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Donegal

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where now for donegal? will/can they bounce back? is there an all ireland in them now? will mcguinness stay and will michael murphy give it another year?

Stmunnsriver (Wexford) - Posts: 3003 - 02/08/2025 15:14:46    2629794

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Replying To Stmunnsriver:  "where now for donegal? will/can they bounce back? is there an all ireland in them now? will mcguinness stay and will michael murphy give it another year?"
No we are going to give up gaelic football completely and hide...

Now is not the time for rash decisions.
The players and management will concentrate on club for the next few months & let the dust from the county season settle. We lost to a fine Kerry team, but there's no sense in throwing the baby out with the bath water. We'll take stock, and we'll go again in 2026.

I'm sure it would please a lot of people throughout the country if Jim stepped away again. Bit hopefully after a period of R&R, he'll be itching to go again and attempt to go one better next year.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9955 - 02/08/2025 19:01:23    2629809

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Should or could this thrrad not be merged into main donegal thrread?

KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3793 - 02/08/2025 20:30:54    2629827

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Replying To KillingFields:  "Should or could this thrrad not be merged into main donegal thrread?"
Is there anyone forcing you to read it ?

In reply to the Wexford poster above:

I do think we will bounce back , as Dean Rock basically said in the Irish Times, it would have been hard for kerry not to look good when Donegal never laid a glove on them.

There will be huge regreats there , not saying we would have win but 100% they will be regretting that they didn't show the Donegal of 2025.

Personally I don't buy for one minute kerry this kerry that ( yes by far the better team on the day).
Kerry will never win an easier final imo....

Just my opinion

letterkennyGuy (Donegal) - Posts: 186 - 03/08/2025 00:45:55    2629851

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Replying To letterkennyGuy:  "Is there anyone forcing you to read it ?

In reply to the Wexford poster above:

I do think we will bounce back , as Dean Rock basically said in the Irish Times, it would have been hard for kerry not to look good when Donegal never laid a glove on them.

There will be huge regreats there , not saying we would have win but 100% they will be regretting that they didn't show the Donegal of 2025.

Personally I don't buy for one minute kerry this kerry that ( yes by far the better team on the day).
Kerry will never win an easier final imo....

Just my opinion"
Undoubtedly Donegal played poorly and their Management had a bad day on the line. Most of those Donegal players had never played in an All Ireland final before and most of Kerry's players had. That was surely a factor. Jack O'Connor is a crafty manager and he had too much for Jim McGuinness on the line for sure. All told it was a disappointing final.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2571 - 03/08/2025 12:15:55    2629884

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Replying To letterkennyGuy:  "Is there anyone forcing you to read it ?

In reply to the Wexford poster above:

I do think we will bounce back , as Dean Rock basically said in the Irish Times, it would have been hard for kerry not to look good when Donegal never laid a glove on them.

There will be huge regreats there , not saying we would have win but 100% they will be regretting that they didn't show the Donegal of 2025.

Personally I don't buy for one minute kerry this kerry that ( yes by far the better team on the day).
Kerry will never win an easier final imo....

Just my opinion"
Sour grapes that's not kerry fault donegal poor enough on day doesn't mean would have won closer yes but sounds bit like sour grapes it is good kerry whether you agree or not still decent kerry team with some outstanding player's

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 865 - 03/08/2025 12:28:33    2629885

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Replying To endgame:  "Undoubtedly Donegal played poorly and their Management had a bad day on the line. Most of those Donegal players had never played in an All Ireland final before and most of Kerry's players had. That was surely a factor. Jack O'Connor is a crafty manager and he had too much for Jim McGuinness on the line for sure. All told it was a disappointing final."
100% cannot argue with any of that. You summed it up pretty well. Yes it was a poor final after all the hype. Probably was over after 20 minutes & then kerry played around by killing the game well on thier terms.

letterkennyGuy (Donegal) - Posts: 186 - 03/08/2025 13:21:36    2629895

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Out of curiosity... did anyone start a 'Kerry' thread last year when Kerry lost the final.
Donegal will be fine, we'll 'bounce back' , it's not like we went out in the first round and are starting from a poor place. We got to the all ireland final after playing some exhilarating football all year. Beaten fairly and squarely by a better team on the day, Kerry are deserving all ireland champions, great champions. But... lets not forget the year Donegal have had, the days out they have given their fans, Ulster champions, still in division one comfortably, highlights like the first day out against Derry with Murphy brilliant, the ulster final, Moore's point against Mayo after the hooter, the performance in the 2nd half against Monaghan and the semi final against Meath, the emergence of Roarty etc etc. But more importantly, the connection between the team and the people of the county has never been stronger, thats the real special thing in all this.. A lot of counties would love to be where Donegal are right now.

greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 721 - 03/08/2025 13:29:58    2629898

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Replying To greenfan:  "Out of curiosity... did anyone start a 'Kerry' thread last year when Kerry lost the final.
Donegal will be fine, we'll 'bounce back' , it's not like we went out in the first round and are starting from a poor place. We got to the all ireland final after playing some exhilarating football all year. Beaten fairly and squarely by a better team on the day, Kerry are deserving all ireland champions, great champions. But... lets not forget the year Donegal have had, the days out they have given their fans, Ulster champions, still in division one comfortably, highlights like the first day out against Derry with Murphy brilliant, the ulster final, Moore's point against Mayo after the hooter, the performance in the 2nd half against Monaghan and the semi final against Meath, the emergence of Roarty etc etc. But more importantly, the connection between the team and the people of the county has never been stronger, thats the real special thing in all this.. A lot of counties would love to be where Donegal are right now."
Galway lost the final last year. Dont try to take that away from us.

jj19 (Galway) - Posts: 468 - 03/08/2025 14:43:55    2629913

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Replying To jj19:  "Galway lost the final last year. Dont try to take that away from us."
Sorry... !

greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 721 - 03/08/2025 16:10:10    2629920

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Most counties would give their left arm to be in Donegals position. Look at the mammoth rise in 2 years: 2 Ulsters, div 2 league title and AI semi & final appearance. There was probably too much expectation around this team to win the AI and this brought about a fall to the point where theres a lot of negativity around the team and this years campaign. A lot of wise after the event comment. Its not a failure. Donegal simply were not good enough on the day Kerry were in their 3rd final in 4 years with way more experience and many already medal holders. McGuinness needs to stay for a few years id say 2 at least. Nobody else would have achieved what he did with Donegal football. No shame in losing that AI the future is very bright.

Dothesimplethingswell (Sligo) - Posts: 8 - 04/08/2025 07:31:25    2629989

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Donegal will be back, that I have no doubt. McGuinness will appeal for Murphy, McHugh and McBrearty to remain and I believe they will stay on, even though all 3 are well past their best.

The reality is that we were hammered by Kerry, both on the pitch and off it. McGuinness got a lot very badly wrong and it exposed how little high level support he has around him. He'll need to address that. I believe our sideline froze on the day and did not deal with the obvious issues on the pitch. Kerry ripped up our gameplan, attacked us head on and won the tactical battle hands down.

Donegal will learn from this and bounce back. I have no doubt about that.

PeterQ92 (Donegal) - Posts: 166 - 04/08/2025 09:03:18    2629990

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Replying To Dothesimplethingswell:  "Most counties would give their left arm to be in Donegals position. Look at the mammoth rise in 2 years: 2 Ulsters, div 2 league title and AI semi & final appearance. There was probably too much expectation around this team to win the AI and this brought about a fall to the point where theres a lot of negativity around the team and this years campaign. A lot of wise after the event comment. Its not a failure. Donegal simply were not good enough on the day Kerry were in their 3rd final in 4 years with way more experience and many already medal holders. McGuinness needs to stay for a few years id say 2 at least. Nobody else would have achieved what he did with Donegal football. No shame in losing that AI the future is very bright."
Possibly agree he donegal man though but very few managers would achieve but i think he can't keep relying on that nie donegal are established top team now

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 865 - 04/08/2025 09:32:48    2629993

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Replying To Dothesimplethingswell:  "Most counties would give their left arm to be in Donegals position. Look at the mammoth rise in 2 years: 2 Ulsters, div 2 league title and AI semi & final appearance. There was probably too much expectation around this team to win the AI and this brought about a fall to the point where theres a lot of negativity around the team and this years campaign. A lot of wise after the event comment. Its not a failure. Donegal simply were not good enough on the day Kerry were in their 3rd final in 4 years with way more experience and many already medal holders. McGuinness needs to stay for a few years id say 2 at least. Nobody else would have achieved what he did with Donegal football. No shame in losing that AI the future is very bright."
I'm not sure the rise was as mammoth as some would say. Yes Donegal were really low in 2023 but they were always going to get a bounce and they were in Div 1 for a very long time with that group of players before McGuinness took over. They were in 3 Ulster finals in a row before 2023 winning two of them.
Derry's rise up to 2023 was alot more impressive.
I think for Donegal, the challenge will be maintaining these levels for a number of years and grasping the chance again when it comes. McGuinness' regime asks a huge amount of players in a short space of time given the intense nature how he works so will be interesting to see how they develop.
Murphy is probably the one that offers most of the three older players but would be hard for him to stay on. He was excellent. McHugh and McBrearty can be replaced and really Oisin Gallen should be backed and not keep taking him off. No doubt Donegal will be very competitive again next year but expect huge challenges from within Ulster from now on.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 776 - 04/08/2025 10:58:22    2629999

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Donegal will be back. They'll learn from this year. There's a decent age profile in the group and they played some good stuff this year. They showed they can compete at the top level. At the end of the day Kerry only scored 3 more times than them.
Kerry had the scoreboard pressure early doors and maybe an error or two less, particularly the McColgan turnover to give Clifford his first 2, the momentum etc of that game might've been different. Plenty to learn from and improve on. Fair play to Kerry.

Northwest90 (Donegal) - Posts: 4 - 04/08/2025 12:12:18    2630011

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Replying To winatallcost:  "I'm not sure the rise was as mammoth as some would say. Yes Donegal were really low in 2023 but they were always going to get a bounce and they were in Div 1 for a very long time with that group of players before McGuinness took over. They were in 3 Ulster finals in a row before 2023 winning two of them.
Derry's rise up to 2023 was alot more impressive.
I think for Donegal, the challenge will be maintaining these levels for a number of years and grasping the chance again when it comes. McGuinness' regime asks a huge amount of players in a short space of time given the intense nature how he works so will be interesting to see how they develop.
Murphy is probably the one that offers most of the three older players but would be hard for him to stay on. He was excellent. McHugh and McBrearty can be replaced and really Oisin Gallen should be backed and not keep taking him off. No doubt Donegal will be very competitive again next year but expect huge challenges from within Ulster from now on."
On what basis can you say that Donegal were always going to get a bounce? Murphy was gone, McHugh was seemingly gone, relegation to Div 2 and a beating by down. We were always going to be one of the favourites for division 2, but there was absolutely nothing to suggest that we'd be winning back to back ulsters and within 70 minutes of an All Ireland title. And who cares if Derrys rise impressed you more? I remember you in here a few weeks ago talking us down and Meath up, now you're talking us up when it suits.

papa_pump (Donegal) - Posts: 89 - 04/08/2025 13:41:08    2630022

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The 3 in a row in Ulster has only ever been achieved by four counties; Cavan (6 times), Antrim, Down and Armagh.

Donegal have been in 12 of the last 15 Ulster finals, winning 7 of them. They will be looking for 3 in a row next year.

But will they put more emphasis on going for an All Ireland

97Cavans (Cavan) - Posts: 414 - 04/08/2025 16:28:01    2630038

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Replying To 97Cavans:  "The 3 in a row in Ulster has only ever been achieved by four counties; Cavan (6 times), Antrim, Down and Armagh.

Donegal have been in 12 of the last 15 Ulster finals, winning 7 of them. They will be looking for 3 in a row next year.

But will they put more emphasis on going for an All Ireland"
This is the third chance we'll have since 2013 to do 3 in a row. The last one against cavan in 2020 hurt. We'd give armagh a good beating in the semi and cavan came with an excellent attitude and performance to win it.
With the new system there is more incentive to win Ulster next year and we can't be in the preliminary.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 925 - 04/08/2025 19:16:51    2630055

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Donegals year started early and hard. They were new in Div 1 and survival was paramount. Its a big step up from div 2 league with big games coming thick and fast. With the new redicioulous system the championship almost overlaps the league (so much for player welfare) and Donegal went on to win back to back ulster titles in the only competitive province and in the same breadth its ultra competitive!! A big shift complete before the AI even begun.. Look at Kerry..They always breeze through the league and ended up winning it this year and could have been relegated!!...their munster campaign included extra time with a poor div 2 Cork team. They knew theyd win munster..No ulster team can afford themselves that confidence. If Donegal were playing Cork that day they'd have wiped the floor with them..My point ? Donegal were way ahead in their preparation at that point and had a hell of a lot more work done than Kerry..Why? because they had to. If Kerry were in Ulster they would not be winning it every year or even every 3 years. Kerry were afforded several blunders along the way mainly due to them being in munster and their path to the AI but it allowed them to peak towards the latter end when it was needed most. Donegal nor any other team can not keep up that intensity for the full season and expect to win Sam and they didnt peak as such this season but maintained a high standard throughout except on the day that mattered most. Its hard to make an argument for not competing for 3 in a row Ulsters as this brings its own benefits but combine this with retaining div 1 status and winning an AIl- Ireland? I hope Jim builds rest into next years season and targets a few early league wins, see how Ulster goes and then ramp up for the AI series. The material is there and a lot of lessons learned from the Kerry game.

Dothesimplethingswell (Sligo) - Posts: 8 - 04/08/2025 20:41:09    2630061

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