rcarragh (Dublin) - Posts: 305 - 26/06/2016 22:10:56    1872471

benjyyy (Donegal) - Posts: 1422 - 26/06/2016 23:32:43    1872503

I don't think Donegal are over the hill or gone. I was working an therefore dident see last night's match, however from listening to it I thought it was raining in Cavan and that this was causing all the slipping and sliding and falling etc. I know that the rain destroyed the other semi final. I am looking forward to a very interesting weekend of football this weekend. Two semi finals that no one could bet on. I hope we get our act together and reach the finals.

border Gael (Monaghan) - Posts:429 - 26/06/2016 21:07:40

For two sides said to be on the downward trend by some pundits and journalists ( Tyrone & Cavan are said to be on the upward trend), they produced a high octane heavy hitting match that was absolutely fascinating. A lot of focus today on cards, diving and off-pitch antics, but in reality I think that chat takes away from what was a great Ulster Championship battle.

The pitch was a bit slippy, but the teams adapted to it all the same. There was a level of intensity that I thought was lacking a little from the Tyrone/Cavan match, but in fairness that game was on a very wet day and conditions sometimes play a part in the tempo of the game.

This is also the first year in a long while that arguably the 4 strongest sides in Ulster have been kept apart in Ulster Quarter final's/Preliminary rd, and It has made for two tight Semi-Final's. Maybe we should look at seeding Ulster.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 27/06/2016 00:50:34    1872526

Before I continue I want to say that the amount of time Maxi is on the field isnt right
but....
Did anyone else notice that when the Sky pundits at half time were talking about the Donegal selector on the field they showed a clip of the Monaghan water carrier causing bother. You would think if they were trying to slate Donegal (which they were) that they would have showed 1 of the 100 times maxi was on the field.

Overall too much being made of McGinley situation. There was some contact and he went down but Id say if we looked back over the years on every team there are examples of diving or over playing an injury. Wrong I agree and its not something I like to see but IMO it shouldn't be a major talking point.
People also mention the goal and that sort of blocking should be a free but Monaghan people on here obviously missed the 2 times Kieran Hughes did that in the first half.
To draw attention to all these things would just draw attention to McQuillan making a lot of mistakes on both sides. 3 soft frees for Monaghan in the first and 1 very soft free for Donegal near the end of the game that was never a free. They are just some of the examples of McQuillan being poor. He really is a ref that i dislike at this stage.

6 minutes injury time was mental but I also wonder how much of that was taken up with McManus free? I didnt even think to look when rewatching but at the time I think it took him near 2 minutes and then the game was over.

dstuction (Donegal) - Posts: 1209 - 27/06/2016 08:37:14    1872556

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9141 - 27/06/2016 09:00:06    1872566

Mobot (Donegal) - Posts: 459 - 27/06/2016 09:33:48    1872580

Finally a championship game worth talking about. It was a real ding dong battle and credit to both teams for battling so hard in trying conditions. Familiarity certainly does breed contempt!

I thought we'd just about done enough to deserve the win, especially when McElhinney was rightly black carded and we played 15 minutes with 14 men. Murphy missed frees he'd normally land in his sleep and I felt with a wee bit more composure we could have had another 1 or 2 goals (Gillespie and McBrearty chances)

Hopefully big Neil Gallagher will be able to play some part the next day. The kickout strategy was obviously to go long every time and I felt we were second best in the midfield exchanges, If we can gain parity there, Murphy gets the freekicks right and we can be a bit more clinical with our goal chances, then I'm confident we'll progress.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9141 - 27/06/2016 09:43:20    1872589

Interesting point about Murphy free taking and his injury.
I know of people with ankle injuries who use to take them off the ground but because of ongoing injuries now hit them out of their hands.
Murphy know best but I just wonder if he cant do the long range maybe he should go short or let someone else take them. Now nobody else can hit the 60 yard ones but he missed 2 inside the 45 which maybe O Reilly or someone else could have taken.

It was Murphy's best game in open play since the early league games so its not all bad. In fact its the first time Id say he has gotten the better of Corey.

dstuction (Donegal) - Posts: 1209 - 27/06/2016 10:01:34    1872601

I agree with all that has been said about the entertainment served up in Cavan especially with the muck that was on offer in Croke Park yesterday. Even Pat Spillane loved us!!!

I needed to lie down for a while after that.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 27/06/2016 11:30:51    1872659

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but some the stuff going on at the game the other night was unreal. One particular incident - just after Christy Toye scored to put Donegal a point up, we attacked down the right hand side. Eoghan Gallagher is then sent out onto the field as a sub while the game is on!!!!! Crazy stuff. Game is halted. Gallagher is sent back off the field. We restart the game, get a free and then young Gallagher is brought on correctly. This was all done to stop our progression down the field. Rory Gallagher knows nothing will be done about it so he act like this when he wants. He would never do this in Croke Park.

Adler (Monaghan) - Posts: 754 - 27/06/2016 12:11:59    1872688

Adler
Much & all as it gives me no joy to say it, I'm afraid Rory Gallagher would have no problem at all doing g this in Croke Park.
It's just the nature of the beast.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 27/06/2016 12:44:42    1872701

Re the injuries I think Lacey is just not 100% fit so game will have brought him on but he has lost some pace. MM was excellent in general play but he must be feeling some kind of niggle as shown by frees missed. Frank was fine to me but did take a heavy couple of knocks in the game itself. Did someone suggest bringing in Ciaran Thompson for Rory? Or drop both Anthony Thompson and Rory?

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2782 - 27/06/2016 12:48:16    1872707

Great to see the Donegal lads back in such confident mood again, You would have to be favourites for Saturday now. That's the best ye played against us in the Ulster Championship since this rivalry began, However ye still didn't win so I wouldn't be booking Monday the 18th off just yet. see ye'all again bright and early Saturday evening.

by the way, That's a good minor team you have there. so there's always the future to look forward to

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1044 - 27/06/2016 13:01:45    1872718

Mobot (Donegal) - Posts: 459 - 27/06/2016 13:19:34    1872741

Draw a fair result. Both sides had their moments, and showed experience and heart to get back into the game when it looked like it was fading away from them. But at the same time, both sides can definitely look to things they can improve on.

From a Monaghan perspective, McManus was well held and other senior players like the Hughes brothers were very quiet(but encouragingly other players stepped up at important times, like O'Connell and Duffy). Although Murphy wasn't at his best, that's probably the most influential he's looked against Monaghan and looked a real threat whenever he was in on the square. Donegal hadn't scored a championship goal against us in recent years but on Saturday they had a few clear cut chances, we were uncharacteristically wide open at the back several times. We struggled with the pace of the McHugh's especially. And while we gained alot of possession from kickouts, we didn't translate nearly enough of that into scores.

So there's alot we can work on there, of course it won't all be solved in a week but we can definitely rectify some things. There's never much between these sides especially with how well they know each other at this stage, so it could go to the wire again!

patk (Monaghan) - Posts: 936 - 27/06/2016 13:49:31    1872759

To me Corey didn't seem to have the legs to handle Murphy as in past years. This is something Monaghan may struggle with - will they move someone else onto Murphy?

Neither team (like ourselves and Tyrone) will want to go to the backdoor now and have games mounting up. It would be a tough road to the Quarters.

opa01 (Cavan) - Posts: 503 - 27/06/2016 14:21:35    1872782

Is the replay on TV ?

Most Donegal fans didn't get home until midnight .

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 27/06/2016 14:55:27    1872803

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9141 - 27/06/2016 15:06:17    1872810

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 27/06/2016 15:32:31    1872835

I think Monaghan should be commended, as they have clearly worked on their own attacking game and Improved it significantly this year.
They like Donegal have added pace to their ranks, and I feel are a better side than last year.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 27/06/2016 15:43:07    1872846