Down v Donegal

[yellowcard]

Aidan O'Rourke is the greatest charlatan GAA coaching has ever produced.  Money for old rope.  Great win for Down today, think we'll take Armagh in the long grass next day out.

Does this mean the old Down swagger is back? We'll see but if Armagh can't beat that Down side then we have no mission being in an Ulster final anyway.

[SHEEDY]

What was the message from the hovering plane? I see Down Gaa released a statement about it.

'sack Sean og'. He's county secretary, was funny for about 10 seconds then annoying as hell for the rest of the time it was in the sky. Whatever people think about the way Down football has been run over the last 20 years this wasn't the time.

[Wildweasel74]

The grass need be 3ft high for, Down to take Armagh in the long grass.

[ck]

Is this Donegals worst defeat in Ulster??

No, I'm pretty sure the loss to Antrim in Ballybofey in 2009 would rank higher on that particular scale.

Nonsense. That was a decent Antrim team. Got to Ulster Final and ran Kerry close in the qualifiers.
Down are a poor side and Armagh will easily beat them - this was a very poor result for Donegal, possibly their worst ever.

[trailer]

Donegal have really kicked on since the players ousted the management.

[Walter Cronc]

Is this Donegals worst defeat in Ulster??

No, I'm pretty sure the loss to Antrim in Ballybofey in 2009 would rank higher on that particular scale.

Nonsense. That was a decent Antrim team. Got to Ulster Final and ran Kerry close in the qualifiers.
Down are a poor side and Armagh will easily beat them - this was a very poor result for Donegal, possibly their worst ever.

Would the hiding against Armagh in qualifiers (pre McGuinness) not be their worst? Given the quality of players they had. Yes that Donegal side has talent but post Murphy it was always gonna be a struggle regardless of a good set up or not. Fair played to Down but can see Armagh winning by 5-6.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Is this Donegals worst defeat in Ulster??

No, I'm pretty sure the loss to Antrim in Ballybofey in 2009 would rank higher on that particular scale.

Nonsense. That was a decent Antrim team. Got to Ulster Final and ran Kerry close in the qualifiers.
Down are a poor side and Armagh will easily beat them - this was a very poor result for Donegal, possibly their worst ever.

The quality, or otherwise, of that Antrim squad notwithstanding, the collective angst that broke out in Donegal in the aftermath of that defeat would render it worse IMHO.

[tyrone08]

Donegal have really kicked on since the players ousted the management.

Exactly. So much for the Patrick mcbrearty words at the end of the league about coming out fighting.

Getting rid of their manager was the worst thing they could have done as they put all the blame at his feet and failed to back that up winning their next game.

[J70]

Is this Donegals worst defeat in Ulster??

No, I'm pretty sure the loss to Antrim in Ballybofey in 2009 would rank higher on that particular scale.

Nonsense. That was a decent Antrim team. Got to Ulster Final and ran Kerry close in the qualifiers.
Down are a poor side and Armagh will easily beat them - this was a very poor result for Donegal, possibly their worst ever.

Would the hiding against Armagh in qualifiers (pre McGuinness) not be their worst? Given the quality of players they had. Yes that Donegal side has talent but post Murphy it was always gonna be a struggle regardless of a good set up or not. Fair played to Down but can see Armagh winning by 5-6.

That was definitely a bad one, but it didn't come out of the blue. Talented or not, that group of players had a track record of extreme inconsistency, while John Joe Doherty's management of the group was not a success (and remember he also got the job in controversial circumstances - the Bonner/Mulgrew joint ticket appeared to have it sorted at one point). He had a couple of decent results the previous year in the qualifiers against Derry and Galway, but he also lost to Antrim in Ballybofey and was given the mother of all hammerings by Cork in the quarter final. By Crossmaglen, the writing was on the wall. That day began with an unbelievably soft goal conceded to a (I'm assuming!) disbelieving Jamie Clark and got worse from there. Everyone by then was just resigned to Doherty being put out of his misery and, assuming the CB didn't f**k it up again, McGuinness, who'd just come within a Murphy penalty off the crossbar in the last minute of an AI U21 title, coming in and whipping the group into shape.

Might be a bit comparable to our current situation I guess in that most people are just waiting for the season to end and the behind the scenes stuff to be sorted so that a new management team can come in and get some kind of organized show back on the road, hopefully with some missing names restored. We've nowhere near the potential we did in 2010, but I don't think we're anywhere near as bad as we are currently exhibiting.

[twohands!!!]

Is this Donegals worst defeat in Ulster??

No, I'm pretty sure the loss to Antrim in Ballybofey in 2009 would rank higher on that particular scale.

Nonsense. That was a decent Antrim team. Got to Ulster Final and ran Kerry close in the qualifiers.
Down are a poor side and Armagh will easily beat them - this was a very poor result for Donegal, possibly their worst ever.

Would the hiding against Armagh in qualifiers (pre McGuinness) not be their worst? Given the quality of players they had. Yes that Donegal side has talent but post Murphy it was always gonna be a struggle regardless of a good set up or not. Fair played to Down but can see Armagh winning by 5-6.

That was definitely a bad one, but it didn't come out of the blue. Talented or not, that group of players had a track record of extreme inconsistency, while John Joe Doherty's management of the group was not a success (and remember he also got the job in controversial circumstances - the Bonner/Mulgrew joint ticket appeared to have it sorted at one point). He had a couple of decent results the previous year in the qualifiers against Derry and Galway, but he also lost to Antrim in Ballybofey and was given the mother of all hammerings by Cork in the quarter final. By Crossmaglen, the writing was on the wall. That day began with an unbelievably soft goal conceded to a (I'm assuming!) disbelieving Jamie Clark and got worse from there. Everyone by then was just resigned to Doherty being put out of his misery and, assuming the CB didn't f**k it up again, McGuinness, who'd just come within a Murphy penalty off the crossbar in the last minute of an AI U21 title, coming in and whipping the group into shape.

Might be a bit comparable to our current situation I guess in that most people are just waiting for the season to end and the behind the scenes stuff to be sorted so that a new management team can come in and get some kind of organized show back on the road, hopefully with some missing names restored. We've nowhere near the potential we did in 2010, but I don't think we're anywhere near as bad as we are currently exhibiting.

Donegal are in an unfortunate situation this year with the introduction of the group stages.
There's been a fair few Division 1 teams over the years who've had miserable leagues campaigns and when they got relegated followed it up with miserable championship summers going straight out once they met any sort of decent team. In the old days Donegal could have folded up the tent packed up the show for the summer and effectively taken it off but this year the three group games might well turn into a bit of a lingering torture.

[Armagh18]

Is this Donegals worst defeat in Ulster??

No, I'm pretty sure the loss to Antrim in Ballybofey in 2009 would rank higher on that particular scale.

Nonsense. That was a decent Antrim team. Got to Ulster Final and ran Kerry close in the qualifiers.
Down are a poor side and Armagh will easily beat them - this was a very poor result for Donegal, possibly their worst ever.

Would the hiding against Armagh in qualifiers (pre McGuinness) not be their worst? Given the quality of players they had. Yes that Donegal side has talent but post Murphy it was always gonna be a struggle regardless of a good set up or not. Fair played to Down but can see Armagh winning by 5-6.

That was definitely a bad one, but it didn't come out of the blue. Talented or not, that group of players had a track record of extreme inconsistency, while John Joe Doherty's management of the group was not a success (and remember he also got the job in controversial circumstances - the Bonner/Mulgrew joint ticket appeared to have it sorted at one point). He had a couple of decent results the previous year in the qualifiers against Derry and Galway, but he also lost to Antrim in Ballybofey and was given the mother of all hammerings by Cork in the quarter final. By Crossmaglen, the writing was on the wall. That day began with an unbelievably soft goal conceded to a (I'm assuming!) disbelieving Jamie Clark and got worse from there. Everyone by then was just resigned to Doherty being put out of his misery and, assuming the CB didn't f**k it up again, McGuinness, who'd just come within a Murphy penalty off the crossbar in the last minute of an AI U21 title, coming in and whipping the group into shape.

Might be a bit comparable to our current situation I guess in that most people are just waiting for the season to end and the behind the scenes stuff to be sorted so that a new management team can come in and get some kind of organized show back on the road, hopefully with some missing names restored. We've nowhere near the potential we did in 2010, but I don't think we're anywhere near as bad as we are currently exhibiting.

Donegal are in an unfortunate situation this year with the introduction of the group stages.
There's been a fair few Division 1 teams over the years who've had miserable leagues campaigns and when they got relegated followed it up with miserable championship summers going straight out once they met any sort of decent team. In the old days Donegal could have folded up the tent packed up the show for the summer and effectively taken it off but this year the three group games might well turn into a bit of a lingering torture.

Depending on the draw they could be in a prelim QF can't they? Surely they'll beat Sligo or Westmeath.

[twohands!!!]

Is this Donegals worst defeat in Ulster??

No, I'm pretty sure the loss to Antrim in Ballybofey in 2009 would rank higher on that particular scale.

Nonsense. That was a decent Antrim team. Got to Ulster Final and ran Kerry close in the qualifiers.
Down are a poor side and Armagh will easily beat them - this was a very poor result for Donegal, possibly their worst ever.

Would the hiding against Armagh in qualifiers (pre McGuinness) not be their worst? Given the quality of players they had. Yes that Donegal side has talent but post Murphy it was always gonna be a struggle regardless of a good set up or not. Fair played to Down but can see Armagh winning by 5-6.

That was definitely a bad one, but it didn't come out of the blue. Talented or not, that group of players had a track record of extreme inconsistency, while John Joe Doherty's management of the group was not a success (and remember he also got the job in controversial circumstances - the Bonner/Mulgrew joint ticket appeared to have it sorted at one point). He had a couple of decent results the previous year in the qualifiers against Derry and Galway, but he also lost to Antrim in Ballybofey and was given the mother of all hammerings by Cork in the quarter final. By Crossmaglen, the writing was on the wall. That day began with an unbelievably soft goal conceded to a (I'm assuming!) disbelieving Jamie Clark and got worse from there. Everyone by then was just resigned to Doherty being put out of his misery and, assuming the CB didn't f**k it up again, McGuinness, who'd just come within a Murphy penalty off the crossbar in the last minute of an AI U21 title, coming in and whipping the group into shape.

Might be a bit comparable to our current situation I guess in that most people are just waiting for the season to end and the behind the scenes stuff to be sorted so that a new management team can come in and get some kind of organized show back on the road, hopefully with some missing names restored. We've nowhere near the potential we did in 2010, but I don't think we're anywhere near as bad as we are currently exhibiting.

Donegal are in an unfortunate situation this year with the introduction of the group stages.
There's been a fair few Division 1 teams over the years who've had miserable leagues campaigns and when they got relegated followed it up with miserable championship summers going straight out once they met any sort of decent team. In the old days Donegal could have folded up the tent packed up the show for the summer and effectively taken it off but this year the three group games might well turn into a bit of a lingering torture.

Depending on the draw they could be in a prelim QF can't they? Surely they'll beat Sligo or Westmeath.

Can't get drawn against Westmeath as both will be in the 4th seed pot.
Given their form of late it's hard to have much confidence in them against any opposition.

[Armagh18]

Is this Donegals worst defeat in Ulster??

No, I'm pretty sure the loss to Antrim in Ballybofey in 2009 would rank higher on that particular scale.

Nonsense. That was a decent Antrim team. Got to Ulster Final and ran Kerry close in the qualifiers.
Down are a poor side and Armagh will easily beat them - this was a very poor result for Donegal, possibly their worst ever.

Would the hiding against Armagh in qualifiers (pre McGuinness) not be their worst? Given the quality of players they had. Yes that Donegal side has talent but post Murphy it was always gonna be a struggle regardless of a good set up or not. Fair played to Down but can see Armagh winning by 5-6.

That was definitely a bad one, but it didn't come out of the blue. Talented or not, that group of players had a track record of extreme inconsistency, while John Joe Doherty's management of the group was not a success (and remember he also got the job in controversial circumstances - the Bonner/Mulgrew joint ticket appeared to have it sorted at one point). He had a couple of decent results the previous year in the qualifiers against Derry and Galway, but he also lost to Antrim in Ballybofey and was given the mother of all hammerings by Cork in the quarter final. By Crossmaglen, the writing was on the wall. That day began with an unbelievably soft goal conceded to a (I'm assuming!) disbelieving Jamie Clark and got worse from there. Everyone by then was just resigned to Doherty being put out of his misery and, assuming the CB didn't f**k it up again, McGuinness, who'd just come within a Murphy penalty off the crossbar in the last minute of an AI U21 title, coming in and whipping the group into shape.

Might be a bit comparable to our current situation I guess in that most people are just waiting for the season to end and the behind the scenes stuff to be sorted so that a new management team can come in and get some kind of organized show back on the road, hopefully with some missing names restored. We've nowhere near the potential we did in 2010, but I don't think we're anywhere near as bad as we are currently exhibiting.

Donegal are in an unfortunate situation this year with the introduction of the group stages.
There's been a fair few Division 1 teams over the years who've had miserable leagues campaigns and when they got relegated followed it up with miserable championship summers going straight out once they met any sort of decent team. In the old days Donegal could have folded up the tent packed up the show for the summer and effectively taken it off but this year the three group games might well turn into a bit of a lingering torture.

Depending on the draw they could be in a prelim QF can't they? Surely they'll beat Sligo or Westmeath.

Can't get drawn against Westmeath as both will be in the 4th seed pot.
Given their form of late it's hard to have much confidence in them against any opposition.

Yeah don't see them beating any of the rest of the teams. Thought they might have had a bit of a kick against Down after roading the manager. Players look like clowns now after that