Donegal Forum

OUR BEST TEAM

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Replying To EP:  "Here goes mine:
1. Patton
2. Ward*
3. McGee
4. McMenamin
5. E Ban*
6. Dara OB*
7. McHugh
8. McGee
9. McFadden
10. C Thompson
11. N O Donnell
12. Lagan
13. McBrearty
14. Murphy
15. Brennan

* places up for grabs. Mcgrath isn't ready or finished? Ward better at 2 if on. E Ban G better in the halfback line? No6 needs filling. Is Brennan in there for strength or is he good enough.
Mogan not far off but is he too small for halfback line. Hard to get into the front 6.
Gallen for me doesn't get in yet unless Paddy isn't fit. Great record as a sub also.
Mclean is small, E Doherty too slow?
McKelvey."
A
1. Patton
2. E Ban
3. McGee
4. McMenamin
5. Mogan
6. Brennan
7. McHugh
8. McGee
9. McFadden
10. C Thompson
11. Murphy
12. Lagan
13. McBrearty
14. Gallen
15. Brennan

Think Gallen deserves a start. Niall's form maybe has dipped. P Mogan also deserves to start. What about McGrath and Eoin McH i wonder.

EP (Donegal) - Posts: 68 - 06/11/2020 21:28:01    2305697

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Replying To EP:  "A
1. Patton
2. E Ban
3. McGee
4. McMenamin
5. Mogan
6. Brennan
7. McHugh
8. McGee
9. McFadden
10. C Thompson
11. Murphy
12. Lagan
13. McBrearty
14. Gallen
15. Brennan

Think Gallen deserves a start. Niall's form maybe has dipped. P Mogan also deserves to start. What about McGrath and Eoin McH i wonder."
I really like this team, very attacking. My only reservation would be the fitness of Jason McGee to start. Caolan McGonagle to start if McGee not able to last the full game. I am a huge fan of Niall O'Donnell but think Gallen deserves his start.

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1734 - 07/11/2020 20:49:18    2305922

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Replying To Green_Gold:  "I really like this team, very attacking. My only reservation would be the fitness of Jason McGee to start. Caolan McGonagle to start if McGee not able to last the full game. I am a huge fan of Niall O'Donnell but think Gallen deserves his start."
It is a decent team though for the defense you would have to look at the opposition and make sure there are enough markers to cover the opposition danger men. Armagh have decent forwards who need watching. I also think they'll try plenty high ball in against donegal. They had some joy in a mckenna cup last year and patton is also not a dominant keeper under a high ball.

Gallen was possibly better coming off the bench the last day as his markers would offer up more space than at the start of the game. He offered an huge amount when he did come on and hard to see him not starting the next day. The balance of the team was probably helped as he's also an inside forward who tends can roam a bit.

The conditions did not suit odonnell the last day. He's a kind of playing making chf who wants to kick it when he can, he's also still a little light and can get turned over (I think he had a virus earlier in the year and that probably hasn't helped him) He did create a point for brennan just before he came off and may have come into the game more as it freed up up. He also had a decent league game against tyrone and he'll be very important player to this team.

Mcgonagle is a player who continues to improve though he turned the ball over too much the last day and tgey can't afford to have that going forward. He's not quite able to power through the tackle the way mcfadden can. He is though deceptively quick.

The two matches were interesting yesterday, cavan were truly awful in the first half and if antrim had just a little extra would have beaten them. It struck me as a team who believed they just had to show up. Dublin just blitzed westmeath, their attitude was spot on and game was over after say 15 minutes. Whatever donegal team is named next week a correct attitude and going hard at it from the start is very important.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 350 - 08/11/2020 10:07:36    2306004

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We have to be at it from the off next Saturday. We can't afford to be careless if we're not on our game from the start we could be in trouble. Armagh will look to hurt us early on, I can see them pumping high ball on top of our full back line early on. Bonner doesn't usually stick with the same team two weeks in a row. It's usually a horses for courses set up. Do you start gallen or take him on, he's usually better coming on when a game opens up. If Mc brearty fit do you start him. A lot of posers for management. Mc grath another poser, if he's playing well in in-house matches do you put him on Jamie Clarke and release eoin ban to half back line. Hopefully we'll be switched on from the start. Armagh are dangerous if they get the upper hand early on on you.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 888 - 08/11/2020 11:33:28    2306028

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As if the squad would need any reminders of the dangers in knockout championship, what an example below in Cork today. Hopefully any possibility of wandering minds has been nipped in the bud with that result and we will be laser focussed now on Armagh.

Big takeaway from watching Kerry there today was how wasteful they were. Same thing with Mayo v Roscommon, although they were hugely comfortable they did miss an awful lot as well. You have to take your opportunities at this level, just have to.

JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1162 - 08/11/2020 18:42:23    2306229

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Replying To JoeSoap:  "As if the squad would need any reminders of the dangers in knockout championship, what an example below in Cork today. Hopefully any possibility of wandering minds has been nipped in the bud with that result and we will be laser focussed now on Armagh.

Big takeaway from watching Kerry there today was how wasteful they were. Same thing with Mayo v Roscommon, although they were hugely comfortable they did miss an awful lot as well. You have to take your opportunities at this level, just have to."
Yeah I agree regarding Kerry especially in the first quarter where they should have been a few points up. I felt this gave Cork momentum and they were tactically shrewd. They got plenty of big men around the middle and got plenty of possession from it. I also feel Kerry were too fixated around the defensive side of the game and as a result lost some of their attacking mojo. Despite been wasteful I was impressed with Mayo. They are still lacking a couple of forwards but they have any amount of strong powerful runners who will be difficult to stop in winter conditions. Saying that I thought Roscommon were poor. Their performance was similar to their game against Armagh where they were much second best until Armagh let them back in with goals. That didn't happen today and Mayo were really comfortable winners.

Looking ahead to next week today's Kerry result should really focus our lads as Joe alludes to. If we are fully tuned in and on it we should have too much for Armagh. However the likes of the O'Neills and Clarke will take careful watching obviously. Plus I am a big fan of Jarlath Burns who I think is an excellent young baller. Do that and we should win with at least 3 or 4 to spare.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2480 - 08/11/2020 19:14:01    2306306

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Anybody have flashbacks of a couple of under 21 tussles against Tyrone in recent years in similar conditions watching the Cork Kerry game today?

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2480 - 08/11/2020 19:44:36    2306350

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I'm not really a fan of the whole concept of "Best Team" either in soccer of gaelic.

It is a concept that goes back to the 80s and 90s, where Donegal are winning an All Ireland using 1 man off the bench, and teams are winning leagues in soccer with a core square of about 15 players. A best 11, and 1 recognised sub for each area of the pitch. Its back then that the concept of Best Team, had it hayday.

These days you are working off a 30 man panel at training, very very good players wont make the bench and anyone on the bench should be pushing extremely hard for a starting jersey with everyone at the same level of fitness.

For all teams the best 15, or 11 in soccer is very much an on the day thing based on conditions, form, fitness and opposition. All constantly subject to change and Donegal are no different. We have about 25 men who at any given point could be put in to do a job, trusted, and id expect no drop in the standard of performance.

ManusFromHeaven (Donegal) - Posts: 326 - 09/11/2020 10:33:17    2306670

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Replying To ManusFromHeaven:  "I'm not really a fan of the whole concept of "Best Team" either in soccer of gaelic.

It is a concept that goes back to the 80s and 90s, where Donegal are winning an All Ireland using 1 man off the bench, and teams are winning leagues in soccer with a core square of about 15 players. A best 11, and 1 recognised sub for each area of the pitch. Its back then that the concept of Best Team, had it hayday.

These days you are working off a 30 man panel at training, very very good players wont make the bench and anyone on the bench should be pushing extremely hard for a starting jersey with everyone at the same level of fitness.

For all teams the best 15, or 11 in soccer is very much an on the day thing based on conditions, form, fitness and opposition. All constantly subject to change and Donegal are no different. We have about 25 men who at any given point could be put in to do a job, trusted, and id expect no drop in the standard of performance."
Totally agree, the days of having your best fifteen are gone. Some players I feel are better suited to coming on as a game opens up. Other players are used against certain teams and systems.. in house games nowadays are a big factor in naming teams perfect example last year Mc fadden ferry starting his first Donegal match in a Ulster final. This year especially there will be strange results so hopefully we can stay focused and keep our full squad fit and free from COVID.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 888 - 09/11/2020 14:23:49    2306822

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Make no mistake about it Armagh will be seriously up for this and will go at us hell for leather. Not sure what the forecast is like for the weekend. But if it's another bad day, as we've seen yesterday, anything can happen.

We definitely can't afford to sleep our way to the first water break like the last day. But if we can get a good foothold in the match and establish an early lead then Armagh heads might drop and we can manage the game out.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 7115 - 09/11/2020 15:28:35    2306854

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