This was a big win for Donegal mentally, not because it was Meath or in Navan, but because it came hot on the heels of a shockingly poor performance against Tyrone and a marginally less worst performance against Longford. Even Donegal's opening win against Antrim was lacklustre in many ways, and they didn't look cohesive or focused, they had a very disjointed look about them.

This game was different in that they gave a fighting performance in a tit for tat game and came on the right side of the battle. It's something for the team to build upon, even though there are still question marks over the effectiveness of the current tactical setup.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1121 - 10/07/2017 01:29:21    2013610

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 10/07/2017 07:41:49    2013630

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1876 - 10/07/2017 09:56:23    2013728

Huge credit to Meath and their supporters, I've always had a soft spot for you (maybe it's the colours!) and Saturday is a reminder of what a competitive Meath side bring to a Championship summer. Hopefully McEntee continues to build and you challenge for Leinster next year.

JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1432 - 10/07/2017 10:13:42    2013760

I can't really comment on the refereeing as I could only watch the game on a stream and caught the very limited highlights on the Sunday Game.
It looked like we just about edged it. Our big players stood up and got us over the line. It was great to see Ryan McHugh spark back into life. He really drove us on in those closing stages. Murphy was Murphy! Paddy has really grown into a leader of the team this year. He's our main score getter now and he seems to be relishing it. The only issue is none of our other forwards scored I don't think.

Galway will be tricky. You just don't know what you'll get from them. They have undoubted quality but too often they completely implode. I wonder where the game will be played?

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9154 - 10/07/2017 10:38:03    2013795

Good result, it was nailbiting stuff at the end but we held on. we were probably the better team but as we do we made hard work of it. I feel were improving slowly, it was great to see ryan back to his best in that second half when he starts to play we really are a different team, the ball he won from the kickout over at the sideline was huge. but overall it was a much better performance. our defence was solid, caolan wards performance is a real plus this is the lad who never got a game against tyrone after starting every game that he was fit to play during the league. neil was his usual self as was mc grath. eoin ban was excellent good to see him playing like this after a few quiet outings. what can you say about murphy I thought he was immense he controlled the game from the first whistle even if his kicking let him down, young mc gee had a good outing too with a few nice scores,, his tackling prob lets him down, but that will come. eoin mc hugh had another fine outing his pace is electric, if he could score he would be some player. paddy as usual stepped up to the plate when needed, but overall this backdoor route might be good for the young lads as it gaves them experience of playing teams from outside ulster. galway it is next, there bound to be a wounded animal so its going to be tough but one thing with galway teams they like to play football so hopefully we could be in for a cracker. this game could be in Sligo which would mean a handy venue for the supporters so I would expect a huge Donegal following. one last point I must say I enjoyed the atmosphere in navan last Saturday night , was talking to a lot of meath fans in the stand and they were lovely people real passionate fans makes a big change from attending some ulster cship matches.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2410 - 10/07/2017 10:43:02    2013803

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 10/07/2017 11:01:57    2013820

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 10/07/2017 11:02:36    2013822

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 10/07/2017 11:18:56    2013837

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 10/07/2017 11:51:09    2013872