Tir Conaill Abu (Donegal) - Posts: 1636 - 18/02/2020 13:28:20    2268308

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2479 - 18/02/2020 15:34:58    2268328

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 880 - 18/02/2020 17:31:59    2268342

Interesting to see how the weekend goes against Dublin. I remember two years ago thinking we'd take an awful hammering and ending up putting a right good show on. The Dublin team picked that night was a decent team too. The tactics that evening were much more positive than previous matches we've played against them and hopefully that mentality will be there on Saturday. We were getting well beat though kept at it and Patrick Mcbreartys second half was superb. Brennan also had a good outing that night and was also decent in the super 8s against them. Hopefully he can take confidence from that for Saturday.

We suffered quite a bit from kick out turnovers and hopefully that won't be happening as much now. Niall scully probably somewhat surprisingly has done for us as well. Two goals in the super 8s and a load of points in that league match. Hopefully he will be bit better marked this time. I see colm basquel and bugler starting and Dublin will be much improved based on two weeks more training in the legs.

I would imagine the donegal team were quite annoyed with themselves on how they let the last match slip. I hope they use this as motivation to really show up in Saturday.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 350 - 18/02/2020 20:17:44    2268360

Realistically, we will need another 3, maybe 4 points to be certain of our Division 1 status. Make no mistake, we have probably the top 3 teams in the country to play in Dublin, Kerry and Tyrone. I'd rank Monaghan 6th. If we can get a result this Saturday night it will certainly go a long way to achieving our goal. A positive result will completely change our mindset for Monaghan the following week, and will have them questioning again how they left the 2 points behind them. Two victories in those 8 days will allow us to divert our focus to where it needs to be, McCumhaill Park against Tyrone in May and not the 15th March. The next 2 games can be make or break for our entire season. I think we can do it.

SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 142 - 19/02/2020 03:24:35    2268392

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2479 - 19/02/2020 16:22:22    2268468

Flying over from the UK for this one to give the boys some support in Croker.

First visit there so I'm rather looking forward to it. Was at the Meath game so I'm hoping my winning record this season continues.

Hoping for a good game, a Donegal win and a few pints after to celebrate.

MartinEgan (UK) - Posts: 30 - 20/02/2020 10:38:03    2268586

Firstly let me preface this by saying that I'm well aware of the daunting nature of playing Dublin in Croke Park. But it just seems a bit like we've written off any hope of taking points from this fixture. Monaghan showed a few weeks ago that Dublin can be got at and I would argue that we have more attacking threat than them. If we can tighten up at the back considerably and avoid sloppy concession of goals I give us a fair chance of getting a result. It won't be easy by any means but I just have a feeling there will be a bit of hurt there at the criticism received at not getting full points against Galway and Mayo.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 7105 - 20/02/2020 13:05:50    2268611

naomh_conaill_4 (Donegal) - Posts: 364 - 20/02/2020 13:52:45    2268621

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2479 - 21/02/2020 18:06:01    2268850

Very negative team selection from Bonner, exactly what he criticised the last management team for when he was on highland, hope I'm wrong....

totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 529 - 22/02/2020 18:58:15    2269051

FootballGuy (Donegal) - Posts: 111 - 22/02/2020 20:53:32    2269082

Overall a promising performance but dissapointing that we made some silly mistakes that lead to scores and i'm not just taking about Pattons mistake who had an outstanding game again. But running into tackles when there is a pass on, or making some poor decisions. We had some big goal chances and we need to learn how to finish out a game. Maybe we are lacking some experience there.

Murphy another exceptional game. And was targeted by Small at the end, just like Clifford was 2 weeks ago. Hopefully Brennan hasn't picked up too much of a knock, our best forward after Murphy right now.

FootballGuy (Donegal) - Posts: 111 - 22/02/2020 21:01:15    2269086

We have a long way to go, take Murphy out of that team & it is very ordinary indeed.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 4986 - 22/02/2020 21:08:45    2269090

Disappointed not to get anything outta that game. Started really well, looked composed, do what you gotta do against Dublin by holding onto the ball. However as the game went on Dublin's intensity increased and they punished some of our poor decision making. Rule one against playing a real physical like Dublin or Mayo is do not carry the ball into contact especially when facing more than one. We started by avoiding this but lost our way a bit. Not that we overdone it you just do not do it at all. I thought as the game went on when our accuracy especially from hand passes wained and made life tough on ourselves. Another what should have been an easy goal botched an unfortunate characteristic of ours. Ban plays it too soon when you can commit the player and all opens up. Again Michael Murphy was superb and without we be in serious trouble. Good performances from Langan and Patton but unfortunately both blotted their copy book a bit in the second half. Brennan who does not lack in conviction also very good till his injury. Really promising from Mogan also when he finds his feet more he won't be lacking in conviction and driving at teams. However there were 2-3 players who started tonight who are quite simply not of the standard to take on any of the top sides, seen enough now to know. As Brolly rightly pointed out we have a few too many players who lack conviction. This was particularly highlighted at the end when Daire worked a great position to hand pass it away with a really really poor decision.

Still think we will stay up. However looking forward my feeling is we are a very good team but lacking that bit of mental toughness to be anything more than contenders outside of Ulster.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2479 - 22/02/2020 22:03:51    2269124

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 350 - 22/02/2020 22:43:54    2269145

totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 529 - 23/02/2020 00:36:53    2269175

Donegal had enough chances to win the game well but not to be. It's a cliche but they will learn from this game. 3/4 goal chances created to Dublin's 1. But Dublin's press in the second half and silly turnovers by us cost us. We avoided this in the first half but struggled to get our kick outs away in the second half and got turned over. Langan bossed Fenton in the first half but got turned over a few times in the second, same with others.

Dublin have Cluxton, Mc Caffrey, Mc Carthy, Con, Connoly to come back into 15. (cooper and philly also to panel if not 15)
Donegal have Mc Grath, Menamin, Jason Mc Gee and Oisin Gallan. (it's a pit we wont see S. Mc Brearty, Odhran MC Neilis, Ciaran Gillespie this year as I feel both panels are well matched)

On the game itself, there's plenty of positives to take, we can honestly say we deserved to win the match, but no point in moral victories. Dublin have lads to come back in but going by that performance we can beat them for sure, if things go right.

Worries from the game;
Do we have enough man markers for the best teams? I know we are missing Mc Menamin and Mc Grath
Failing to see games out once again
We keep coughing up ball at times, we got turned over alot but suppose when we keep the ball and invite teams onto us, this could happen
-tackling when teams are running at us.
-injuries to key men could hurt us- any word on brennan?
-are we clinical enough?
-psychological struggle seeing off the "big teams"


Positives:
no goal chances given up, when was the list time Dublin failed to score a goal?
Mogan looks the real deal. PACEY, DIRECT, can do numerous jobs.
-Mc Brearty back, if he can hit 4-5 points a game we are not far away
-Langan, was the best player on the field for the first 40 mins
-kept possesion, bar the silly 3 turnovers, really well, and worked good scoring chances
-creating a panel of players for championship all going well

All in all, I can take positives from that game, although there's areas to work on.

I think we will beat Monaghan well based on that performance.

TheRock2121 (Donegal) - Posts: 571 - 23/02/2020 02:20:35    2269186

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 350 - 23/02/2020 09:54:52    2269208

Was generally a very good performance last night - a one point defeat nothing to be ashamed of. Silly mistakes are costing us. But the problem is that we were going to Croke Park last night needing to win to take pressure off us.

It's time to cut out the messing about with venues for these league games. No harm to O'Donnell Park but every year we are throwing one of our precious home games by playing it in Letterkenny. Last year the loss there against Fermanagh almost cost us promotion, the year previous we lost there to Galway and got relegated and this year we lost to Galway and are now under pressure again.

Although, I do believe we can do enough against Monaghan and Tyrone to save ourselves - we shouldn't continue to put ourselves under this pressure. We should give ourselves every advantage at the outset by playing all games in McCumhaill Park (or at the very least 3 of the 4 should be played there).

supporter (Donegal) - Posts: 205 - 23/02/2020 11:27:42    2269228