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Donegal GAA thread

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Replying To benjyyy:  "I thought we were hard done by. It felt like he was doing his best to keep Mayo in the game. The black card was a very harsh call - in fact originally I thought he had given a free out for charging. But in general I felt 90% of the marginal decisions went against us. Mayo got a lot of advantage free and a couple of them I still dont know what they were even for. I can't recall us getting any frees other than for blatantly obvious fouls. In fairness Mayo are very good at treading the line on the half-foul (ie. Tackling that is technically illegal but not enough to get penalised for) but I still thought they got away with a few that crossed the line whereas they got a few soft ones."
There was a free given to Mayo right in front of the posts one time. I think it was Ciaran Thompson & Aiden O'Shea who both fairly & legally attempted a puck up. Thompson got their marginally ahead of him, got the ball but inevitably crashed into O'Shea. Free in.

Shortly after Mogan's back card, O'Shea cynically fouled McColgan and I dont know if he was even ticked.
AOS got away with one or two other tactical fouls as well

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9813 - 16/06/2025 17:27:22    2618451

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Replying To rorysboys:  "He's not . Been to all the games the only thing that has changed is the rules."
So have I 'been to all the games'. What's that got to do with anything?

He mainly stays between the offensive midfield area and the arc.

As others have said he links the play more now and plays more offensively. He might occasionally track back if other players are committed but not like he used to do under Bonner and Gallagher.

I was standing in line with him in second half in Roscommon and he played along the 45 line moving out to midfield for most of that half unless he needed to track a runner on the break. So I too have eyes. Not just you.

The new rules are much more demanding on what are now midfielders. Jim said that straight out this year.

1. He wouldn't have the legs to go consistently go arc to arc like Thompson, Langan, and McFadden are being asked to do.

2. He wouldn't have come back if that was the case - and I'm sure the only reason he came back was that he knew he could make a difference in the offensive position he is in.

Back when Bonner was managing he was trying to play full back, full forward and every position between because the young players needed the help.

He's not doing that now - which is why he is scoring and assisting so much. The stats will show it.

He's still putting in a big shift for his age. So I get that care is needed. But he's not playing the same role he did previously.

Al_Maguire (Donegal) - Posts: 275 - 16/06/2025 17:30:08    2618453

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Replying To Al_Maguire:  "So have I 'been to all the games'. What's that got to do with anything?

He mainly stays between the offensive midfield area and the arc.

As others have said he links the play more now and plays more offensively. He might occasionally track back if other players are committed but not like he used to do under Bonner and Gallagher.

I was standing in line with him in second half in Roscommon and he played along the 45 line moving out to midfield for most of that half unless he needed to track a runner on the break. So I too have eyes. Not just you.

The new rules are much more demanding on what are now midfielders. Jim said that straight out this year.

1. He wouldn't have the legs to go consistently go arc to arc like Thompson, Langan, and McFadden are being asked to do.

2. He wouldn't have come back if that was the case - and I'm sure the only reason he came back was that he knew he could make a difference in the offensive position he is in.

Back when Bonner was managing he was trying to play full back, full forward and every position between because the young players needed the help.

He's not doing that now - which is why he is scoring and assisting so much. The stats will show it.

He's still putting in a big shift for his age. So I get that care is needed. But he's not playing the same role he did previously."
100%

Scenicparish (Donegal) - Posts: 579 - 16/06/2025 18:39:28    2618481

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Replying To Al_Maguire:  "So have I 'been to all the games'. What's that got to do with anything?

He mainly stays between the offensive midfield area and the arc.

As others have said he links the play more now and plays more offensively. He might occasionally track back if other players are committed but not like he used to do under Bonner and Gallagher.

I was standing in line with him in second half in Roscommon and he played along the 45 line moving out to midfield for most of that half unless he needed to track a runner on the break. So I too have eyes. Not just you.

The new rules are much more demanding on what are now midfielders. Jim said that straight out this year.

1. He wouldn't have the legs to go consistently go arc to arc like Thompson, Langan, and McFadden are being asked to do.

2. He wouldn't have come back if that was the case - and I'm sure the only reason he came back was that he knew he could make a difference in the offensive position he is in.

Back when Bonner was managing he was trying to play full back, full forward and every position between because the young players needed the help.

He's not doing that now - which is why he is scoring and assisting so much. The stats will show it.

He's still putting in a big shift for his age. So I get that care is needed. But he's not playing the same role he did previously."
Whatever you think lad. You have an opinion so has everyone else. I respect them all but I might not agree with them. I'm sure we all agree that only for him this year we might not have won ulster

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2631 - 16/06/2025 19:32:49    2618488

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Replying To greenfan:  "On a foot block, the rule doesnt mention danger to the opponent. It says its a foul 'To block or attempt to block with the boot
when an opponent is kicking the ball from the
hand(s)'. Dunno how a ref misses that , it was blatant. If he wasn't sure there was a boot used he could have asked the umpire."
Look I agree with you regarding the black card and I don't doubt you're right re the 3 up but I've just looked at McBrearty's effort again, no way a penalty, would have been a shocking decision, Reape never raises his foot at all, never mind towards McBrearty, just a good save by Reape.

sligo joe (Dublin) - Posts: 947 - 16/06/2025 20:01:51    2618493

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Replying To HowManyStepsRef:  "Regarding the point I've seen several people make regarding Ciaran Moore kicking the ball out of play after the hooter to avoid getting turned over. Surely if Mayo were to turn him over at that point they would just kick the ball out of play themselves, their Championship was on the line and I don't think they would have much incentive to risk going out to claim 2nd place. Therefore it was a bit of a free hit for us, as well as the fact it's good to pick up a winning habit."
Without a doubt, if Mayo had possession they'd have gotten rid of it, and I think they would have fancied themselves going to any of the 2nd placed teams and giving it a rattle.

I also think people don't realise it wasn't really a 50/50 contested ball, Patton spotted McCole making the run and the Mayo man had switched off briefly, now the Mayo man recovered really well to make it a tougher ball than it would have been but when Patton put the head down to ping it, it looks a nailed on kickout.

Finally I think getting the win was important for us psychologically. In reality we had wasted a lot of chances yesterday and even at that had the game in our grasp with a couple minutes to go. To allow a draw from there would have been a bit of a gut punch and I think would have felt like a loss regardless of still having the home preliminary match. To go and grab the win back like we did and knock Mayo out in the process will have given us a boost I feel.

CCFabu (Donegal) - Posts: 206 - 16/06/2025 21:12:28    2618502

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "There was a free given to Mayo right in front of the posts one time. I think it was Ciaran Thompson & Aiden O'Shea who both fairly & legally attempted a puck up. Thompson got their marginally ahead of him, got the ball but inevitably crashed into O'Shea. Free in.

Shortly after Mogan's back card, O'Shea cynically fouled McColgan and I dont know if he was even ticked.
AOS got away with one or two other tactical fouls as well"
Ya, I was actually going to mention that. Both went to pick it up, O'Shea went flying. It wasn't a case of a lad going in with the boot. Both bent their back. Should never have been a free.
Also Mayo's second last score which brought it back to a point. They had a goal chance, I think O'Donoghue dived to get his hand pass away. Patton saved the subsequent shot, but the ref gave a free in. Fitzmaurice on commentary thought it was for a pick off the ground after the save as he couldn't see anything else. But the ref actually had his hand up for advantage before that from when the pass was given. Again there was no foul at all.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2386 - 16/06/2025 21:32:56    2618505

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Paul Faloon has a little bit of a hurling ref in him in that he'll let fouls or kind of half fouls go that other refs wouldn't let go. Honestly I don't mind that and think football refs could allow a bit more physical contact and competition for the ball.

He wasn't consitent though and Donegal suffered a little more. If he's going to give the black card for mogan then Aidan o'shea has to get the yellow. A foul on mccolgan just before Murphy kicked it wide seemed pretty clear. And if he doesn't want to call that then he can't give the free near the end that o'donoghue scored. That's the one the Galway poster mentioned.
And I don't want to completely go to town it either. Reffing is a tough game. And we need to focus more on ourselves. The ref didn't miss the goal chances and the ref didn't turn the ball over unnecessarily before mogan got his black card.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 864 - 16/06/2025 22:10:25    2618518

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "There was a free given to Mayo right in front of the posts one time. I think it was Ciaran Thompson & Aiden O'Shea who both fairly & legally attempted a puck up. Thompson got their marginally ahead of him, got the ball but inevitably crashed into O'Shea. Free in.

Shortly after Mogan's back card, O'Shea cynically fouled McColgan and I dont know if he was even ticked.
AOS got away with one or two other tactical fouls as well"
Not taking anything away from O Shea, he had a good game but he was on a tick and shortly after he made another poor attempt to tackle, ref played advantage while putting his hand in pocket to bring out the book, Donegal scored a point and there was no more action from ref.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2340 - 16/06/2025 22:29:37    2618523

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