Monaghan v Derry USFC SF Sunday May15th 16.00

[tbrick18]

Top class from Derry.

Completely dominated the first half forcing Monaghan I to shooting from poor positions.
Really purposeful in attack and looked like scoring from every attack.
Hopefully Loughlin isnt badly injured as he's been playing really well.

Benny Heron's best season in a Derry jersey.

Glass was awesome, Chrissy and Rogers locked the door.
Lynch did really well in goals. Even in the second half when monaghan were coming strong he just kept calm and did the simple things right.

But for me mckinless is a different level. His running, defending, tackling, attacking and his goal were as good as you'll see.

Gough was a total joke today in that second half in particular.

Brilliant win, brilliant buzz. Donegal are there to beat now.
That's another story.
We should have beat them last year nad we have their ex manager.
Could this be our year to finally get back to winning championships?

Good post tbrick. Another really enjoyable championship day out. The wains all buzzing on the way home too, wee bag of chips. You couldn't beat it and an Ulster Final to look forward to. The Athletic Grounds is a superb venue for football

It was a good day out for some, but there were other car rides home where the wee wains were in tears and no chips.

Yeah we've had plenty of those days
Almost nothing but those days for a very long time.

We'll enjoy this and appreciate it all the more as these days have been rare.

Monaghan played their part to make it the game it was. Hopefully we c go on now to emulate some of what Monaghan have done and win an Ulster

[Wildweasel74]

Surprised the man who brought McGuigan down 1st Half when bearing down on goal wasn't carded, strange decision. Struggled at Midfield as Monaghan moved up forcing us to go long. Thought E Bradley should  have came in earlier and, Straight to Midfield. Derry Bench very young, some players recently left the panel could be the difference in crunch games. Derry could afford to give away frees last 15mins as I thought Monaghan would need a goal to win it. Derry should scored at least another goal. If Derry had took their goal chances last year they beat Donegal.

[restorepride]

Great to back up the Tyrone win with that today. Place in final richly deserved for players, manager and supporters. Played some great football at times against a very seasoned, experienced and talented Monaghan team. Pride in the jersey is fully restored.

[93-DY-SAM]

Not a polished performance by Derry today by any means but great to get another win under the belt. Still plenty of work to do but looking forward to an Ulster final. Been far too long. I'd still be worried about our ability to win our own kick outs at times. Spell at the start of the second half where Monaghan were cleaning us out and were creeping their way back into the game. Thankfully the third goal snuffed out any chance of a big second half upset.

Love him or loath him you have to give Gallagher credit for the way he has these lads playing for the jersey.

[onefineday]

Good for Derry
Nice to see them back
Hopefully they go on and win Ulster.
Is it me or is Rory Gallagher over the top

That's what you get with Gallagher, he loves Gaelic football, has basically lived his life around it and that absolute passion is what has inspired a panel of players from a county which had become incredibly cynical and wary of intercounty football to pulling in the same direction and committing to a common cause to the extent required. It helps that he has talent like glass, mcguigan and mckinless (who has been a revelation), but Derry have had plenty of talent over the last 20 years, but never had a gameplan or at least didn't have the player buy-in required to commit to the type of game they're currently playing. Final is 50/50, Donegal should have too much, certainly much more up front, but....

[imtommygunn]

It depends how they cope with 14 men behind the ball. I don't know if Bonner is a good enough tactician to be able to navigate a way through that tbh. It will be very interesting to see.

Maybe Murphy will just bulldose through it!

[Milltown Row2]

If Monaghan had beaten Derry with the same score-line and performance then pundits would be saying Monaghan would be slight favourites for the final...

Derry have backed up their win against Tyrone and improved on it.

Donegal won't be fearing Derry so it will be another interesting battle .. be interesting to see the predictions page on that one!

On Gallagher, I never seen him do that when he played for us, he's developed a tick of sorts with the spitting into hands, in fairness there wouldn't be much left after the first 5/6 goes!

He's got a game plan that everyone can see but struggle to break down, will be interesting to see if Donegal can work through it and what Derry do to adapt

[screenexile]

If Monaghan had beaten Derry with the same score-line and performance then pundits would be saying Monaghan would be slight favourites for the final...

Derry have backed up their win against Tyrone and improved on it.

Donegal won't be fearing Derry so it will be another interesting battle .. be interesting to see the predictions page on that one!

On Gallagher, I never seen him do that when he played for us, he's developed a tick of sorts with the spitting into hands, in fairness there wouldn't be much left after the first 5/6 goes!

He's got a game plan that everyone can see but struggle to break down, will be interesting to see if Donegal can work through it and what Derry do to adapt

I agree with that the Tyrone gameplan has gotten us through the first 2 games but Donegal will be all over it and I'm sure have a plan for it. Can we change it up a bit to throw them off?

As said before it's very similar to Donegal's old style which could only really be countered by playing the same way and hoping you eke out that extra score or 2 a la Dublin in 2011 or Kerry in 2014.

It could be a difficult enough watch!

[JoG2]

It depends how they cope with 14 men behind the ball. I don't know if Bonner is a good enough tactician to be able to navigate a way through that tbh. It will be very interesting to see.

Maybe Murphy will just bulldose through it!

Every team in the country has pretty much played with 14 men behind the ball for years, surely this is front and centre at training sessions as it is at club training sessions.. ..youd think this is a new phenomenon with some on here

[seafoid]

I feel sorry for Monaghan. It's hard when your county's time is up after a period of success.
Derry will feel that anything is possible.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Honestly, I think we will beat Donegal by 5 or 6, have not impressed me this year so far

[tbrick18]

Honestly, I think we will beat Donegal by 5 or 6, have not impressed me this year so far

I wouldnt be so confident.
Donegal are a big game team. Haven't been firing on all cylinders so far, but could click against us!
50/50 game with donegal slight favourites given their experience.

[Maroon Manc]

Surprised the man who brought McGuigan down 1st Half when bearing down on goal wasn't carded, strange decision. Struggled at Midfield as Monaghan moved up forcing us to go long. Thought E Bradley should  have came in earlier and, Straight to Midfield. Derry Bench very young, some players recently left the panel could be the difference in crunch games. Derry could afford to give away frees last 15mins as I thought Monaghan would need a goal to win it. Derry should scored at least another goal. If Derry had took their goal chances last year they beat Donegal.

Surely thats why the black card came in, McGuigan was threw in goal. Gough loves giving frees that nobody else sees, not a fan of him at all.

If Derry can sort kickouts when their under the cosh I think they'll beat Donegal, haven't seen any stats yet but interesting to see what scores Derry generated from when they went long with the kickouts.

McKinless is something else, he's phenomenal.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Surprised the man who brought McGuigan down 1st Half when bearing down on goal wasn't carded, strange decision. Struggled at Midfield as Monaghan moved up forcing us to go long. Thought E Bradley should  have came in earlier and, Straight to Midfield. Derry Bench very young, some players recently left the panel could be the difference in crunch games. Derry could afford to give away frees last 15mins as I thought Monaghan would need a goal to win it. Derry should scored at least another goal. If Derry had took their goal chances last year they beat Donegal.

Surely thats why the black card came in, McGuigan was threw in goal. Gough loves giving frees that nobody else sees, not a fan of him at all.

If Derry can sort kickouts when their under the cosh I think they'll beat Donegal, haven't seen any stats yet but interesting to see what scores Derry generated from when they went long with the kickouts.

McKinless is something else, he's phenomenal.

they got cleaned out

[tonto1888]

I was one of the ones who, while praising derry after the tyrone game, wondered if it was a one off or the start of something. Now I know the answer. Fair play to them, hope they win Ulster now. As for Gallagher, isnt that that what you want to see from your manager; passion?