Replying To rorysboys: "Where's this great talent that bonner and rochford were holding back last year.. not much noise from the armchair supporters now. I've followed Donegal all my life but I guarantee this if bonner and rochford were still in charge we would still be in division one and looking forward to the Ulster championship with a hope of winning it. ."
I was never a fan of Bonner's but you are correct about the myth that we have all this great talent. We've had zero underage success for years. The fact is we don't have one good man-marking defender. And we don't have any really top quality forwards who can average 5 or 6 points a game. Paddy mcbrearty is well below his prime but he was still the best forward in the club championship last year. The shenanigans in the board room and academy are getting blamed for a lot, but the reality is we don't have the quality of player needed to compete at the top any more.
Replying To The keeper: "Here we go again, the Bonner was doing a great job brigade, the I am a real Donegal supporter brigade, the talent is not there brigade, Bonner was working miracles brigade. Its getting boring at this stage kid. Move on. Bonner had his chance with murphy the best full forward in Ireland, and played him in midfield in ulster final, where his man scored 3 points. When we had no focal point in the forward line and couldn't break Derry down.
The fact is we are a badly coached team at the moment that look miles off in terms of fitness and physical strength. That is nothing to do with talent and everything to do with pre season preparation. The fact is we have lost players in murphy, mcbrearty, the 3 o'donnells are county material. And i am sure i forgot others. The fact is the mess the county committee is making of everything, the whole Donegal gaa community is on a downer. But that may not change this year, but with a full squad, the right management team and the best possible preparation for pre season next year, we are more that capable of returning to Div 1. The sad news is there is very few great managers out there with that X factor, as we have seen post mcguinness"
It has everything to do with talent my friend. You were saying after the Kerry game about always being talent in Donegal. What I'm saying is players didn't want bonner or Rory removed because the setup was first class it's only fools like you armchair supporters who don't see it. You're blaming players who are not there this year, yet when I said we were down a few players last year you said that's what a squad is for. Double standards my friend , doesn't surprise me but as usual I'm proven right again. It'll take more than the X factor to sort this out. Shame on you, yous have done serious damage to a proud gaa county. A county I followed for more than 40 years.
Replying To rorysboys: "It has everything to do with talent my friend. You were saying after the Kerry game about always being talent in Donegal. What I'm saying is players didn't want bonner or Rory removed because the setup was first class it's only fools like you armchair supporters who don't see it. You're blaming players who are not there this year, yet when I said we were down a few players last year you said that's what a squad is for. Double standards my friend , doesn't surprise me but as usual I'm proven right again. It'll take more than the X factor to sort this out. Shame on you, yous have done serious damage to a proud gaa county. A county I followed for more than 40 years."
Shame on yous… shame on who? What are you talking about. Fans are not the issue here, the powers that be are the problem.
Replying To rorysboys: "It has everything to do with talent my friend. You were saying after the Kerry game about always being talent in Donegal. What I'm saying is players didn't want bonner or Rory removed because the setup was first class it's only fools like you armchair supporters who don't see it. You're blaming players who are not there this year, yet when I said we were down a few players last year you said that's what a squad is for. Double standards my friend , doesn't surprise me but as usual I'm proven right again. It'll take more than the X factor to sort this out. Shame on you, yous have done serious damage to a proud gaa county. A county I followed for more than 40 years."
I take your point about us maybe overestimating the quality currently available. But I have no doubt in my mind that with better management and structure there is still a Division One squad there. Are the likes of Monaghan/Roscommon/Tyrone really that far ahead of us? I don't think so. We might not be at the levels of Kerry/Galway/Mayo/Dublin but our lads are a damn lot better than what they've shown in this year's league.
At this stage it is very tempting to write off 2023. But we have a month to go until the Down match. A good month to do some hard training under the radar. Everyone will be writing us off so the shackles will be off somewhat. The big conern is the treatment table of course. Off the top of my head there's McBrearty, Gallen, Mogan, Eoghan Ban, Langan and McHugh. All key players.
Maybe it's better if we don't prioritise Ulster this year? Concentrate on getting the lads above back and put everything into the group stages of the All Ireland? But by then, as others have suggested, we might have lost players to the US for the summer.
Any of the above is all redundant of course unless the management team for the rest of the year is clarified. O'Rourke didn't sound too committed yesterday when asked to comment.