MesAmis

I agree that Donegal looked in control but there was still only a score between them at the death. Meath couldn't even dream of that scenario at half time so still I have to say these contests cannot be compared as similar

SaffronDon (Antrim) - Posts: 2386 - 20/07/2014 18:13:52    1622072

i have to say the leinster final had great football in it even though it was one sided, while ulster is pure scrap battles ,id like to adopt dublin /mayo style of football ,i wouldnt be that harsh on monaghan ,anyone that playes donegal looks bad becuase of the way donegal play ,i had to laugh at the donegal supporters when they let a big cheer at four or five donegal men taking the ball of one monaghan man as if that was great" thats crap to watch - wheres the one on one battles gone ? and whats worse this style of play is creeping outside of ulster too ,theres only one or two enjoyable games left now in the championship and theres no ulster teams in any of them. id love cavan to try and play like dublin they have set the bar to how our game should be played. dubs to win sam for the good of our game i think .

bisto kid (Cavan) - Posts: 492 - 20/07/2014 18:14:44    1622074

Listen lads Monaghan man here. Just back from the match and didnt leave early I just live that end of the county.

First of all fair play to Donegal best team today and I hope they do very well going forward.

Monaghan did not show up today and Donegal did. McGuiness was far superiour than O ~Rourke today as well.

Looking ahead,no one wants Donegal and no one wants Monaghan, donegal can play better and so can Monaghan.

We will have our pint tonight and get over it tomorrow and Donegal will have their pints tonight and enjoy.


What I would say to Monaghan is Tyrone never won ulster that many times in the last decade but still won more all irelands so all is not lost.

Get over it and get ready for the next hurdle.

muckla (UK) - Posts: 366 - 20/07/2014 18:18:37    1622087

I dont care who we play this year as Monaghan are ready for them so be ready for a tough battle which will not be for the faint hearted as I am convinced that Monaghan will not play that bad again.

Again well done to the Ulster Champs maybe we will meet further down the line.

muckla (UK) - Posts: 366 - 20/07/2014 18:33:41    1622111

bisto kid
County: Cavan
Posts: 449

1622074
i have to say the leinster final had great football in it even though it was one sided, while ulster is pure scrap battles ,id like to adopt dublin /mayo style of football ,i wouldnt be that harsh on monaghan ,anyone that playes donegal looks bad becuase of the way donegal play ,i had to laugh at the donegal supporters when they let a big cheer at four or five donegal men taking the ball of one monaghan man as if that was great" thats crap to watch - wheres the one on one battles gone ? and whats worse this style of play is creeping outside of ulster too ,theres only one or two enjoyable games left now in the championship and theres no ulster teams in any of them. id love cavan to try and play like dublin they have set the bar to how our game should be played. dubs to win sam for the good of our game i think .

----
I agree disciplined turnover of the ball leading to counter attack must be removed from the game
Donegal must aspire to the purism of the game Cavan 2014 being a role model

ruanua (Donegal) - Posts: 4966 - 20/07/2014 18:45:46    1622125

ruanua
County: Donegal
Posts: 4593

----
I agree disciplined turnover of the ball leading to counter attack must be removed from the game
Donegal must aspire to the purism of the game Cavan 2014 being a role model

Yeah. We'll see how good your disciplined turnovers are when the Dubs get at yous.

Ned_Stormcrow (Cavan) - Posts: 1071 - 20/07/2014 19:00:28    1622144

Horrible game today but donegal were worthy champions, controlled the game from start to finish. Monaghan tactics were strange today, last year they played the running/off the shoulder game to perfection, today it was route one stuff into Mc Manus/Hughes/Mc Guniness. Donegal easily counteracted this and played the game at their tempo especially off quick kickiuts. They showed glimpses of the 2012 form and without doubt are now serious contenders for Sam. The potential semi with Dublin will be fascinating with the case of attacking football V the mass defense. Mc Brearty answered his critics today but I do feel Mc Faddens best days are behind him. For Monaghan, they simply dont have enough of a scoring threat to make a breakthrough.

222 (UK) - Posts: 695 - 20/07/2014 19:10:40    1622158

Fair enough Saffron.

Except for a couple of minutes after the Mon goal the result rarely looked in doubt imo.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13717 - 20/07/2014 19:15:10    1622166

Sadly when Donegal are involved of late the game tends to be dour.

ged (Louth) - Posts: 296 - 20/07/2014 19:30:24    1622188

Well done to Donegal deserving winners and best of luck for rest of year. The really disappointing thing is ye didn't have to be at your best to beat us. We were flat on the day tactically out thought and outfought bit similar to Tyrone match in 2010. Our midfield didn't function at all and if Lennon is not back for Kildare with Hughes going into the half backs as they were wide open today we will be out of the championship.McManus was completely nullified by the Donegal defence and they sat back well on him and Hughes. Very poor performance by the officials today was a definite penalty on Kelly but not using that as an excuse as we got some soft frees as well. Only consolation tonight is it's not the dreaded six day turnaround as I think we can recover. However unless other players can step up for scores when McManus is marked out of it we ain't going anywhere.

seanie08 (Monaghan) - Posts: 1802 - 20/07/2014 19:39:10    1622200

Well done Donegal, much the better team today and a 3 point defeat flattered us. Jim said afterwards that they weren't leaving the pitch today having lost, and you could see that attitude on the pitch.

Strange tactics by us today, not nearly enough support for the lads up front, and when we were running with the ball there was almost no support off the man, the complete opposite from what we're used to. When we did take shots from distance they were often well off target and too often the wrong option was taken, we also kicked and hand-passed numerous balls straight to a Donegal defender, again an unusual sight. A couple of bad early misses wasn't an ideal start in a game where every point counts. The goal gave us a bit of a lift and we were back to within a point, but Donegal were up for it more and didn't let us back into it. I thought the ref was poor enough for us but was by means a factor in the result.

Again, congrats to Donegal, 3 Ulsters in 4 years is a fair achievement. We'll have to go off and regroup, lick our wounds and prepare for Kildare now. We can perform much better than that today and hopefully the fact that we have a couple of weeks rather than 6 days to recover now means we will give it a good shot.

patk (Monaghan) - Posts: 936 - 20/07/2014 19:40:40    1622203

Hahaha bisto and Ned! Suggestion for both of you parsimonious boys from Cavan. Look up irony in the dictionary. Yous boys copy Donegal's system. Only thing is yez haven't the players or the tactical intelligence to do it right. 5 points at home against Roscommon? Prolific stuff alright. Listen enjoy your pontificating about Dublin will or won't do to us. We'll enjoy our pints in the Abbey tonight. 3/4 Ulster title wins now under Jimmy plus an All Ireland. We'll take that and whatever the rest of the summer brings us will be will be.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9149 - 20/07/2014 20:21:08    1622266

Congrats Donegal far cuter forwards not gr eat game to watch but at least it was competitive looks like the dubs and Donegal in semi will be interesting

theshamen (Mayo) - Posts: 129 - 20/07/2014 20:37:12    1622305

Just back from Clones & delighted with a great performance.

Jim had his homework done & they won most of the match ups with Neil Gallagher, Ryan McHugh Lacey & McBrearty playing especially well.

Tough luck to the Monaghan lads. Monaghan gave everything & will do well further in the championship. It's also good to see the Monaghan posters behaving with grace unlike posters from some other counties notably Cavan & Roscommon, two counties who have hardly graced the championship with great football this year. Sour grapes much???

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 20/07/2014 21:17:35    1622380

Well done Donegal. Better team, players and management on the day. Tactics spot on and used the full width of the pitch impressively. The goal took the bad look of it for us. Would we beat them again later on? not unless they were not up for it for some reason.
Donegal will be hard to beat now, seemed to mean a lot to JMG and the best of luck to them
As for us, we have work to do and need Lennon, Mcguinness, McCarron and Doogan to start against Kildare (I think it is).
Would have put Finlay in front of McManus and Hughes today early on

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1044 - 20/07/2014 21:18:30    1622384

I have to say I am delighted with the win today. Minors were superb in the first half too. The future is bright for donegal football. I think that we have some issues with our supporters. .at least some. Wondering why Murphy was defending so deep, wondering why so and so wasnt starting etc etc. Clever talk from the terrace before a burger. The reality is that McGuinness did what he felt he tactically needed to do to beat a monaghan team who were unbeaten at home in their last 17 games. I will gladly see Murphy do goals for half an hour if that is what it takes.

Good luck to monaghan in the back door, I think that it is time to go out and express yourselves next day out, and you will win. Gud luck

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 20/07/2014 21:29:40    1622412

Congratulations to Donegal Senior and Minor, both Ulster Champions.

Exceptional kick outs from Donegal today, and feel that is where the game was ultimately won. Was a tough physical battle today, and a bit scrappy in parts.

I expect Monaghan to sweep Kildare aside and face Dublin in the All Ireland QF. Donegal will play the winner of Meath/Armagh, and I would expect them to come through that game now.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 20/07/2014 21:43:41    1622438

I watched the Leinster Final yesterday (though admittedly after 10-15 mins when the game was over it was more keeping an eye than glued) and then missed the first half of the Ulster Championship before tuning back in at half time to hear the RTE panel.

Straight away it was clear the panel had the boots on and were getting completely stuck in to the match at hand, how bad it was and were making comparison to the champagne football they had just witnessed in Leinster.

Having not saw the first half I accepted that it must have been less than entertaining but I still could not understand the level of vitriol that was coming from Spillane given that he knows well by this stage what Donegal are about (it has been 4 years now) and given his role should understand tactical football even though it was not so much part of the game in his day.

I was also curious as to how a game that was still clearly a contest was being totally put down when the earlier game that had finished nearly as soon as it started was getting lavished with high such high praise.

When the second half began it was clear that the commentators had caught the disease as well. People talk about cynical football but for me that was the most cynical commentating I have heard in a long time, rubbishing all the way and apparently unwilling to praise anything e.g. when Paddy McBrearty swung over an excellent point from distance, under pressure all they could do was lament the 'poor defending' - that was the norm.

For me I am at least starting to understand why there is such a xenophobic attitude to Ulster football from posters on here given that is the diet they are being fed on by the mainstream media.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 21/07/2014 08:34:10    1622475

Just a quick note to congratulate Donegal. A great win for them - very well deserved and you could see it meant a lot. Some classy players and nice forwards coming through to join the big men of '11 & 12.

As a few have referenced, this was almost a mirror image of last years final - where Monagha gpt most of the breaks last year they got few yesterday. An example is where Monaghan were missing their main midfielder this year, Donegal missed theirs last year - and what an impact he made yesterday. Neil Gallagher was huge in the first half particularly.

Finally a word to their supporters - a very decent bunch as always. They helped make it another memorable occasion in Clones and were as gracious in victory as they were in defeat last year. Long may that continue and good luck in the Quarter Finals.

PearseBro (Monaghan) - Posts: 459 - 21/07/2014 09:08:51    1622491

Congratulations Donegal - It wasn't pretty from either side but I doubt if that will bother Jim Mc or the Donegal fans. Monaghan played poorly on the day and a lot of things didn't run for us. Had we have played better it might have been a better match but the outcome would have been the same because Donegal were better - tactically and execution wise.
Hope we can re-group for Kildare so as not to waste the great effort put in all year.

We haven't done so in the past - Hopefully this year will be different.

The Sage (Monaghan) - Posts: 351 - 21/07/2014 09:26:46    1622509