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Incredible heart from the twenties tonight but yet again Tyrone win the tight tussle against us like they always do. Never being so frustrated watching a game as Donegal couldn't get a break. Numerous times the Donegal lads got a hand in or looked like making an interception the ball would always end up in Tyrone hands. Compounded by the goal which is a point effort comes off the post and where does it land? I had that feeling from early on when McMenamin made a great fetch only to land awkwardly and go off injured. He was a massive loss around the middle where Tyrone laid down the foundation of their game plan to starve Donegal of the ball and take very little risks. We seen what happened in extra time when the game got a little wild with Donegal dominating after throwing off the shackles. Tyrone sealed it in extra time with the hot patch punishing poor kickouts with clinical finishes. The two cheap frees were very costly between gaining possession from the kick out to getting punished for the 3 man back rule. This followed the one brought in for Roarty apparently touching the ball on the ground which looked highly contentious. Unfortunately our composure let us down for large periods and Tyrone killed us on the kickouts. Really disappointed but many of the team are underage next year. Plus there are a few lads destined to be top senior players. panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2853 - 30/04/2025 22:05:58 2605863 Link
Replying To shaggykev: "Yeah Monaghan have plum draw of the whole lot. Even better than Kerry's group. They can now start planning and prepping with An All Ireland quarter final in sight. Favourites to too group, get the extra week prep to face a side playing three weeks in a row and potentially running on empty. Whereas we now have four or not five harder games to face to end up in same position and have already played two more games than them." If Jim mcGuinness can steer Donegal to win the Ulster final and then group stage to win the all Ireland 2 the he really is something else. If you take the emotion and Ulster championship glory away then there is not much logic in prioritising it. 4 matches to win it and less than zero advantage by winning it. At least in Munster and connacht you get two weeks between each match. The Ulster and leinster finalists have to play matches 1 and 2 a week apart. It's just such a silly set up. Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 809 - 30/04/2025 23:40:58 2605886 Link
Next year is irrelevant until next year and does nobody any favours about talking about learnings for next year's team. Your chance is there in front of you and you didn't take it. Big odds that dying with your boats on when you lose. Donegal had no conventional midfielder and it hurt them badly. Losing mcmenamin in his first play was such a loss. Yep the ref was frustrating, particularly in the 50 metre advancement for the equalizer for the roarty free concession. I would say most thought he was fouled and he thought that himself. Some of the play was also so depressing and extra time excitement should not be allowed gloss over that. Donegal were so rigid in defending the arc and I don't want to watch two minutes of Tyrone tipping it back and forth and Donegal not trying to win at the end of normal time. And it did catch them out at the start of et because they were defending too deep and Tyrone won the game with the three two pointers. And if that helps in some way stop Donegal playing such depressing football the that is at least a positive. They have no real ability to pass inside. If the academy through Lacey for example is serious about developing good footballers they have to start working on that. They just run the ball all the time there are three men up and when you turn it over the kick inside is on. It's not even a consideration. And the idea of the running game is that it reduces the risk of turnover and Donegal made too many mistakes in that front anyway. Hard luck and all that but a lot of that match was a hard watch. Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 809 - 01/05/2025 00:08:05 2605891 Link
Replying To panamasam: "Incredible heart from the twenties tonight but yet again Tyrone win the tight tussle against us like they always do. Never being so frustrated watching a game as Donegal couldn't get a break. Numerous times the Donegal lads got a hand in or looked like making an interception the ball would always end up in Tyrone hands. Compounded by the goal which is a point effort comes off the post and where does it land? I had that feeling from early on when McMenamin made a great fetch only to land awkwardly and go off injured. He was a massive loss around the middle where Tyrone laid down the foundation of their game plan to starve Donegal of the ball and take very little risks. We seen what happened in extra time when the game got a little wild with Donegal dominating after throwing off the shackles. Tyrone sealed it in extra time with the hot patch punishing poor kickouts with clinical finishes. The two cheap frees were very costly between gaining possession from the kick out to getting punished for the 3 man back rule. This followed the one brought in for Roarty apparently touching the ball on the ground which looked highly contentious. Unfortunately our composure let us down for large periods and Tyrone killed us on the kickouts. Really disappointed but many of the team are underage next year. Plus there are a few lads destined to be top senior players." Stay Humble ModernMaharaja (Donegal) - Posts: 89 - 01/05/2025 08:04:56 2605913 Link
Congrats to Tyrone on their win last night. It will be of little consolation but our lads can hold their heads high that they brought the fight to them to the end. I feel if we didn't concede that last free at the end we had the momentum to land a 2 pointer or level it at least. Did anyone else find it strange that we took back on three players we took off? What kind of message does that send to the unused subs - we had a panel of 37! And I'm sure it would contradict a lot of the theory around injury prevention as well. peiledoir20 (Donegal) - Posts: 1184 - 01/05/2025 08:21:07 2605916 Link
Replying To peiledoir20: "Congrats to Tyrone on their win last night. It will be of little consolation but our lads can hold their heads high that they brought the fight to them to the end. I feel if we didn't concede that last free at the end we had the momentum to land a 2 pointer or level it at least. Did anyone else find it strange that we took back on three players we took off? What kind of message does that send to the unused subs - we had a panel of 37! And I'm sure it would contradict a lot of the theory around injury prevention as well." Looking at some of the subs they made I assumed the management team was looking towards potential penalties with bringing Muldoon back on etc NPadraigAbu (Donegal) - Posts: 105 - 01/05/2025 08:49:06 2605918 Link
Replying To peiledoir20: "Congrats to Tyrone on their win last night. It will be of little consolation but our lads can hold their heads high that they brought the fight to them to the end. I feel if we didn't concede that last free at the end we had the momentum to land a 2 pointer or level it at least. Did anyone else find it strange that we took back on three players we took off? What kind of message does that send to the unused subs - we had a panel of 37! And I'm sure it would contradict a lot of the theory around injury prevention as well." Putting players back on in extra time does happen, we done it against armagh last year in the ulster final and there was no word of it because we win. Tyrone deserved the win better all round team. But our young lads done us proud. Why do we keep losing tight games to Tyrone especially. Between our under age teams and school teams if it's tight we're nearly guaranteed to lose. rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2613 - 01/05/2025 09:02:18 2605920 Link
Hard luck to the u20s last night. It was a tight game and Tyrone got a lot of the wee breaks and luck. But fair play to them, they were deserving winners truth be told. I couldn't get to the match, but from the TV footage, did it look like the pitch was in poor enough shape? I'm probably nit picking though, it was the same for both teams. Muldoon is a serious player. Was it him that was up with Sligo Rovers? Is he fully committing to the gaelic now? Just wondering if he'd be a wild card player for Jim to introduce at any stage for the seniors? On the groups draw, I agree with UlsterChamps, there really is no reward for winning Ulster. I disagree completely with the groups being announced ahead of the provincial finals. In other circumstances, it could have been beneficial to lose your provincial final in order to land in a handier AI group. No sense to it at all. No disrespect intended to any county, but Monaghan are surely fancying their chances of reaching an AI quarter final whereas we could find ourselves in a complete minefield. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9745 - 01/05/2025 09:08:00 2605922 Link
Replying To rorysboys: "Putting players back on in extra time does happen, we done it against armagh last year in the ulster final and there was no word of it because we win. Tyrone deserved the win better all round team. But our young lads done us proud. Why do we keep losing tight games to Tyrone especially. Between our under age teams and school teams if it's tight we're nearly guaranteed to lose." Did a Donegal Team not dethrone Omagh CBS the Hogan Cup holders this year?? totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 1051 - 01/05/2025 10:50:08 2605959 Link
I know he was quiet in normal time but I thought the goal from Seanán Carr was absolutely top class, Tyrone might be annoyed at themselves for their defending but the shimmy and solo to make space for himself was brilliant, had me off my couch! it is a hard one to swallow and watching Tyrone standing 50metres from goal just holding on to the ball soloing to themselves was a hard watch for long periods as well. It's one of those things who do you blame in that scenario, Tyrone don't want to take it into Donegal's defensive structure but at the same time why would we let Tyrone pull us out of that structure. I think they will have regrets about how the game panned out and I do think we missed out on some breaks through the entire game. And even at all that we still had a shot on target to win it at the death, maybe not as clean a strike as he would have wanted and a good save from the Tyrone keeper. CCFabu (Donegal) - Posts: 161 - 01/05/2025 10:56:37 2605962 Link
Who was on Gary boyles backroom team. Showed a close up during game last night but didn't recognise the man next to Gary. rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2613 - 01/05/2025 10:56:43 2605963 Link
Some dates for your diaries: IF we win Ulster: Donegal v Tyrone (H) - 24th/25th of May Cavan v Donegal (A) - 31st May/1st June Donegal v Connacht runner up (Mayo) (N - Marciewicz?) - 14th/15th June Potential Prelim - 21st/22nd June OR AI Quarter Final = 28th/29th June IF we don't win Ulster Donegal v Derry (H) - 24th/25th May Dublin v Donegal (A) - 31st May/1st June Connacht Winner (Galway) v Donegal (N - ?) 14th/15th June Potential Prelim - 21st/22nd June OR AI Quarter Final = 28th/29th June Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9745 - 01/05/2025 11:13:13 2605968 Link
Replying To rorysboys: "Putting players back on in extra time does happen, we done it against armagh last year in the ulster final and there was no word of it because we win. Tyrone deserved the win better all round team. But our young lads done us proud. Why do we keep losing tight games to Tyrone especially. Between our under age teams and school teams if it's tight we're nearly guaranteed to lose." I get that, but to out 4 back on is unheard of, penalties or not. Think it would have been better trying to win the game with fresh legs rather than preparing for a draw with tired legs. Two lads were dropped off the 26 as well for attending a school trip on Monday so maybe that reduced our options. To answer your other question the backroom team is Shane Ward, Pauric Harvey and Shay Murrin. peiledoir20 (Donegal) - Posts: 1184 - 01/05/2025 11:29:14 2605974 Link
Replying To totalrecall: "Did a Donegal Team not dethrone Omagh CBS the Hogan Cup holders this year??" What about all the ones we lost. We seem to have an inferior complex when it comes to playing derry tyrone teams. rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2613 - 01/05/2025 11:31:50 2605976 Link
Replying To Lockjaw: "Some dates for your diaries: IF we win Ulster: Donegal v Tyrone (H) - 24th/25th of May Cavan v Donegal (A) - 31st May/1st June Donegal v Connacht runner up (Mayo) (N - Marciewicz?) - 14th/15th June Potential Prelim - 21st/22nd June OR AI Quarter Final = 28th/29th June IF we don't win Ulster Donegal v Derry (H) - 24th/25th May Dublin v Donegal (A) - 31st May/1st June Connacht Winner (Galway) v Donegal (N - ?) 14th/15th June Potential Prelim - 21st/22nd June OR AI Quarter Final = 28th/29th June" Thanks for that. Just so you know markievicz is not an option. They have to resod the pitch and it will be out of action for a year. Cavan would be pretty neutral for Galway or mayo. the gaa they'll probably send us to Hyde.. Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 809 - 01/05/2025 11:43:23 2605982 Link
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. gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1148 - 01/05/2025 11:54:13 2605987 Link
Replying To Ulsterchamps_32: "Thanks for that. Just so you know markievicz is not an option. They have to resod the pitch and it will be out of action for a year. Cavan would be pretty neutral for Galway or mayo. the gaa they'll probably send us to Hyde.." No doubt it would be to hell or to Connacht. gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1148 - 01/05/2025 11:57:26 2605989 Link
Replying To Lockjaw: "Hard luck to the u20s last night. It was a tight game and Tyrone got a lot of the wee breaks and luck. But fair play to them, they were deserving winners truth be told. I couldn't get to the match, but from the TV footage, did it look like the pitch was in poor enough shape? I'm probably nit picking though, it was the same for both teams. Muldoon is a serious player. Was it him that was up with Sligo Rovers? Is he fully committing to the gaelic now? Just wondering if he'd be a wild card player for Jim to introduce at any stage for the seniors? On the groups draw, I agree with UlsterChamps, there really is no reward for winning Ulster. I disagree completely with the groups being announced ahead of the provincial finals. In other circumstances, it could have been beneficial to lose your provincial final in order to land in a handier AI group. No sense to it at all. No disrespect intended to any county, but Monaghan are surely fancying their chances of reaching an AI quarter final whereas we could find ourselves in a complete minefield." The pitch was perfect.Great facility and lovely stand. gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1148 - 01/05/2025 11:59:37 2605992 Link
Replying To Ulsterchamps_32: "Thanks for that. Just so you know markievicz is not an option. They have to resod the pitch and it will be out of action for a year. Cavan would be pretty neutral for Galway or mayo. the gaa they'll probably send us to Hyde.." Wasn't aware about Marciewicz, good to know. Not that we needed much extra motivation anyway to try to beat Armagh in an Ulster final, but I think it would give us a wee bit more breathing room in the groups. I don't like the look of that potential Galway-Dublin-Derry group at all. Chances are we might end up in a prelim quarter final, which makes things awkward in terms of number of games in consecutive weeks. That said, Galway managed to reach the AI final last year from the prelims. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9745 - 01/05/2025 12:12:57 2605999 Link
Replying To CCFabu: "I know he was quiet in normal time but I thought the goal from Seanán Carr was absolutely top class, Tyrone might be annoyed at themselves for their defending but the shimmy and solo to make space for himself was brilliant, had me off my couch! it is a hard one to swallow and watching Tyrone standing 50metres from goal just holding on to the ball soloing to themselves was a hard watch for long periods as well. It's one of those things who do you blame in that scenario, Tyrone don't want to take it into Donegal's defensive structure but at the same time why would we let Tyrone pull us out of that structure. I think they will have regrets about how the game panned out and I do think we missed out on some breaks through the entire game. And even at all that we still had a shot on target to win it at the death, maybe not as clean a strike as he would have wanted and a good save from the Tyrone keeper." To the victors the spoils so Tyrone were right and Donegal wrong. In relation to the Tyrone keep ball that stalemate sits really with the Donegal side. Donegal were hyper defensive using the arc as their zone and Tyrone knew that. If donegal weren't going to engage them they were right to tap it about and try and work the last kick as a score. Their challenge was they would have worked a better play to try and get the score . Donegal were so into the tactic that they didn't really compete enough on the Tyrone kick out to my mind. Maybe they thought that without the height to compete they would expose themselves too much at the back. Because unlike Donegal Tyrone will kick it in if it's on. The defensive tactic ultimately undid Donegal because the arc was too far back with the wind advantage at the start of et and they kicked the three two pointers. The two pointers and there to discourage what Donegal were up to and ultimately it worked. Taking the Donegal goggles that's a good thing. Does anyway really want to watch the way that match was played in normal time. Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 809 - 01/05/2025 12:18:43 2606001 Link