No way have Donegal to improve by 50 per cent on 2012 In my opinion the Donegal team of 2012 would have won last years All Ireland they were not far enough forward in 2011 but I still say a lot to teams won't want to play us in 2014. All this talk about the way Dublin play and all this attacking football , well I think they will struggle against a good defensive setup.in my opinion Donegal won their All Ireland easier than Dublin last year or Dublin did in 2011. I had £400 @ 9/2 on Dublin in 2011. With about 63 minutes gone I said to the lads ::that's my money gone, but we all know what happened but I could not believe A team like Kerry could get caught out like that I regarded myself as very lucky to won the £1800 as I thought Kerry threw away the game.
Also how does anybody know that this is JMcG last year. What if Neill Lennon leaves CELTIC would JMcG stay on then. ??? Donegal have a serious amount of young players on that panel. Even if JMcG leaves it should not be hard to get a good manager.
In winning their two All Ireland's Dublin have not convinced me to being anywhere near Tyrone 2003/05/08 or Kerry 2004/06/07/09 There were elements of luck in 2011 and they just made it last year So with Donegal back to their best ,good blanket defence properly organized and their running game we can be a match for anyone

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 16/02/2014 21:02:46    1547085

So Sam has backed Neptune Collonges the year he won the GN at 33/1, Donegal in 2012 at 25/1, 12/1 and 7/2 and now backed Dublin in 2011 at 9/2. If his posts are to be believed, his total profit from these bets is 10 or 12 thousand. Amazing someone so good at taking money off the bookies has the time and patience to be getting involved in petty little debates on here. Any chance Sam you might tell us what bets you have going at the minute?

If there's one thing that annoys me more than anything, it's someone coming onto a forum bragging about all the money they've won after the event has taken place ! If ever evidence was needed of a man with a gambling problem, I would say the Donegal man is it.

Former_Poster (Meath) - Posts: 394 - 16/02/2014 21:21:09    1547098

Ahh Sam would you give over. I have little time for dubs football. But honestly they have probably the best team that has taken to the field of play since Kerry early 80s b

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 16/02/2014 21:40:37    1547108

Former poster
Are you trying to call me a liar No problem for me to produce evidence as my bet on Donegal at 25/1 to win 2012 All Ireland Also won £10000 on Don't push it in 2010 I am not bragging ,just happened I left Donegal in 1968 with Ten pounds in my pocket ,aged 17 and through hard work made some money ,had a horse or two and was probably lucky at times For your information my max bet at Cheltenham this year is The New One

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 16/02/2014 22:01:34    1547126

royaldunne
County: Meath
Posts: 5448

1547108
Ahh Sam would you give over. I have little time for dubs football. But honestly they have probably the best team that has taken to the field of play since Kerry early 80s

While I agree that Dublin are a fine team who will ride roughshod over any team that isn't up to the task they are not unbeatable.

To beat them a team will need to take the initiative & not play the game on Dublin's terms. They will also need to have complete faith in themselves & have the personnel to carry it through.

As an example I would suggest that a variation of the tactics Donegal employed in the 2011 semi final would be worth looking at. On that day Donegal knocked Dublin out of their stride & only for some woeful finishing, Murphy had a nightmare, & the injury to Lacey they would have won that game.

It will take similar "out of the box" thinking to beat Dublin this year, but it can be done.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 17/02/2014 09:49:05    1547154

Looks like our Donegal friends havent quite got the hang of this trash talking dont you think Gatekeeper?

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 17/02/2014 10:00:00    1547167

Former poster.
If there's one thing that annoys me more than anything it's someone coming on to the forum bragging about all the money they've won after the event has taken place. If ever evedience was needed of a man with a gambling problem I would say the Donegal man is it.


How dare you try say I have a gambling problem just because I had a good bet on Donegal in 2012. For your information I've won about 20000£ sterling since Jim took over. Also know another Donegal man here who won £35000 on Donegal in 2012. Through the year I have a few bets on jump racing ( don't back on the flat much) and the National is a race I target and have backed the winner on a regular basis Really fancied Neptune Collonges and P Nichols had not trained a National winner at the time. I am one of thousands who left Ireland 40/50years ago with nothing (I had ten pounds in my pocket in 1968) and through hard work and a bit of luck made some money Buying property in London helped as it increased so much over the years. You want to buy a book , the title ;;The men who build Britain and it wil give you an insight to what lot of Irish people went through and I can tell you we did not get it easy. A lot of us who came here were aged around 16/17/18 years and the big majority were Donegal/Mayo/Galway /Kerry and I'm proud on what a lot of us have achieved
Also I'm not bragging and anybody who puts on a bet won't know what they've won until after the event So I hope YOU UNDERSTAND that the event has to conclude before you know what you win Also I know a few Clare lads who backed Clare at 16/1 to win the hurling. If you don't like my posts please ignore them and stay as AFormer Poster.

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 17/02/2014 10:10:14    1547168

Sam, I'm heading over to Cheltenham next month, any chance I could meet you over there?
I'm certainly not going to get rich backing Kildare!!!

murof (Kildare) - Posts: 480 - 17/02/2014 10:15:23    1547172

Brendtheredhand/the gatekeeper.

We are just like yourselves as we will be very disappointed IF We Don't meet Tyrone in this years championship And the further down the line the better hopefully in the All Ireland final Headquarters is the place , in front of the eyes of the watching world to really lay down a marker and prove this present Donegal team's superiority over Tyrone Four in a row I say boys
On a more serious note The games between Donegal and Tyrone , especially in 2012 were real tough games and Tyrone were not far off Donegal in those games In 2012 the hardest game I saw and the hardest game we got was against Tyrone.

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 17/02/2014 10:22:49    1547176

Murof

In 2012 Kildare were the other team I backed to won Leinster,I think I got 4/1 but they performed really bad I thought they would be a force in 2012 after what I saw between them and Donegal on that unforgettable Saturday night in 2011 However I would not write them off in Leinster this year and I thing 7/1 or 8/1 to win Leinster is good value. Dublin might not peak or be too bothered about Leinster this year so I think Kildare would be a better bet than Meath I'd take a chance on Kildare in Leinster it's not a ten one eleven horse race ,you can narrow it down to three As for myself I won't back Donegal for Sam until the Derry game is over,if we get bet we will go out in price and if we win we won't come in that much.

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 17/02/2014 10:34:24    1547184

These men from the hills love to hark back to 2012 completely forgetting about what happened last year........COMPLETE BURN OUT.

Look lads you won in 2012 because of an ultra and I mean Ultra defensive approach (with no black card ruling) which required extreme fitness levels. Now believe it or not 2013 did happen and we all know what happened, ye got found out ! Mayo trounced ye in front of the counrty. No longer did you have the fitness levels required to pull off your unique approach to our game.

Now lets say in 2014 Jim manages to get your boys back to same fitness levels of 2012 and that I feel will be a big ask. Jim will not be able to revert back to the ultra defensive style as he will need to bring 15 substitutes with him to each game to help replace the players coming off from the black cards. So he will have to play more openly and we all know how Donegal get on at the open football.

Game2Halves (Tyrone) - Posts: 265 - 17/02/2014 11:01:37    1547205

These men from the hills love to hark back to 2012 completely forgetting about what happened last year........COMPLETE BURN OUT.

Look lads you won in 2012 because of an ultra and I mean Ultra defensive approach (with no black card ruling) which required extreme fitness levels. Now believe it or not 2013 did happen and we all know what happened, ye got found out ! Mayo trounced ye in front of the counrty. No longer did you have the fitness levels required to pull off your unique approach to our game.

Now lets say in 2014 Jim manages to get your boys back to same fitness levels of 2012 and that I feel will be a big ask. Jim will not be able to revert back to the ultra defensive style as he will need to bring 15 substitutes with him to each game to help replace the players coming off from the black cards. So he will have to play more openly and we all know how Donegal get on at the open football.





Some Crack yous boys from Tyrone, chatting about ultra defensive considering that yous were the boys that invented it, also you obviously must have been out of the country in 2012 when y
U say donegal won the AI playing ultra defensive, cause if you knew anything about football it was very clear to see that the game plan donegal adapted had evolved a lot from 2011, but your obviously one of these boys that has the opionion that if a team plays one way one year then they never have the ability to change there game plan( probably A bit like Tyrone actually) as yous are the guys who tried and failed to take on Donegal in 2012 playing the ultra defensive game plan but you failed as you had in 2011 and in 2013 ( as bad an all as Donegal were in 2013)

Go look at the scores that Donegal posted in every match in 2012 and you will see what your saying makes no sense, as a team playing ultra defensive don't score 2-11,2-18,0-16 pts in matches, the only match where they scored what is deemed to be a low score was the Tyrone match in 2012 which makes what your saying hypocritical to say the least.

And for its worth we will see what Donegal bring to the table this year, Tyrone for 1 team won't be able to handle it

ben1977 (Donegal) - Posts: 364 - 17/02/2014 11:26:31    1547221

Game2Halves
County: Tyrone
Posts: 98

1547205
These men from the hills love to hark back to 2012 completely forgetting about what happened last year........COMPLETE BURN OUT.

Look lads you won in 2012 because of an ultra and I mean Ultra defensive approach (with no black card ruling) which required extreme fitness levels. Now believe it or not 2013 did happen and we all know what happened, ye got found out ! Mayo trounced ye in front of the counrty. No longer did you have the fitness levels required to pull off your unique approach to our game.

Now lets say in 2014 Jim manages to get your boys back to same fitness levels of 2012 and that I feel will be a big ask. Jim will not be able to revert back to the ultra defensive style as he will need to bring 15 substitutes with him to each game to help replace the players coming off from the black cards. So he will have to play more openly and we all know how Donegal get on at the open football.

Where are u going with all the chat about 2012 black cards and ultra defensive?
U dont have to be cynical to play defensively. I cant remember anyone from Kerry, Cork or Mayo complaining about refereeing decisions when we beat them.
The black card ruling is going to expose teams who try and stop playing football, or running with the ball, as we do by the way. This is going to be very interesting indeed when we meet some teams this year in terms of how they are going to cope with players flying out of defense in support of attackers. It will expose negative game plans, and I for one am all on for this.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3853 - 17/02/2014 11:33:13    1547224

Right all us boys from the hills will forget about 2012/2013 and look forward to 2014. Donegal again to play an Ultra defensive game , with the team again to reach extreme level of fitness. We can play Ultra defensive and how do you know we will get black cards?? What about our counter attacking and how will it be stopped? Over the last couple of years I saw different Donegal players taking.out of it on the run to the return pass. Just look at some of their games and you will see Also did you read C o Roark in yesterday's Irish independent ,He was on about this running game and the black card and how hard it will be to stop counter attacks without fouling and He named Donegal and Tyrone as two teams playing defensive with a running game included.
Talking about open football it's a good job the black card rule was not in force in 2003, Tyrone v Kerry as Mr Gatekeeper Tyrone would have wanted 30 subs
My view is Donegal Must get the TACKLE right and with a Ultra defensive set up and our counter attacks we could be hard to beat. A lot of Ulster championship game are real dour affairs with a lot of passion and commitment so it will be interesting to see the number of black cards that will be issued in the games

SamOnErrigal (Donegal) - Posts: 1427 - 17/02/2014 11:35:37    1547227

Game2Halves
County: Tyrone
Posts: 98

1547205
These men from the hills love to hark back to 2012 completely forgetting about what happened last year........COMPLETE BURN OUT.

Look lads you won in 2012 because of an ultra and I mean Ultra defensive approach (with no black card ruling) which required extreme fitness levels. Now believe it or not 2013 did happen and we all know what happened, ye got found out ! Mayo trounced ye in front of the counrty. No longer did you have the fitness levels required to pull off your unique approach to our game.

Now lets say in 2014 Jim manages to get your boys back to same fitness levels of 2012 and that I feel will be a big ask. Jim will not be able to revert back to the ultra defensive style as he will need to bring 15 substitutes with him to each game to help replace the players coming off from the black cards. So he will have to play more openly and we all know how Donegal get on at the open football.

Talk about rewriting history!!!!

An ultra defensive approach? 2-18 against Down in the Ulster Final & 0-16 against Cork in the semi final hardly points to an ultra defensive approach.

As for 2013 being a year of complete burnout I would agree that 2012 caught up on us but if memory serves me right burnt out & all as we were we were still more than good enough for Tyrone!!

Neither do You understand the black card. To get a black card you have to engage in a cynical foul like the one Sean Cavanagh, a Tyrone man I believe, engaged in last year. Donegal engage in a swarm defence which will not in a million years get a black card.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 17/02/2014 11:53:41    1547237

brendtheredhand
County: Tyrone
Posts: 8934

1547167
Looks like our Donegal friends havent quite got the hang of this trash talking dont you think Gatekeeper?




'They' wont let me post a reply brend, so +1.

TheGateKeeper (Tyrone) - Posts: 2843 - 17/02/2014 13:58:51    1547363

MuckrossHead
County: Donegal
Posts: 2103

As an example I would suggest that a variation of the tactics Donegal employed in the 2011 semi final would be worth looking at. On that day Donegal knocked Dublin out of their stride & only for some woeful finishing, Murphy had a nightmare, & the injury to Lacey they would have won that game.

It will take similar "out of the box" thinking to beat Dublin this year, but it can be done.

I agree that the Dubs can of course be beaten this year. I expect us to at least make semi-finals but not to do the back to back imo.

Your take about others re writing history and then have your own little take on the 2011 semi-final. Donegal were beaten by the better team on the day, all the rest is ifs and buts.

Dublin maybe would've won by more if certain things had gone our way too. It works both ways Muck. All things being equal Donegal were inferior to Dublin on the day.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13833 - 17/02/2014 14:31:50    1547395

In fairness this thread should be renamed the black card thread.

But if any thread is going to include the topic of sam 2014 it should at least refer to the reining champs as a benchmark of where it is at.

In terms of what has to be done, it is all about staying injury free and getting a run going. Thats about all you can do especially if you are an ulster team.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3853 - 17/02/2014 14:39:59    1547403

MesAmis
County: Dublin
Posts: 6910


I agree that the Dubs can of course be beaten this year. I expect us to at least make semi-finals but not to do the back to back imo.

Your take about others re writing history and then have your own little take on the 2011 semi-final. Donegal were beaten by the better team on the day, all the rest is ifs and buts.

Point taken MesAmis but it wasn't the tactics that failed us on the day. Just poor execution.

My contention is that if you knock a team out of their stride & confuse their thinking then anyone can be beaten. To read some posters here you would think that we should just hand Sam over today. I think Dublin are very beatable. Are they the best in the country? Yes.
Are they unbeatable? No chance.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 17/02/2014 17:42:44    1547597

MuckrossHead.....

Dublin aren't unbeatable.

But Donegal wont beat them!!!

JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 17/02/2014 17:45:09    1547599