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Donegal GAA thread

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Replying To NPadraigAbu:  "Looking at some of the subs they made I assumed the management team was looking towards potential penalties with bringing Muldoon back on etc"
Muldoon and Campbell were both cramping at one stage and I presume that's why they were taken off. They were taken back on again because they influenced the match so much in normal time and both played their part when Donegal regained momentum in the second half of extra time.

Scenicparish (Donegal) - Posts: 473 - 01/05/2025 12:23:57    2606003

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Replying To gunman:  "I didn't get to watch the game back yet and it is usually better to do that before commenting but my feeling last night was one of huge disapointment.First of all it was a terrible match. Tyrone learned a lot from the first game and were very defensive and Donegal mirrored that.Both teams found it very hard to make progress and the low score reflected that.A fee things went against Donegal like the Tyrone goal which was very lucky coming off the post.The free given for three men not being back for Tyrones last point was a real killer putting them 2 up which meant Donegal needed a goal or a 2 pointer.If they had only needed one I think they would have got it.I don't know what the stats were but Tyrone seemed to get a lot more frees rightly or wrongly.But notwithstanding the things that went against us I thought we played pretty poorly . Our footering about trying to get the ball off the ground was in contrast to Tyrone was very frustrating.The biggest difference was kickouts,Tyrone got all of theirs away long or short where we struggled badly on our own kickouts.In previous games our restarts were almost Pattonesque.When you are starved of ball like that you are at a huge disadvantage.The loss of McMenamin was a big blow as he looks to be a very good player.Roarty was not a huge influence on the game.As I say very disappointing being close but particularly because of our play which was way below previous games."
Completely agree. McMenamin was a huge loss given his fielding ability and without Tyrone lorded the midfield allowing them to dictate playing the game on their terms. The kickouts killed us especially in that 5 min spell where Tyrone had their purple patch. We didn't execute like we had previously but these are young players so these things can happen. At the end of the day the result was decided by moments especially the Tyrone goal and the two frees in front of the post.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2853 - 01/05/2025 13:16:01    2606014

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Replying To Scenicparish:  "Muldoon and Campbell were both cramping at one stage and I presume that's why they were taken off. They were taken back on again because they influenced the match so much in normal time and both played their part when Donegal regained momentum in the second half of extra time."
Agree with that. But I felt tyrone had the better individual players and a better bench.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2613 - 01/05/2025 13:25:37    2606022

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Replying To rorysboys:  "What about all the ones we lost. We seem to have an inferior complex when it comes to playing derry tyrone teams."
That omagh team was not a patch on the team before it so it's not a good comparison. We clearly have a challenge with Tyrone and Derry teams over the last while. Quite often at minor they are just better and that kind of is what it is. 20s tend to be much more frustrating. Last year against Derry and this year against Tyrone there's not much between them and we come out the wrong side. 2022 again very little between them and Tyrone win it. We lost 2020 as well to Tyrone though Conor O'Donnell and oisin gallen were injured and Tyrone were better.

Then Derry in 18 put two men in Niall O'Donnell and that was that. We managed to beat both in 17 though Tyrone took a replay and that was a particularly strong Donegal underage team. They would have been very strong at 21 level in 18 as well except for the change in age to under 20.

We lost the final in 15 to Tyrone and then for good measure lost finals in 13 and 14 to cavan

There's no doubt there's a trend and issue there.

I'm huffed today because of losing it so much. On a positive note .. Although it's better to win from the senior team it does not seem to matter too much. Tyrone are not getting buckets of players through at least so far. Michael Mcgleenon for example was a pure wrecking ball in 22 and sure why he's gone off the radar. Ciaran Moore only came on as a sub in that match! Outside of roarty there are a few more from last night who will push through to senior.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 809 - 01/05/2025 13:46:20    2606026

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I thought that the tactic of allowing Tyrone to keep the ball for over two minutes was madness. If Donegal had pushed out we might have forced a turnover and got up the pitch. We left it to chance and had to hope they would miss.

The subs is an issue. Can you imagine being one of the players who normally get on and you having cramping players coming on instead? Doesn't do much for squad morale.

ballboy101 (Donegal) - Posts: 226 - 01/05/2025 14:07:14    2606030

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Replying To ballboy101:  "I thought that the tactic of allowing Tyrone to keep the ball for over two minutes was madness. If Donegal had pushed out we might have forced a turnover and got up the pitch. We left it to chance and had to hope they would miss.

The subs is an issue. Can you imagine being one of the players who normally get on and you having cramping players coming on instead? Doesn't do much for squad morale."
I suppose it's the classic stick or twist. If we had pushed out, Tyrone could have exploited a gap and landed a winning score and maybe the lads would've been accused of naivety. Easy to be wise after the event.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9746 - 01/05/2025 15:48:22    2606065

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Replying To ballboy101:  "I thought that the tactic of allowing Tyrone to keep the ball for over two minutes was madness. If Donegal had pushed out we might have forced a turnover and got up the pitch. We left it to chance and had to hope they would miss.

The subs is an issue. Can you imagine being one of the players who normally get on and you having cramping players coming on instead? Doesn't do much for squad morale."
I presume you are referring to the end of normal time. If so I disagree because if Donegal had to push out Tyrone would have got a chance to score a point closer in and would have won the match in normal time.
I take your point but the two players I mentioned were 2 of Donegal's best players on the day and made a difference when they came on again.

Scenicparish (Donegal) - Posts: 473 - 01/05/2025 15:50:20    2606066

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