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Donegal GAA thread

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Tyrone will be a very tough battle again. There was nothing in it the last day only fitness really, they were tired after their extra time the week before against Cavan. They looked leggy in extra time and that's when we pulled away. If anything it will be the opposite this time although we've had a 2 week rest so the bodies should be OK.

In a way I'm happy to have tyrone up first. We have played quite traditional defensive / transitional football through ulster, which won't win an all ireland. Hopefully the cork and clare game will give us time to adjust our playing style for croke Park. We already have been asking questions of defences by dinking little kick passes into the forward line and getting our midfielders into advanced positions. We need more of those variations in our play to challenge Dublin, Kerry, Galway etc.

Another thing is that we aren't scoring goals all year. Against Derry doesn't count because Odhran Lynch was naive. We got very few in the league. You'd love to see us get a few in the round Robin. It'd be hard to challenge for an all ireland if we haven't the habit of scoring goals.

The sky's the limit for this team. Unlike other posters I do believe our players have the quality to go the whole way. Maybe not this year but let's see.

High_and_wide (Donegal) - Posts: 84 - 23/05/2024 13:44:43    2546593

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Side note about Michael Langan - an amazing feat to take Rian O'Neil out of the game for one of the biggest games of his career. Who would have thought of Michael Langan as a man marking / defensive midfielder. The man has such accuracy and style in front of the posts. Jim sees roles for players that others don't see. Meanwhile it's McGee drifting forward and popping over scores. They are a solid pair I lar na pairce

High_and_wide (Donegal) - Posts: 84 - 23/05/2024 13:48:15    2546594

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Replying To High_and_wide:  "Tyrone will be a very tough battle again. There was nothing in it the last day only fitness really, they were tired after their extra time the week before against Cavan. They looked leggy in extra time and that's when we pulled away. If anything it will be the opposite this time although we've had a 2 week rest so the bodies should be OK.

In a way I'm happy to have tyrone up first. We have played quite traditional defensive / transitional football through ulster, which won't win an all ireland. Hopefully the cork and clare game will give us time to adjust our playing style for croke Park. We already have been asking questions of defences by dinking little kick passes into the forward line and getting our midfielders into advanced positions. We need more of those variations in our play to challenge Dublin, Kerry, Galway etc.

Another thing is that we aren't scoring goals all year. Against Derry doesn't count because Odhran Lynch was naive. We got very few in the league. You'd love to see us get a few in the round Robin. It'd be hard to challenge for an all ireland if we haven't the habit of scoring goals.

The sky's the limit for this team. Unlike other posters I do believe our players have the quality to go the whole way. Maybe not this year but let's see."
Yes as many of us said here for years, we always had very good players, what they and us fans needed was a top manager to get the best out of them and we were told McGuinness was gone, well Jim is back and guess what? we are Ulster Champions and in the mix again to go for the big one again.
I think and hope Gallen was only cramping the last day, looking forward to Saturday evening, a packed Mac Cumhaill Park and we need to be the 16th man so make plenty noise and bring plenty of colour.
Is Féidir Linn as Obama once said!!

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3197 - 23/05/2024 14:21:17    2546602

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Gallen was suffering from cramp the last day so should be available. Conor O'Donnell seems to be the only long term injured player who isn't available yet which is a shame. Caolan Ward was doing the warm up before the Ulster final so should be back in contention for the match day squad, good player to have coming from the bench.

Can we expect a more open game on Saturday given it isn't do or die? Probably not. Our shooting was very poor the first game against Tyrone, surely this will improve. Also we need to tighten up on giving away frees that are in range for Morgan.

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1906 - 23/05/2024 14:56:29    2546616

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Replying To greatpoint:  "Was there a public sale of tickets for this weekend's game?"
there were some on sale last Thursday morning at 10. And the 3 game package was also on general sale

greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 637 - 23/05/2024 16:04:51    2546632

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more tickets availible on ticketmaster

Peadarw (Donegal) - Posts: 43 - 23/05/2024 21:03:39    2546708

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Replying To High_and_wide:  "Side note about Michael Langan - an amazing feat to take Rian O'Neil out of the game for one of the biggest games of his career. Who would have thought of Michael Langan as a man marking / defensive midfielder. The man has such accuracy and style in front of the posts. Jim sees roles for players that others don't see. Meanwhile it's McGee drifting forward and popping over scores. They are a solid pair I lar na pairce"
Excellent but if I'm being critical Langan has the ability to hit 3/4 points from play every match also. His talent is endless.

TheRock2121 (Donegal) - Posts: 1208 - 24/05/2024 10:22:50    2546756

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Replying To TheRock2121:  "Excellent but if I'm being critical Langan has the ability to hit 3/4 points from play every match also. His talent is endless."
Yeah he's been very good but if he can add a few scores on top of what he's doing we could really be in business. Would like to see him try one or two of those driving runs he's capable of. We've seen him do them in the past. Himself and McGee are developing into a really serious midfield partnership. My one worry for the two of them is injury. Both have been unfortunate in the past in this regard.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9768 - 24/05/2024 11:51:22    2546784

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Does anyone know what the story is on the naming of a match day squad of 26 by noon on Friday. I presumed that only them 26 can play. But it doesn't seem to be the case. It's probably happening every where but eoin ban and mc Colgan have both made the 26 when they weren't named on Friday.. there must be loophole in it.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2616 - 24/05/2024 11:59:57    2546788

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Replying To rorysboys:  "Does anyone know what the story is on the naming of a match day squad of 26 by noon on Friday. I presumed that only them 26 can play. But it doesn't seem to be the case. It's probably happening every where but eoin ban and mc Colgan have both made the 26 when they weren't named on Friday.. there must be loophole in it."
Think you're allowed to register up to four standby players too.

WeGoAgain (Donegal) - Posts: 66 - 24/05/2024 12:37:13    2546810

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Replying To rorysboys:  "Does anyone know what the story is on the naming of a match day squad of 26 by noon on Friday. I presumed that only them 26 can play. But it doesn't seem to be the case. It's probably happening every where but eoin ban and mc Colgan have both made the 26 when they weren't named on Friday.. there must be loophole in it."
Teams name a back up 4 on top of the 26. Only those four can be replacements for any of the 26.

peiledoir20 (Donegal) - Posts: 1202 - 24/05/2024 12:44:25    2546813

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Replying To peiledoir20:  "Teams name a back up 4 on top of the 26. Only those four can be replacements for any of the 26."
Never knew that. I presume the 4 won't be named. Was just thinking seeing the Tyrone squad that myler and burns aren't in it. So there's a chance they could be there yet.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2616 - 24/05/2024 13:02:38    2546816

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Replying To rorysboys:  "Never knew that. I presume the 4 won't be named. Was just thinking seeing the Tyrone squad that myler and burns aren't in it. So there's a chance they could be there yet."
the rule was introduced that teams had to name to name the 26 on the Friday . The 4 standby players are meant to be for cases where someone gets injured or ill or can't attend for some other reason. But I think teams are still using this standby rule as a loophole to keep the opposition guessing by adding players to the 26 on the day of the game. Not really in the spirit that the standby players were intended for. They should have made teams name 30 and pick their 26 from that.

greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 637 - 24/05/2024 13:24:16    2546824

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Replying To rorysboys:  "Never knew that. I presume the 4 won't be named. Was just thinking seeing the Tyrone squad that myler and burns aren't in it. So there's a chance they could be there yet."
Yeah Meyler has always done a good job nullifying McHugh. Hopefully he won't be involved.
Have they introduced any of their u20s to the squad? I'd be nearly more worried about them. In a tight game, and with the fearlessness of youth, a confident young player could be the difference.

As someone else mentioned earlie though, I'd be confident Oisin Gallen will really step it up again. By his own high standards he was a wee bit quieter than usual against Derry and Tyrone. He was nearly untouchable for a spell in the first half against Armagh, so hopefully he can kick on another bit on Saturday evening.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9768 - 24/05/2024 14:44:27    2546839

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Replying To greenfan:  "the rule was introduced that teams had to name to name the 26 on the Friday . The 4 standby players are meant to be for cases where someone gets injured or ill or can't attend for some other reason. But I think teams are still using this standby rule as a loophole to keep the opposition guessing by adding players to the 26 on the day of the game. Not really in the spirit that the standby players were intended for. They should have made teams name 30 and pick their 26 from that."
Yea agree there. So a player is named in the 26 but is then told he is not part of the match day squad. Very unfair on the players involved. I agree with naming 30 players

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2616 - 24/05/2024 15:01:16    2546847

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Replying To greenfan:  "the rule was introduced that teams had to name to name the 26 on the Friday . The 4 standby players are meant to be for cases where someone gets injured or ill or can't attend for some other reason. But I think teams are still using this standby rule as a loophole to keep the opposition guessing by adding players to the 26 on the day of the game. Not really in the spirit that the standby players were intended for. They should have made teams name 30 and pick their 26 from that."
Just looking at the Ulster Final program,only changes to the 26 are Luke McGlynn in for McColgan and Eoghan Ban in for JR Molloy.Eoghan B wasn't in the 26 for the Final and McColgan not in the 26 this time.We could be doing with him seeing both corner backs were taken off against Armagh.

gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1153 - 24/05/2024 15:02:20    2546849

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Really looking forward to game this evening, I believe that Tyrone have better footballers than Armagh and Derry and are the best team we faced this year. I think they will be buoyed by their U20 success last week, a team who looked excellent in veating Roscommon and Kerry and seems to be brimming with talent.

On reflection I think Armagh were tactically better than us the last day and probably played to their maximum, we probably conceded 4/5 points from the top of the D that were the result of perehearsed plays where there was a decoy run and the ball carrier ran into the space to score. I think the pressure is off Donegal now and hopefully the players can be a bit more relaxed and play with a bit more freedom. What no one can question is the character of this Donegal team who have shown they have character in spades in how they came back against Armagh and Tyrone.

totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 1064 - 25/05/2024 13:31:18    2546961

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Replying To totalrecall:  "Really looking forward to game this evening, I believe that Tyrone have better footballers than Armagh and Derry and are the best team we faced this year. I think they will be buoyed by their U20 success last week, a team who looked excellent in veating Roscommon and Kerry and seems to be brimming with talent.

On reflection I think Armagh were tactically better than us the last day and probably played to their maximum, we probably conceded 4/5 points from the top of the D that were the result of perehearsed plays where there was a decoy run and the ball carrier ran into the space to score. I think the pressure is off Donegal now and hopefully the players can be a bit more relaxed and play with a bit more freedom. What no one can question is the character of this Donegal team who have shown they have character in spades in how they came back against Armagh and Tyrone."
Yes great character and knowing how to win tight games, that's a vital quality and confidence will be high if things are tight in the last 10 mins that we have the players and composure to get us over the line.
We have momentum and we have the Anglo Celt and Ulster medals in or back pockets so confidence is high and the pressure is off I think and now we can go and show what we can do in the All Ireland series.
Tyrone are coming in rested and focused and this is a big test for them, can't wait.
Good luck and safe journey to all travelling today, hope the weather doesn't spoil it.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3197 - 25/05/2024 14:35:19    2546968

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Replying To Tirchonaill1:  "Yes great character and knowing how to win tight games, that's a vital quality and confidence will be high if things are tight in the last 10 mins that we have the players and composure to get us over the line.
We have momentum and we have the Anglo Celt and Ulster medals in or back pockets so confidence is high and the pressure is off I think and now we can go and show what we can do in the All Ireland series.
Tyrone are coming in rested and focused and this is a big test for them, can't wait.
Good luck and safe journey to all travelling today, hope the weather doesn't spoil it."
Sorry lads but it's time to burst the bubble.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2295 - 25/05/2024 19:09:21    2547030

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Well done Donegal. Thought Tyrone would have a bit more in them but Dooher soon put paid to that. Inherited a brilliant team left behind by Micky Harte and turned them around. From Ulster hopefully it's Donegal for Sam.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2295 - 25/05/2024 20:59:21    2547077

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