Donegal V Derry, June 1st

[The Voice Of Reason]

From a Donegal perspective I thought that McFadden, Gallagher and Rory Kavanagh did pretty well. However apart from 2 of the aforementioned, we just couldn't compete in the air at midfield. We were really struggling to win possession. Up front we can only rely on Murphy and McFadden for scores, and both are either too young/inconsistent to be relied on all the time. Defense was reasonably good, although I thought we should've tried dropping someone in front of Paddy Bradley.

We've got the qualifiers, but it's hard to get extra excited, as we're probably not going to suddenly discover a few men of 6'2"+ to play around midfield, and another lethal forward. Still if we get a kind draw we can make the quarter-finals, and then who knows...


I thought Derry were very impressive. They've serious possession winning power in the middle of the park. If you want to win an All-Ireland, you've got to be good between numbers 5 and 12. Derry have the ingredients to be very competitive here against anyone. I wouldn't worry about kicking 11 wides in the first half ... it's good to be in the position to kick those wides in the first place. I thought Paddy Bradley was very good, out in front _every_ time, and was cute enough to win his frees. Eoin Bradley has serious potential, and if he fulfills his potential Derry will go a very long way this year.

Another thing to note, Derry had a very big support at the game in Ballybofey. They were really vocal too. That's good to see, as it's important for the game that a little bit of hype gets into a county with the 4th biggest city on the island, where the GAA has a very small footprint.