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Donegal GAA thread

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Replying To NPadraigAbu:  "Looking at some of the subs they made I assumed the management team was looking towards potential penalties with bringing Muldoon back on etc"
Muldoon and Campbell were both cramping at one stage and I presume that's why they were taken off. They were taken back on again because they influenced the match so much in normal time and both played their part when Donegal regained momentum in the second half of extra time.

Scenicparish (Donegal) - Posts: 473 - 01/05/2025 12:23:57    2606003

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Replying To gunman:  "I didn't get to watch the game back yet and it is usually better to do that before commenting but my feeling last night was one of huge disapointment.First of all it was a terrible match. Tyrone learned a lot from the first game and were very defensive and Donegal mirrored that.Both teams found it very hard to make progress and the low score reflected that.A fee things went against Donegal like the Tyrone goal which was very lucky coming off the post.The free given for three men not being back for Tyrones last point was a real killer putting them 2 up which meant Donegal needed a goal or a 2 pointer.If they had only needed one I think they would have got it.I don't know what the stats were but Tyrone seemed to get a lot more frees rightly or wrongly.But notwithstanding the things that went against us I thought we played pretty poorly . Our footering about trying to get the ball off the ground was in contrast to Tyrone was very frustrating.The biggest difference was kickouts,Tyrone got all of theirs away long or short where we struggled badly on our own kickouts.In previous games our restarts were almost Pattonesque.When you are starved of ball like that you are at a huge disadvantage.The loss of McMenamin was a big blow as he looks to be a very good player.Roarty was not a huge influence on the game.As I say very disappointing being close but particularly because of our play which was way below previous games."
Completely agree. McMenamin was a huge loss given his fielding ability and without Tyrone lorded the midfield allowing them to dictate playing the game on their terms. The kickouts killed us especially in that 5 min spell where Tyrone had their purple patch. We didn't execute like we had previously but these are young players so these things can happen. At the end of the day the result was decided by moments especially the Tyrone goal and the two frees in front of the post.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2853 - 01/05/2025 13:16:01    2606014

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Replying To Scenicparish:  "Muldoon and Campbell were both cramping at one stage and I presume that's why they were taken off. They were taken back on again because they influenced the match so much in normal time and both played their part when Donegal regained momentum in the second half of extra time."
Agree with that. But I felt tyrone had the better individual players and a better bench.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2613 - 01/05/2025 13:25:37    2606022

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Replying To rorysboys:  "What about all the ones we lost. We seem to have an inferior complex when it comes to playing derry tyrone teams."
That omagh team was not a patch on the team before it so it's not a good comparison. We clearly have a challenge with Tyrone and Derry teams over the last while. Quite often at minor they are just better and that kind of is what it is. 20s tend to be much more frustrating. Last year against Derry and this year against Tyrone there's not much between them and we come out the wrong side. 2022 again very little between them and Tyrone win it. We lost 2020 as well to Tyrone though Conor O'Donnell and oisin gallen were injured and Tyrone were better.

Then Derry in 18 put two men in Niall O'Donnell and that was that. We managed to beat both in 17 though Tyrone took a replay and that was a particularly strong Donegal underage team. They would have been very strong at 21 level in 18 as well except for the change in age to under 20.

We lost the final in 15 to Tyrone and then for good measure lost finals in 13 and 14 to cavan

There's no doubt there's a trend and issue there.

I'm huffed today because of losing it so much. On a positive note .. Although it's better to win from the senior team it does not seem to matter too much. Tyrone are not getting buckets of players through at least so far. Michael Mcgleenon for example was a pure wrecking ball in 22 and sure why he's gone off the radar. Ciaran Moore only came on as a sub in that match! Outside of roarty there are a few more from last night who will push through to senior.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 810 - 01/05/2025 13:46:20    2606026

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I thought that the tactic of allowing Tyrone to keep the ball for over two minutes was madness. If Donegal had pushed out we might have forced a turnover and got up the pitch. We left it to chance and had to hope they would miss.

The subs is an issue. Can you imagine being one of the players who normally get on and you having cramping players coming on instead? Doesn't do much for squad morale.

ballboy101 (Donegal) - Posts: 226 - 01/05/2025 14:07:14    2606030

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Replying To ballboy101:  "I thought that the tactic of allowing Tyrone to keep the ball for over two minutes was madness. If Donegal had pushed out we might have forced a turnover and got up the pitch. We left it to chance and had to hope they would miss.

The subs is an issue. Can you imagine being one of the players who normally get on and you having cramping players coming on instead? Doesn't do much for squad morale."
I suppose it's the classic stick or twist. If we had pushed out, Tyrone could have exploited a gap and landed a winning score and maybe the lads would've been accused of naivety. Easy to be wise after the event.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9746 - 01/05/2025 15:48:22    2606065

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Replying To ballboy101:  "I thought that the tactic of allowing Tyrone to keep the ball for over two minutes was madness. If Donegal had pushed out we might have forced a turnover and got up the pitch. We left it to chance and had to hope they would miss.

The subs is an issue. Can you imagine being one of the players who normally get on and you having cramping players coming on instead? Doesn't do much for squad morale."
I presume you are referring to the end of normal time. If so I disagree because if Donegal had to push out Tyrone would have got a chance to score a point closer in and would have won the match in normal time.
I take your point but the two players I mentioned were 2 of Donegal's best players on the day and made a difference when they came on again.

Scenicparish (Donegal) - Posts: 473 - 01/05/2025 15:50:20    2606066

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Hard luck to the u20s. One day we will get over the hump at underage levels.


Back to the senior championship, Jesus Christ if we are to even get to a 1/4 final we have some tough path.


Imagine playing Derry, Monaghan, Down, Armagh, Mayo/Galway, Tyrone and Cavan if we win ulster and if we lose we still have Derry again, Dublin and Mayo/galway. And then you get a 1/4 final which ok maybe at that stage you get a weaker team but still, the toughest path possible for the winners / losers of ulster and Connacht.


It looks like we are banking on a Galway win this weekend and us to win ulster. That path is the easiest but still difficult.

I believe we will win ulster though. Jim will only be thinking of that game right now.

eddieSize5Balls (Donegal) - Posts: 130 - 01/05/2025 18:34:50    2606112

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "Hard luck to the u20s last night. It was a tight game and Tyrone got a lot of the wee breaks and luck. But fair play to them, they were deserving winners truth be told. I couldn't get to the match, but from the TV footage, did it look like the pitch was in poor enough shape? I'm probably nit picking though, it was the same for both teams.

Muldoon is a serious player. Was it him that was up with Sligo Rovers? Is he fully committing to the gaelic now? Just wondering if he'd be a wild card player for Jim to introduce at any stage for the seniors?

On the groups draw, I agree with UlsterChamps, there really is no reward for winning Ulster. I disagree completely with the groups being announced ahead of the provincial finals. In other circumstances, it could have been beneficial to lose your provincial final in order to land in a handier AI group. No sense to it at all. No disrespect intended to any county, but Monaghan are surely fancying their chances of reaching an AI quarter final whereas we could find ourselves in a complete minefield."
https://www.donegallive.ie/news/gaa/1693628/kevin-muldoon-rewrites-the-code-and-returns-to-four-masters-from-sligo-rovers.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawHk0YhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHWKpyM8SU369o_pFvqQc9V6zc_1whc6dtnIXYavOjN0-KAXu3fAE5t5j1A_aem_4JvNW5bB4-pfxbrvF-4Zjg

"I came back to train with the Donegal county side and came back to play with the club, I just felt I enjoyed it more".

I think Jim already has him training with the Seniors. I think that he's going to be the real deal.

SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 764 - 02/05/2025 08:39:41    2606186

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I would really love the GAA to move away from Ticketmaster. It's a terrible platform. Trying to access my Ulster final ticket yesterday, I couldn't select a single seat in the middle of the Pat McGrane because an error kept appearing that I had to leave more than one seat available in a row - even though the seats I was trying to select were the only seats available in that row! Tried it in multiple areas and the Ticketmaster support was absolutely useless, I was worried about being pushing further to the end lines if I waited much longer so just selected one in between the 21 and 45.

It's great having the guaranteed tickets but the entire experience of ticketmaster leaves a bad taste and don't get me started on where they had placed us for the Monaghan and Down games - I understand for the Ulster final we may get moved to the Pat McGrane but the section I was in for both Monaghan and Down was down near the goals in the Gerry Arthur. Not great.

CCFabu (Donegal) - Posts: 162 - 02/05/2025 10:50:51    2606222

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Replying To CCFabu:  "I would really love the GAA to move away from Ticketmaster. It's a terrible platform. Trying to access my Ulster final ticket yesterday, I couldn't select a single seat in the middle of the Pat McGrane because an error kept appearing that I had to leave more than one seat available in a row - even though the seats I was trying to select were the only seats available in that row! Tried it in multiple areas and the Ticketmaster support was absolutely useless, I was worried about being pushing further to the end lines if I waited much longer so just selected one in between the 21 and 45.

It's great having the guaranteed tickets but the entire experience of ticketmaster leaves a bad taste and don't get me started on where they had placed us for the Monaghan and Down games - I understand for the Ulster final we may get moved to the Pat McGrane but the section I was in for both Monaghan and Down was down near the goals in the Gerry Arthur. Not great."
For what it's worth I 100% agree with you. It's a very poor service. I just went to the hill for the last matches because the tickets weren't great. That won't be an option for the final as the ground will be full. There were also loads of seats free in the centre of the stand and could they not have made tickets available in the mcgrane stand as an option.

That technical issue you had I think is fixed now but not a word from ticketmaster or the gaa about it and the seats in the better areas are pretty much all gone now. And I wonder is it just a free for all with all Armagh ones and Donegal ones mixed together. It would nice to have the fans grouped to create more of an atmosphere.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 810 - 02/05/2025 12:13:48    2606255

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South of the gap

farneygael3 (Monaghan) - Posts: 194 - 02/05/2025 13:46:00    2606290

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