Down v Donegal

Started by J70, April 17, 2023, 01:02:32 PM

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J70

This could be a short thread, but sticking it up anyway, although I'm not sure how much appetite there is for it, at least from our perspective!

Am I correct in that 2010 is the only championship win Down have against us since 1996? I believe otherwise we won mostly fairly handily in 2002, 2003 (qualifier), 2012, 2013 and 2018. Not sure if I've missed any.

Donegal are down Murphy (retired), McBrearty (injured), Gallen (injured), and the St. Eunan's O'Donnell brothers (opted out) from players who would have first choice or close in the starting front six last year. Ryan McHugh is also out injured for the season. Hard to see where our scores are going to come from. Thompson and Langan can knock over a few long ones, but otherwise it's just Jamie Brennan, who hasn't been setting the world alight, and Conor O'Donnell, who's still fairly new at this level. I'm not even sure if Peadar Mogan will be back for this.

Throw in the absolute chaos behind the scenes, the subsequent treatment of Paddy Carr, the thrusting of Aidan O'Rourke into the hot seat with a few weeks to prepare, the overall disillusionment with the county set up and the negative play which was evident in attendances last year, and I don't see too many Donegal ones making the trip.

Big chance for Down here, assuming they're in somewhat decent shape.

screenexile

I still think it's a Division 1 team (well Div 2 now I guess) against a team that couldn't get out of Division 3 you'd have to think that Donegal could put 15 players out there that would beat Down.

yellowcard

Donegal are in chaos. Down have home advantage and looked to have improved a bit this season and with the assistance of Jimmy McGuinness  for insider insight added to the Kilcoo blueprint, you know that they will set up ultra defensively. They will at the very least be organised and defensively well structured. I'm not a betting man but Down are a great bet to win this match and should be favourites in my opinion. 

LeoMc

As 10th ranked team from the league, Donegal also have the safety net of the qualifiers. Down need to beat Donegal and Armagh / Cavan to avoid the Tailteann cup so they have a lot more incentive.

snoopdog

Down are division 3 for a reason. It's Donegals to lose. Regardless of th mess theyre supposedly in they've played the top teams all through the league.  Down are a way off competing with that level.

yellowcard

Quote from: snoopdog on April 17, 2023, 01:14:28 PM
Down are division 3 for a reason. It's Donegals to lose. Regardless of th mess theyre supposedly in they've played the top teams all through the league.  Down are a way off competing with that level.

Ordinarily I would agree but Donegal looked more and more demoralised as the League wore on and were not playing anywhere remotely like a division one outfit by the end. It's not possible to turn that around in a month, they will need a complete reset next year. Down are no world beaters and won't be pretty to watch but they have definitely improved a bit and could have got promotion but for a late Fermanagh goal against them. 

tbrick18

I think Down have improved massively this year and it was surprising they didnt earn promotion.
I fancy them in this tbh.

However, if Down do finish up in the TC, it wouldnt be the worst thing for their development.
They'd be in with a real shout at winning it.


J70

Quote from: snoopdog on April 17, 2023, 01:14:28 PM
Down are division 3 for a reason. It's Donegals to lose. Regardless of th mess theyre supposedly in they've played the top teams all through the league.  Down are a way off competing with that level.

But Donegal didn't compete at that level. They may have played in Division 1, but they were out of their depth this year, for a number of reasons.

twohands!!!

It's a bit of a puzzler - the big question is what sort of Donegal turn up.
Really had the feel of a team that had thrown in the towel at the end of the league.

Down had an ok but not a great league - when you look at their results against the sides they've played in the league who have already been in action in the championship, it's hard to have much faith in them getting a result unless Donegal are just abysmal.

Beat Tipp by a goal in the league - Tipp beat Waterford by 4 points
Beat Antrim by a point - Antrim lost by 9 points to Armagh
Beaten by Fermanagh by a point - Fermanagh lost by 1-9 to Derry
Beat Longford by 5 points - Longford lost by a point to Offaly
Beat Offaly by  12 points - Longford lost by a point to Offaly

Wildweasel74

I think Division 3,teams been shown up in recent weeks, this weekend with Down and Cavan I suspect no difference.

Redhand Santa

Donegal were very poor for large parts of the league and have all sorts of problems. I expect Down to be very fit and well set up. Their u20's already showed this under Laverty. Definitely a potential upset on the cards.

I wouldn't totally rule out Cavan v Armagh either. Graham has a habit of pulling of big results and Armagh's record in Ulster has been very very poor since 2008. Cavan would have won more games than them in that time I'd imagine.

seafoid

Quote from: tbrick18 on April 17, 2023, 01:31:21 PM
I think Down have improved massively this year and it was surprising they didnt earn promotion.
I fancy them in this tbh.

However, if Down do finish up in the TC, it wouldnt be the worst thing for their development.
They'd be in with a real shout at winning it.
Down lost out to Cavan and er Fermanagh for promotion. Donegal , chaos notwithstanding, should have too much for them.
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

Armagh18

Quote from: Redhand Santa on April 17, 2023, 01:58:28 PM
Donegal were very poor for large parts of the league and have all sorts of problems. I expect Down to be very fit and well set up. Their u20's already showed this under Laverty. Definitely a potential upset on the cards.

I wouldn't totally rule out Cavan v Armagh either. Graham has a habit of pulling of big results and Armagh's record in Ulster has been very very poor since 2008. Cavan would have won more games than them in that time I'd imagine.
No ones ruling out Cavan. 2 evenly matched teams and Cavan are a different animal in championship compared to the league. That being said if we want to go anywhere this yesf we need to be beating them

grounded

Quote from: seafoid on April 17, 2023, 03:37:22 PM
Quote from: tbrick18 on April 17, 2023, 01:31:21 PM
I think Down have improved massively this year and it was surprising they didnt earn promotion.
I fancy them in this tbh.

However, if Down do finish up in the TC, it wouldnt be the worst thing for their development.
They'd be in with a real shout at winning it.
Down lost out to Cavan and er Fermanagh for promotion. Donegal , chaos notwithstanding, should have too much for them.

The bookies seem to have it much tighter in the Down vs Donegal game. +1 Down evs.
      For me there is more value in 9/4 Cavan outright.

imtommygunn

Cavan are a good team - Down are probably not in the realm of good team (for now at least) however Donegal are not good so they have a very good chance here. I would say as many expect down to win as donegal to win.

Cavan Armagh is likewise. It remains to be seen how good Armagh actually are and Cavan have some very good footballers.

Both very interesting games as Armagh / Donegal beating the opposition well wouldn't shock me but at the same time both of them being turned over wouldn't shock me either.