Have to say spirits are high enough this direction! Hate to say this but the ref didn't do us any favours! Aside from that, either this Donegal team aren't as good as people think or down are a lot better than people think. A lot of positives to be taken from this match I feel, Down have shown they can play traditionally as well as the new yet deeply sore to watch 'modern' style football. Obviously there's a few flaws in their play still but after today's performance I feel we could have a decent enough summer. Would be eyeing up a wee home draw against Tyrone now if they beat Offaly ;) Think Benny should be used as an impact sub to be honest and to those people saying Benny has seen his last ulster championship, Benny's not finished yet, that man has said a few times his days are up but at the end of the day football is all he has ever known and it's like a drug to him, can't see him leaving just yet to be honest

MissDownFanatic (Down) - Posts: 411 - 23/06/2013 18:04:58    1413449

arock
County: Dublin
Posts: 1485

1413310
If ever the odious term "puck football" was to be used for a game of football this is it. Shocking, if Down had a single kicker upfront they'd have one easy. This Donegal team won't beat anyone outside of Ulster.

Puck Football?? Is that a mix between hurling and football?

clondalkindub
God that was puke football at it's best, what has happened to our game lads?

RoyalDunne
Hear hear.
The following sentence is something i never ever thought id write. But for the sake of our game Dublin have to win the all ire, i don't believe mayo can same applies to kerry, perhap cork can. But if our game is to continue this utter utter tripe has to be beating. Or football will be destroyed.

I see you've also drank the funny water today RoyalDunne. Dublin won the all ireland in 2011 playing puke football. yes they are playing the way leinster football is traditionally played again and good to see. but just think about what you said. 1 all ireland every 16 years is good enough for the dubs!

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 23/06/2013 18:10:12    1413452

AnRaibh
County: Donegal
Finished without Lacey, Gallagher, Bradley, McBrearty, McGlynn, McLoone

sense at last but the mob on this forum have ignored the facts like these. the game was only so close because down tried to play like down but don't know how. so you ended up with the whole down team defending and then looking like headless chickens when they attacked. That match will stand to Donegal

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 23/06/2013 18:12:02    1413454

No doubt that Donegal rode their luck a small bit but they won a tough game against a side that gave most other Division 1 teams problems in the League and might still make the Quarter Finals. Donegal still won without 3 or 4 key players, highly impressive. Okay the game was poor and so was the referee for both sides but some of the criticism of Donegal is way over the top, at least they had the guts to shoot from distance, something Down failed to do, with Coulter being especially guilty. Down could have won, maybe deserved to win but if you can't shoot from 30 yards at this level .....

Donegal will more than likely now win a historic 3 in-a-row in Ulster but Cavan/Monaghan will make it just as hard for them as Down did today.

Cute_Kerry_Hoor (Kerry) - Posts: 2518 - 23/06/2013 18:13:30    1413455

MCMLX
County: Down
And so the Ulster Championship bids farewell to one of its all-time greats. In 2003, Benny Coulter lit up the Ulster final by bedazzling the mighty Tyrone team with a series of sparkling runs, excellent dummies, and a fantastic individual effort to beat 3 Tyrone players and bury the ball in the net. Today he was nothing but a shadow of a past era of Gaelic football, where protein shakes were not more important than honing your skills and 'system' was not a buzzword for nullifying the talents that make Gaelic football such a great sport. No...

ehh didn't Tyrone play a system back then? i think they did and it went under the name of puke football. get with the times lads you'll have nothing but good things to say about this donegal team in 10 years time.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 23/06/2013 18:14:10    1413456

a cracking game in breffni today...the tackling was fantastic and pressure on the man on the ball immense...much better than the dirge we have seen this year in where we have seen dublin,mayo cork and kerry win totally one sided games...down took a leaf from dublins book in 2010 and put 14 men behind the ball, and worked their backsides off,and then tried to run the ball at pace back at them again..martin mchugh was out of order criticising down for their tactics...just because down has the temerity to put it up to donegal..the intensity from down was superb,and the physicality of the game was fantastic..much better than watching forwards scoring points with nobody within touching distance of them...

mayotyroneman (Tyrone) - Posts: 1821 - 23/06/2013 18:14:37    1413457

MCMLX
County: Down
Players like Laverty are fast becoming the exception to the rule.

i'm sorry but him and most of the down forwards spent the day defending. it was like down tried to do to donegal what donegal tried to dublin in 2010. blame the down manager for that not donegal.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 23/06/2013 18:16:40    1413460

Delighted that we came through that game today. A bit surprized but not shocked at the comments on the thread here.

1 Conditions were very difficult for ball handling today, for both teams, and this lead to a lot of stalemates from promising moves
2 The ref didnt give much to Down or us in terms of favors, despite an earlier comment on this thread. It was a hard game to ref and he did all right
3 Down were a lot better than many credited them to be, and I would not get to excited or touchy about observations about Donegal being invincible
4 It wasnt a dirty game, despite some of the whinging I am reading here. Yes there were yellow cards, yes there were disruptive tactics used, by both teams. There was no complaints from any down people within earshot of me nor Donegal people for that matter, and it was a full house.
5 We may not have played very pretty stuff today, but we won with key men out.

This was a tense game, with a lot at stake, played in difficult conditions. We won by 3 points against top quality opposition. This is not about Donegal being unbeatable (which is ridiculous, no team is on a given day), but about getting a result toady. I look forward to the Munster final, which should be a good game of football. Leinster, who knows, Connaught give me a break. but people in glass houses should not throw stones.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3846 - 23/06/2013 18:16:56    1413461

Ah well missdownfanatic, it save me a wet and cold evening the Ballygawley roundabout all the same! Hard lines today, Donegal are a tough nut to crack for any side, even with the referee on your case, I've kept the back door open for so, when your ready!!!!

p.s. as for the result of the minor match...................nah nah nah nah nah!

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 23/06/2013 18:23:25    1413472

Therightstuff - you deservedly won Sam last year but don't be getting carried away with yourself now.
A fluke of a goal was the difference between us last year doubt you would get such a gift again.

Refs will eventually cop on to your tackling and it will be stamped out, plus you boys are in trouble when the black card comes in!

westkerry (Kerry) - Posts: 1250 - 23/06/2013 18:29:55    1413486

Donegal, Kilkenny and Leitrim beatable

beal (Mayo) - Posts: 1388 - 23/06/2013 18:31:19    1413489

Cattenacio
10-man rugby (won the WC for England)
Tampa Bay Rays in baseball

All evolutions in a game, all eventually figured by innovative teams. Stop calling for rule changes and come up with something better

Eddie the Exile (Monaghan) - Posts: 1195 - 23/06/2013 18:37:03    1413497

westkerry
County: Kerry
Therightstuff - you deservedly won Sam last year but don't be getting carried away with yourself now.
A fluke of a goal was the difference between us last year doubt you would get such a gift again.

wow... just as a bit of sense creeps in the mad comments return! It was a great ball in by mcfadden and murphy's presence made it. You make your own luck. What about Kerry's goal that should have been disallowed? Donegal deserved to win end of.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 23/06/2013 18:43:44    1413503

Brendtheredhand good lad yourself get the kettle on for us coming in the back door! One positive is Donegal beat your lads by twice as many as they beat us ;) just saying lol. To be honest I think Donegal aren't as good as people first thought, if we had have taken our chances it might've been a different story but awk well it's the all about the discovering Ireland route now! Might get a trip up to Omagh maybe yet so keep your gear ready for the roundabout hey! As for the minors, fair play to you, good team, too many individuals on our side and not enough team play

MissDownFanatic (Down) - Posts: 411 - 23/06/2013 18:45:18    1413505

Eddie the Exile
County: Monaghan
Posts: 243

1413497
Cattenacio
10-man rugby (won the WC for England)
Tampa Bay Rays in baseball



All evolutions in a game, all eventually figured by innovative teams. Stop calling for rule changes and come up with something better


This is a good point, there were many times in both halves when a player in posession either was surrounded, or slipped and fell on the ball and then had to let go of it at his feet. The ref gave the benefit to the players surrounding the guy with the ball at his feet. Not easy to know what to do if you are in this situation as to fall on the ball = free, pick it up and try to barge thru with it = free, and to kick it aimlessly through the crowded defenders would likely mean losing possession.

And yes, conditions were dreadful for football today.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3846 - 23/06/2013 18:45:49    1413508

Some laughable stuff one here!

@westkerry - Our goal may have been a fluke (although should have been a penalty anyway). Your goal was certainly a square ball!

MCMLX
County: Down
Posts: 5

1413360
And so the Ulster Championship bids farewell to one of its all-time greats. In 2003, Benny Coulter lit up the Ulster final by bedazzling the mighty Tyrone team with a series of sparkling runs, excellent dummies, and a fantastic individual effort to beat 3 Tyrone players and bury the ball in the net. Today he was nothing but a shadow of a past era of Gaelic football, where protein shakes were not more important than honing your skills and 'system' was not a buzzword for nullifying the talents that make Gaelic football such a great sport. No...today Benny Coulter floated around in a sea of muscle-bound athletes, crowded and surrounded, and quietly disappeared from Ulster football. There is nothing 'purist' in saying that this is sad, even disgraceful.

A player who can proudly take his place alongside any of the Down greats and a player who can take proudly his place in that select group of players whose every touch of the ball heralds an immediate expectation of something brilliant. Brilliant Benny.

What a load of muck. Benny has been a fantastic player, no doubt about that, but he was left completely isolated today by Down's tactics. To say that it was because he was surrounded by 'muscle-bound athletes' is hogwash.

A tough game today, Down played well and with a lot of fight. They were certainly more defensive than us and just as cynical. No slight on them, they had their chances but we just had the better finishers on the day. To get a win against a good Down team missing a good few players is satisfactory. No doubt improvement is needed to go far this year but its another hurdle passed.

benjyyy (Donegal) - Posts: 1428 - 23/06/2013 18:49:30    1413511

Donegal have beaten two Division One teams and that should serve them better than what Kerry, Cork or Mayo have faced so far. Equally Down in round two are stronger than teams like Clare, Waterford, Roscommon and will be a team to avoid for the round one winners.

Byanthon (Tyrone) - Posts: 1792 - 23/06/2013 18:51:51    1413518

You seem hell bent on facing Tyrone MDF, how much pain are you prepared to endure in one season?

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 23/06/2013 18:52:57    1413520

Some of the posters on here - do ye realise how hypocritical ye sound....praising Down and having a go at Donegal for today's spectacle....Down played 14 men behind the ball but its ok when Down do it....laughable. Only Jack Goff and a few Kerry posters talking sense and talking with a bit of perspective...the rest of ye really need to stop talking with your heart and start talking with your heads...otherwise ye don't know how ridiculous ye sound.... From where I was standing the ref gave Down everything in the second half but I suppose ye didn't notice that...

Anyway I'm happy with today....played poorly - 50% of capacity against a Down team playing with all guns blazing - playing with a second string team for the second half and we still won....God help whoever we come up against when we do click!

Lifford Gael (Donegal) - Posts: 1925 - 23/06/2013 19:01:49    1413532