All Ireland U21 football championship 2017

[Syferus]

Like Dublin in the Leinster final or Kerry in the Munster final that was a very comfortable provincial final win for Donegal. The four favourites won their provincial titles which goes to show again that bookies don't ride around on bicycles.

The 2014 minor All Ireland final was Kerry v Donegal it shouldn't come as any surprise if that's the same U21 final pairing in a few weeks.

Are you taking the piss or are you not aware of how many bookies have hit the wall in recent years?

[Walter Cronc]

Fair play Donegal. Serious side but jesus that is depressing to watch. It's just sprinters and recycle.

[Captain Obvious]

Donegal strolling it now. Some quality sides left in the U-21 championship this year. The Dubs might actually be the weakest of the four left but hard to judge. No doubt Kerry and Donegal will be big favourites next Saturday though.

The quality much higher this year.
From what i seen of Dublin they don't seem to have improved much from last year Leinster for one got weaker however such was the lower quality that they could easily have won the All Ireland last year.
The two All Ireland U21 semi finals last year were two of the best games i seen across all grades in 2016 i hope the two semi finals are just as good this weekend.

[StephenC]

Great win for Donegal against a good Derry side. Derry were right in it but the first goal and the then red card made all the difference. Lightening pace across the whole Donegal team and a really, really high skill level. Will be very difficult to face Dublin with only 5 days of a break but hopefully they'll be able to get a good recovery done this week.

[BluestackBoy]

Fair play Donegal. Serious side but jesus that is depressing to watch. It's just sprinters and recycle.

Honest to God I don't know what some people want.

Ye complain at defensive low scoring games, fair enough.

Now Donegal's last two games have had a combined scoreline of 6-34 to 0-26, that's 66 scores in two games & guess what ye are still complaining.

What exactly is it that ye want?

[omagh_gael]

Some amount of senior material in that Donegal team, big hoors!

[Throw ball]

No harm to you all but that is not cracking football. Donegal have pace and strength and are catching Derry on the break. This crap of playing everyone behind the ball will destroy the game.

The crap of putting up posts like this is what is killing me.

Any game that has over 30 scores is fine by me & I suspect it is fine with the vast majority of GAA people.

This is where i totally disagree. Donegal probably have better players than Derry but persist in playing in such a setup. If Derry were to win they either had to get ahead to force Dinegal out or mirror their system and hope to sneak a win. A bit like the Tyrone v Donegal game last year. As it is Donegal got ahead and Derry had to key men blackcarded and continuously got caught on the break.

As for scoring. Armagh had 28 scores against Offaly last month. Was not much of a game though.

My opinion may annoy you but i still think it is valid.

[Cunny Funt]

Like Dublin in the Leinster final or Kerry in the Munster final that was a very comfortable provincial final win for Donegal. The four favourites won their provincial titles which goes to show again that bookies don't ride around on bicycles.

The 2014 minor All Ireland final was Kerry v Donegal it shouldn't come as any surprise if that's the same U21 final pairing in a few weeks.

Are you taking the piss or are you not aware of how many bookies have hit the wall in recent years?

The bookies i require my odds from have a healthy surplus per year. Now run along onto some other thread where someone bored actually might entertain you some more with your with your know it all and tedious attitude

[BluestackBoy]

No harm to you all but that is not cracking football. Donegal have pace and strength and are catching Derry on the break. This crap of playing everyone behind the ball will destroy the game.

The crap of putting up posts like this is what is killing me.

Any game that has over 30 scores is fine by me & I suspect it is fine with the vast majority of GAA people.

This is where i totally disagree. Donegal probably have better players than Derry but persist in playing in such a setup. If Derry were to win they either had to get ahead to force Dinegal out or mirror their system and hope to sneak a win. A bit like the Tyrone v Donegal game last year. As it is Donegal got ahead and Derry had to key men blackcarded and continuously got caught on the break.

As for scoring. Armagh had 28 scores against Offaly last month. Was not much of a game though.

My opinion may annoy you but i still think it is valid.

I have no problem at all with you not enjoying the game, what I take issue with is this nonsense about the game being "destroyed".

Yesterday's league final between Dublin & Kerry was between two teams who got lots of players behind the ball & yet everyone is rhapsodizing about it today. The facts of the matter are that unless you get players behind the ball you are not going to win any game played at a serious level so every serious team does it.

Unless the rules are changed this is the way the game is going to be played. Yesterday was great entertainment, in fact the whole Div 1 this year was great with record crowds.

Destroyed? I don't think so.

[Syferus]

Like Dublin in the Leinster final or Kerry in the Munster final that was a very comfortable provincial final win for Donegal. The four favourites won their provincial titles which goes to show again that bookies don't ride around on bicycles.

The 2014 minor All Ireland final was Kerry v Donegal it shouldn't come as any surprise if that's the same U21 final pairing in a few weeks.

Are you taking the piss or are you not aware of how many bookies have hit the wall in recent years?

The bookies i require my odds from have a healthy surplus per year. Now run along onto some other thread where someone bored actually might entertain you some more with your with your know it all and tedious attitude

Acquire. You're welcome.

[Ball Hopper]

Some info on minor All-Ireland Final teams and how they got on at U21 three years later...the 2014 minor final saw Kerry beat Donegal.



Since the U21 grade began in 1964, only 9 minor winning teams won the U21 three years later...Derry (1965-1968), Cork ('67-'70, '68-'71, '81-'84, and '91-'94), Mayo ('71-'74 and 2013-2016), Meath ('90-'93) and Tyrone (1998-2001).

Only twice did the same teams contest the minor and U21 three years later with the same team winning...1990/1993 (Meath beating Kerry) and 1991/1994 (Cork beating Mayo)

Only 5 times did the losing minor team win the U21 three years later...the year of U21 win listed here...1973 Kerry, 1986 and 1989 Cork, 2000 Tyrone and 2014 Dublin.

Only once did a minor losing finalist beat the team that they lost to in the minor final in the U21 final three years later...that being Cork beating Galway in 1989 U21 final after Galway beat Cork in the minor final of 1986.

[Walter Cronc]

Bluestack - apologies if it came across as sour grapes. Certainly not. My only gripe will be how Hughes managed to see Shane McGuigan from the far sideline, but as we know Hughes has previous for these kind of calls.

Look Donegal are a serious side - hope they go on to win the A.I but I just wouldn't be a huge fan of their style of play. It's all runners and coming off shoulders, but hey its the way of the world nowadays so who am I to judge.

[Maroon Manc]

Fair play Donegal. Serious side but jesus that is depressing to watch. It's just sprinters and recycle.

Honest to God I don't know what some people want.

Ye complain at defensive low scoring games, fair enough.

Now Donegal's last two games have had a combined scoreline of 6-34 to 0-26, that's 66 scores in two games & guess what ye are still complaining.

What exactly is it that ye want?

Like several other posters have commented they play turgid football and it is not enjoyable to watch. Surely you can understand that scoring heavily doesn't necessarily mean they play entertaining football?

[Jinxy]

Donegal are a serious side.

Physically they are huge for an u21 squad, will Gillespie make the semi final?

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/euro2m-worth-of-anabolic-steroids-seized-in-donegal-780915.html

[yellowcard]

Justy because Donegal have scored heavily does not mean that they play entertaining football. It is not an enjoyable style watching that safety first possession based game where the ball is constantly carried through the hand. However they are just better at it than most. It helps when the players carrying out the gameplan are good players. They are capable of running up big scores from fast counter attacks provided the opposition are not at a similar level and do not decide to engage in an arm wrestle. I think we will see another Kerry v Donegal U-21 final with a similar result to that at the minor grade 3 years ago. Donegal football appear to have managed the transition from the lossof so many key players at senior level really well and is in a good place though.