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Well done to the AVS on reaching the MacRory Cup Final, a huge achievement for them and the 3 clubs involved. The Co Board should really be looking at a number of amalgamations across to cover the whole county f they are serious about developing underage players and improving the standard of club players. The South West schools were hand picked based on last 2 years Co Minors squads and come across as elitist. Amalgamations I would suggest would be; Inishowen (Carn, Moville, Buncrana x2 schools) South (Bundoran, Ballyshannon, AVS if not in MacRory Cup) South West (Carrick, Kbegs, Glenties) North West (Dungloe, Gaoth Dobhair, Falcarragh) North East (Milford x2, Letterkenny x3) East (Ballinamore, Stranorlar, Finn Valley, Raphoe) The above would give every player an opportunity to play at the highest level of schools football not just handpicked schools in the county. These would be a stepping stone onto County U17 and U20 squads similar to Derry and Tyrone schools. Long term the Co Board, schools, and clubs should be looking to put full time coaches (similar to Chrissy McCague in Maghera and Enda Mulddon in St Pius Magherafelt ) in the seconadry schoools to raise the standards and develop players. St Eunans College with their pick should really be competing at MacRory Cup level on a more consistent basis. KHL (Donegal) - Posts: 113 - 27/01/2025 20:20:12 2588050 Link
Replying To themaddog: "If Donegal refused to that they would have automatically lost the game. I'm not sure where that narrative has come from. It is a terrible day down the country with a risk of flooding. The health and safety of the players is paramount and the authorities in Croke Park made the decision in the best interests of players and supporters." The men couldn't travel to Kerry as it was unsafe....but it was ok for the Ladies to travel to Clare? Doesn't make sense dats_rite (Australia) - Posts: 15 - 27/01/2025 20:46:44 2588053 Link
Replying To dats_rite: "The men couldn't travel to Kerry as it was unsafe....but it was ok for the Ladies to travel to Clare? Doesn't make sense" Hi dats_rite: Mc Guinness playing more mind games a la Murphy in goals. He sat back this weekend and watched the guinea pigs trying to implement the new rules. A masterstroke. AudiMan (Donegal) - Posts: 678 - 27/01/2025 23:34:48 2588072 Link
Replying To dats_rite: "The men couldn't travel to Kerry as it was unsafe....but it was ok for the Ladies to travel to Clare? Doesn't make sense" GAA made the call based on the forecast, the ladies made their own call. It was a brutal wet and windy morning in Killarney. The game could probably have been played but it would have been a mess. Possibly not as bad as the game in Killarney a few years back which should definitely have been called off but the decision was left too late then. WeGoAgain (Donegal) - Posts: 57 - 28/01/2025 07:08:57 2588085 Link
Replying To WeGoAgain: "GAA made the call based on the forecast, the ladies made their own call. It was a brutal wet and windy morning in Killarney. The game could probably have been played but it would have been a mess. Possibly not as bad as the game in Killarney a few years back which should definitely have been called off but the decision was left too late then." Any word on when the re-fixture will be v Kerry? Probably week after next which was to be a rest week? PeterQ92 (Donegal) - Posts: 120 - 28/01/2025 08:12:14 2588089 Link
Replying To dats_rite: "The men couldn't travel to Kerry as it was unsafe....but it was ok for the Ladies to travel to Clare? Doesn't make sense" Yeah it was a poor call to send the ladies team down there, I think all games should have been cancelled last weekend in light of the Storm damage and local loss of life. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1227 - 28/01/2025 08:36:10 2588092 Link
Replying To PeterQ92: "Any word on when the re-fixture will be v Kerry? Probably week after next which was to be a rest week?" Not confirmed yet but seems it'll definitely be the weekend after next. I'm guessing it'll be the Sunday 9th Feb. I'm going to miss it, first league or championship game in nearly a decade, so I'm fairly disappointed to break my attendance streak. I've an adult and juvenile ticket that I'd be happy to pass into anyone who needs them. WeGoAgain (Donegal) - Posts: 57 - 28/01/2025 10:05:21 2588113 Link
Hard luck to Naomh Padraig Uisce Chaoin, not the result they wanted on the day despite a good display. County and Ulster champions, All Ireland finalists, an immense season they can be very proud of. Well done to all involved. JUNIOR_B_SUB (Donegal) - Posts: 27 - 28/01/2025 10:36:07 2588121 Link
I see the Donegal GAA County Committee has decided to maintain the current structure of the reserve leagues for the 2025 season. What are people's opinions on this? To me, I think reserve football, the way it is currently, is dying out in the county and the new league proposal was a good idea. dgcrusader (Donegal) - Posts: 56 - 28/01/2025 11:25:48 2588131 Link
Replying To dgcrusader: "I see the Donegal GAA County Committee has decided to maintain the current structure of the reserve leagues for the 2025 season. What are people's opinions on this? To me, I think reserve football, the way it is currently, is dying out in the county and the new league proposal was a good idea." Bad mistake as I think it needed a change or at least tweaked a bit Allot of games called off last year and allot of missed football especially for the likes of lads out of minor but not quite ready for senior football Donegal14 (Donegal) - Posts: 6 - 28/01/2025 11:57:54 2588146 Link
Replying To dgcrusader: "I see the Donegal GAA County Committee has decided to maintain the current structure of the reserve leagues for the 2025 season. What are people's opinions on this? To me, I think reserve football, the way it is currently, is dying out in the county and the new league proposal was a good idea." I don't see the logic in it at all, the reserve leagues are so unbalanced you get walkovers and complete hammerings because a club has a strong senior team but not much at reserves compared to bigger clubs. St. Eunans and Naomh Conaill probably feel especially hard done by seeing that their reserve teams are no longer allowed to compete at a proper level and instead only have a few competitive games a year. NPadraigAbu (Donegal) - Posts: 92 - 28/01/2025 12:28:30 2588155 Link
Replying To dgcrusader: "I see the Donegal GAA County Committee has decided to maintain the current structure of the reserve leagues for the 2025 season. What are people's opinions on this? To me, I think reserve football, the way it is currently, is dying out in the county and the new league proposal was a good idea." I think the problem is that there were pros and cons with all proposals presented to the clubs and it's impossible to come up with a solution that would suit all. What might be beneficial to some of the larger clubs would be damaging to many smaller clubs and their ability to field at reserve level. I think this is ultimately why the status Quo won out. The proposal to split senior and reserve football would often result in a club's adult teams playing in different locations on the same or even different days. For smaller clubs working off very limited panels this would result in some players being asked to to maybe play a reserve game on a Saturday and then tog out as a sub on the Sunday for the seniors. Young players (particularly students working at weekends) are unlikely to give up both days and this could result in even more walk overs. The same issue would apply to volunteers, again some smaller clubs have a very small number of volunteers who would be asked to give up their time two days in a row. From what I've seen at DIV 2/3 Reserve level (at least) there are often a very small number of spectators at these matches. If you were to play these games as stand alone fixtures (ie. not before their club senior game) the number of spectators would likely be even smaller and would be fairly demoralising for the players. There's no easy solution to the issue. BeardedBorderGael (Donegal) - Posts: 50 - 28/01/2025 15:22:00 2588202 Link
Replying To KHL: "Well done to the AVS on reaching the MacRory Cup Final, a huge achievement for them and the 3 clubs involved. The Co Board should really be looking at a number of amalgamations across to cover the whole county f they are serious about developing underage players and improving the standard of club players. The South West schools were hand picked based on last 2 years Co Minors squads and come across as elitist. Amalgamations I would suggest would be; Inishowen (Carn, Moville, Buncrana x2 schools) South (Bundoran, Ballyshannon, AVS if not in MacRory Cup) South West (Carrick, Kbegs, Glenties) North West (Dungloe, Gaoth Dobhair, Falcarragh) North East (Milford x2, Letterkenny x3) East (Ballinamore, Stranorlar, Finn Valley, Raphoe) The above would give every player an opportunity to play at the highest level of schools football not just handpicked schools in the county. These would be a stepping stone onto County U17 and U20 squads similar to Derry and Tyrone schools. Long term the Co Board, schools, and clubs should be looking to put full time coaches (similar to Chrissy McCague in Maghera and Enda Mulddon in St Pius Magherafelt ) in the seconadry schoools to raise the standards and develop players. St Eunans College with their pick should really be competing at MacRory Cup level on a more consistent basis." There's no way Ulster Schools would allow 6 amalgamations into the MacRory. And to be honest, I'd say only 2 of those groups would be strong enough to compete in it. As for schools and Co boards employing our version or Chrissy McKaigue…..the money just isn't there. And schools won't fund these entities long term when they struggle to fund their own teams. There was a physio with the SW team the last day, how many of the 5 SW schools do you think send a physio with their senior teams? I can tell the answer now… ThroughTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 63 - 28/01/2025 20:31:41 2588259 Link
So Karl Lacy has gone from Kilcoo. Would he join Barry Dunnion? ThroughTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 63 - 30/01/2025 06:55:42 2588452 Link