cacsmckilly
County: Tyrone
Posts: 583



By the way MuckrossHead, whats it like in MountCharles? Booked a wee place there for a few days over the Easter Hols

All depends what you want to do Cacs!!!!
I live only about 6 miles away & would meet you for a pint.
There is a pub in Donegal Town owned by a Tyrone man called The Reel Inn, great trad music every night.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 06/03/2013 15:13:50    1344112

MuckrossHead
County: Donegal
Posts: 607

I would agree with you, if we were taking the same approach as Dublin did. Donegal's approach however in nearer to the Kerry approach of old where they "wintered well" and came out rested & ready for the summer.

In the three games up to now we have seen minors playing 70 minutes, players playing in positions they never played in before & hopefully will never play in again not to mention 3 or 4 players feeling their way back in after injury. Combine this with the fact that they only got back from holiday in late Jan & I don't expect to see our form coming until to until April. The last couple of league games especially the last one against Dublin will be important & if we are not showing form by then my brow will be furrowing!!!

I would have to agree with MuckrossHead on this one. Donegal had a terrible league campaign in 2012, needing to beat Armagh in the final league match to stay in Division 1. They went on to win the 2012 All Ireland Championship.
Now in saying that, Donegal never set out to lose any game or not be competitive. But Jim McGuinness has been more than clear on where he stands on the National League. It's his only real competitive chance to try different tactics and bleed in new players prior to the Championship.

Which is why he always refers to getting the performance right instead of the results.

To face the mighty Tyrone in their first Ulster match is tricky, as normally the big games come a little later than May. So thats likely an added incentive to tweak the team ahead of such an encounter. From that point of view, I can see why he is willing to let the league go to the wall.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 06/03/2013 15:40:36    1344135

MuckrossHead
County: Donegal
Posts: 607

1344112 cacsmckilly
County: Tyrone
Posts: 583



By the way MuckrossHead, whats it like in MountCharles? Booked a wee place there for a few days over the Easter Hols

All depends what you want to do Cacs!!!!
I live only about 6 miles away & would meet you for a pint.
There is a pub in Donegal Town owned by a Tyrone man called The Reel Inn, great trad music every night.

I go to Donegal for the peace and quiet, as long as there is a pub, a beach and a few walks near by for the dog then im happy. Usually head to Port Noo but thought id try south Donegal for a change

cacsmckilly (Tyrone) - Posts: 1294 - 06/03/2013 15:49:46    1344141

No offense Gerry but its every managers only chance to try new things and blood new players. Donegal are no different here.

Jackeen (Dublin) - Posts: 4097 - 06/03/2013 15:50:13    1344142

I dare say if Donegal were not meeting Tyrone at the end of May, which is only about 10 weeks away, then things might be different. But if they went after the league full tilt & say got to the final then they would be facing one of their biggest challengers only four weeks later.

All kinds of things could go wrong from injuries to red cards & JMcG, a naturally cautious individual, is not going to take the chance. The last league match is against Dublin on April 7th which then gives 7 weeks preparation time.

If Donegal were meeting anyone other than Tyrone in the 1st round then the approach might have been different but he has more respect for them to take any unnecessary chances.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 06/03/2013 16:02:35    1344153

None taken Jackeen.

I know all teams tweak and try different players in the National League. But I think Donegal are probably an extreme example of this, as they also delay ramping up their Fitness & Conditioning training longer than other top sides. You will see both last season and this season they were slow out of the traps, but will steadily improve game on game. Last season they beat Armagh in the league, and then beat Cavan and Derry before meeting Tyrone. This year they have Tyrone up first, so they may ramp it up a little sooner this year to cope with the major threat in the opening round.

McKenna Cup this year seen Donegal fielded a mixsture of Minors and U21's with a few senior fringe player thrown in for good measure, and the U21 manager Maxi Curran took the reigns for that competition.
While other counties also fielded new talent in the O'Byrne cup, McKenna cup's etc, I don't think any county did it to the same degree or did it without the senior management.

I'm not saying it gives them the edge, but it's clearly how they roll under Jim McGuinness.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 06/03/2013 17:26:01    1344216

cacsmckilly
County: Tyrone
Posts: 584


I go to Donegal for the peace and quiet, as long as there is a pub, a beach and a few walks near by for the dog then im happy. Usually head to Port Noo but thought id try south Donegal for a change

Mountcharles wouldn't be in the same league for beaches or walking as Portnoo. But take a spin in the car & the world is your oyster.
There is a pub in the town where you can get good food called The Village Tavern

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 06/03/2013 17:59:32    1344242

Donegal_abroad
County: Donegal
Posts: 243

1343932 Rahillys man

You sound like you're trying to convince yourself that losing to Tyrone in the league is a major setback for Donegal.

We lost to Kerry in the league last year (arguably an even bigger setback going by your league-orientated analysis) yet we beat them when it matters. In championship. We will beat Tyrone when it matters too. Just like we have done the last two years running in championship. The league run didn't serve Tyrone too well last year when it came to the real stuff.

i dont need to convince myself off anything maybe i can remind you that before we met yous last year in the championship we had lost Kyle Coney, Sean Cavanagh , Justin McMahon, Ronan O'neill to injury so to compare what happened in the league to championship is not really a fair comparison and id remind you also even with those absentees yous survived a replay only just. Tyrone will be a different animal come this championship season i will guarantee that with a full compliment of players available Tyrone with the added confidence of winning on sunday will give Donegal their fill off it. I dont care where its played either it wont make any difference all i want is both teams at full strength and let the battle commence

rahillyman (Tyrone) - Posts: 314 - 06/03/2013 18:45:22    1344268

rahillyman
County: Tyrone
Posts: 103

. Tyrone will be a different animal come this championship season i will guarantee that with a full compliment of players available Tyrone with the added confidence of winning on sunday will give Donegal their fill off it. I dont care where its played either it wont make any difference all i want is both teams at full strength and let the battle commence.

Jesus Rahilly you have let the cat out of the bag now. When I started a post earlier about Tyrone being in the hunt for AI honours, every Tyrone man landed on me saying they had no chance & that I was being "cute" (long time since anyone called me "cute").
You going off message like this will not go down well!!!. For the record I agree with you, there is no more than the kick of a ball between them.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 06/03/2013 19:06:23    1344282

MuckrossHead. Who are the 2 minors from last year that you said McGuinness played on Sunday?. Ryan McHugh came on as a sub but I cant think of any other minors from last year that are now on the senior panel.

Also there are not too many people that cannot get tickets for the Ulster Final every year.

HEREBENJI (Donegal) - Posts: 425 - 06/03/2013 19:35:43    1344303

HEREBENJI
County: Donegal
Posts: 82

1344303
MuckrossHead. Who are the 2 minors from last year that you said McGuinness played on Sunday?. Ryan McHugh came on as a sub but I cant think of any other minors from last year that are now on the senior panel.

Also there are not too many people that cannot get tickets for the Ulster Final every year.

Was Wherity not a minor as well? If not I stand corrected. Whatever, they are both great young prospects & it can only do them good to see some senior action in the league & be part of the senior set up even if they probably won't start later in the summer.

As for the ticket situation, I agree there there isn't a queue like for All Ireland tickets but then there won't be that big a queue for Ballybofey either. The point I was making was that expecting Donegal to hand over home advantage just so a few thousand extra can see the game live is a poor bargain. Anyone who really wants to go to the game will get a ticket, the people who don't will for the most part be content enough to watch it on T.V.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 06/03/2013 19:55:56    1344317

Beelzedub
County: Dublin
Posts: 413


Very true. Dublin went through Div 1 in 2011 only losing one game (The final) by a single point

We carried that form into the Summer

Then look at our form in 2012 and our disaster of a league campaign - we then also carried that form into the summer

I'd be a little concerned if I was a Donegal supporter... just like I was last year as a Dub supporter.

I'm not concerned at all bar a lack of game time for the likes of Lacey ad the rest who are injured. Donegals league form was hardly exemplary last year.

There's no priority on the league within the current set up. It's not a secret and it's not a game or what have you. We were within a point or two of going down last year. Are you telling me that if the last couple of minutes went Armaghs way Donegal wouldn't have won Ulster and the AI? They're not bothered it's a chance for experimenting and blooding new players. If we stay up then great if we don't I think it'll be a case of Jimmy and Rory shrugging their shoulders and saying 'meh'.

League is League, Championship is Championship as the wise man says.

Samsforthehills (Donegal) - Posts: 1073 - 06/03/2013 21:56:27    1344471

This whole argument of League form going into Championship boils down to the approach taken by the management of the team in question.

Different teams go about their business in different ways & what does or doesn't work in one county means nothing in the county next door because they have set themselves up in a different way.

It's not a case of one being right & one being wrong, just different strokes for different folks.

By the way is it just me, or have we gone way off topic here? Maybe it's long past time the original thread was closed as heat seems to have replaced light on it.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 07/03/2013 08:37:56    1344487

Samsforthehills
County: Donegal
Posts: 476

There is a real touch of arrogance creeping into the Donegal side and support base. The McKenna cup isnt important, the league isnt important........
All games are important when the county shirt is put on !

cacsmckilly (Tyrone) - Posts: 1294 - 07/03/2013 08:45:01    1344489

cacsmckilly
County: Tyrone
Posts: 585

There is a real touch of arrogance creeping into the Donegal side and support base. The McKenna cup isnt important, the league isnt important........
All games are important when the county shirt is put on !

Fair enough Cacs but I don't think you can compare say a McKenna Cup game to an Ulster or All Ireland final in terms of importance. It reminds me of that bit from Animal Farm, "All games are equal but some are more equal than others".

It depends where your focus is. For some teams it is a good league campaign, for others it is all about the championship. Some think they can go full at every competition others focus on the one most important to them. Neither approach is right or wrong, each club or county just picks the one that suits them best.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 07/03/2013 09:58:19    1344532

cacsmckilly
County: Tyrone
Posts: 585

1344489
Samsforthehills
County: Donegal
Posts: 476

There is a real touch of arrogance creeping into the Donegal side and support base. The McKenna cup isnt important, the league isnt important........
All games are important when the county shirt is put on !
____________________
Kinda noticed that too Cacs, Donegal may be too important for the National League it seems, we shall see.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 07/03/2013 10:38:35    1344562

We shall indeed

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 07/03/2013 11:10:38    1344583

All games are important, be it to try new ideas/players/tactics etc. The results may be of less importance at this time of year, just because you don't win a game doesn't mean it wasn't successful. I wouldn't call it arrogance, I would call it confidence in our approach. Donegal are not going out and losing because the game isn't important to them, they are trialing new ideas and ways to remain at the top. Sure didn't it work last year, using the McKenna Cup and league as development for the championship. To call us arrogant is a bit much, I'm sure we could have said the same about Tyrone and their supporters when they were at the top. At the end of the day I know what time of year I'd like to be losing games and what time of year I'd like to be winning games!!

tirchonaill92 (Donegal) - Posts: 156 - 07/03/2013 12:19:49    1344660

Enough...what's going to happen the Corcaigh boys aren't gonna want to travel to Omagh now. What happens if we win - is there going to be another week of this nonsense.
It's funny how people view Omagh hese days I always thought it too tame - Dungannon used to really produce a partisan atmosphere, never thought I'd be glad county games are not played there any more.

Donegal you're right you can't stand still after winning an AI - if you didn't try to produce something different then you would rightly be accused of "Arrogance"

As for the Ballybofey mallarkey - hope it is played there - that's what the draw produced if it was the other way round we wouldn't give it up so easy.
Last Sunday will have been the greatest motivator "Mr.Motivator" could have hoped for to drive Donegal through the torture of the next few months.
It was clear on Sunday Donegal are a very imposing team physically - remind me of the Armagh team of early 00's in that respect.

Tyronetim (Tyrone) - Posts: 1254 - 07/03/2013 14:10:21    1344743

tirconnall

Donegal are not going out and losing because the game isn't important to them, they are trialing new ideas and ways to remain at the top.

Well you'd need to buck up your ideas as your heading for a relegation scrap.

cacsmckilly (Tyrone) - Posts: 1294 - 07/03/2013 14:41:18    1344766