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Replying To TheRock2121:  "Any word on backroom team?"
Thankfully not Mark McHugh (or hopefully not Maxi)

StockholmGael (Donegal) - Posts: 111 - 02/11/2022 11:49:40    2446208

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There is a County forum next week to discuss possible change s to the Juvenile age groups again. There are proposals to bring it back to Under 18 but any proposal has "decoupling " attached to it, meaning that Under 18's cannot play adult.
This year the U17 league and championship worked brilliantly, giving all the players a lot of football, BUT, are these lads too young now to play Adult football next year? There has been some drop-off in players coming through from U17 to Adult football. What do you all think?

donegaldouble (Donegal) - Posts: 310 - 02/11/2022 13:10:23    2446230

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Replying To rorysboys:  "I don't think any full back would like to see Murphy coming into full forward. I tell you this Murphy is not that easy stopped."
Good to see you admit Donegal management got it terribly wrong in the ulster final with not using murphy in full forward, and letting his marker have a field day.

What i am looking for with the new management for the year ahead.
Patton to be more decisive and take less risk with short kickouts, if in doubt, drive it as far as he can, and with his power its in the oppositions danger zone.
Instill a real fighting sprit within the team.
Play with six aggressive defenders, with defending there number one priority and everything else they do is a bonus.
Play Thomson in midfield, we have seen in club football that its his best position, also he is one of the few players who can deliver a ball into the full forward line, high or low. Play mcgee in midfield playing a more defensive midfield roll. Doing the dirty stuff that enables Thomson to play his game.
In the half forward line, niall o donnell, langan, and shane o donnell. All good footballers, but they do need to add a bit more aggression to there game. Hopefully management can bring that to there game.
Full forward line of mcbrearty, murphy and hopefully a full fit gallon.
All strong players physically and a handful to any full back line if the ball is delivered early.

But the main thing i am hoping management will bring to the table, is higher intensity and phyical fitness, and a will to get over the line against the odds.
Mentality wise we have become soft, bullied to easy. That has to change. We need more warriors that are willing to win at all cost.
Whether we win anything or not, as long as you have players that would die for the jersey, i believe most Donegal supporter's would get behind the team.
Its time we became the bullys, like the mcguinness era, and make no apologies for it.

The keeper (Donegal) - Posts: 687 - 03/11/2022 11:59:48    2446324

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Replying To The keeper:  "Good to see you admit Donegal management got it terribly wrong in the ulster final with not using murphy in full forward, and letting his marker have a field day.

What i am looking for with the new management for the year ahead.
Patton to be more decisive and take less risk with short kickouts, if in doubt, drive it as far as he can, and with his power its in the oppositions danger zone.
Instill a real fighting sprit within the team.
Play with six aggressive defenders, with defending there number one priority and everything else they do is a bonus.
Play Thomson in midfield, we have seen in club football that its his best position, also he is one of the few players who can deliver a ball into the full forward line, high or low. Play mcgee in midfield playing a more defensive midfield roll. Doing the dirty stuff that enables Thomson to play his game.
In the half forward line, niall o donnell, langan, and shane o donnell. All good footballers, but they do need to add a bit more aggression to there game. Hopefully management can bring that to there game.
Full forward line of mcbrearty, murphy and hopefully a full fit gallon.
All strong players physically and a handful to any full back line if the ball is delivered early.

But the main thing i am hoping management will bring to the table, is higher intensity and phyical fitness, and a will to get over the line against the odds.
Mentality wise we have become soft, bullied to easy. That has to change. We need more warriors that are willing to win at all cost.
Whether we win anything or not, as long as you have players that would die for the jersey, i believe most Donegal supporter's would get behind the team.
Its time we became the bullys, like the mcguinness era, and make no apologies for it."
It's all about winning lad that's what supporters want. I hear gallen is out injured again. Big blow to the player and Donegal. Gallen needs a full year without any interruption. Management team did not get it terribly wrong in the Ulster final we were a kick of the ball away from winning it. For this year we have to stay in division one and hopefully win Ulster any else will be a failure in my eyes. No point in saying anything else. Draw has been kind . But the only problem is where are management going to find these defenders. Kerry at home in first game will test any defender. 4 away games so we need to win all our home games easier said than done. . Paddy carr deserves his chance he had the cajones to go for it unlike some others in the county.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2391 - 03/11/2022 12:48:13    2446336

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Replying To StockholmGael:  "Thankfully not Mark McHugh (or hopefully not Maxi)"
Out of interest why thankfully?

Yondu (UK) - Posts: 845 - 03/11/2022 13:28:38    2446341

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Replying To Yondu:  "Out of interest why thankfully?"
How are the players supposed to respect a trainer who didn't show up for training himself? Source: An Off The Ball himself Rory G did.

StockholmGael (Donegal) - Posts: 111 - 03/11/2022 15:14:46    2446356

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Replying To StockholmGael:  "How are the players supposed to respect a trainer who didn't show up for training himself? Source: An Off The Ball himself Rory G did."
We're not all perfect gave the man a chance. He done more for Donegal football than me or you ever done.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2391 - 03/11/2022 18:52:53    2446396

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Replying To donegaldouble:  "There is a County forum next week to discuss possible change s to the Juvenile age groups again. There are proposals to bring it back to Under 18 but any proposal has "decoupling " attached to it, meaning that Under 18's cannot play adult.
This year the U17 league and championship worked brilliantly, giving all the players a lot of football, BUT, are these lads too young now to play Adult football next year? There has been some drop-off in players coming through from U17 to Adult football. What do you all think?"
I personally like the under 18.
Moving down age groups with under 17 you kind of lose out an age group. Under 11s being a little young so it's 13s 15s and 17s. 12s, 14s, 16s and 18s is better 8n my view.
The under 17 championship looked very good this year but where does the lesser able player go after 17s. Most I presume will leave and that's too young to lose a player. There is also no real reason the under 18 championship can't be as good as the under 17s was this year.
A few smaller clubs will no doubt feel aggreived if an undet 18 player is good enough for senior club but I don't that is to outweigh the overall benefit of under 18. Maybe strike a compromise that they can play senior championship.

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 687 - 03/11/2022 20:18:09    2446413

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Replying To rorysboys:  "It's all about winning lad that's what supporters want. I hear gallen is out injured again. Big blow to the player and Donegal. Gallen needs a full year without any interruption. Management team did not get it terribly wrong in the Ulster final we were a kick of the ball away from winning it. For this year we have to stay in division one and hopefully win Ulster any else will be a failure in my eyes. No point in saying anything else. Draw has been kind . But the only problem is where are management going to find these defenders. Kerry at home in first game will test any defender. 4 away games so we need to win all our home games easier said than done. . Paddy carr deserves his chance he had the cajones to go for it unlike some others in the county."
Playing murphy out the field with his marker scoring 3 points. That cost us the game, so yes management got it terribly wrong.
But thats the past thankfully.

Any great manager of the past that has been successful has always said there are 20 good footballers in every county, its just a matter of picking them, and providing them with the tools to succeed.
So a top management team are well capable of finding 8 strong defender's in a county like Donegal.
I have a perfect example in the likes of Eunan Doherty of NC, probably one of the most consistent club players in the county this past few years. Can play half back or half forward, can chip in with scores, is aggressive and never stops running. But when it came to the county team, never really got a look in, as the same under performing players were picked because of there name.
I would say if you put a gps tracker on him during the game, he would probably top the table in km ran in games every single time.
He is just one example, in that we need to be picking and playing players on form, and not picking players on past form.
And that is not criticism towards any player, its down to management to pick players on form, and to find the best players that suit the way you want to play.
Hopefully o'rourke can get our defence playing with more aggression, as he once was part of a team that was built around physicality in their defending.
I am excited and wish the management the very best, i still believe we are more that capable of winning ulster, and are as good if not better than most ulster countys.
Take kerry and the dubs out of it as they are a step ahead at this moment, but the rest are beatable with a fully prepared Donegal team

The keeper (Donegal) - Posts: 687 - 04/11/2022 12:11:40    2446459

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Replying To The keeper:  "Playing murphy out the field with his marker scoring 3 points. That cost us the game, so yes management got it terribly wrong.
But thats the past thankfully.

Any great manager of the past that has been successful has always said there are 20 good footballers in every county, its just a matter of picking them, and providing them with the tools to succeed.
So a top management team are well capable of finding 8 strong defender's in a county like Donegal.
I have a perfect example in the likes of Eunan Doherty of NC, probably one of the most consistent club players in the county this past few years. Can play half back or half forward, can chip in with scores, is aggressive and never stops running. But when it came to the county team, never really got a look in, as the same under performing players were picked because of there name.
I would say if you put a gps tracker on him during the game, he would probably top the table in km ran in games every single time.
He is just one example, in that we need to be picking and playing players on form, and not picking players on past form.
And that is not criticism towards any player, its down to management to pick players on form, and to find the best players that suit the way you want to play.
Hopefully o'rourke can get our defence playing with more aggression, as he once was part of a team that was built around physicality in their defending.
I am excited and wish the management the very best, i still believe we are more that capable of winning ulster, and are as good if not better than most ulster countys.
Take kerry and the dubs out of it as they are a step ahead at this moment, but the rest are beatable with a fully prepared Donegal team"
Are you telling me eunan Doherty is as good a defender as what's there. Your totally blinkered with n Conal . You could stick a g p s tracker on any athlete doesn't mean he can play football lol.. you do surprise me with your comments your such a bitter git.. we'll see how good your players are when yous start competing in Ulster. You must be disgusted with the lack of people showing an interest in the county job you can't beat a true Donegal Gael like bonner who served Donegal so well.. people like that are few and far between.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2391 - 04/11/2022 13:21:12    2446481

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Replying To rorysboys:  "Are you telling me eunan Doherty is as good a defender as what's there. Your totally blinkered with n Conal . You could stick a g p s tracker on any athlete doesn't mean he can play football lol.. you do surprise me with your comments your such a bitter git.. we'll see how good your players are when yous start competing in Ulster. You must be disgusted with the lack of people showing an interest in the county job you can't beat a true Donegal Gael like bonner who served Donegal so well.. people like that are few and far between."
We don't need to test ourselves in Ulster to see how good we are, we are the best in Donegal. I think Eunan deserves a chance, Donegal are continually playing forwards in the half back line and that's why we need so many bodies behind the ball when other teams when other teams. Do like Jim and pick 6 proper defenders that can be trusted in any one v one battle. That is the starting point.

Scenicparish (Donegal) - Posts: 266 - 04/11/2022 16:24:21    2446512

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Replying To Scenicparish:  "We don't need to test ourselves in Ulster to see how good we are, we are the best in Donegal. I think Eunan deserves a chance, Donegal are continually playing forwards in the half back line and that's why we need so many bodies behind the ball when other teams when other teams. Do like Jim and pick 6 proper defenders that can be trusted in any one v one battle. That is the starting point."
Of course you have to test yourself in Ulster. Ok being a good team but to be a great team you have to do it in Ulster like gweedore done. Are you telling me eunan Doherty is a defender if so why did yous play him as a half forward all year.. so if Donegal play him in defence he is a natural defender if that's the case Ryan Mc Hugh is definitely a defender because that's where he plays for Kilcar.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2391 - 04/11/2022 21:23:08    2446522

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Replying To Scenicparish:  "We don't need to test ourselves in Ulster to see how good we are, we are the best in Donegal. I think Eunan deserves a chance, Donegal are continually playing forwards in the half back line and that's why we need so many bodies behind the ball when other teams when other teams. Do like Jim and pick 6 proper defenders that can be trusted in any one v one battle. That is the starting point."
Totally agree scenicparish and don't need to mention Jim defenders are defenders and forwards very rare make defenders, sick of the tactics this past few years and a buck on here says we can't get 6 good defenders out of 40 clubs in the ffs.

Tyrion (Donegal) - Posts: 159 - 04/11/2022 22:00:56    2446523

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Replying To Scenicparish:  "We don't need to test ourselves in Ulster to see how good we are, we are the best in Donegal. I think Eunan deserves a chance, Donegal are continually playing forwards in the half back line and that's why we need so many bodies behind the ball when other teams when other teams. Do like Jim and pick 6 proper defenders that can be trusted in any one v one battle. That is the starting point."
The problem is finding 6 proper defenders. We don't have defenders of the quality Jim had to work with.

greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 462 - 05/11/2022 08:20:03    2446524

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Replying To Tyrion:  "Totally agree scenicparish and don't need to mention Jim defenders are defenders and forwards very rare make defenders, sick of the tactics this past few years and a buck on here says we can't get 6 good defenders out of 40 clubs in the ffs."
You name them it doesn't matter if we had 100 clubs. A lad being mentioned on here about being a defender and he plays all his football for his club in attack. What's your opinion on that. Probably no comment. If I'm talking about defenders I mean players like the Mc gees p Mc grath proper defenders which unfortunately I can't see us having a lot of. Mc Cole is getting there Mc fadden ferry but he's out this year and mayb Mc menamin. Ban Gallagher is a cert brilliant player who can do both attack and defend god forbid if he gets injured..

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2391 - 05/11/2022 10:50:54    2446534

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Replying To greenfan:  "The problem is finding 6 proper defenders. We don't have defenders of the quality Jim had to work with."
We barely have one good defender never mind 6.

TheRock2121 (Donegal) - Posts: 1139 - 05/11/2022 11:04:24    2446538

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Replying To rorysboys:  "Are you telling me eunan Doherty is as good a defender as what's there. Your totally blinkered with n Conal . You could stick a g p s tracker on any athlete doesn't mean he can play football lol.. you do surprise me with your comments your such a bitter git.. we'll see how good your players are when yous start competing in Ulster. You must be disgusted with the lack of people showing an interest in the county job you can't beat a true Donegal Gael like bonner who served Donegal so well.. people like that are few and far between."
If you watched club football, you would actually realise E Doherty is one of the most consistent club footballers in the county over the past five years, and more than just an athlete. I mention one player from Naomh conail as an example and i am being biased towards Naomh conail.
And whether we do well in ulster this year or not, our players have been to two ulster finals, and have won numerous county titles, so dont need to prove anything. I can guarantee you this, it wont be lost for the lack of commitment or efford on there part. A great bunch of players who are an example of hard work pays off.
And i am far from disgusted with the lack of applications for the Donegal job.
I am excited with the new management team, as its new and exciting for both supporters and players. You could clearly see players losing confidence under the previous setup.
Hopefully the new setup will have a more open mind, and try new players and play players that are in form. Competition for places only adds hunger to a team. Thats what good management brings.

The keeper (Donegal) - Posts: 687 - 05/11/2022 13:08:17    2446547

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Replying To rorysboys:  "Of course you have to test yourself in Ulster. Ok being a good team but to be a great team you have to do it in Ulster like gweedore done. Are you telling me eunan Doherty is a defender if so why did yous play him as a half forward all year.. so if Donegal play him in defence he is a natural defender if that's the case Ryan Mc Hugh is definitely a defender because that's where he plays for Kilcar."
There is a difference in night and day between Doherty and R mchugh.
R mchugh is a great footballer, however he cant tackle, and avoids the physical stuff. So thats why its madness playing him in the half back line.
Doherty if you see him play, is aggressive, wons dirty ball and is fearless, and his workrate is higher than most players in the county, And can play football.
But you can still play good footballers in the half back line, as long as they are able to tackle and be aggressive.
Ban gallagher can do both. Doherty can do both.
Another player that i believe would be more that capable of playing there is shane o'donnell, strong, fearless and not afraid to won dirty ball.

What people are failing to realise is that you can play an attacking half back line, as long as the players can tackle and defend also and are committed to won dirty ball.

What our previous management team were doing was picking footballers in the half back line that avoided the physical stuff, and so we always looked wide open in defence.

And this Naomh conail team have nothing to prove to anyone. Several all Ireland winners, multiple county championships. Only people that are jealous of our success think we have something to prove.

The keeper (Donegal) - Posts: 687 - 05/11/2022 13:36:10    2446551

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Replying To The keeper:  "There is a difference in night and day between Doherty and R mchugh.
R mchugh is a great footballer, however he cant tackle, and avoids the physical stuff. So thats why its madness playing him in the half back line.
Doherty if you see him play, is aggressive, wons dirty ball and is fearless, and his workrate is higher than most players in the county, And can play football.
But you can still play good footballers in the half back line, as long as they are able to tackle and be aggressive.
Ban gallagher can do both. Doherty can do both.
Another player that i believe would be more that capable of playing there is shane o'donnell, strong, fearless and not afraid to won dirty ball.

What people are failing to realise is that you can play an attacking half back line, as long as the players can tackle and defend also and are committed to won dirty ball.

What our previous management team were doing was picking footballers in the half back line that avoided the physical stuff, and so we always looked wide open in defence.

And this Naomh conail team have nothing to prove to anyone. Several all Ireland winners, multiple county championships. Only people that are jealous of our success think we have something to prove."
How did Eunan get on when he was up at the start of the year? Got a few games but looked poor and not quick enough for county level. Agree, a very good club player with Savage work rate

TheRock2121 (Donegal) - Posts: 1139 - 05/11/2022 17:26:19    2446565

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Replying To The keeper:  "There is a difference in night and day between Doherty and R mchugh.
R mchugh is a great footballer, however he cant tackle, and avoids the physical stuff. So thats why its madness playing him in the half back line.
Doherty if you see him play, is aggressive, wons dirty ball and is fearless, and his workrate is higher than most players in the county, And can play football.
But you can still play good footballers in the half back line, as long as they are able to tackle and be aggressive.
Ban gallagher can do both. Doherty can do both.
Another player that i believe would be more that capable of playing there is shane o'donnell, strong, fearless and not afraid to won dirty ball.

What people are failing to realise is that you can play an attacking half back line, as long as the players can tackle and defend also and are committed to won dirty ball.

What our previous management team were doing was picking footballers in the half back line that avoided the physical stuff, and so we always looked wide open in defence.

And this Naomh conail team have nothing to prove to anyone. Several all Ireland winners, multiple county championships. Only people that are jealous of our success think we have something to prove."
You still have to win Ulster like gweedore did at there first attempt in a while. Your contradicting your self not alone do you want to play one forward in o donnell in the back line but you want Shane o donnell in there too. Do you honestly this would work. I don't think so. Get me 6 ban Gallagher s and then il agree we have a good defence. Stop naming players for the sake of it lol.

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2391 - 05/11/2022 17:34:44    2446568

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