I think going by a lot of posts and comments on social media etc. that there are a lot of people with red and white/green and gold blinkers on. A lot of petty bickering about who dragged who more and who shouted in who's face more. From what I observed both teams were equally guilty of sledging and cynical play, a part of the game which unfortunately has always been part of the game but yesterday was a new level. It's not something I like to see but it seems to be a win at all costs attitude synonomous with the Ulster championship and the fierce rivalries.

I agreed with Rory Gallagher on the targeting of Michael Murphy, McMahon for the most part illegally contained Murphy. But the same could be said that Cavanagh was targeted, it's not a secret big players are marked out by opposition teams as players to stop. The difference from what I observed was that McGee did not hold on to Cavanagh and stick to him at all times like McMahon did to MM, he was more in his face when play was stopped. Now maybe the cameras have picked up differently and as I was not at the game I can't say for certain, maybe McGee was a bit cuter and less blatant in his attempts to curb Cavanagh's influence. McMahon should have been reported far earlier by the officials as he did not hide the fact he was cynically grabbing hold of MM at every opportunity.

Overall the game was enjoyable, more so the first half. I feel we did enough to get over the line but need to improve in all departments for Armagh. And I reckon the cynicism will be even worse in the Athletic grounds. It will be interesting to see who refs that game. Joe McQuillan did OK but was poor at times to both sides, let a lot of stuff go and was inconsistent in his calls. But this is the standard of officiating we are seeing week in week out so no real surprises for me. I said from the draw was made Armagh would be our biggest test if we are to have a run in Ulster and I haven't changed my mind. These games will prepare us well for later in the championship, hopefully through the front door and not the back. Donegal to win by 3.

tirchonaill92 (Donegal) - Posts: 156 - 18/05/2015 18:04:01    1725184

I think the whole game was a pile of crap ,the whole original point of playing a blanket defence was that you can turn over the ball without fouling ,but Donegal were playing with five men to one at times and still got a rip of yellow cards ,and at one stage Donegal broke Tyrone's 45 with a great run and the only Donegal man there was the man carrying the ball ,like come on ,I do agree every county is at it ,but its a load of crap ,I don't care what anyone says ,if we compared last years all Ireland final to one from the early 2000s ,we would be gutted thinking what did we do to the game ? we have all accepted it now and starting to tell ourselves its good football , its not its a load of dung .

bisto kid (Cavan) - Posts: 492 - 18/05/2015 20:41:09    1725236

Lol....easy now Bisto Kid.

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 18/05/2015 21:06:25    1725248

Aah, Bisto!

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 18/05/2015 21:08:20    1725249

Glad to see the both Tyrone teams beat and hope the seniors have a short existence in the qualifiers.
--------------
Tir Chonaill Abu.........,you are off my Christmas card list with that spiteful remark :)

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 18/05/2015 21:16:58    1725255

Funny how some don't seem to think the sledging is an issue and is just part of the game. The stop crying brigade.
If you're to believe Peter Canavan and Sean Cavanagh then they certainly seem to think it has no place in the game.
Canavan maintains they never tell anyone to go out and do it as part of their game plan. Reckons players should be pulled up by referees more for it.

Dubh_linn (Dublin) - Posts: 2312 - 19/05/2015 08:25:51    1725279

100% correct Bisto kid.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1133 - 19/05/2015 08:31:14    1725283

Couldn't agree more Bisto Kid.Bad game with a nasty undercurrent but then again thats nothing unusual when Gaelic Footballs 'Antichrists' Tyrone are involved.Despicable they way they went about taking Murphy out of the game.I also wish them a speedy exit from the qualifiers.

Condorman (Dublin) - Posts: 983 - 19/05/2015 09:27:00    1725295

First of all congratulations to Donegal and good luck with the rest of the championship.

From a Tyrone point of view we can take some good out of our performance but at the end of the day its another defeat to Donegal. In goal Micky O'Neill was excellent. Great saves, good range of kick outs and was unlucky for the goal.

In our best move of the game Peter Harte plays through Darren McCurry - goal. Why not keep Darren up where he can do the damage instead of playing so far out field. Conor McAliskey had an excellent second half. With confidence he was great at taking on the Donegal defence and scored 3 good points. With a good run in the qualifiers I think he could be our main forward.

Mattie Donnelly in general had a good game. Took on the Donegal defence and got a nice point. Though at times I thought he slowed the game down to much when the ball should have been moved on. Peter harte also had a very good game. Great running in the first half and could have got a goal. There was a move near the end when Aidan McCrory had a tame shoot saved when Donegal got men back to close him down and Paul Durcan clawed it out. I think it was Peter Harte who was in a better position and if Aidan had passed a split second earlier instead of shooting I think Peter would have been in.

Off the changes before throw in I was surprised to not see Padraig McNulty not start. I thought we would have needed his height around the middle where Donegal had big men in Gallagher, McElhinney, Toye, Mac Niallais, etc.

Free kicks are still a problem which are really costing us. Hopefully a run in the qualifiers can give a few of the u21s a bit of game time and a chance to prove they can make the step up. We need to regroup and fresh ideas from the management.

Just a question about substitutions. When a player is taken off surely he's not allowed to stand on the sideline. I think it was Christy Toye who kicked a ball away when it was going out. Also could Joe McQuillan not have let play continue when the ball hit him as we regained possession. Before anyone thinks I'm complaining, I'm just not sure of the ruling and wanted it cleared up.

tir_eoghain_abu (Tyrone) - Posts: 773 - 19/05/2015 10:00:36    1725310

is this man serious with the things he comes out with??




http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/2/1805151538-cavanagh-bruised-by-ballybofey-experience/

youngfella27 (Armagh) - Posts: 110 - 19/05/2015 10:00:47    1725311

Bisto kid 100% agree.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 19/05/2015 10:18:59    1725317

Dubh_linn
County: Dublin
If you're to believe Peter Canavan and Sean Cavanagh then they certainly seem to think it has no place in the game.
Canavan maintains they never tell anyone to go out and do it as part of their game plan. Reckons players should be pulled up by referees more for it.

I don't believe Peter Canavan when he says that. I think he using last Sunday's match as a way to exonerate himself and Tyrone U21's from the same very same tactics deployed against Tipp on the back of all the bad press they received. To my mind, this sledging is a tactic that is being coached as is the one where you can pull and push someone all day but make sure you don't hit him a box as that one carries a red card.

drumlinbelt (Monaghan) - Posts: 179 - 19/05/2015 10:31:26    1725325

Tir Eoighan Abu, good luck in the qualifiers. I think that you are right about the incident when the ball hit the ref. You were regrouping at a critical stage in the first half when you had taken control of the game for a spell. I think that the ref did his level best on sunday, but it really was an impossible game to ref. There was no help from the linesmen nor umpires. If this continues, then there will be more people tuning in for the anticipation of what is said about the game by pundits than the game itself. I am of the opinion that someone is going to be made an example of soon in terms of the sledging that is going on now. I think that monaghan v cavan will see a big step up by officials to try and deal with it.

I dunno about a ruling for a sub standing on the line, I think once you are off the pitch you are abiding with the rules, but did the ref not move the ball 15 metres closer to the posts for the incident you are talking about?

If Tyrone can get a forward from somewhere then there is real hope for you. At the moment most of the attacks are being started by Harte, and without him, Tyrone are a different team.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 19/05/2015 10:37:31    1725330

Yeah, this talk of players not being sent out to do it is absolute BS if you ask me.

I mean, surely if Mickey Harte noticed that Justin McMahon spent almost the entire game looking away from the ball he'd have taken him off! - unless of course he knew exactly what McMahon was doing.

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5017 - 19/05/2015 10:44:14    1725335

Well done to both sides for serving up a very entertaining game on Sunday. But I wish RTE would stop taking a one-sided approach when commenting on "targetting". The treatment of Seán Cavanagh was far worse than the treatment of Murphy. Even the shots the Sunday game showed that night showed Murphy guilty of as much as he took. Murphy has one of the worst disciplinary records in the game and he doesn't always come up against McMahon.

LoyalVin (Mayo) - Posts: 88 - 19/05/2015 11:05:04    1725351

onegalman
County: All
Posts: 1971

1725330
Tir Eoighan Abu, good luck in the qualifiers. I think that you are right about the incident when the ball hit the ref. You were regrouping at a critical stage in the first half when you had taken control of the game for a spell. I think that the ref did his level best on sunday, but it really was an impossible game to ref. There was no help from the linesmen nor umpires. If this continues, then there will be more people tuning in for the anticipation of what is said about the game by pundits than the game itself. I am of the opinion that someone is going to be made an example of soon in terms of the sledging that is going on now. I think that monaghan v cavan will see a big step up by officials to try and deal with it.

I dunno about a ruling for a sub standing on the line, I think once you are off the pitch you are abiding with the rules, but did the ref not move the ball 15 metres closer to the posts for the incident you are talking about?

If Tyrone can get a forward from somewhere then there is real hope for you. At the moment most of the attacks are being started by Harte, and without him, Tyrone are a different team.


On the sideline ball incident it possible was moved forward, I can't remember. When my club was involved in the All Ireland club we made a substition. The bench was outside the field in the stand. The game was nearly over so our player just stood along the fence instead of going out of sideline and into the stand. The referee then wouldn't restart the game until he was in the stand. When I saw Toye kick the ball away that just made me wonder was there an actual rule on this.

tir_eoghain_abu (Tyrone) - Posts: 773 - 19/05/2015 11:05:56    1725353

Well it looks like 'sledging' has become the new buzzword for the GAA in 2015 then after the Donegal - Tyrone game!! Funny how 12 months ago, hardly anyone had even heard of the word, but now the GAA has a sledging epidemic on their hands!! It's a silly word that crept into cricket a few years ago, the Aussies are notorious for it. And now we have stolen it from the cricketers... Shameful!

It has always been in the game for as long as I've been playing. Even from under 14 level you would get it. I don't think it's there any more than it used to be. It is no worse at club level now than what it was 10 years ago. The Donegal - Tyrone game was an intense local derby championship game with a fair bit of tension because of how much was at stake. But I don't think there was really any more verbals than when they met over the last few years or even going back 20 years. It is a problem yes, but I don't think it is no more prevalent than it used to be. I agree with Sean Cavanagh, once you cross the boundary into really really personal stuff about a player then it becomes a huge problem.

To me, it just seems talking about sledging is all the rage at the moment. Pity we didn't have something more significant to be chatting about. Wait until this time next year, there will be a new buzzword and a new epidemic on the GAA's hands.

HandballRef (Donegal) - Posts: 520 - 19/05/2015 11:26:24    1725374

The abuse that Justin McMahon is receiving after Sunday's game is completely unnecessary. Justin McMahon is a defender; he was put in place on Sunday to minimize Michael Murphy's influence. He more than succeeded, not only keeping Murphy quiet, but scoring more points from play than Murphy himself. Michael Murphy is the pride of the Donegal team, and is essential to their game. That Justin McMahon marked him man-on-man for 70 minutes, with such intensity and success, is excellent defending. It is not different to how Stephen O'Neill was marked out of our last championship encounter in 2013, not is it any different from defenders paying special attention to the key forward, in every game up and down the country. Yet Jim McGuinness has said that the referees should have done more to protect Michael Murphy. What did Justin McMahon do different from any other man? He may not have had the prettiest methods, but there were two teams lined out on Sunday, none more guilty than the other. There was no call for Jim McGuinness to single out Justin McMahon in such a way to criticize him, nor was there a need for the criticism that had come on Justin; in fact he should be credited with his performance. Justin had an excellent game, he kept Donegal's key forward scoreless from play, and put a point on the board himself. Well done Justin.

tyrone0358 (Tyrone) - Posts: 37 - 19/05/2015 12:02:54    1725403

Tir epigram Abu,


Imagine how good a player he would look and not to mention the praise he would receive if he done such a man marking job without mouthing into a mans face for 70 mins. This goes for all players. Bit of respect for your fellow player. It looks so bad as an image of our games what both sides were up to Sunday.

Bain (Donegal) - Posts: 470 - 19/05/2015 12:58:15    1725450

LoyalVin
County: Mayo
Posts: 78

1725351
Well done to both sides for serving up a very entertaining game on Sunday. But I wish RTE would stop taking a one-sided approach when commenting on "targetting". The treatment of Seán Cavanagh was far worse than the treatment of Murphy. Even the shots the Sunday game showed that night showed Murphy guilty of as much as he took. Murphy has one of the worst disciplinary records in the game and he doesn't always come up against McMahon.

Obviously you weren't at the game so couldn't see what was going on off the ball. Sean Kavanagh was 'targeted' when he had the ball, Michael Murphy had McMahon in his face from the throw in, & I literally mean in his face. Anytime Murphy moved, McMahon was pulling & holding him. Justin McMahon played nearly the whole game with his back to the ball & his face in Murphy's face. Yes it worked, but was it within the rules??
Sean Kavanagh is a great player but he should stop the diving, his brother is even at it now...

92dl (Cavan) - Posts: 52 - 19/05/2015 13:26:14    1725470