The Donegal/Cavan match was decent yesterday. While the did use the handpass a fair bit, they are still more interesting to watch than Galway. That Roscommon v Galway match was boring. At least Cavan gave Donegal a 50:50 game for 20 minutes.

I think Donegal look different from last year, more confident or something. Forget changing the rules again. Lets just leave the rules and maybe allow teams the freedom to use tactics. Otherwise we will face an eternity of Kerry dominating the game, as its played their way!

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 21/05/2012 22:01:24    1177738

Donegal will be a big threat this year. They are tight defensively but do not concede many frees. Kildare game last year also had a very low free count and almost 30 minutes without a free at all! If they open up a bit and are more adventurous up front with Murphy and McFadden they will be hard to beat and I have them backed to win it outright.

(Of course that will not preclude me from slagging them off for their cynicism if they beat the Dubs :-)

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 22/05/2012 08:06:00    1177741

GILES i agree with you. however that Gallagher incident only went on for 5 minutes after givney hit McGee. Still no defence on the actions but just wanted to point out that he wasnt the first of the 2 to start acting up.

I dont think anyone in ulster and especially donegal cares about what critics say anymore. we play within the rules. and I think when played correctly it is great to watch. it seems to be moving towards the "total football" that tyrone played around 2008 but we are bit off that yet.

dstuction (Donegal) - Posts: 1209 - 22/05/2012 09:11:03    1177758

The most ironic part of the whole puke football label is the fact that it was initially labeled at Tyrone and when they're going well they're the most attractive side in the country.

As for last weeks matches there's no doubt Galway played some great football and have some quality players but if the truth be told they're a fairly cynical side. There was plenty of instances of cynical fouling and feigning injury particularly in their last league match against Kildare. Nothing wrong with it. Any team worth their salt will do all they can to hold on to what they have. Bottom line is, in my opinion Spillane's a spoofer and on top of that anti Ulster.

As for Donegal. Looks like they've improved from last year. More bodies forward will yield more scores. Will be interesting to see how they shape up against some of the better teams. either way they'll be a tough nut to crack for anyone.

derfil1 (Kildare) - Posts: 1612 - 22/05/2012 09:22:37    1177768

Solo Run
County: All
Posts: 238

Agree compeltely with you about the hand-pass, it is a farce I love the one "over the shoulder" now try that without throwing it! pathetic stuff, just make it a closed fist solve alot of the throwing which is ruining the game.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4897 - 22/05/2012 09:40:59    1177775

BY THE NUMBERS: FOOTBALL STATISTICS 2011

HIGHEST NUMBER OF FOULS DURING SINGLE MATCH

61: Tyrone v Monaghan, Ulster quarter-final, left

47: Dublin, Kildare, Leinster semi-final

47: Kerry v Mayo, All-Ireland semi-final

47: Donegal v Tyrone, Ulster semi-final

47: Dublin v Tyrone, All-Ireland quarter-final

47: Mayo v Roscommon, Connacht final

SAMPLE: All televised SFC matches up to All-Ireland final, 2011

HIGHEST NUMBER OF HAND PASSES BY A TEAM IN A SINGLE MATCH

243: Donegal (v Dublin All-Ireland semi-final). Kicked passes: 36

194: Kerry (v Limerick, All-Ireland quarter-final, left). Kicked passes: 93

188: Kerry v (Mayo, All-Ireland semi-final). Kicked passes: 82

187: Donegal (v Kildare, All-Ireland quarter-final). Kicked passes: 52

182: Wexford (v Dublin, v Leinster final). Kicked passes: 61

179: Kerry (v Limerick, Munster quarter-final). Kicked passes 80

The above is in the attached link

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/1215/1224309098262.html

Once again people let's stick to the facts... Donegal did use the handpass a crazy amount in last years All Ireland semi - I don't think you'll find a Donegal fan who wouldn't they over did it - and they appear again against Kildare BUT this includes Extra time... However Kerry appear 3 times in the top 5. If you hate handpassing Solo Run - why are singling out Donegal for 'offending'.

Also look at the games with the most fouls - Dublin matches appear twice in the top five - but again apparently Donegal are the cynical fouling team.

Donegal seem to be getting scapegoated for everything right now - maybe the solution would be to ban them from taking part all together... then I'm sure there will be wonderful free flowing, naive 'manly' (laughed out loud when I read that Solo Run) football.

And while we are at it sure all the teams with less natural ability shouldn't train so hard either. They should just chill out a bit, readily give up possession by hoofing a ball into a full forward who has probably only 33% chance of winning it. They should also stop trying to defend in numbers - sure why spoil the likes of seeing the Gooch or Bernard Brogan being all 'manly' and skillful.. Sure isn't that what we all want - to watch Kerry and Dublin win the All Ireland year after year. That's real entertainment.

Al_Maguire (Donegal) - Posts: 246 - 22/05/2012 09:43:58    1177777

I'm conscious of making any similarities to the "foreign game" but I just thought I'd bring up the example of Chelsea winning the CL at the weekend. Only a diehard Chelsea fan or an idiot would suggest that Chelsea are the bets team in Europe. Both Barcelona and Bayern probably should have battered them in recent weeks. The fact is though that they didn't. Di Matteo organised his troops superbly. Ally this to an extremely hard work ethic, skill and yes, a bit of good fortune and you'd have to say that they deserved it in the end. This is coming from someone who can't stand that club.

If the best team with the best players were allowed to canter to titles every year, with rules and blinkered media doing everything to appease them then what would be the point in following the damn thing? Donegal have come up with a system that the players have bought into. They know their role and they are very hard to beat. It may not quite be enough to beat the very best teams just yet, (Kerry, Dublin, Cork) but the fine tuning was in evidence at the weekend and if we can improve further and stay injury free we won't be far away.

Just to make one further soccer analogy, "I would LOVE IT, LOVE IT" if we beat Kerry this year.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9151 - 22/05/2012 10:00:33    1177790

mayotyroneman, you have underlined the amount of fouls in the galway ros game, but then you have shoe-horned in that they were cynical fouls. There was in fact very few cynical fouls in the game, about 4 or 5 at the most. I agree the game was poor, and that galway are getting built up a bit too much, but that is just what happens in the gaa and in fairness it isnt the galway boys doing the talking up. Mayo were built up in the same way after the league semi win againt kerry, and then it was 'same old mayo' in the final, when in fact we werent expecting to win the final and had taken the semi win with a pinch of salt. To be honest, to me your post comes across as having an ulterior motive, you are forcing the issue here because you want to push this case. We all know that there is far more cynicism in the ulster championship than in any of the other provinces, some guys seem to be more active after the whistle has been blown and there is a bit of pushing and shoving to be had than from general play. Of course there are exceptions but generally, the above is true.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 22/05/2012 10:03:02    1177791

There's a serious amount of "new" Donegal posters popping up this week!!
Anyway, I'm not a purist. I don't care what way a team plays once it's within the rules. If its effective, and it is, why would they go back to playing the way they did? it's up to teams to find away around it and good teams will.
Also, what has cynical fouling got to do with playing ultra defensive football? The two aren't linked!
And finally, I wish posters would stop pulling out the anti ulster line just because southern posters dare to dislike the way Donegal play. It's boring and predictable to read!!

Jackeen (Dublin) - Posts: 4097 - 22/05/2012 10:03:20    1177793

Like ged I too was at the Louth v Westmeath game in Navan, would never have thought there were 55 frees awarded in the game.

55 frees over 70 minutes equates to 1 every 76 seconds, I honestly have to say that at no time did I note any major irregularities or disruption to the game by what is if correct a significant amount of frees.

THE_SNAPPER (Louth) - Posts: 2019 - 22/05/2012 10:19:01    1177807

Despite the numorous handpasses and fouls its still the most exciting game played in Ireland after an iománaíocht. I think we should highlight the positives of football more often. There are few small things such as a 'mark', a 'fisted handpass' and a 'tip and go' that are being talked about at present. If they were to be introduced I reckon it would be great for the game. It would make it even better than it is now. It mght be too radical for the CLG though!!

Culann (Dublin) - Posts: 2306 - 22/05/2012 10:20:34    1177811

Absolutely fantastic post Al_Maguire.......fantastic. The amount of slabbering clowns on here crying about Donegal's style of play is laughable. Donegal have one of the fittest, physically strong, committed panels in the country at present. We are also blessed with some top quality players such as Murphy, McFadden, Lacey, Kavanagh and McGee, all of whom would grace any team in Ireland. We have a young enthusiastic manager, who is willing to try new systems and think outside the conventional Gaelic football box! We play a game of high octane defence and attack, based on support play. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the aforementioned. I have to laugh at posters on here saying that we play that way because were not good enough to play traditional 15 aside, launch it in to your full forward and hope for the best football. We have a more talented group of players at the moment than the vast majority of counties in Ireland.......jealousy is an awful thing. As has been demonstrated above many of the top teams hand-pass, foul etc to the same level as us.

Dublin are a case in point, their tactics are not too unlike Donegal's (I will admit not to the same level and the semi last year was a freak game), however they do not receive the same media bashing and lazy trash-tabloid talk, from keyboard warriors on here that we do. It's unbelievable.......complete and utter begrudgery.

Our county has always been seen football-wise in two ways; a) good talented honest footballers, everyone's second favourite team and b) nice passive people form the north-west who won't be up for the scrap if it comes to it and will be kicked off the park if needs be, ala Meath in the AI Semi of 1991. Well sorry lads that were not the nice friendly party boys anymore, the team that's so happy to get a draw with Dublin in the AI quarter final of 2002, that we go on the beer for a whole week after and then duly remember our place in the natural order of things, and get absolutely annihilated by half time. Sorry we have had the audacity to try something new, to play with a system and level of intensity that a lot of teams can't cope with..........Aye right, not one man, women or child give a hoot what Spillane or his followers on here think!!

LetterkennyMan (Donegal) - Posts: 393 - 22/05/2012 10:31:19    1177821

@Jackeen

I hope you're not referring to my post when I say that I'm using 'anti-northern bias' as I was talking purely about Donegal. People are of course entitled to not like it... I know Donegal people who don't like it... but over the last two days I've read posts about us being the 'Devil' that we are not a 'Traditional' team (in other words we shouldn't be successful because we don't have a history of success), that we cyncially foul, that we single-handedly introduced the over use of hand-passing, that we don't play 'manly'.. and thats just the last two days - and its being going on for a long time now... very little of it is based on the facts. So from my perspective that's very boring and predictable to read ... and it is in fairness insulting to the Donegal team and its people.

As you say the best way to beat our defensive system to come up with a way to beat it... not to whinge and cry about it. All this sounds like at the minute is a wee kid running into his mammy asking her to take the ball back off the bigger fella because he can't do it himself. When teams do figure how to beat this system.. it will actually make the game better - the way that Dutch total football was the antidote to the Italian Cattenaccion in soccer in the 60's & 70's.

However - to give you an example as to why Ulster people do keep coming back with the anti-ulster bias read the below which was in the post before yours.

'We all know that there is far more cynicism in the ulster championship than in any of the other provinces, some guys seem to be more active after the whistle has been blown and there is a bit of pushing and shoving to be had than from general play. Of course there are exceptions but generally, the above is true.'

Who is this 'we'. Please point out where there is far more cynicism - show me the stats... give me examples... it's a biased comment based on a pre-judged view that is pure conjecture... and it all stems from the pundits repeatedly telling us that this is how it is. So would you blame Ulster people for saying there is an anti-northern bias when they are constantly reading things like that.

Al_Maguire (Donegal) - Posts: 246 - 22/05/2012 10:42:25    1177833

I know I've no credit ability on hs but I know puke football when I see it and Donegal are the puke football masters. You can give me all the stats in the world it still doesn't change my mind about donegal. Again I will say it the worst thing to happen to football is Donegal and Jim mcguinness.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 22/05/2012 11:01:35    1177853

I don't know the agenda of the original poster but calling Galway footballers "cynical" is like stating the pope is a protestant! Over recent years, we have been accused of being too clean and sometimes naive i.e. not cynical enough when it comes to sly off the ball fouling, late tackles, feigning injuries etc like many of the AI winners in the last decade have done consistently. I like the way Galway play football as it is the way it should be played i.e. pleasing on the eye. Unfortunately most other counties don't / can't play like that which is why many people call football "boring" and "cynical" compared to hurling. By the way, it wasn't Galway's fault that the Roscommon game was boring as Roscommon didn't appear to be "up for it" so to speak which is a bit unusual on their home patch..

tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3350 - 22/05/2012 11:12:53    1177860

All that shows Clondalkin is that you don't really have an argument... just hot air and bitterness to blow... which you are of course entitled to. Good luck with it.

Al_Maguire (Donegal) - Posts: 246 - 22/05/2012 11:29:17    1177879

Superb, rapier-like wit and analysis from clondalkindub yet again...Bravo sir, bravo!

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9151 - 22/05/2012 11:39:00    1177888

Doesn't matter a toss how you win, the Dubs changed their style and it worked for them.

lilypad (Kildare) - Posts: 1363 - 22/05/2012 12:06:44    1177924

Come on Derry the whole of Ireland is behind you. Get the ball into the Bradley's two class acts who play the game the way it's suppose to be played. Everything about Donegal I hate. Donegal supporters need to look at the bigger picture here. It's rubbish football, the last 2 years I've seen the worst games of football I've ever seen and guess what team has been involved in all them games?

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 22/05/2012 12:22:49    1177943

I like Donegal!!!

The way they played in the last years semi-final was infuriating, breathtaking, audacious and ridiculous!!! That semi-final will go down in infamy!

Football would be boring if everyone played the same way. Donegal have turned into the pantomime villains of Gaelic Football and it's a bit harsh imo. From the way some people are going on you'd swear Jimmy McGuinness is above in Glenties plotting more and more dastardly ways to stop forwards scoring and possibly destroy Gaelic Football forever. It's ridiculous!

Donegal came up with a system of play. It's up to other counties to beat it.

Donegal posters should enjoy the criticism in a way. It means yous are being a successful and people don't like it one bit!!! Revel in the begrudgery!

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13717 - 22/05/2012 12:29:10    1177949