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Banty might look for him. He seems to be scouring the country for club players..........
Scenicparish (Donegal) - Posts: 425 - 18/02/2025 13:45:43 2591770 Link 0 |
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playing Galway
ModernMaharaja (Donegal) - Posts: 85 - 18/02/2025 13:59:27 2591778 Link 0 |
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Massive crowd again in MacCumhaill Park. I'd say O'Donnell Park will be sold out soon for the Tyrone match. ThroughTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 67 - 18/02/2025 14:00:43 2591779 Link 0 |
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he's gone to live in Australia , must be there a year or more now
ModernMaharaja (Donegal) - Posts: 85 - 18/02/2025 14:04:12 2591780 Link 0 |
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The Monaghan must only visit Kilcar every 2 years
Scenicparish (Donegal) - Posts: 425 - 18/02/2025 14:51:13 2591788 Link 1 |
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That man didn't play for Kilcar last year! As for Donegal being "got at" at midfield. What are you on about? Big Hughie, Langan, McGee, Thompson, Murphy are among the best midfielders in Ireland. PeterQ92 (Donegal) - Posts: 126 - 18/02/2025 16:33:21 2591815 Link 0 |
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Thinking there the funniest thing on Sunday was Aidan Forker getting red carded, he must feel very silly looking back at it. it was like seeing a ram squaring up to a bull !! Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3085 - 18/02/2025 17:59:44 2591830 Link 0 |
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Midfield is potentially a problem area for us. Langan and McGee are too injury prone and there's a high probability one or both of them will miss important games in the championship. Murphy is 35, it's asking a lot of him to play midfield. Hugh Mcfadden is a long way off being one of the best midfielders in the country. When was the last time he was fit enough to play a full match?
greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 595 - 18/02/2025 18:21:54 2591837 Link 0 |
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You are very pessimistic greenfan, I'd agree we will need an injury free spell if we are to land the big one again, just hope the league doesn't take too much out of us, hard Ulster campaign ahead and then the All Ireland games to come. Big Hugh may not be one of the best in the country but he gives his all for Donegal and he has done very well for us in the past when needed. Murphy has himself back in super condition, age is only a number anyway, you could play Michael anywhere, the way the game is now with the long kickouts he is a great man to win a high ball and hold on to it when he gets it too. Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3085 - 18/02/2025 19:43:54 2591844 Link 0 |
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I'm not pessimistic, I'm just looking at the evidence from recent years and being realistic. Our 2 best midfielders are extremely injury prone and that's a major concern especially with the fitness levels that will be needed with the new rules. In your post you mentioned McFadden did very well 'in the past' . That's the problem, his best days are behind him, he played 2 half games in the league and couldn't play last weekend. We all love Murphy but I hope he doesn't end up being asked to do too much all over the pitch.
greenfan (Donegal) - Posts: 595 - 18/02/2025 21:12:51 2591848 Link 0 |
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Yeah I 100% agree that we need both Jason McGee and Michael Langan fully fit for the later stages of the Championship if we are to make a serious challenge for the All Ireland title this year, they are both huge players in terms of height, but yet have exceptional kicking ability and pace. I think Murphy will be an impact sub mostly, but having him on the field as an attacker is powerful, especially as an additional high fielder along with McGee, Langan, McGonigle, Thompson, Moore, McFadden, Conor O'Donnell and Gallen. It could allow us an amazing variety of options for long kick-outs, making it harder for other teams to contest our kick-outs. Like all those high fielders right across the pitch, who do you target? Most teams don't have that number of players who can do that. Its the like the Bluestack mountain range across the pitch. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1274 - 19/02/2025 08:55:39 2591868 Link 0 |
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There was a huge Armagh travelling fan base in Ballybofey last Sunday, also they are reigning All Ireland champions, so decent Donegal turn out. Crowd atmosphere felt like a Championship match. I don't think the travelling Tyrone fan base is anywhere near the same as Armagh, probably not even a 10th of what Armagh brought, and Donegal are expected to be trying a lot of new players for the remainder of the league, so probably lower Donegal turn out too. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1274 - 19/02/2025 09:56:09 2591878 Link 0 |
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Conor O'Donnell is a player that has really stood out in the 3 league games so far, really impressed with him, he seems to be in exceptional shape in comparison to previous years and is definitely becoming an automatic starter. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1274 - 19/02/2025 10:15:46 2591880 Link 0 |
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I agree with you we are very short with Langan and McGee both out injured and hard to trust them to stay fit for the whole summer unfortunately. What I was encouraged by against Armagh though was that even with losing the midfield battle for majority of the game, the defending was good enough to win turnovers and limit Armagh's scores. How much of that was down to Armagh being very poor on the day in attack, or our defence being excellent, hard to know until championship. CCFabu (Donegal) - Posts: 135 - 19/02/2025 11:36:46 2591904 Link 0 |
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I think we see more than covered in Midfield, even with injuries to McGee and Langan. Caolan McGonagle and Thompson more than capable in there. Hugh and Michael more than capable of doing a job as well. Hopefully the 2 lads can get back fit soon. Injuries to teams are going to have a massive impact this year especially. FootballGuy (Donegal) - Posts: 264 - 19/02/2025 13:17:40 2591920 Link 0 |
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The way the games come so quick now there is very little time to recover, whoever wins Sam will have to get lucky and avoid injuries to key men, it's a very open Championship, the obvious advantage the likes of Kerry have is they can coast into the All Ireland series at their ease though Munster, just the way it is unless we take all focus off winning Ulster but I can't see that happening.
Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 3085 - 19/02/2025 15:06:43 2591944 Link 0 |
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I certainly wouldn't be moving Mc Gonagle from centre half back. Hugh won't be good enough midfield in the Championship. We certainly need Langan in midfield. Jason will be required after May as well.
Scenicparish (Donegal) - Posts: 425 - 19/02/2025 15:14:19 2591947 Link 0 |
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Yea avoiding injuries is very important, when we win in 2012 we had a fantastic run avoiding injuries, hopefully the same happens this year. The likes of gallen, mc Hugh. Murphy mc Cole. And langan are very hard to replace.. it's a very condensed year . No time to clear up injuries .
rorysboys (Donegal) - Posts: 2586 - 19/02/2025 16:26:55 2591965 Link 0 |
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We suffered a few injuries through the championship last year. Conor O Donnell and Eoin Ban at pivotal moments, and it was glaringly obvious that we lost to Galway as a result of fitness/stamina for a long championship as well as a completely ineffective bench. I admire the dedication from any lad who puts his life on the line for our intercounty team but at the end of the day, we want trophies and with Jim back at the helm, we have our best chance of a 3rd All Ireland, and god knows when a great coach will come after him. We seen the absolute debacle between his 1st and 2nd stints. That bench needs to be able to change game in a quarter, semi or final in Croker and that's what needs to populate it. Sentimentality or club allegiances should be left at the door. StockholmGael (Donegal) - Posts: 137 - 19/02/2025 21:00:28 2591991 Link 1 |
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There's a good chance we're going to have yellow /orange weather warnings for strong wind/heavy rain on west coast on Sunday...(As if Pearse stadium wasn't windy enough at anytime!) chancer (Donegal) - Posts: 21 - 20/02/2025 10:29:52 2592032 Link 0 |