Donegal Forum

NFL 2020

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Replying To greatpoint:  "So because we got an early lead there was no pressure? Surely there's more pressure in trying to maintain a lead for an entire game?

Not sure why you're referencing the Cavan game."
Anyone who has played football in their lives knows there is nothing better than getting an early lead under the belt, and far more preferable than going into a 2nd half neck and neck.

I mentioned the Cavan game because if you had actually been at the game, you would have realised that had Cavans comeback began 5mins earlier we were in bother, we conceded 2-16 in total to complete alsorans who had his wobbling in the final 10mins. We are defensively very very weak.

ManusFromHeaven (Donegal) - Posts: 326 - 25/02/2020 13:30:14    2270064

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Replying To ManusFromHeaven:  "Anyone who has played football in their lives knows there is nothing better than getting an early lead under the belt, and far more preferable than going into a 2nd half neck and neck.

I mentioned the Cavan game because if you had actually been at the game, you would have realised that had Cavans comeback began 5mins earlier we were in bother, we conceded 2-16 in total to complete alsorans who had his wobbling in the final 10mins. We are defensively very very weak."
absolute nonsense.

Cavan were beat after 20 minutes and we had the game won pulling up.

We'd have been in bother - LOL!

Samsforthehills (Donegal) - Posts: 1023 - 25/02/2020 15:27:06    2270101

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Replying To Samsforthehills:  "absolute nonsense.

Cavan were beat after 20 minutes and we had the game won pulling up.

We'd have been in bother - LOL!"
What is nonsense ,it is a long time since Donegal had any game won in the first twenty minutes ,and I go back a long time ,before the Great Jim was even born ,as I went to school with his late father R.I,P.

gaanervous (Donegal) - Posts: 186 - 25/02/2020 16:09:35    2270115

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Replying To gaanervous:  "What is nonsense ,it is a long time since Donegal had any game won in the first twenty minutes ,and I go back a long time ,before the Great Jim was even born ,as I went to school with his late father R.I,P."
"if you had actually been at the game, you would have realised that had Cavans comeback began 5mins earlier we were in bother"

Probably the biggest load of nonsense ever on this forum which takes some doing.

Samsforthehills (Donegal) - Posts: 1023 - 25/02/2020 16:19:37    2270120

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Replying To ManusFromHeaven:  "Anyone who has played football in their lives knows there is nothing better than getting an early lead under the belt, and far more preferable than going into a 2nd half neck and neck.

I mentioned the Cavan game because if you had actually been at the game, you would have realised that had Cavans comeback began 5mins earlier we were in bother, we conceded 2-16 in total to complete alsorans who had his wobbling in the final 10mins. We are defensively very very weak."
I was at the game and don't agree with you.

greatpoint (USA) - Posts: 325 - 25/02/2020 17:21:03    2270134

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We look solid in defense bar the Galway game. How many goal chances did Mayo, Meath and more importantly Dublin create? Mayo got a wonder/fluke goal. Not many teams limit Dublin to NO goal chances, albeit Con and Connolly back, can create something from nothing vs waterproof defenses.

TheRock2121 (Donegal) - Posts: 572 - 25/02/2020 20:13:14    2270171

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Michael Murphy is getting plaudits week in week out for his drive to take the game to the opposition, Hugh McFadden is starting to be this way also, but I think others need to follow suit. And for all of the talk about how great Dublin are, last Saturday night I felt we were actually better than them for most of the game. And despite our wasted goal chances, had it not been for Patton's mistake, we would actually have beaten them.

We have the players to win an All Ireland, I think the management team just need to man manage a few players, particularly on our off the ball attacking movement. I'm talking about our half forward line, our players seem to be static when we won possession and were breaking up the field, which makes it easier for the opposition to read the play.

I also think we need to keep some tactical plays under wraps until the Super 8's, I felt in recent years we show our hand too early in Ulster and by the time we get to the final Super 8 match, the opposition has a lot of video footage to have us sussed out.

This Donegal side have amazing potential, even if we are missing 1 or 2 from our starting 15 right now, we are a team that can hurt any team in the Country.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 529 - 26/02/2020 13:03:22    2270293

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Any word if Michael Carroll is still involved in the squad or not or if hes injured . Notice a similar scenario every year himself and Mulligan both in early squads and nowhere to be seen then. Surely both would add more depth to Panel? One thing i think the league has shown up we probably dont have the strength in depth of other panels and we need as many good footballers as possible.

classof2012 (Donegal) - Posts: 1 - 26/02/2020 18:07:40    2270349

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Replying To TheRock2121:  "We look solid in defense bar the Galway game. How many goal chances did Mayo, Meath and more importantly Dublin create? Mayo got a wonder/fluke goal. Not many teams limit Dublin to NO goal chances, albeit Con and Connolly back, can create something from nothing vs waterproof defenses."
Yes we done a good job curtailing Dublin but gotta be realistic come championship time they will be 6-8 points better side. At the moment even with our own players to come back we are a fair bit off them but we do have the trump card of serious goal threat. Unfortunately we generally make a mess of them.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2479 - 27/02/2020 03:12:11    2270426

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Hopefully Bonner can see sense and make a few tweaks to the team. I would like to see ban playing at 6, with o baoill at 7 (even though he gave the ball away too much v Dublin). I would like to to see Murphy and mcbrearty inside with Brennan playing off them coming from a deeper position. If Murphy is going to be at m/f against Monaghan then we should have Brennan/mcbrearty inside with Langan in the h/f line and Niall o Donnell. Playing Langan at w/f would give us an another option on the kickout.

Monaghan remind me of us a few years ago in the league when we were about 6 weeks ahead of everyone else in our training and blew Tyrone away on a wet night in ballybofey. McCarthy getting alot of the headlines but for me the starman has to be Kearns at m/f who is one of the best in that position in the country.

Hopefully we can get the two points in ballyshannon which is normally a happy hunting ground for us.

totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 529 - 27/02/2020 09:52:02    2270443

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While the results have been disappointing of late I would not be overly despondent. We've shown that we can mix it with the best Div 1 has to offer and the higher intensity the games are being played at will stand us in good stead come the summer.

Relegation would certainly not be good. However, I've been thinking about it and if things go our way in the coming weeks I think we can look back at the league with a certain degree of satisfaction.

If we beat Monaghan and Tyrone at home in the coming weeks then our Div 1 status will be secured and we'll also have laid down a marker on our two biggest rivals for our Ulster campaign. We can then go down to Kerry and have a free swing at them.

I think if we can get McGrath and McMenamin back they will add a bit of steel to the backline that we've been missing throughout the league.

There is a tendency every year from some quarters to throw the baby out with the bath water if league results are poor. Declan and Rochford are in the game long enough at this stage to know that they will be judged on Championship results. I reckon privately they'll be targeting an AI semi place at a minimum. If that isn't achieved then I would agree that maybe it's time to look to change things. But not after a couple of narrow league defeats.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 7105 - 27/02/2020 14:51:41    2270504

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Replying To totalrecall:  "Hopefully Bonner can see sense and make a few tweaks to the team. I would like to see ban playing at 6, with o baoill at 7 (even though he gave the ball away too much v Dublin). I would like to to see Murphy and mcbrearty inside with Brennan playing off them coming from a deeper position. If Murphy is going to be at m/f against Monaghan then we should have Brennan/mcbrearty inside with Langan in the h/f line and Niall o Donnell. Playing Langan at w/f would give us an another option on the kickout.

Monaghan remind me of us a few years ago in the league when we were about 6 weeks ahead of everyone else in our training and blew Tyrone away on a wet night in ballybofey. McCarthy getting alot of the headlines but for me the starman has to be Kearns at m/f who is one of the best in that position in the country.

Hopefully we can get the two points in ballyshannon which is normally a happy hunting ground for us."
We are in the same scenario this year as in 2015 with Tyrone in the league in Ballybofey and then Tyrone in the championship also in Ballybofey.That year we beat them in both and hopefully we can do the same this year.To win Ulster it is likely we will have to beat both Tyrone and Monaghan something we have not managed to do since our revival in 2011.It would be a good achievement if we could manage that.

gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 698 - 28/02/2020 12:36:46    2270663

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Replying To greatpoint:  "I was at the game and don't agree with you."
Well you should have seen and heard the Cavan support on their feet roaring their team in with 5 mins to go whilst we were sat there looking at our watch.

If they had 5 more minutes they had us seriously rattled.

ManusFromHeaven (Donegal) - Posts: 326 - 28/02/2020 17:27:09    2270723

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Replying To ManusFromHeaven:  "Well you should have seen and heard the Cavan support on their feet roaring their team in with 5 mins to go whilst we were sat there looking at our watch.

If they had 5 more minutes they had us seriously rattled."
Ah Manus usually I agree with most of your excellent posts but not this time. That game was over after 10 mins and we had more gears if required. Never in doubt.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2479 - 29/02/2020 05:53:14    2270782

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How many fisted points did we take in that Cavan game when goals were on? That result was never in doubt.

What we really need in 2020 is a few more leaders to emerge. When the going gets tough the tough get going as they say. A really tight Championship win against a big hitter could be the making of this current crop. Think of Kildare in 2011, or beating Kerry in 2012. Those are the type of victories this team has yet to achieve.

If/when we do that, then I think we could really be in business. Easy talking about it though, it can only be achieved between the white lines.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 7105 - 29/02/2020 12:38:48    2270824

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "How many fisted points did we take in that Cavan game when goals were on? That result was never in doubt.

What we really need in 2020 is a few more leaders to emerge. When the going gets tough the tough get going as they say. A really tight Championship win against a big hitter could be the making of this current crop. Think of Kildare in 2011, or beating Kerry in 2012. Those are the type of victories this team has yet to achieve.

If/when we do that, then I think we could really be in business. Easy talking about it though, it can only be achieved between the white lines."
Absolutely been saying it a while we need to beat a Dublin, Kerry, Mayo or an emerging Galway plus the obvious of getting out of Super eights group.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2479 - 29/02/2020 14:46:23    2270852

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Replying To panamasam:  "Ah Manus usually I agree with most of your excellent posts but not this time. That game was over after 10 mins and we had more gears if required. Never in doubt."
I think we took our foot of the pedal against Cavan but I never felt we were going to lose that game. However Manus does make a good overall point that we are finding it difficult to close out games. Even against Tyrone last year in the Ulster semi-final we played brilliant and were 8 points up mid way through the 2nd half but somehow only managed to win by 3 points. As most posters have already stated, we need to beat a big gun in the Super 8s to bring us to that next level. I am confident we will do this even if league results are not going our way.

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1734 - 29/02/2020 14:57:01    2270857

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Replying To Green_Gold:  "I think we took our foot of the pedal against Cavan but I never felt we were going to lose that game. However Manus does make a good overall point that we are finding it difficult to close out games. Even against Tyrone last year in the Ulster semi-final we played brilliant and were 8 points up mid way through the 2nd half but somehow only managed to win by 3 points. As most posters have already stated, we need to beat a big gun in the Super 8s to bring us to that next level. I am confident we will do this even if league results are not going our way."
Agree but Cavan game was never a sweat. The problem is our record from winning positions against the top tier teams is nothing short of woeful. In saying doubt little doubt we are in the top 4 teams in the country but need to prove it at the true barometer which is making it outta the super 8 stage.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2479 - 29/02/2020 17:42:28    2270896

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Any word on the lads injured? Gillespie, OG, mc gee etc

TheRock2121 (Donegal) - Posts: 572 - 29/02/2020 23:23:47    2270993

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Replying To TheRock2121:  "Any word on the lads injured? Gillespie, OG, mc gee etc"
Follow KGfitness on Instagram to see how Gillespie's recovery is going. The lad is a machine. If ever a player deserved a good long injury free run it's this kid. Centre half back problem position solved.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 7105 - 01/03/2020 09:46:21    2271035

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