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Replying To hlynch12: "Donegal peaked too early as title no 40 going to kerry. Enjoy the holidays LOL" But you're from Limerick?
DonegalAtlantic (Donegal) - Posts: 122 - 23/06/2026 20:43:14
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Replying To shaggykev: "Odhran MacNiallais will be 34 next season and gaelic football has just not been the bee all and end all of his life. The commitment required is insane for intercounty level.
He was a smashing player back in 2014 but that is 12 years ago now. People have pined for her return for years but pretty sure he said no to Bonner about 6 years ago.
After a few days to reflect there does indeed appear to be something wrong with the panel and I have no idea whether they injured or are their bodies just not able to do it anymore.
Ryan McHugh, Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Peadar Mogan and Ciaran Moore. Their trademarks have been lighting pace flying out of the defence as a pack. We just have not seen it this year. Eoghan Bán has not looked the same player after a bad injury a few seasons ago, Ryan is older now but even Finnbarr Roarty seems to not be motoring.
This is the Donegal engine right here. Our trademark style but all season, we have been talking about lacking energy.
When Jim was successful first time around, whilst everyone talked about MM, really the engine was Karl Lacey. Once he lost his zip, Donegal were never going to win another All Ireland.
Yes we need to mix it and kick more and focus more on spraying the ball about but the running game is in our dna and we cannot abandon it but if guys no longer have the legs for it, we are destined to fall back into the pack unfortunately.
Superstars don't fall out of trees so maybe we have to pray Karl Lacey and co can find the talent that is currently 12-16 right now that will blossom for the next generation of talent. I don't see anyone in minors or u20s right now that is going to fundamentally improve our side to stay at the top table." Pretty sure the modern game has shown you don't need the biggest names to compete at the top level?
CyberJim (Donegal) - Posts: 4 - 23/06/2026 21:45:22
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Replying To eddieSize5Balls: "Odhrán is the big one. what a player he was. Imagine having him in the 2pt era !
Niall surely will be back and he's pretty young still.
Do Eunan's have any young player who has yet to be called in that could add to the squad?" I do wonder do you pay much attention to underage in Donegal. You mentioned some under age aodh ruadh forwards. I'm not sure who you are referring too.
Since say ciaran Moore's age group eunans have been poor at providing players to the county underage team. Luke mcGuinness on the 20s this year. Given the size of letterkenny it's a overall a little disappointing to be honest.
Four masters have had some pile of them recently with the 3carrs, mccaughan, mccahill, muldoon, monaghan, mccrea, o'neill, leneghan.
Mchugh , Gillespie and Griffin were this years minors. Some of the reids and richard o'rourke also played under age for Donegal recently enough. Four masters really should be pushing strongly to dominate in Donegal over the next while. Some will make it through to Donegal senior team as well. Mccahill did look good but hasn't played since a hamstring injury against fermanagh in the 20s.
Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 1027 - 23/06/2026 21:51:23
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Replying To shaggykev: "Odhran MacNiallais will be 34 next season and gaelic football has just not been the bee all and end all of his life. The commitment required is insane for intercounty level.
He was a smashing player back in 2014 but that is 12 years ago now. People have pined for her return for years but pretty sure he said no to Bonner about 6 years ago.
After a few days to reflect there does indeed appear to be something wrong with the panel and I have no idea whether they injured or are their bodies just not able to do it anymore.
Ryan McHugh, Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Peadar Mogan and Ciaran Moore. Their trademarks have been lighting pace flying out of the defence as a pack. We just have not seen it this year. Eoghan Bán has not looked the same player after a bad injury a few seasons ago, Ryan is older now but even Finnbarr Roarty seems to not be motoring.
This is the Donegal engine right here. Our trademark style but all season, we have been talking about lacking energy.
When Jim was successful first time around, whilst everyone talked about MM, really the engine was Karl Lacey. Once he lost his zip, Donegal were never going to win another All Ireland.
Yes we need to mix it and kick more and focus more on spraying the ball about but the running game is in our dna and we cannot abandon it but if guys no longer have the legs for it, we are destined to fall back into the pack unfortunately.
Superstars don't fall out of trees so maybe we have to pray Karl Lacey and co can find the talent that is currently 12-16 right now that will blossom for the next generation of talent. I don't see anyone in minors or u20s right now that is going to fundamentally improve our side to stay at the top table." In relation to stand out players it's hard to know with underage teams sometimes, especially given the way Donegal's U20s played this year. If underage football is primarily about development, then players need to be given the freedom to play and develop their skills. In the three matches I saw, they were very hard to watch.
Maybe the management felt that such a controlled style gave them the best chance of winning after just beating fermanagh but personally I'd rather see them play positive football and lose to Monaghan or Derry than win in a snore fest. What's strange is that the same management team had them playing an overall more positive football last year.
The minors certainly seemed to have more freedom, and the Minor B Championship shouldn't be dismissed by a county that has only reached one All-Ireland minor final. Any underage success is worth recognising.
One player I really feel for is Cian McMenamin. He looked impressive against Cavan in last year's U20 campaign, but then suffered a nasty injury early in the Ulster final against Tyrone and hasn't played since. That's tough.
Donegal took some heavy beatings at U15 level last year, but there have been more encouraging signs this season. The Buncrana Cup side has picked up a few wins and it was nice to see the U15s finally get a victory over Tyrone. Hopefully there are a few future stars emerging from that group.
You mention Lacey, and while it's important to have a strong academy structure, the clubs remain the foundation. They're the ones who make the biggest difference in the early stages of a player's development, and hopefully all clubs can continue to build on that progress.
Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 1027 - 23/06/2026 22:31:51
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Replying To Ulsterchamps_32: "I do wonder do you pay much attention to underage in Donegal. You mentioned some under age aodh ruadh forwards. I'm not sure who you are referring too.
Since say ciaran Moore's age group eunans have been poor at providing players to the county underage team. Luke mcGuinness on the 20s this year. Given the size of letterkenny it's a overall a little disappointing to be honest.
Four masters have had some pile of them recently with the 3carrs, mccaughan, mccahill, muldoon, monaghan, mccrea, o'neill, leneghan.
Mchugh , Gillespie and Griffin were this years minors. Some of the reids and richard o'rourke also played under age for Donegal recently enough. Four masters really should be pushing strongly to dominate in Donegal over the next while. Some will make it through to Donegal senior team as well. Mccahill did look good but hasn't played since a hamstring injury against fermanagh in the 20s." I don't pay any attention to underage outside of the county setup hence my questions. I'm only going off what's happening at senior club level. Previously weaker clubs have improved and we have some young players from those teams in the panel. I'm not sure why some of them didn't get a lookin (Muldoon for example) maybe they're injured.
My ask is, since most of you are more familiar with club and underage setup, who do we have that can come in and instantly help the senior team?
Eunan's having the largest population to choose from is why I asked about them. Not trying to stir or say one player is better than the other, I'm genuinely asking who are the 3-5 players to come in to help with the 20 or so we need to realistically challenge next year.
I know for one, Niall OD is for sure someone we need back.
I hope he does.
I thought Luke McGlynn would kick on too. But I'm not sure why he wasn't involved much over the last 2 years.
eddieSize5Balls (Donegal) - Posts: 430 - 23/06/2026 22:44:23
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As many posters have touched upon, our squad depth appears to be shallow, and Jim seems to only trust 18 or 19 players in total. We had lads in every 26, but still didn't get a single minute of football. We all know the players he trusts. And we know when Jim loses trust in you, its very hard to get that pendulum to swing back in your favour.
Jim also talked about the stats, and the metrics, and having healthy bodies taking the field.
The players that took the field in the last month have been uninjured, but were they actually fit? They definitely had no zip about them. If it was two or three players you would say that those players had been overtrained, and that those players needed to be managed differently. But the reality is that they all, almost to a man, looked sluggish. And tired bodies leads to tired minds, and vice versa.
So the question has to be, did we get the science wrong? Did we peak too soon? Would we have peaked again in 2 or 3 or 4 weeks time if we had gotten over Cork? I'm not so sure.
SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 938 - 24/06/2026 09:32:24
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Replying To shaggykev: "Odhran MacNiallais will be 34 next season and gaelic football has just not been the bee all and end all of his life. The commitment required is insane for intercounty level.
He was a smashing player back in 2014 but that is 12 years ago now. People have pined for her return for years but pretty sure he said no to Bonner about 6 years ago.
After a few days to reflect there does indeed appear to be something wrong with the panel and I have no idea whether they injured or are their bodies just not able to do it anymore.
Ryan McHugh, Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Peadar Mogan and Ciaran Moore. Their trademarks have been lighting pace flying out of the defence as a pack. We just have not seen it this year. Eoghan Bán has not looked the same player after a bad injury a few seasons ago, Ryan is older now but even Finnbarr Roarty seems to not be motoring.
This is the Donegal engine right here. Our trademark style but all season, we have been talking about lacking energy.
When Jim was successful first time around, whilst everyone talked about MM, really the engine was Karl Lacey. Once he lost his zip, Donegal were never going to win another All Ireland.
Yes we need to mix it and kick more and focus more on spraying the ball about but the running game is in our dna and we cannot abandon it but if guys no longer have the legs for it, we are destined to fall back into the pack unfortunately.
Superstars don't fall out of trees so maybe we have to pray Karl Lacey and co can find the talent that is currently 12-16 right now that will blossom for the next generation of talent. I don't see anyone in minors or u20s right now that is going to fundamentally improve our side to stay at the top table." Odhran MacNiallais did return for one season under Declan Bonner, I think 2021 ( I could be mistaken on that). I recall him high fielding against Roscommon in a Super 8s group match. Class player, but he just lost interest in putting in the hours required for Intercounty level, I know he was affected badly by that 2018 accident.
He is part of that lost generation of players from Gaobh Dobhair, including Kieran Gillespie (Who would have been Donegal's long-term Full back), Micheal Carroll (Should have been a key long-term player), Cian Mulligan (Attacking left wing forward). Donegal also had other players who missed out due to injuries etc, like Luke Keaney from Four Masters, he looked like a beast of a corner back (Hip troubles) and Stephen McBrearty of Kilcar, Patricks younger brother was a class footballer, also hampered by injuries.
Imagine this Donegal team if we had injury free Luke Keaney, Kieran Gillespie and Brendan McCole in the full back line, that would be arguably the best full back line in the Country. Unfortunately it wasn't to be, and not all by choice.
Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1896 - 24/06/2026 10:08:37
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