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: 2852 - 30/04/2025 22:05:58    2605863

Ulsterchamps_32 (Donegal) - Posts: 806 - 30/04/2025 23:40:58    2605886

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: 806 - 01/05/2025 00:08:05    2605891

ModernMaharaja (Donegal) - Posts: 89 - 01/05/2025 08:04:56    2605913

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

NPadraigAbu (Donegal) - Posts: 105 - 01/05/2025 08:49:06    2605918

rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2612 - 01/05/2025 09:02:18    2605920

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: 9744 - 01/05/2025 09:08:00    2605922

totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 1051 - 01/05/2025 10:50:08    2605959

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

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: 2612 - 01/05/2025 10:56:43    2605963

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: 9744 - 01/05/2025 11:13:13    2605968