I'm starting this topic a little late. After Rory Gallagher getting 3 more years added to his term what do posters think, particularly the Donegal people on here.

I'm finding it hard to work out whether the county team is going backwards/stagnating or with successful minor teams going to move forward again? There never seems to be a lack of quality footballers in the county going back through the years.

Ye probably should have won Ulster this year with a 4 point lead early in the second half. The Dublin performance wasn't bad but yet ye never looked like winning. The 2011-14 era is over i think. The Karl Laceys (ageing), Colm McFaddens (retiring) aren't the backbone anymore. Still you have the McHughs, Odhran McNiallais, Paddy McBrearty etc.

Can they challenge for an all-ireland in 2017 or 2018? Is Rory Gallagher the man to do it? He never seems to play the younger McBrearty who i've been impressed with any game time i've seen him. For me they are a division 1 team who's future seems hardest to predict. I suppose more than likely they'll remain a top 6 team that can win Ulster but an all-ireland is probably beyond them.

And for the record stagnation and staying in the top 6 could still be regarded as impressive when the 2012 men are starting to drift. What a lot of teams would give to be top 6 or 8.

Laois76 (Laois) - Posts: 1270 - 11/10/2016 19:49:13    1925083

alano12 (Dublin) - Posts: 2208 - 11/10/2016 20:10:29    1925091

Laois76 (Laois) - Posts: 1270 - 11/10/2016 20:17:53    1925100

Donegal 11-14 were too team and could easily have win another AI.
Imo they will find it very difficult to return to that standard any time soon.
Don't think RG is the man to get them back to that level either but as I said that's just my opinion.

Dubh_linn (Dublin) - Posts: 2312 - 11/10/2016 20:18:56    1925102

alano12 (Dublin) - Posts: 2208 - 11/10/2016 20:24:05    1925110

Laois76 (Laois) - Posts: 1270 - 11/10/2016 20:47:43    1925126

The most important game for Donegal may be this years county final. It may be best if Kilcar win playing very open attractive football. They have a serious team with three mc Hughs, two mc Breartys and former county player Hegarty pulling the strings and managed by Martin Mc Hugh. If they over come an experienced Glenswilly driven by Michael Murphy and Neil Gallagher, Donegal could be on a winning formula. It would some sight to see Michael Murphy leading an attack minded county team.

EDH (Galway) - Posts: 367 - 11/10/2016 20:48:08    1925127

Laois76 (Laois) - Posts: 1270 - 11/10/2016 20:56:25    1925135

if they can't blood another top forward to take the pressure off Murphy and McBrearty next year, I would fear backwards or at least stagnation.

SaffronDon (Antrim) - Posts: 2385 - 11/10/2016 21:06:15    1925138

Laois76 (Laois) - Posts: 1270 - 11/10/2016 21:13:52    1925145

alano12 (Dublin) - Posts: 2208 - 11/10/2016 21:17:41    1925149

I think their ceiling is a QF place , of course if they get a weak provincial winner they could get to a semi but don't see them getting close to the likes of Dublin, Mayo or even Tyrone. They had an extra man for a lot of the Dublin game (even 2 for a while) and never looked like beating them

I don't see Gallagher changing his spots with regards to how they setup.

HurlingWarrior (Limerick) - Posts: 61 - 11/10/2016 21:20:29    1925152

There's plenty of discussion on the Donegal forum about this. Personally I'm very optimistic. I was a bit surprised that Rory got another 3 years to be honest, but it is what it is.

The reality is I don't fear anyone else in Ulster, and believe we should be challenging for the foreseeable. It's a toss of a coin between us and Tyrone I would say, and Monaghan will come at us again and are a bit of a bogey side for us too. Now if you make an Ulster final or are Ulster Champions, why can't you believe in a run at Sam Maguire? To my mind, we are in the top 6 in the country and on a given day any of the top 6 can beat the other.

Saying all that we're obviously at a very important moment in the development of the team, and of ourselves as a footballing county. We have huge amounts of talent in the 21s and minors, and also on the fringes of the squad. These lads got a lot of playing time early on in the league last year, yet disappeared in Championship. This was a huge mistake from Rory in my opinion, and I can only pray he's learned from it.

I also don't believe Rory is stuck in his ways with the defensive football. You could see that against Dublin. We kicked long into Murphy and McBrearty quite a few times - except you could tell we hadn't practiced it because the quality was awful and no understanding between the passer and the forward on reading runs etc. I was also frustrated by the Dublin performance because we didn't ask them enough questions - sure there was always the feeling they had another gear if necessary, but we never forced them into that gear and really handed it over with poor decision making and individual mistakes.

Eamon McGee is a big loss in my opinion as I felt he was one of our best players this year, but I would hope to see something like:

McGinley

McGrath N.McGee Gillespie

McGlynn McLoone R. McHugh

Gallagher MacNiallis

E.McHugh S McBrearty C. Thompson

O'Reilly Murphy P McBrearty

Now obviously there's a lot of changes in there but it's a lineup with a nice mix of pace, youth and experience. You have the likes of Karl Lacey, Christy Toye, Anthony Thompson, Martin McElhinney, Hugh McFadden in and around the squad and more than likely you'll see Lacey and Thompson actually starting in place of some of the younger lads. However the team I've named there excites me to be honest and I don't see any reason we can't challenge with a side like that.

My main worry is mentality and the fitness of Murphy. In terms of mentality, I think Rory should drill into the lads that they need to take ownership on the pitch and if things aren't working, trust in themselves to call a change in the middle of a game and commit to it. Ulster final is a good example of keeping the ball, over and back and over and back - then you'd have one lad decide to make a break for it and he'd be swallowed up. If he's going to try and break the line, he needs a man on the shoulder and another man supporting him. That needs to be drilled in to them - trust yourselves and your teammates.

For Murphy, the guy needs a break (unfortunately he'll be playing Sigerson this year I believe), and shouldn't appear until a couple of games into the league in my opinion. History will tell us he'll be lining out in the McKenna Cup though unfortunately. He also needs to stay up the pitch with Paddy McBrearty. We have enough talent, pace and strength in the middle 8 I've named up there that Murphy shouldn't need to come out and try to win every ball.

JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 12/10/2016 11:07:40    1925270

JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 12/10/2016 11:08:09    1925271

Donegal are at a crossroads, keep faith with the old guard and they'll probably be not far away from winning Ulster but don't see them challenging for the big prize or blood new players which might lead to a step backwards in the the hope of going a couple of step forwards in 2018 or 2019.

Whether Donegal have players coming through who are capable of hitting the levels the 2012 team I wouldn't have a clue.

TheWestIsAwake (UK) - Posts: 529 - 12/10/2016 11:30:05    1925285

I think most Donegal supporters have a similar opinion to what I'm about to say and that is we feel we have the players to compete with any of the top teams but our management team lacks imagination and ambition. As some posters have already pointed out Rory Gallagher is too defensively minded and has only a one dimentional attacking game plan that doesn't work against the top teams. I actually think Tyrone have a similar problem at the minute but I'd trust their management team to rectify things going forward. I actually like our defensive shape and hope we can maintain this going forward as all the tops teams are defensively strong nowadays, however our attacking game needs development. At the moment all we do is run the ball which can be affective but becomes less affective if it's the only tactic used during the game. Top teams know exactly what we are going to do and it's so predictable to stop. We need to introduce a kicking game to go along with our running game. We need to play a No 11 that can get on loads of ball and pick out passes (Stephen McBrearty would be perfect for this tole) and we need to leave at least 2 inside forwards. Patrick McBrearty needs more help than he's getting. I hope Neil Gallagher is back for one more year as injuries prevented him from playing championship this year and it's great to see him back playing so well for his club the last few weeks. We have a lot of talent fron the ages of 18-23 and if they are used correctly with the likes of Murphy, McGee, McGrath, McGlynn and co I can't see any reason why we can't at least win Ulster in 2017.

That said my fear is that unless RG gets a new backroom team with possibily someone like Martin McHugh involved he isn't going to change too much. He has indicated that he expects some of the younger players to make a break through but if the tactics don't change then the outcome won't change and a QF appearance will be the best we can do. Only time will tell but alot of us Donegal supporters were saying the same thing this time last year.

Mobot (Donegal) - Posts: 459 - 12/10/2016 11:45:18    1925298

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9115 - 12/10/2016 11:59:42    1925303

Hegarty was my favourite footballer for many's a year. Wouldn't have looked out of place in the Kerry team of the 00's in my opinion, such a classy player.

JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 12/10/2016 12:03:39    1925306

In regard to the OP's question as to where we're currently at, the simple answer is that it's very hard to tell!
We do have some promising players from minor and u-21 but at the moment all we can call it is potential. It's a big set up to senior level and until Rory Gallagher shows more trust in them in serious competition we just don't know how strong we'll be over the next two to three years.

Tactically, the dog on the street knows we have to evolve as we became very pedestrian and predictable in games against the better teams this year. I know Rory and Martin McHugh are fairly close confidantes and the way Kilcar have blitzed their way to the county final, racking up big scores albeit with a sound defensive structure offers grounds for optimism. I'm not saying Rory needs to copy it exactly, but merely that with the core of county players Kilcar have, that it could certainly be an option.

The McKenna Cup and NFL will be very interesting next spring that's for sure.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9115 - 12/10/2016 12:10:24    1925312

Good post Joesop. I agree with alot of it. As you said Dublin more than likely had another gear in them in the QF but we didn't push on hard enough especially with the extra man after Connolly got sent off. We were only 3 points down but it felt like 7 or 8. You're right about the young players doing well in the league and apart from Eoin McHugh none of them played v Fermanagh in the championship opener. Gillespie only got in because of a suspension to Neil McGee and probably wouldn't of featured otherwise. Ciaran Thompson was arguably our best player in the early rounds of he league but only made his championship debut v Dublin. He actully did quite well when he came on and a Dublin supporter beside me was wondering why he didn't get on earlier. I really hope we do not see a repeat of the use or lack of use of substitions next year and especially bringing on a player that was taken off earlier in the match. It looked as if we had no other options on the bench when we had several. It would be great to have the likes of Lacey, A Thompson and Toye as experienced options off the bench to help see out a tight game if they all decide to stay on another year which I think they will.I agree with alot of that post. As you said Dublin more than likely had another gear in them in the QF but we didn't push on hard enough especially with the extra man after Connolly got sent off. We were only 3 points down but it felt like 7 or 8. You're right about the young players doing well in the league and apart from Eoin McHugh none of them played v Fermanagh in the championship opener. Gillespie only got in because of a suspension to Neil McGee and probably wouldn't of featured otherwise. Ciaran Thompson was arguably our best player in the early rounds of he league but only made his championship debut v Dublin. He actully did quite well when he came on and a Dublin supporter beside me was wondering why he didn't get on earlier. I really hope we do not see a repeat of the use or lack of use of substitions next year and especially bringing on a player that was taken off earlier in the match. It looked as if we had no other options on the bench when we had several. It would be great to have the likes of Lacey, A Thompson and Toye as experienced options off the bench to help see out a tight game if they all decide to stay on another year which I think they will.

Mobot (Donegal) - Posts: 459 - 12/10/2016 12:21:53    1925316