It will be interesting to see how many club teams move away from the defensive, handpassing style this year. Very few, if any of the club teams (in the top 2 divisions) in donegal actually kick pass the ball consistently. I think mayo has finally and thankfully bust the bubble of slow hand passing around the arc. To continue with that old style of playing is a waste of time, because once you meet a team who can kick and press properly, your in trouble. So do the club/ county managers in donegal finally move away from a now defunct tactic? e.g. the old rules!! And embrace the new, fast moving, kicking game? Are these managers able to implement these new tactics? I have my doubts...but I hope im wrong.

gaeltacht81 (Donegal) - Posts: 41 - 28/07/2026 09:29:08    2687697

I also thought the decision to play man-on-man and press high was very brave.
Yes it did mean that there was a lot of space in front of David Clifford. But the thing was that Mayo's ferocious and relentless pressure from the full forward line back meant that Kerry weren't able to get the heads up early enough and get any kind of good ball into him. It looked like pure kamikaze stuff early on, and Clifford must ahve had about 1-3 after 15 minutes. But once Mayo got settled they never really looked back.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10437 - 28/07/2026 09:34:08    2687702