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http://www.midlandsradio.fm/

Doing commentary on both games.

Its all about a player going deep into the championship whist playing for the majority of it. For me cormac costello looks abit slim at them prices, wouldnt be guaranteed a starting spot with the dubs being so strong. Ryan mchugh for me looks probably the best bet at this stage seeing as he is playing with a team that should go far. Murtagh and smith look good too if Roscommon do well, Theyve an easy run in connaught and are both scoring players and like motm awards its easy to pick out the scorers for these awards. O'Riordan is after have a ton of exposure from the under 21 championship and has an all star nomination from last year already, will all depend on how far tipp go as to weather hes considered though. Stephen O'Brien is massive value at 66/1, hes right up there with o'riordan in terms of importance to the team, just hasnt the same profile. Ian mcguire also is an outstanding player but his back injury would have him as a major doubt

Wouldnt disagree with any of that - I'd imagine you've heard the same talk from Cork about Maguire and his back injury (doubts about him  managing to feature at all in the championship and ever play any sort of serious ball in the long term ; horrible to see a talent that young look like he's burned out with injury at such a young age)

R McHugh is up against in a sense in that he is the past years winner - remember talking to a lad from Kerry and he was full sure he would be completely shut down in the final - "not a hope in hell he'll get 2-2 ever again in his intercounty career" were his words and I thought of them as he was subbed off in the final.

In terms of O'Riordan I can see him having a serious championship impact - seriously talented balller (up against Kerry is a bet to nothing in a sense) and I can see Tipp going deep in the qualifiers as long as they get any sort of decent draw [and stop conceding cheap goals]

Not sure if O'Brien is as eye-catching as is necessary to catch the eye of the pundits [the pundits nominate and then the players vote, is the way it works]

The Rossie lads are in a solid position to get nods if they perform adequately but I just can't see them getting home (far more likely to pick up uncoverted All-Star noms imo)

Personally I think Ryan Wylie at 16/1 possibly looks a bit valueish (however he's up against the fact that it will be other intercounty players voting on it and he wouldn't be the sort to win any sort of favour with opposition teams)

Right now gun to my head I'd be plumping for O'Riordan as I can see Tipp having a decent campaign through the qualifiers and he's undoubtedly a peach of a footballer ( the fact that he turned his back on hurling in Tipp is sure to find favour with a lot of footballers in other counties)

I think it matters far more about how far a team goes. Young Murtagh or Smith could tear teams apart for us but if we weren't to reach an AISF it's hard to seem how they'd win YPotY, for example. Favours the big boys rather than the talent of individual talent of players, like all these awards do.

Yeah you are probably right but it will be interesting to see how much game time the various candidates for the stronger teams get - there's no Kerry player there and Costello is the only Dublin player there.

[2 hands...that Donegal bench is much stronger than when they won the AI imo]

It was mcginley I was thinking of, my mistake. brought in by gallagher from his time managing Kilcar. Seemed to find playing senior rough going when I've seen him.

2 hands...that Donegal bench is much stronger than when they won the AI imo

Totally agree and to my mind that made the victory even better in a sense - the thing is you can get away with for short-time periods but over longer time periods it's going to catch a team.  Donegal might "get away with it" again but it just makes it that bit harder.

Obviously I'm mentioning it in comparison to the other top teams (Dublin/Kerry) and especially when you look at through the prism of Donegal's likely path to the final.

I thought I'd post up the candidates for the Young Player of the Year.

These are the current Paddypower odds.

Also a player has to be under 21 this year to be eligible.

Cormac Costello 9/4
Ryan McHugh 8/1
Diarmuid Murtagh 9/1
Damien Comer 9/1
Brian O'Driscoll 10/1
Colin O'Riordan 11/1
Eamon Wallace 14/1
Ethan Rafferty 14/1
Cathal McShane 16/1
Ryan Wylie 16/1
Enda Smith 20/1
Liam Silke 20/1
Stephen O'Brien 66/1
Ian Maguire 25/1
Ciaran O'Hanlon 25/1
Stephen Coen 33/1
Diarmuid O'Connor 33/1
Ryan McAnespie 40/1
David Hyland 40/1
Hugh McFadden 50/1
Darach O'Connor 50/1
Ciaran McFaul 50/1
Adam Flanagan 50/1
Conor McAtamney 66/1
Stephen O'Brien 66/1
Niall Kelly 66/1
Eoin McHugh 80/1
Padraic Harnan 80/1
Paul Kingston 80/1
Terence O'Brien 100/1
Shane Dempsey 125/1
Neil Flynn 125/1
Ryan Burns 125/1
Cian Breheny 125/1
Eoin Carroll 125/1
Jamie Malone 150/1

A key issue for Young Player of the Year is getting sufficient game time to make an impression ; also the further the team goes in the championship the better a player's chance

List of past winners - Pretty decent strike rate looking back

2014   Ryan McHugh
2013   Jack McCaffrey
2012   Cillian O'Connor
2011   Cillian O'Connor
2010   Aidan Walsh
2009   Michael Murphy
2008   Tommy Walsh
2007   Killian Young
2006   Keith Higgins
2005   Aaron Kernan
2004   Niall Tinney
2003   Sean Cavanagh
2002   Ronan Clarke
2001   Cormac McAnallen
2000   Joe Bergin
1999   Phillip Clifford
1998   Michael Donnellan
1997   Mike Frank Russell

Michael Boyle
Eamonn Doherty
Anthony Thompson
Colm McFadden
Mark McHugh
David Walsh
Daniel McLaughlin
Ciaran McGinley
Gary McFadden
Eoin McHugh
Stephen Griffen

You look at that subs bench and it's very hard not to see Donegal having issues down the line.

McFadden is a long way off his 2012 form, Thompson is working in another country and McHugh hasn't really regained the form he had before he took his break.

They will have to be extremely fortunate with injuries to be in the mix in September.

5 years for all position I think.

That's a county level regulation only?

Yup

The new rules for the naming of championship teams are in place now.

So far only Leitrim have actually named their full 26 - Galway, Westmeath and Offaly have named only their starting 15. No sign of Donegal, Tyrone, Louth or Longford.

Anyone think that the GAA should publish the full 26 for all teams on their main site at something like 12pm ?

http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/1/1405151343-new-rules-for-team-lists-and-match-day-panels/

The only problem is getting voters out. Old people always vote in numbers which distorts things. The Church position will compound this. But if there is any decent turnout at all from the U-50s it should be easily carried.

I'm not sure the "older vote" especially the Church going crowd is as conservative as people think or as inclined to blindly follow what the bishops say as previously - have actually met a lot of older traditional weekly church going folk in the last few weeks and it's come up a fair amount that they are voting yes - been genuinely surprised by a couple of them. Even one old woman in her eighties who basically lives in the Church and kept referring to them as "the gays" who was adamant she's be voting Yes. (There was no malice or anything it's just that she hadn't the lingo down but I was cringing a bit.)  The likes of that priest in Donegal voting Yes and Sr Stan saying she is voting yes have made a massive difference to a lot of these folk.  If the Yes campaign had any sense, they would give the likes of these as much coverage as possible.

Bank officials don't make me laugh. They do practically nothing. Could list several.

Indiana - riddle me this?  - if bank officials do practically nothing anyway, why would the lads need to leave Ulster Bank at all?

Always tough for players to go into a game like this when the prize on offer is an away game against the Dubs.

Both teams had decent leagues but to go from playing 8/9 games in a row against Division 4 opposition (I know both of them are out of it now but that's were they started the year,and they are playing each other so I'm going to include it ) to a game against Dublin is an unmerciful jump in quality.

Most inter county players outside teachers don't have a real career because you can't have one to sustain a professional lifestyle

Remember seeing a list of the Kerry players' jobs last year - Of those that weren't students there were a couple of teachers, couple of bank official, couple of accountants, a guard, a chemist, a physio, a quantity surveyor and a couple more in the private sector.
Maher in midfield has a PHD in some sort of science field apparently - can't remember what his job title was beyond "something science-y" Remember thinking that overall as a group they looked to be doing pretty decently on the career front.
Galvin wasnt on the list  - anyone want to make a guess at what his job title is these days ?
Something along the Web New Media 2.0 Analyst Hipster Person
Maybe Kerry are an exception in this ?

Seanie Johnson subbed off after less than a minute of that club hurling match.

Anyone know if he actually touched the sliotar at all in that game?

I strongly suspect Donegal will not be a top four team come the end of the year. They have only one truly outstanding footballer in Karl Lacey, and I think teams will be better prepared to counteract their dull system this year.

McGuinness leaving ended any genuine All-Ireland hopes for this bunch of players.

Donegal have more quality and more depth this year than at any stage in the last 5 years.

Enough strength to get get to the last 4 without playing dung football.

They will however still play dung football

I hope they beat Tyrone. I say that as an Armagh man. Its not actually anything about Tyrone losing but everything to do with Donegal coming to the Athletic grounds. Might not be a great game for the cameras but will be a bearpit of an atmosphere

Only 19 players started for Donegal in the league while Dublin had 31 different starters (that's just in the regular 7 games)

Donegal's squad depth is wafer thin for a top-table team because you will inevitably get injuries.

They have brought in MacNiallias, McBrearty and a few more but they've also lost Rory Kavanagh, Leo McLoone.

There's also the fact that Gallagher, Toye, Durcan, Eamonn McGee, Colm McFadden and Karl Lacey are all over 30 while other stalwarts likes of Neil McGee, Anthony Thompson and Frank McGlynn are approaching the same 30 mark.

With that sort of age profile it's only a matter of time before we hear the pundits taking about Donegal being in transition.

Kieran Mc Geeney - Fruit salesman and Lion tamer.

Kieran Mc Geeney - Professional GAA manager Aspiring UFC fighter