Keith Duggan gets stuck into the Sunday Game panel

[ross matt]

unfortunately duggan will have to go down as yet another journalist who is incapable of addressing a subject in a dispassionate manner. Awful article.

Agreed. Completely biased and self serving in sucking up to his own county. Everyone knows Spillane, O'rourke and Brolly are hypocritical and look back with rose tinted glasses. But the that had nothing to do with the shite Donegal served up last Sunday and for most of the 2011 season. Kerry matches of 70s/80s were often one sided and Meath/Cork matches often filthy but neither side ever set out their stall like McGuinness did. It was within the rules but horrible to look at and deserves to be called out for what it was.

[Blowitupref]

People are getting too hung up on the Donegal angle.
I don't think the article is pro-Donegal so much as it is anti-TSG.

+1

[Denn Forever]

I'd be interested to see his analysis of TV3's punditry.

[spectator]

Are they setting about developing a siege mentality in Donegal for next year then?

Fair play to KD. Self-serving or not, he's dead right to stick up for his own county.

[Jinxy]

I'd be interested to see his analysis of TV3's punditry.

I like TV3's analysis to be honest.
David Brady is the only soundbite merchant.
Some people think Hayes is too, but I genuinely think Hayes just says what he thinks.
Not mad about Matt Cooper though.
His constant questioning tone annoys me.

[Dubh driocht]

Keith has got it right- I am tired of their lazy analysis,limited awareness ,knee-jerk comments, inconsistencies, arrogance and self-righteousness.No great fan of defensive football but glad someone had the courage to say enough is enough.

[irunthev]

Duggan is from Domnegal but he is also an advocate for the little man and the underdog. Just read "House of Pain and you'll see his affinity with the under achiever.

Wonderful bit of writing.... it was the ABC of journalism... articulate, had bullocks and a bit of class.

One crucial thing to be remembered here is that McGuinness and Donegal are not in the entertainment business.... Spillane et al are.

The three amigos in the studio have an paid obligation to provide some for of entertainment for the masses but McGuinness and Donegal do not have any obligation to entertain the three amigos.

The did what they felt they had to do in order to achieve as much as they felt they were capable of doing.

In my book.... job well done Donegal..... and I am sure that if Jim McGuinness was relived of his duties in Donegal tomorrow more than one county board chairman would be making a call to Glenties to see how the waters lie.

That's the problem, he will infect some other county with his anti football tripe.

I invested 14 years of my life playing, training and being involved with London. In all that time I probably experienced the taste of victory no more than 6 times, usually in some meaningless league game against Carlow or Kilkenny. What I would have given for someone who had the tactical ability to help us scrape out a few more 0-6 to 0-5 wins to make the whole effort worthwhile.

As an underdog myself, I applaud McGuinness's angle on football and Duggan for defending it... be it biased or not, be it pretty to watch or not. And in the same way that I would have craved just a few more wins with London, so too the Donegal players, the Hegartys , Toyes and Cassidys are glad that McGuinness came along when he did and helped them put an Ulster medal in their pockets.

Further to that, in my time in London week after week Spillane commented in the paper that London shoudn't be in the league because we were hopeless and the games we played in were a waste of time and one-sided... this because we weren't competitive and this from a man who had never seen us play a game in his life.

During that same time in London Jim McGuinness took the opportunity to come and train along with us and provided us with support and the benefit of his knowledge..... albeit only for a few weeks. But at least he had the decency to see what we were all about.

Spillane spouted a few years back about coming over to train London for a few weeks.... Did he? Did he bollix.

He was like the girl I knew way back in my teens...... she talked a good ride.

And I'd happily repeat that to his face.

[sheamy]

The Sunday Game pundits can be annoying with some of their analysis but this article is fairly uninteresting. Not really worth the reading time to be honest.

[Jinxy]

Sure if you gave Spillane 13 rugby league players and two good forwards he'd win the All-Ireland!
Does he even coach anyone these days?
Heard he threw his hat in the ring for the u-21 job in Kerry and didn't get it.

[samwin08]

Outstanding piece of writing. For too many years RTE have employed pundits who are selective in their analysis and demeaning of the efforts of the less successful counties.

[mylestheslasher]

Are ye so naive that you think this article is just about being critical of Spillane and co?? If Duggan wanted to be critical of them he could have done it last week, last month or last year. But he didn't of course. He only did it when they went to town on his own Donegal, when they said that their brand of football was shite and at the end when they were all delighted Donegal were bet. Apart from a few odd balls on here, they said what everyone in the country was also saying (at least those who hadn't turned over to watch the premiership). This pathetic article is an attempt to defend Donegal by attacking the pundits who slated them instead of addressing what the pundits were saying.

[mylestheslasher]

Duggan is from Domnegal but he is also an advocate for the little man and the underdog. Just read "House of Pain and you'll see his affinity with the under achiever.

Wonderful bit of writing.... it was the ABC of journalism... articulate, had bullocks and a bit of class.

One crucial thing to be remembered here is that McGuinness and Donegal are not in the entertainment business.... Spillane et al are.

The three amigos in the studio have an paid obligation to provide some for of entertainment for the masses but McGuinness and Donegal do not have any obligation to entertain the three amigos.

The did what they felt they had to do in order to achieve as much as they felt they were capable of doing.

In my book.... job well done Donegal..... and I am sure that if Jim McGuinness was relived of his duties in Donegal tomorrow more than one county board chairman would be making a call to Glenties to see how the waters lie.

That's the problem, he will infect some other county with his anti football tripe.

I invested 14 years of my life playing, training and being involved with London. In all that time I probably experienced the taste of victory no more than 6 times, usually in some meaningless league game against Carlow or Kilkenny. What I would have given for someone who had the tactical ability to help us scrape out a few more 0-6 to 0-5 wins to make the whole effort worthwhile.

As an underdog myself, I applaud McGuinness's angle on football and Duggan for defending it... be it biased or not, be it pretty to watch or not. And in the same way that I would have craved just a few more wins with London, so too the Donegal players, the Hegartys , Toyes and Cassidys are glad that McGuinness came along when he did and helped them put an Ulster medal in their pockets.

Further to that, in my time in London week after week Spillane commented in the paper that London shoudn't be in the league because we were hopeless and the games we played in were a waste of time and one-sided... this because we weren't competitive and this from a man who had never seen us play a game in his life.

During that same time in London Jim McGuinness took the opportunity to come and train along with us and provided us with support and the benefit of his knowledge..... albeit only for a few weeks. But at least he had the decency to see what we were all about.

Spillane spouted a few years back about coming over to train London for a few weeks.... Did he? Did he bollix.

He was like the girl I knew way back in my teens...... she talked a good ride.

And I'd happily repeat that to his face.

While your dedication to football in London is commendable, in my opinion your view of this is much too narrow-minded. You, as a player, would have done anything to win including packing your defense if your manager thought it a good idea. Fair enough. The player is there to follow through with a game plan and not decide to change it off their own bat. You also have a severe dislike of Spillane due to some of the things he said about London - I don't blame you. However, just because Spillane has got it wrong before does not mean he is always wrong. I will say it again. Who will watch this sport of ours if more and more teams play like Donegal - cynical, ugly, negative, low scores, no fielding, hardly a score from play etc etc. Will that type of game inspire the young of Ireland to play an amateur game over the professional games like soccer and rugby. Will neutrals tune in on the TV? If not how will the GAA pay for the grounds, the promotion.

I truly believe the vast majoirty of GAA folk do not want their game to go down this road and, with respect, the hunger of a player or players to win can not be allowed to change how the game is played to something that is against what the ordinary members of the association want. I believe that we will see a raft of rule change proposals to try and stop this garbage ever been seen again and I just hope that the all ireland semi final of 2011 has given the GAA rule makers a glimpse of what is down the road unless some rules are introduced to prevent Donegal clones from appearing.

[INDIANA]

Are ye so naive that you think this article is just about being critical of Spillane and co?? If Duggan wanted to be critical of them he could have done it last week, last month or last year. But he didn't of course. He only did it when they went to town on his own Donegal, when they said that their brand of football was shite and at the end when they were all delighted Donegal were bet. Apart from a few odd balls on here, they said what everyone in the country was also saying (at least those who hadn't turned over to watch the premiership). This pathetic article is an attempt to defend Donegal by attacking the pundits who slated them instead of addressing what the pundits were saying.

Great post Myles. Its a shit article. You cant compare London to Donegal. Donegal have players available to them other counties would kill for them. They simply chose not to use them.

[Michael Schmeichal]

Agreed. Completely biased and self serving in sucking up to his own county. Everyone knows Spillane, O'rourke and Brolly are hypocritical and look back with rose tinted glasses. But the that had nothing to do with the shite Donegal served up last Sunday and for most of the 2011 season. Kerry matches of 70s/80s were often one sided and Meath/Cork matches often filthy but neither side ever set out their stall like McGuinness did. It was within the rules but horrible to look at and deserves to be called out for what it was.

Absolutely spot on Ross Matt.

Did Eamon Magee display any class when he rubbed Bernrad Brogans face in the turf after Brogan missed an early goal chance or when he sarcastically tapped Connolly on the back after he was sent off?
Did the bould McGuinnes himself and his mercenary sidekick Gallagher show any class when they ran on the field screaming at the referee that Cian O Sullivan had elbowed a Donegal Player? The ref booked O Sullivan but replays showed he did not elbow anyway?
Marty Boyle didn't show much class either when he conned the ref into sending Connolly off.

Donegal were cynical, cowardly and used unbelievablly negative tacticis last Sunday and this article is only trying to deflect blame. I've lost a lot of respect for Duggan after reading it

[ross matt]

Are ye so naive that you think this article is just about being critical of Spillane and co?? If Duggan wanted to be critical of them he could have done it last week, last month or last year. But he didn't of course. He only did it when they went to town on his own Donegal, when they said that their brand of football was shite and at the end when they were all delighted Donegal were bet. Apart from a few odd balls on here, they said what everyone in the country was also saying (at least those who hadn't turned over to watch the premiership). This pathetic article is an attempt to defend Donegal by attacking the pundits who slated them instead of addressing what the pundits were saying.

Bullseye Myles. Well said.