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Any word on if the early stages of the championship will be streamed online?

naomh_conaill_4 (Donegal) - Posts: 504 - 06/08/2025 15:57:11    2630293

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Replying To peiledoir20:  "GD one of the worst offenders when it comes to the named 12."
It begs the question, how are the CCC approving these lists?
https://donegalnews.com/grant-transfers-to-ballymun-kickhams/

Local media often cover the transfers, and I'm pretty sure transfers pass through the county board or CCC as well, so they have oversight of it.

Northwest90 (Donegal) - Posts: 9 - 06/08/2025 16:16:22    2630299

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The early stages of the championship aren't really treated with any respect by the county board. They could have put it back a week as there's a 4 week gap between the final
And Ulster first round. I've heard of "gentlemen's agreements" between county men to miss the first round of the club championship.

ThroughTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 89 - 07/08/2025 17:27:01    2630464

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Replying To ThroughTheGap:  "The early stages of the championship aren't really treated with any respect by the county board. They could have put it back a week as there's a 4 week gap between the final
And Ulster first round. I've heard of "gentlemen's agreements" between county men to miss the first round of the club championship."
It's clear now the CCC's claim there wasn't room to move it was either:
a) lies
b) bull

The structure probably needs a revisit anyway, 32 games to eliminate 4 teams is why the county players feel there's no jeopardy youd imagine!

donegalgael-12 (Donegal) - Posts: 27 - 08/08/2025 10:26:46    2630514

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Yeah I get the sense that the first two rounds of championship aren't much above league football in terms of intensity.
Might need to revisit how we're doing things. Attendances will be interesting to see this weekend.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9967 - 08/08/2025 11:01:08    2630523

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I went to my club's first championship match last year and the difference in attendance between that and league was mind blowing, all because our county man was there. The other team had no county men. I've been to most home league games this year and there was more atmosphere at at a behind closed door club challenge match from 10 years ago.

ThroughTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 89 - 08/08/2025 12:50:05    2630543

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Replying To donegalgael-12:  "It's clear now the CCC's claim there wasn't room to move it was either:
a) lies
b) bull

The structure probably needs a revisit anyway, 32 games to eliminate 4 teams is why the county players feel there's no jeopardy youd imagine!"
The real question is, what are the alternatives?

In Donegal, the league is decoupled from the county scene, meaning county players don't feature in league games when donegal do well. lf we go for a straight knockout system like Tyrone, then county players may only get to play one game for their clubs all year - which isn't realistic either.

Another option is to delay the league to mirror Tyrone's approach and link league and championship. But is that ideal? In Tyrone, club players waited until June just to start their league, with no breaks for summer holidays. If Tyrone had reached the All-Ireland final, their league would likely have been paused again. Some might prefer that structure, but it's not perfect.

With Donegal's model, club players get a fixed league schedule that's unaffected by inter-county commitments. While some people are overly critical of the league, I think it's undervalued. For clubs with county players, it's a great chance to develop younger talent, and for clubs like Termon or Four Masters, it's a genuine opportunity to compete for silverware.

The championship may start off a bit low-key, but the Donegal structure builds in space to allow county players time to reintegrate with their clubs. The knockout stage still happens - just a little later in the season.

Could the county board have delayed the championship start slightly? Probably, particularly if county players are not able to commit this weekend. But on the flip side, no club pushed for that either, so perhaps the current setup works for most.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 927 - 08/08/2025 13:19:21    2630558

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Replying To Ulsterchamps_32:  "The real question is, what are the alternatives?

In Donegal, the league is decoupled from the county scene, meaning county players don't feature in league games when donegal do well. lf we go for a straight knockout system like Tyrone, then county players may only get to play one game for their clubs all year - which isn't realistic either.

Another option is to delay the league to mirror Tyrone's approach and link league and championship. But is that ideal? In Tyrone, club players waited until June just to start their league, with no breaks for summer holidays. If Tyrone had reached the All-Ireland final, their league would likely have been paused again. Some might prefer that structure, but it's not perfect.

With Donegal's model, club players get a fixed league schedule that's unaffected by inter-county commitments. While some people are overly critical of the league, I think it's undervalued. For clubs with county players, it's a great chance to develop younger talent, and for clubs like Termon or Four Masters, it's a genuine opportunity to compete for silverware.

The championship may start off a bit low-key, but the Donegal structure builds in space to allow county players time to reintegrate with their clubs. The knockout stage still happens - just a little later in the season.

Could the county board have delayed the championship start slightly? Probably, particularly if county players are not able to commit this weekend. But on the flip side, no club pushed for that either, so perhaps the current setup works for most."
Great post. You have summed it up well. The reality is that you can't please everyone.
We all want to see Donegal going well, but that has meant that the players haven't featured for their clubs this year, bar the lads that were on the extended panel. This was exacerbated this year given the great run the county went on. The lads are not machines. Mentally and physically it must be extremely difficult for them to just switch to club-mode and go hell for leather again.

Hopefully we will see some good displays from club men that will give Jim McGuinness food for thought.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9967 - 08/08/2025 15:30:09    2630606

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "Great post. You have summed it up well. The reality is that you can't please everyone.
We all want to see Donegal going well, but that has meant that the players haven't featured for their clubs this year, bar the lads that were on the extended panel. This was exacerbated this year given the great run the county went on. The lads are not machines. Mentally and physically it must be extremely difficult for them to just switch to club-mode and go hell for leather again.

Hopefully we will see some good displays from club men that will give Jim McGuinness food for thought."
It's hard to disagree with anything you say. But if that is the case, say the likes of Langan, Gallen, Mogan, who will be on the team for a decade, are we happy that they will barely play 40 games for their club during that decade? I think that is fundamentally wrong given we have a split season. Like, what's the split season supposed to be for? Would it have been easier on those lads to keep the old system with the final in September? At least they wouldn't be flogged in the same way they were this year and last year. But, as you say, maybe it's the price to pay for being successful. But club football really is in a sorry state in this county.

ThroughTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 89 - 08/08/2025 20:30:14    2630651

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Replying To ThroughTheGap:  "It's hard to disagree with anything you say. But if that is the case, say the likes of Langan, Gallen, Mogan, who will be on the team for a decade, are we happy that they will barely play 40 games for their club during that decade? I think that is fundamentally wrong given we have a split season. Like, what's the split season supposed to be for? Would it have been easier on those lads to keep the old system with the final in September? At least they wouldn't be flogged in the same way they were this year and last year. But, as you say, maybe it's the price to pay for being successful. But club football really is in a sorry state in this county."
Well I suppose the GPA were the main group lobbying for the split season. It definitely suits county players. But if they're not togging regularly for the club, then that's an issue as well. With the way things went this year for Donegal, it's the price we're paying unfortunately.

If we'd been knocked out in the group stage, I doubt any of us would be having this conversation. Every county player would be on club duty this weekend.

It's a tricky balancing act if your county goes deep into the All Ireland. I'm not sure how it could be rectified in 2026, if please God, Donegal go well again.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9967 - 08/08/2025 21:04:55    2630657

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