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Donegal GAA thread

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Replying To peiledoir20:  "Kildare haven't looked fit in any game they've played so far. Their players have looked gassed after the 50 or so minute mark. Like you said of we can match them in intensity we have the players to beat them. Their players confidence has taken a battering in recent weeks whilst ours are riding the crest of a wave."
Yeah true. That's what I mean by starting quickly and putting seeds of doubt in their heads early on. If we managed to get 4 or 5 point lead before halftime you'd imagine Kildare's low confidence and fitness levels wouldn't lend itself to a spectacular turnaround second half.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9551 - 13/03/2024 14:58:19    2531041

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Good wins for the minors and u20s last night down in Cavan. Hopefully they can push on now. It's been a while since we've had any success at underage level. I can't even think of when we last won a minor or u20/u21 in Ulster, was it 2017 we won u21?

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9551 - 14/03/2024 11:50:24    2531115

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The Derry v Mayo game will be very interesting to see. Jim's new style reminds me a bit of Mayo - high press, forwards tackling very hard, and a hard running game from deep. So it will be interesting to see how Derry cope with Mayo coming at them. Maybe there will be lessons for Donegal that come out of that game. But it all depends on whether Conor Glass etc will be rested again - Derry seem to be not bothered in winning the league, probably a sensible approach from Mickey Harte.

High_and_wide (Donegal) - Posts: 84 - 15/03/2024 09:16:47    2531204

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A new website finally being delivered, fair play to the PRO getting it done. Was badly needed and hopefully the league fixtures will be released on it

NPadraigAbu (Donegal) - Posts: 90 - 15/03/2024 10:49:20    2531220

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Replying To High_and_wide:  "The Derry v Mayo game will be very interesting to see. Jim's new style reminds me a bit of Mayo - high press, forwards tackling very hard, and a hard running game from deep. So it will be interesting to see how Derry cope with Mayo coming at them. Maybe there will be lessons for Donegal that come out of that game. But it all depends on whether Conor Glass etc will be rested again - Derry seem to be not bothered in winning the league, probably a sensible approach from Mickey Harte."
Derry appear to be resting a couple of players for every game. Recently Lynch, McKindless and Glass, so wouldn't be surprised if it's Rogers, McEvoy and McGuigan this week. But we'll see. I'd expect that they will still beat Mayo.

I'm sure Mickey is holding a bit back, and I've no doubt that Jim is doing likewise. We are definitely not pressing near as hard as we did in the McKenna Cup games. For example, against Louth, a couple of times, you could hear Paddy Mc shouting 'Everyone back". I suppose it's about knowing when to press and when not to.

SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 722 - 15/03/2024 11:45:04    2531229

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "Good wins for the minors and u20s last night down in Cavan. Hopefully they can push on now. It's been a while since we've had any success at underage level. I can't even think of when we last won a minor or u20/u21 in Ulster, was it 2017 we won u21?"
The U20s were excellent in the first half, were moving really well. But it was a game of 2 halves. At half time there were 8 points between the teams. And 10 minutes into the second half the margin was still 8 points. Cavan then made 3 changes, and kicked the next 5 scores, and all of a sudden Donegal were in danger. A goal for Cavan, which they had chances of, and we were in all sort of trouble because the momentum had turned completely.

I would have a concern that our management should have used the bench a little better. We didn't make a change till the 52nd minute, but it was obvious that we needed fresh legs. It's something they will have to be aware of against better opposition.

But all in all it was a good display, but we have a bit of work still to do.

SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 722 - 15/03/2024 11:56:42    2531233

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Replying To NPadraigAbu:  "A new website finally being delivered, fair play to the PRO getting it done. Was badly needed and hopefully the league fixtures will be released on it"
Yeah it is long overdue. Fair play to the new PRO in finally getting it sorted because the old one was an embarrassment.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9551 - 15/03/2024 12:01:25    2531235

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Replying To NPadraigAbu:  "A new website finally being delivered, fair play to the PRO getting it done. Was badly needed and hopefully the league fixtures will be released on it"
Fixtures have been circulated in the past two weeks.

peiledoir20 (Donegal) - Posts: 1084 - 15/03/2024 12:58:53    2531245

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Replying To SouthOfTheGap:  "The U20s were excellent in the first half, were moving really well. But it was a game of 2 halves. At half time there were 8 points between the teams. And 10 minutes into the second half the margin was still 8 points. Cavan then made 3 changes, and kicked the next 5 scores, and all of a sudden Donegal were in danger. A goal for Cavan, which they had chances of, and we were in all sort of trouble because the momentum had turned completely.

I would have a concern that our management should have used the bench a little better. We didn't make a change till the 52nd minute, but it was obvious that we needed fresh legs. It's something they will have to be aware of against better opposition.

But all in all it was a good display, but we have a bit of work still to do."
Not sure I agree with all of this. Donegal were excellent for the first quarter with 1.7 on the board.They got a very lucky goal in the second quarter and you wouldn't wish that keeper mistake on anybody. Take that out and it was another 2 points in the second quarter. Cavan grew into it and donegal levels did drop off. I certainly hadn't ruled Cavan out at ht.
Maybe they could bring subs on a little earlier but they are probably trying to balance things up for whole of the league stages.
An area I think they need to get better at is players taking the right option. There were a few wild shots for scores that resulted in turnovers and scores at the other end and a few balls played in that just weren't on. Cavan had momentum and donegals play only contributed to it.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 780 - 15/03/2024 13:30:01    2531251

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Probably got it to easy in the first half, which led to a few Holywood efforts after that. I thought we ran out of energy in the second half, and because of that drop off, Cavan started to get scoreable frees. I thought their 15 was excellent throughout, and that their 18 made a difference when he came on.

SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 722 - 15/03/2024 14:01:01    2531254

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Replying To Ulsterchamps_32:  "Not sure I agree with all of this. Donegal were excellent for the first quarter with 1.7 on the board.They got a very lucky goal in the second quarter and you wouldn't wish that keeper mistake on anybody. Take that out and it was another 2 points in the second quarter. Cavan grew into it and donegal levels did drop off. I certainly hadn't ruled Cavan out at ht.
Maybe they could bring subs on a little earlier but they are probably trying to balance things up for whole of the league stages.
An area I think they need to get better at is players taking the right option. There were a few wild shots for scores that resulted in turnovers and scores at the other end and a few balls played in that just weren't on. Cavan had momentum and donegals play only contributed to it."
Hard to know what to make of that game.The first goal was a result of an unfortunate slip by one of the Cavan players and we capitalised on it very well.The second goal was a pure freak which put us in a very strong position.In between the goals we tagged on some lovely scores but again it was mainly due to Cavan having a nightmare with their kickouts.However there was some lovely movement in our play.After that Cavan seemed to sort out their problems and more or less dominated .They got dangerously close and it was only with sending off that Donegal were able to tag on a couple of points and seal the win.Maybe the fall off was due to complacency with the big lead they had.As you say some very nice play and a very good display from McGlynn but we will only know how good they are when they come up against another good team.

gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1126 - 15/03/2024 14:10:20    2531256

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Happy to be corrected here but I'd heard of this new high pressing game Donegal were playing in the McKenna Cup so went to the Louth match, admittedly the only game I could get to so far. But I didnt see anything new. I saw 15men behind the ball for most of the game and a set up that was more or less the last few years.
Undoubtedly there was more intensity and higher fitness levels with players pushing hard but regarding the gameplan, nothing new.

Was this the only game that panned out like this or had McGuinness reverted to type?

PeterQ92 (Donegal) - Posts: 119 - 15/03/2024 14:15:08    2531259

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Replying To NPadraigAbu:  "A new website finally being delivered, fair play to the PRO getting it done. Was badly needed and hopefully the league fixtures will be released on it"
Clubs have been sent the fixtures already

greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 587 - 15/03/2024 14:37:26    2531260

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Replying To PeterQ92:  "Happy to be corrected here but I'd heard of this new high pressing game Donegal were playing in the McKenna Cup so went to the Louth match, admittedly the only game I could get to so far. But I didnt see anything new. I saw 15men behind the ball for most of the game and a set up that was more or less the last few years.
Undoubtedly there was more intensity and higher fitness levels with players pushing hard but regarding the gameplan, nothing new.

Was this the only game that panned out like this or had McGuinness reverted to type?"
We definitely pressed a lot harder in the earlier games. It is not something that you would use all the time, but only for stages in certain games, but I expect that it is being rehearsed to death behind the Convoy fence.

SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 722 - 15/03/2024 15:23:59    2531268

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Replying To gunman:  "Hard to know what to make of that game.The first goal was a result of an unfortunate slip by one of the Cavan players and we capitalised on it very well.The second goal was a pure freak which put us in a very strong position.In between the goals we tagged on some lovely scores but again it was mainly due to Cavan having a nightmare with their kickouts.However there was some lovely movement in our play.After that Cavan seemed to sort out their problems and more or less dominated .They got dangerously close and it was only with sending off that Donegal were able to tag on a couple of points and seal the win.Maybe the fall off was due to complacency with the big lead they had.As you say some very nice play and a very good display from McGlynn but we will only know how good they are when they come up against another good team."
That's a good summary.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 780 - 15/03/2024 18:05:20    2531284

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Replying To greenfan:  "Clubs have been sent the fixtures already"
Would be nice to have them widely released, especially considering we're 2 (?) weeks out from them starting

NPadraigAbu (Donegal) - Posts: 90 - 15/03/2024 22:11:26    2531298

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decent enough outing against Kildare. The big positives are probably Langan's form improving and Moore showing as a serious option in the full back line. From listening on highland radio they were very impressed with him. I wouldn't be too worried about Gallen not getting scores - the fact that he's double marked means other forwards are freed up. Aron Doherty making a case to start in the championship too. Whatever happens now later this year, we have an exciting season next year seeing a McGuinness-led Donegal playing against the best in the country in Division 1. hup

High_and_wide (Donegal) - Posts: 84 - 16/03/2024 19:18:24    2531489

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Replying To High_and_wide:  "decent enough outing against Kildare. The big positives are probably Langan's form improving and Moore showing as a serious option in the full back line. From listening on highland radio they were very impressed with him. I wouldn't be too worried about Gallen not getting scores - the fact that he's double marked means other forwards are freed up. Aron Doherty making a case to start in the championship too. Whatever happens now later this year, we have an exciting season next year seeing a McGuinness-led Donegal playing against the best in the country in Division 1. hup"
Was at the game, where I was sitting seemed to be more Donegal fans than Kildare. They are having a bad year and maybe decided to stay home and watch Ireland rugby match. Mogan was excellent, Langan good and Daire O Baoil in 2nd half. Hard working performance by all and thought it was clever game management to play keep ball for a few minutes after their goal. That took momentum away from them when only 2 down and they failed to score after. Does anyone know much about Ronan Gallagher that came on near end, not a name I know from underage teams. He seemed to be playing around the middle but wasn't really on long enough to gauge.

HEREBENJI (Donegal) - Posts: 431 - 17/03/2024 13:59:58    2531664

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Replying To HEREBENJI:  "Was at the game, where I was sitting seemed to be more Donegal fans than Kildare. They are having a bad year and maybe decided to stay home and watch Ireland rugby match. Mogan was excellent, Langan good and Daire O Baoil in 2nd half. Hard working performance by all and thought it was clever game management to play keep ball for a few minutes after their goal. That took momentum away from them when only 2 down and they failed to score after. Does anyone know much about Ronan Gallagher that came on near end, not a name I know from underage teams. He seemed to be playing around the middle but wasn't really on long enough to gauge."
We had 10 times the support Kildare had, yet it was still a fairly poor crowd; probably in the region of 2,000 in total.

The positives were the 16 scores from play. Paddy and Farrah both were surrounded and bottled up on every occasion, and remarkably they had one shot at the target each. Its a positive that we have players like Mogan, Langan, O'Baoill and Ciaran Thompson etc to take points from the outside channels.

The negatives are that we don't seem to be able to draw teams out, and as a result we aren't creating goal chances. Perhaps against more progresive teams we will get more space to work the back door cuts etc.

It is great now to have two stress free games to have a look at new players, and get minutes into the legs of those coming back from injury.

SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 722 - 17/03/2024 17:27:13    2531714

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I watched the Derry V Mayo game. Mayo got a lot of joy out of kicking the ball on top of the square - either to Aidan O'Shea or Tommy Conroy. We could get joy out of having maybe Hugh McFadden or Langan in there for periods and go route 1.

Conor McCluskey would nearly need to be man marked even though he's a corner back, he's that much of a goal threat.

Odhran Lynch creates so much and is very comfortable on the ball. I hope we put pressure on him early before he gets into our half.

I'd say there's joy to be had against Derry by going long and direct early - before they get their defence set. Once they're set they're very hard to break down.

High_and_wide (Donegal) - Posts: 84 - 17/03/2024 18:12:31    2531720

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