren't easy chances but they're the kind of ones you need to go over to lift the crowd and keep the scoreboard ticking over too.

I thought our biggest opportunity came in the last 20 minutes of the first half where we were very much on top and didn't get as big a return as needed from it. We got the goal but let Tyrone nick a point before half time. Really needed to turn the screw in that situation.

The ref I thought was absolutely terrible for both sides. I wonder sometimes what a defender has to do to legally tackle for some refs, the amount of fair hits especially in the first half that were blown up for frees was nonsense. And then he just ignored Leo McLoone and Colm Cavanagh when both should have seen red cards (both on yellows and committed black card offences). Never mind then just ignoring where the second ball was coming from in those last 10 minutes, honestly where did he think these balls were coming in from. A terrible ref who didn't allow the game to develop a flow or any decent kind of physicality. To be clear it wasn't the winning of the game for Tyrone, they were much the better side, but the ref impacted the standard of the match in my opinion. It's not even as if there was any off the ball nonsense that you usually see in these games, hardly any of it.

Final word on our lads, I thought they'd developed a lot and will have learned a lot from yesterday more than any game this year. I hope Declan keeps building the squad as it's clear you need "finishers" now to live with the likes of Dublin and Tyrone. They gave us a great summer with an unexpected Ulster title and a good rattle in the Super 8s. Congrats to all involved and best of luck to Tyrone and Monaghan going forward, I hope it's an Ulster All-Ireland come September.

JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 06/08/2018 09:40:50    2129869

downredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 567 - 06/08/2018 09:43:38    2129871