icehonesty

Its entirely up to you if you want to watch, clearly both these counties put bums on the seats so someone wants to watch it, how many do you think Wexford v Longford will attract? I too prefer teams to attack to win games but you are not to decide how any team should play only how you want to play yourself. Its up the members of clubs in Derry and Donegal if they want managers that play it differently.

For me the most disappointing aspect of the game was Derry's approach to attacking. When the ball was turned over, rather than driving straight and quick up the center, where there was gaps, they waited and went down the wings into blind alleys. If you are running hard and straight off the shoulder with the ball you are hard to stop. Once you slow the game by going across the field with hand passes then you are lost.

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 1805 - 26/05/2014 09:11:46    1593383

Ha-ha...a Donegal man calling another county..."A one season wonder"

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20601 - 26/05/2014 09:11:51    1593384

Relax yourself SamonErrigal and don't be worrying about us Monaghan folk, have you never seen anyone play down their counties chances? Looking forward to our game with Tyrone. Even with McManus out I still think we have the tools to win, though it will be tough of course. It would be nice to meet yous again in the final, long way away yet though.

patk (Monaghan) - Posts: 936 - 26/05/2014 09:16:49    1593385

26/05/2014 09:11:51
jimbodub
County: Dublin
Posts: 12549

Ha-ha...a Donegal man calling another county..."A one season wonder"

And it's some powers of prediction to call us one season wonders when we've yet to kick a championship ball. All we can go on is the league for our season so far, maybe the Donegal man wishes to forget that though.

patk (Monaghan) - Posts: 936 - 26/05/2014 09:20:45    1593386

Fair paly to Donegal for the way they came out to play at the start of the 2nd half.
Much better attacking than the dross of the 1st half.

Easy half of the draw will mean Ulster Final for Donegal now..

Derry were disappointing it has to be said especially when Donegal forged ahead, and Derry never looked like winning after that.

Fionn (Dublin) - Posts: 3738 - 26/05/2014 10:31:00    1593420

I see championship intensity has ramped up a notch on HS as well as on the field of play!!!

Donegal's style of play is not to everyone's liking & that's fair enough. I would love to see us playing like Dublin & Kerry at their best but that is not going to happen. We don't have the players to do it & to try would be suicide for us.
What we do have is a committed squad of guys who will put everything on the line for their manager, their county & each other & we will settle for that. We also have a manager who approaches he game in a cautious but well thought out way, someone likened his approach to Murinho, & we will also settle for that.
Yesterday was not the last word in free flowing entertainment, far from it. Parts of it frustrating & slow, but it was played to a plan & there were also passages of great defensive as well as attacking play. I saw flashes of the Donegal of 2012 & with a full squad I look forward to the summer.
Not liking the Donegal style is one thing but the fact of the matter is that at full tilt it is country miles ahead of what most teams in Ireland can produce. Some posters here would be better focussing on the shortcomings of their own counties rather than what Donegal are doing

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 26/05/2014 10:36:46    1593426

I enjoyed the game. Missing a little intensity early on but overall a good match. Ref did a good job.
I was impressed by Donegal, they are heading in the right direction although they have a bit to go. Lets face it Ulster football is carrying the entire championship in the early rounds.

Floops (Dublin) - Posts: 1623 - 26/05/2014 10:55:50    1593436

It was a very satisfactory result even if the overall performance wasn't all that great. For me, Donegal set up to contain Derry in the first half and see what kind of threat they had to to offer. It wasn't much. And when Donegal did increase the intensity Derry couldn't match it. It was the template for our AI win where we tended to blitz teams in that third quarter. It was very much like a boxing match. We sussed out the opponent, did enough to get ahead on points, and then held them at arm's length. Tactically you'd have to say it was spot on, even if it wasn't an encounter to please the purists.

There were plenty of positives to take from the match
- McElhinney made a good impact when introduced.
- Lacey looks to be back to his best after an injury troubled year last year.
- Murphy showed his undoubted class yet again.
- New players such as O'Connor, McHugh and MacNiallais showed well.
- Defensively we looked very solid.

We'll have to prepare now for the semis. McGuinness will not take it lightly, but most would agree that Donegal should reasonably be expected to advance to the final. 4 Ulster finals in a row would be some achievement.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9155 - 26/05/2014 11:02:00    1593439

Dissapointed that Derry are in the Qualifiers, really felt an Ulster title was a real possibility this year. However I still feel this team will feature in the All Ireland QF's next August bank holiday. Derry proved yesterday that they have come a long way since 2012, and I think this team is going places.

Yesterday's first half was fairly even, even though Derry lead by 2 points at half time. Derry dominated Midfield as expected going into this game, but still struggled to penetrate the Impressive Donegal defence. I was worried when seeing all Derry's points coming from free's or distance, while Donegal definitely looked to have far more scores from play and a few chances at goal.

Dermot McBride should be singled out for praise, as he kept McFadden quiet all day. Colm McFadden has a knack at slipping away from his marker and popping scores. However McBride stuck to him like glue, and McFadden did nothing all day for Donegal and surprisingly was kept on for most of the game. Chrissy McKaigue on the other hand had a tough afternoon with Michael Murphy.

Donegal did the most damage after half time, when they scored 1-05 in 15 mins. They had just taken Toye off at HT, and replaced him with McElhinney who is a superb running midfielder. It was this period that they actually tore into Derry and could have created even more daylight. When they replaced Darrach O'Connor with Neil Gallagher, I felt Donegal slowed down again.

All in all, Donegal deserved the win. I really haven't seen them look so strong and focused since 2012. Last seen they beat Tyrone in a scrappy dogfight, before beating Down in bigger scrap. But they didn't play overly well in those games, and their passing and tackling was weak and shooting relied mostly on McFadden and Murphy and was based on efficiency of free taking.

Well yesterday I witnessed a Donegal I hadn't seen for a while. Their passing was good, the tackling and vision excellent and they must have had 7 players on the scoresheet. Many of their scores came from play, as in fairness to Derry, they didn't concede many free's within shooting distance.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 26/05/2014 11:11:48    1593442

a good win but still a lot to prove which will suit jim.
noone expecting too much from dl could prove to be very dangerous.
will be underdogs heading into the ulster final.
paddy mc grath is another good bonus for dl.

d13 (Cavan) - Posts: 5 - 26/05/2014 11:11:59    1593443

zinny
County: Wexford
Posts: 42

1593383
icehonesty


For me the most disappointing aspect of the game was Derry's approach to attacking. When the ball was turned over, rather than driving straight and quick up the center, where there was gaps, they waited and went down the wings into blind alleys. If you are running hard and straight off the shoulder with the ball you are hard to stop. Once you slow the game by going across the field with hand passes then you are lost. This is exactly what Derry tried in the first 10 minutes. It didnt work as they would have wanted it to, and once the legs started to get heavy they went more laterly. You have got to make this sort of running count, and they didnt. I also have to say they were hit badly with injuries, although their replacement mid fielder was very impressive when he came on for doherty. All in all, Derry really tried everything they could have done yesterday, it didnt work and I would credit our lads and jmg for doing his homework on how to stop derry. We would be looking at the map of ireland today wondering where we would be in round one of the back door, if this sort of a game plan was not in situ. Instead we are looking at another ulster final hopefully. Expect donegal to be even more defensive if we meet the likes of dublin this year. It is our only hope. Look at kildare and derry, even cork whom i would put well ahead of us in terms of footballing ability. They got slaughtered by trying to play open football v dublin. Good luck to you if thats what you are into.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 26/05/2014 11:20:06    1593446

d13
County: Cavan
Posts: 1

1593443
a good win but still a lot to prove which will suit jim.
noone expecting too much from dl could prove to be very dangerous.
will be underdogs heading into the ulster final.
paddy mc grath is another good bonus for dl.

d13,
Welcome to HS!! I hope you enjoy the experience.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 26/05/2014 11:30:58    1593452

I feel Fermanagh will beat Antrim next weekend, and I would warn against underestimating Fermanagh. Fermanagh caused Cavan problems last season, a team who can rival Donegal in the defensive stakes. The Ernesider's may be division 3, but they are capable of causing major issues when underestimated.

Donegal's defending was superb yesterday, I hadn't seen that level of defending since 2012. On top of that, they broke forward in 4's and were extremely hard to contain. In defence Paddy McGrath was superb, as was Karl Lacey who is back, Frank McGlynn, Neil McGee, Leo McLoone etc. Rory Kavanagh who was possibly Donegal's best player from the National League, and was missing from Midfield yesterday. Yet even though Donegal were not dominating midfield, they just worked around it and ploughed on.

I think Tyrone will probably beat Monaghan now, and will likely overcome Cavan or Armagh too. I think a Donegal v Tyrone Ulster final is likely, and I expect Donegal to beat Tyrone for a 4th year in a row. Tyrone's defence is weaker than most other top sides, and I don't think they will cope with Donegal's running too well.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 26/05/2014 11:33:38    1593456

Donegalman, Donegal won the game when they abandoned the defensive system and cut loose! Looked brilliant it has to be said. And then for some inexplicable reason they reverted back to the blanket, allowing Derry another run at them to close the gap to where they might have won a game they had no right to. If Donegal play the way they did for the first ten minutes of the second half they will be a threat to anyone.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 26/05/2014 11:34:30    1593458

I would hope that Donegal fans will not be taking the semi final for granted no matter who we play. The style we play means that we rarely hammer teams, it's always a dog fight. And when you play like that it only takes a mistake or a moment of magic to concede a goal and change the game.

benjyyy (Donegal) - Posts: 1422 - 26/05/2014 11:36:00    1593459

While yesterday was not the best of spectacles I do laugh at folk on here putting down tactics and detracting with comments like 'only knows one way to play'.

Tactical awareness is at the forefront of many sports and not just Gaelic games. Teams set up to play to their own strengths or to account for the strengths of the opposition. This is the case case even at club level these days and right down through the divisions at club level.

It shows a real lack of knowledge about the intricacies of the game by some when they complain if a team does not play all out attacking football the way they like to watch it played.

Granted tactics and systems have been ramped up a level in the last 5-10 years but that is more than enough time for spectators to understand what is going on in front of their eyes if they have any clue at all.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 26/05/2014 11:38:36    1593460

hurlingdub
County: Dublin
Posts: 6053

1593458
Donegalman, Donegal won the game when they abandoned the defensive system and cut loose! Looked brilliant it has to be said. And then for some inexplicable reason they reverted back to the blanket, allowing Derry another run at them to close the gap to where they might have won a game they had no right to. If Donegal play the way they did for the first ten minutes of the second half they will be a threat to anyone
hurling,
This is what Donegal have always done. Yesterday, without their 3 first choice midfielders on the field, they pulled Murphy back to the middle & contained against the breeze. With the breeze behind them they made a couple of substitutions put Murphy on the edge of the square & went for it.
The problem for them is that this is a high energy way to play & the squad is not big, so having built a 6 point lead they then went into "what we have we hold" mode & saw the game out.
Like yourself I would love to see them playing Dublin style but they don't have the players to do that. Having said that I think this game will give them a big boost & we will see better from them.
Now if only JMcG could persuade Mark McHugh back......

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 26/05/2014 11:52:52    1593468

Look Donegal did what they had to do to win. Yes for the purist amongst us it was not pretty, but this is modern football, win at all cost. If it was successful for a Meath team doing it I wouldn't care to much. Win at all cost

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 26/05/2014 11:59:28    1593475

Correct royaldunne - some folk would appear to think that it is more important to put on a spectacle than win the match.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 26/05/2014 12:18:16    1593483

Some folk just aren't as skillful as others and so have to resort to such to win games.

Nothing wrong with that

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20601 - 26/05/2014 12:28:13    1593486