I'd agree Gary , this rush by some to proclaim the death of Donegal is laughable, but look Kerry were deemed finished after Cork beat them in league in early 2014 by a few on here also.
Although Donegal supporters themselves do seem unhappy , but again prior to 2014 semifinal Donegal hadn't exactly set the world on fire and supporters weren't too optimistic,
Yesterday was the first time I watched Dublin against a top team and felt after 20 mins that there was no way we could lose,I felt we were too dominant in every area.
Now I don't know if that's a sign that Dublin are getting better and faster or Donegal really just didn't show up and went through the motions.
Gallagher gave the team the week off, Ran them like mad before kick off. If i didnt know better Id swear he had ulterior motives.
One thing is for sure , their fitness levels are well off , now maybe this is timed to peak for Ulster, but I find it very strange.

AthCliath (Dublin) - Posts:4126 - 11/04/2016 21:46:21

Donegal went on the field to win, I have no doubt about that. It wasn't that they weren't prepared in general, rather they weren't properly prepared for Dublin and the whirlwind challenge Dublin offer.

Since the dawn of the Jim McGuinness era, Donegal have a methodical approach to training which is 100% focused on Championship. Opening Ulster Championship games are normally between late May and June, so for previous late May Championship openers, they started to ramp up training around the week of the final league match in early April.

I suspect with their slightly later Championship start this year, their plans were to ramp up training this week or next week. Reaching a League SF probably threw those plans out a bit, as this was likely to be a weeks break before the high intensity training begins. Gallagher probably thought take the week off, and we will play Dublin and then knuckle down to it. Rory Gallagher's honeymoon period is now over, and he needs to win Ulster or reach an All Ireland Semi Final or else he might come under serious pressure.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 12/04/2016 21:17:24    1844960

I have sat on the fence in my earlier comment , basically Donegal have confused me , looking awesome and awful in the same campaign , the summer will provide answers , however lads that are writing Donegal off are doing so on the back of some very strong evidence given the last few games thus understand why, someone is going to be proved right and someone could end up looking like a fool .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 13/04/2016 09:50:51    1844990

Damothedub
I think you made a very good point , it's hard to how where we are at -- we could be going downhill and a lot of boys are on the road for a long time as I'd say 9or10 were on the team that beat Mayo in the 2007 Div one final so they can't go on forever
Another point is , comparing to Dublin or indeed Mayo or Kerry Donegal will have some serious games to play if we are to win Ulster--- if we beat Fermanagh then a semi probably with Monaghan( no disrespect to Down or their fans) and an Ulster final with Tyrone the likely opponents
If we do meet Tyrone at that stage I don't think a lot of the top teams would want to meet Tyrone at such an early stage in the championship
From what we have seen so far both Dublin and Kerry will have fairly easy strolls to the QFinals
Don't think Connaught will take a lot of winning
What I will say is it won't do the championship any good if Donegal fall by the wayside as bar Tyrone who else can offer a challenge to the few top teams ( Dublin Kerry Mayo
To sum up I would not be too confident at all of where we are at but again I would not be one bit shocked if Donegal came along and beat either Kerry or Dublin in the championship, highly unlikely but sport can be unpredictable

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 13/04/2016 11:08:39    1845022

Donegal had a decent Ulster Championship and managed to get past Monaghan. As a county they have been successful for 6 years, however I suspect it is a very long road back from here. This Ulster title is going to be huge for this young Tyrone team, who over the next 3 to 5 years are going to really push on. Donegal have some younger players, but the second half today showed the miles on Donegals more experienced squad. Ulster has a habit of bringing through new teams every 5-10 years and I think Tyrone took the baton back today and will be Ulster's best chance of All Ireland success over the next few years.

sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 17/07/2016 16:04:50    1884729

GGdub (Dublin) - Posts: 260 - 17/07/2016 20:37:51    1885001

Don't seem to be able to close out matches like they use to because if memory serves me Monaghan snatched it off them late in last year's Ulster Final too?

Its sad to see and hopefully not the demise of this team. I still like watching them play. Neil Gallagher is a huge loss cos Kavanagh seems to have lost a bit of pace, he seems to pick up yellow cards for silly tackles now, not something I would have associated with him before.

What's the story with McFadden? How come he was left on the bench until the very end of the match?

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 18/07/2016 04:02:35    1885187

dstuction (Donegal) - Posts: 1209 - 18/07/2016 08:42:59    1885212

Disappointed in Donegals play yesterday, when you have such a talented player up front in Paddy McBrearty you would expect him to make the runs like a corner forward , at least 6 times in the 2nd half Donegal where on the attack and there was 30 yards of space in front of him to make a run !! Players coming up threw didn't seem to look at this space and Paddy didn't make any runs , at this he would of been 1 on 1 with his defender and is a strong player to win his own ball , surely something was not right with this

topdownfan (Down) - Posts: 555 - 18/07/2016 09:50:08    1885253

They are in the same boat as ourselves, too old, lack of energy and no depth on the bench to change a game. I mean they brought on Thompson after he put in a huge shift what does that say about the others?

KYTitletown (Kerry) - Posts: 816 - 18/07/2016 09:54:22    1885259

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 18/07/2016 10:11:31    1885280

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1876 - 18/07/2016 10:18:55    1885288

Rory has to go, how Leo mc loone isn't playing is absolutely crazy one of the finest footballers in the country never mind the county. Would have been the perfect man yesterday his ability to break through the tackle was exactly what we needed to beat Tyrone but he didn't get one single minute. Same goes for the two games against monaghan.

tirconaillabu (Donegal) - Posts: 82 - 18/07/2016 10:59:03    1885331

We play rubbish football .

We play Michael Murphy at midfield / half forward .

We leave out some of our best players .

I'm not spending my hard earned cash to watch this rubbish anymore .

I'm completely depressed at Gaelic football.

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 18/07/2016 11:36:07    1885377

Seansy48 (Tyrone) - Posts: 237 - 18/07/2016 14:26:12    1885553

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 18/07/2016 14:35:55    1885565

topdownfan (Down) - Posts: 555 - 18/07/2016 14:47:46    1885584

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8597 - 18/07/2016 14:56:15    1885598

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2411 - 18/07/2016 15:22:43    1885630

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 18/07/2016 16:16:05    1885691

Donegal have refreshed their team this year, their senior starting line-up is around 25 years of age, they have serious pace and a capable system of play. They were leading in injury time of the Ulster final yesterday against a Tyrone side tipped for All Ireland glory, and a have a vast amount of talent waiting to get their chance at senior level.

Generally you would think that a team reaching 6 Ulster finals in a row, would probably signal that team are coming to an end of life. Yet this Donegal team has been slowly replenishing talent over recent years, currently have serious talent at Minor and U21 level, and well placed to constantly challenge for Ulster titles over the next 4 or 5 years.

Whatever about Cork, they have a low probability of beating Dublin a week after that. But should maybe use their larger squad against Cork and give Dublin a proper rattle then if they beat Cork.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 18/07/2016 17:08:55    1885743