Unfortunately, as has always been the case in Donegal football, we are criminally short of players who can deliver long accurate kick passes into the full forward line (both spotting the opportunity and executing the pass). In the last 20 years Michael Hegarty was the only one who could do it consistently and maybe to a lesser extent Neil Gallagher (though these tend to be the long ball to the square rather than the one-hop pass to a corner forward). Indeed, Murphy himself is up there as one of our best kick passers.

The problem is, despite the romanticism of having Murphy around the square, without good ball he is just another player. And if that is the case it is better having him out the field where he can get involved. So I really sympathise with Gallagher (and previously McGuinness) on the instructions they give Murphy.

benjyyy (Donegal) - Posts: 1422 - 25/01/2017 09:35:45    1948622

JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 25/01/2017 10:22:44    1948635

Yes they are still contenders
In Murphy and McBrearty they still have the best inside forward line in the game
Ryan McHugh is in the top 3 players in the game
Neil Gallagher is back this year also and young O'Connor who played in the 2014 all ireland final,

They may not push Ulster as much this year but will still be there later in the summer and none of Dublin, Kerry Tyrone will want to play them if they gather momentum this year

ulster83 (Tyrone) - Posts: 114 - 25/01/2017 11:08:58    1948651

I would see Donegal coming through the qualifiers this year and will give plenty of teams their fill of it. Don't see them winning Sam outright though at the moment.

Dubh_linn (Dublin) - Posts: 2312 - 25/01/2017 12:26:21    1948669

Contenders for Ulster - yes
Contenders for Sam - not really unless we had a manager who could vary the tactics.

Serious talent coming thought but they are playing under managers who won't let them express themselves.

I still think Donegal can take a Mayo or a Kerry on their day but not Sam outright .

Nothing betwen Mayo , Tyrone and Donegal as we saw last year .

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 25/01/2017 14:00:11    1948707

Never say never, on any given day anything can happen

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 25/01/2017 14:40:38    1948719

Actually, look no further than the bookies on this one.

Dublin are red hot favorites. Kerry are good value at 7/2 as they are on the Mayo side of the draw this year, which could mean they will be in the final against Dublin if form against mayo is anything to go by. Mayo and tyrone start to go out a good bit. By the time you get to donegal, they are 33/1. That is an enormous price.

It's getting more and more difficult to hype up teams now. There are runners who are stretching away from the field. I believe that we are in with a shout of beating Tyrone in the semis of ulster but a hell of a lot will depend on the league if this is to come to fruition. As for beyond this, you would have to be mad to say that Donegal are going to return to 2012 form, which is the yardstick of winning the all ireland. 2014 is not as we did not win it, nor were we consistent that year either.

I think that the sub plots of the championship and leauge are the only saving graces now. Who gets promoted, who avoids relegation, who manages to beat Dublin early in the league, the provincial championship (the likes of meath this year) as we watch in hope for one team to put it up to the dubs and the back door games between evenly matched counties who play for bragging rites. That is about all there is in terms of competition.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 25/01/2017 15:42:34    1948744

As a few of the Donegal posters have already said, RG needs to vary his tactics. Donegal have been in the straightjacket of a constant running game under Rory, rarely if ever playing direct ball, hence the reason Murphy spends most of his time out the field. When the ball is lost, the players are expected to sprint back into their own back line, which is not sustainable for a full match. Possibly an injection of some younger legs will help with the running game but I'd like see a variation of tactics as well. We have some smashing young players coming through.

I still think we are contenders in Ulster as the opposition are no better than us with the exception of Tyrone. However I would expect us to be able to compete with Tyrone and if things went right for us on the day we could beat them. Cavan are definitely improving and will be contenders and Monaghan are always strong. I don't see Donegal in the same bracket as Dublin, Kerry and Mayo at the moment.

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1876 - 26/01/2017 13:53:30    1948950

Looking at Donegal's chances,i dont see them having enough to win the All Ireland.Ulster is a possibility,though.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 26/01/2017 14:06:06    1948953

Any team with players like Lacey McGovern Gallagher Mchugh's Mcbreaty Murphy etc have always a chance but Jesus can you's not be a bit braver this year and take a match to the opposition instead of always sitting back with the blanket defence. To play Dublin last year with 13 players on the field and still not gambling by moving more players up the field is unforgivable from this Donegal team. I honestly believe the famous system that got them Sam is actually what is holding them back now.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 27/01/2017 11:44:43    1949166

Al_Maguire (Donegal) - Posts: 246 - 27/01/2017 14:38:19    1949223

Donegal will win nothing with Rory Gallagher in charge, think he has cost them at least one Ulster title already, bad sign to see top players opting out, worrying times for Donegal fans.

El_Torro (Tyrone) - Posts: 155 - 27/01/2017 20:57:41    1949337

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5017 - 28/01/2017 08:19:36    1949374

Cavanman47, I think you may be thinking emotionally about 2012. Yes we were superb that year, but I also believe that other teams do reach those levels. Fair enough, we had to go a long road through the provisional round of ulster before we got to croke park. I would say our conditioning was tip top that year. But ask any of the players, they all thought that they were as good and as well prepared in 2014. The reality is that They probably were physically, but mentally they just weren't as sharp for the long road. Yes for beating Dublin, which was a game they spent all year training for but not to go out again 3 weeks later and win sam.

Donegal have a record over the years of training in a thoroughly amateur way. It used to come out in the wash at very early stages of the championship, and when we did get to the later stages, our conditioning was badly shown up. Consider the all Ireland quarters in 2009 when we simply were not able to keep up with cork after 15 minutes. It was like watching a pro team playing a pub team. The county set up decided in 2011 to get their house in order and start training the way Dublin and Kerry were doing it and the way Mayo are doing it now.

Its possible that we could challenge in a year or 2 but we really are looking at a period of rebuilding. I think that we were very unlucky in ways last year that we were without Gallagher at mid field, as he would have been a badly needed extra option for our kick outs. I would also say that it was ridiculous that our best players were left on the bench (one in particular) because of personal differences with the management). Factor in an addiction to a system of play that has been found out by other teams, at all age levels and I would have no confidence that we are going to challenge the top 4 teams in the country this year.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 28/01/2017 10:56:23    1949384

I'm not sure how you can call it emotional - I'm not from donegal!

It's probably the wrong word to use, but donegal looked almost comfortable in sweeping aside their opponents that year. They were very convincing winners.

I don't think you can say the same about any other winner this decade. .

2011 final v close
2013 final v close
2014 final v close (neither team played their best) semi went to replay
2015 semi went to replay
2016 final went to replay

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5017 - 28/01/2017 11:31:06    1949393

Fair point Cavanman, I would say that in 2012 we had really close games against both Tyrone and Kerry. It was very close to being a draw v Tyrone. It could have been a disastrous draw against Kerry as we outplayed them until the last 5 minutes or so, we definitely didnt sweep them aside. That game reminded me so much of the 2014 mayo kerry game that was drawn in croke park. Nothing is in the bank until the final whistle.

My original point is that we were not at that standard in 2014, while we had good wins along the way particularly the Dublin game, we were blessed in the 1st half not to go 8 points down. Personally I think while we were well worth our win that year in the semis, we were not up to the standard of winning it in 2014. had we played the same way as we did in 2012, it is likely that we would have won it outright. But that is unfair, as every single county can say the same thing in a given year, if the results go against them. "if only our mid fielder was a year younger, its a pity that we played our big game against the dubs in the semis" etc etc.

Which leads me back to this year. We will have to wait and see. But I am not being too optimistic because of obvious reasons.

The state of the field, particularly emerging teams with hunger and quality such as Tyrone or even Meath for that mater.
The state of our own house. We are on the road a long time. have we the appetite for another year?
The system we play has been tactically found out a good few times now by the better teams. It is only a mater of time before a mediocre team finds it out with a very simple tactic of quick diagonal ball into a well drilled pair of forwards.

A good league performance is a must for traction. I hope we get the right results against the teams in order to stay up, and put in big performances against both Dublin and Kerry. as for Tyrone, I would be eager not to show too much to them, as they will most likely be still a bit afraid of a back lash from last year and we need to keep them in the dark for as long in the year as we can.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 28/01/2017 17:11:35    1949468

Neil Gallagher announces his retirement today .

I think we were 28/1 to lift Sam before today. You could add another zero to that now.

A lot of nonsense is spouted about that high catching doesnt exist anymore. Gallagher was one of the best at plucking a ball out of the sky.

Great servant to club and county.

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 20/02/2017 18:05:02    1958816

Fantastic player easily one of the best midfielders in Ireland in recent years. Agree with TRS can now add a zero and multiply by 2 for Donegal's AI odds though was a very long shot even with big Neil available.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2782 - 20/02/2017 21:36:43    1958907

Footballer with a great heart, great brain and plenty of football ability as well. Sad to see him go but at least he has his All-Ireland medal as a reward for everything he gave.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 20/02/2017 22:02:09    1958923

Neil will be a massive loss to Donegal. His ball winning ability was well known but for me, it was his footballing brain and ability to dictate the tempo of a game that stood out. He was very under-rated in this regard. He was also a fine kick passer of the ball and was well able to clip over the odd point when an opportunity presented itself. His performance in the 2012 semi final against Cork was phenomenal and he also put in a massive display against Dublin in 2014. He has won it all, can retire content in his achievements and will be regarded fondly as one of, if not the best ever midfield player Donegal has produced.

His absence presents a massive problem for us in 2017. It was hoped Neil make it back for the Championship. We'll now more than likely see Murphy operating in and around MF. This is fine as he's well able for that position. The difficulty for us is in the inside forward line. We only really have Paddy McBraerty as an established top quality inside attacker. If he is tied up, and good defences will do this, then I fear we're a wee bit blunt in attack. Murphy and big Neil had such a good understanding. It meant that Neil could patrol the middle and Murphy had more freedom to drift inside and support McBrearty.

I think Jason McGee is Neil's long term successor but it'd be expecting too much for a player just out of minor to start dominating midfield at senior level right away. While an Ulster title would most undoubtedly be most welcome this year, a good run in the qualifiers where the younger lads could grow accustomed to senior football under the radar so to speak might actually be a blessing in disguise.

Finally, go raibh míle maith agat Neil agus buíochas o chroí do na cuimhní!

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9155 - 21/02/2017 10:04:39    1959023