Incredible heart from the twenties tonight but yet again Tyrone win the tight tussle against us like they always do. Never being so frustrated watching a game as Donegal couldn't get a break. Numerous times the Donegal lads got a hand in or looked like making an interception the ball would always end up in Tyrone hands. Compounded by the goal which is a point effort comes off the post and where does it land? I had that feeling from early on when McMenamin made a great fetch only to land awkwardly and go off injured. He was a massive loss around the middle where Tyrone laid down the foundation of their game plan to starve Donegal of the ball and take very little risks. We seen what happened in extra time when the game got a little wild with Donegal dominating after throwing off the shackles. Tyrone sealed it in extra time with the hot patch punishing poor kickouts with clinical finishes. The two cheap frees were very costly between gaining possession from the kick out to getting punished for the 3 man back rule. This followed the one brought in for Roarty apparently touching the ball on the ground which looked highly contentious. Unfortunately our composure let us down for large periods and Tyrone killed us on the kickouts. Really disappointed but many of the team are underage next year. Plus there are a few lads destined to be top senior players.
Replying To shaggykev: "Yeah Monaghan have plum draw of the whole lot. Even better than Kerry's group.
They can now start planning and prepping with An All Ireland quarter final in sight. Favourites to too group, get the extra week prep to face a side playing three weeks in a row and potentially running on empty.
Whereas we now have four or not five harder games to face to end up in same position and have already played two more games than them."
If Jim mcGuinness can steer Donegal to win the Ulster final and then group stage to win the all Ireland 2 the he really is something else. If you take the emotion and Ulster championship glory away then there is not much logic in prioritising it. 4 matches to win it and less than zero advantage by winning it. At least in Munster and connacht you get two weeks between each match. The Ulster and leinster finalists have to play matches 1 and 2 a week apart.
Next year is irrelevant until next year and does nobody any favours about talking about learnings for next year's team. Your chance is there in front of you and you didn't take it. Big odds that dying with your boats on when you lose.
Donegal had no conventional midfielder and it hurt them badly. Losing mcmenamin in his first play was such a loss. Yep the ref was frustrating, particularly in the 50 metre advancement for the equalizer for the roarty free concession. I would say most thought he was fouled and he thought that himself.
Some of the play was also so depressing and extra time excitement should not be allowed gloss over that. Donegal were so rigid in defending the arc and I don't want to watch two minutes of Tyrone tipping it back and forth and Donegal not trying to win at the end of normal time. And it did catch them out at the start of et because they were defending too deep and Tyrone won the game with the three two pointers. And if that helps in some way stop Donegal playing such depressing football the that is at least a positive.
They have no real ability to pass inside. If the academy through Lacey for example is serious about developing good footballers they have to start working on that. They just run the ball all the time there are three men up and when you turn it over the kick inside is on. It's not even a consideration. And the idea of the running game is that it reduces the risk of turnover and Donegal made too many mistakes in that front anyway.
Hard luck and all that but a lot of that match was a hard watch.
Replying To panamasam: "Incredible heart from the twenties tonight but yet again Tyrone win the tight tussle against us like they always do. Never being so frustrated watching a game as Donegal couldn't get a break. Numerous times the Donegal lads got a hand in or looked like making an interception the ball would always end up in Tyrone hands. Compounded by the goal which is a point effort comes off the post and where does it land? I had that feeling from early on when McMenamin made a great fetch only to land awkwardly and go off injured. He was a massive loss around the middle where Tyrone laid down the foundation of their game plan to starve Donegal of the ball and take very little risks. We seen what happened in extra time when the game got a little wild with Donegal dominating after throwing off the shackles. Tyrone sealed it in extra time with the hot patch punishing poor kickouts with clinical finishes. The two cheap frees were very costly between gaining possession from the kick out to getting punished for the 3 man back rule. This followed the one brought in for Roarty apparently touching the ball on the ground which looked highly contentious. Unfortunately our composure let us down for large periods and Tyrone killed us on the kickouts. Really disappointed but many of the team are underage next year. Plus there are a few lads destined to be top senior players."
Congrats to Tyrone on their win last night. It will be of little consolation but our lads can hold their heads high that they brought the fight to them to the end. I feel if we didn't concede that last free at the end we had the momentum to land a 2 pointer or level it at least.
Did anyone else find it strange that we took back on three players we took off? What kind of message does that send to the unused subs - we had a panel of 37! And I'm sure it would contradict a lot of the theory around injury prevention as well.