Messages

I think if Leitrim play very defensive they could cause Roscommon a few problems and make this a tight match. Roscommon looked clueless trying to break down Cavan in the first half of the league final, they also lack creativity in their half forward line and midfield. They seem very naive in how they approach the game under Evans and I'm sure Mulligan will try and match up on Niall Daly at centre back as he is a defensive liability.

However if they don't drop men back in front of the Roscommon full forward line, Kilbride and Murtagh will have a field day and it'll be a 10 point win for Roscommon.

Evans is many things but naive is not one of them. He's completely willing to be cynical when the need arises. No need for it on Sunday, though.

I think Roscommons naivety was fairly evident during the league final, not to mention last years game against Mayo when Roscommon went into a match against one of the top 3 counties in the country with no game plan. Surely that alone would qualify as naive?

I think if Leitrim play very defensive they could cause Roscommon a few problems and make this a tight match. Roscommon looked clueless trying to break down Cavan in the first half of the league final, they also lack creativity in their half forward line and midfield. They seem very naive in how they approach the game under Evans and I'm sure Mulligan will try and match up on Niall Daly at centre back as he is a defensive liability.

However if they don't drop men back in front of the Roscommon full forward line, Kilbride and Murtagh will have a field day and it'll be a 10 point win for Roscommon.

Semi finals:

Kildare v UCD
Meath v DCU

Presumably tresurer of Comhairle Laighin praying for the 2 Counties to win next week €€€
Syfín - please get off the DCU bandwagon. They are NOT a Ros team, only a fcukin hindrance to our efforts ya "nice ladeen".

Aye, attending the best sports university in the country must be a terrible cross for our ladeens to carry

Well some senior members of the Roscommon Senior team wouldn't agree with you Syferus as they have prepared a motion for congress for intercounty players  to be ineligible for Sigerson due to the negative effect it was having on Roscommons preparation and involvement in the league.

[If Brigids either slow it down or think they can outmuscle Cross they'll be beaten like every other side who've gone down the same path.]

Brigid's have had two goes at Cross by this stage and have come up short.  Renewed hunger won't be enough to beat Cross this time, Cross have that in bucketloads themselves.  The only way to beat Cross is a very fast, direct game and basically pure football.  If Brigids either slow it down or think they can outmuscle Cross they'll be beaten like every other side who've gone down the same path.

Which is exactly what Brigids don't do. Plenty of teams have tried to do just that to Brigids and ended up wrecked at the end of the day.

Both these teams are set up very similarly in how they approach games, they're experienced and aren't afraid to be physical but their game is based on far more than that.

Indeed to say Brigids plan would ever be to out-muscle an opponent is a complete mis-reading of the situation - they haven't done a minute of physical training all year, everything has been focused toward getting the ball in their hands and making every player feel comfortable with the ball in hand and knowing where their outlets are. Both teams have the talent to plain out-play opponents when their opportunities arise, and that's the main reason they both find themselves in an AISF.

Im sorry Syferus but I cant let you continue to spout nonsense about St. Brigids, you clearly know nothing about them or their training methods. How many times have you seen Brigids train this year?
I have seen them train about a dozen times and apart from the sessions within a couple of weeks of a championship match, all the other sessions involved around a half hour of physical work. So please refrain from posting rubbish about a topic and a team you clearly know nothing about!

I was listening to Matt Cooper on TodayFM on the way home and he had Darragh O Sé and Peter Canavan on doing a bit of a preview of the match.  In the middle of it, O Sé just just happened to mention that the rumour is Aidan O'Shea is a major doubt with a hamstring injury. That's all that was said, Cooper didn't question it any further.
I hadn't heard that rumour or seen it mentioned online anywhere, so not sure if the Kerry cousins have the news or where he got it from....

Hurt his hamstring last Sunday in A v B match during first half and didn't play any further part, has to be doubtful for Sunday given any kind of damage to a hamstring is near impossible to play on with only one week recovery. Will be a huge loss for Mayo if he doesn't play.

[The 'rumours' he's talking about aren't even rumours, a few of the 2006 minors have went off to the States on J1s for the summer, visas that had to be booked weeks, if not months, in advance. Rosfan will try to play up the angle that they somehow hated Des Newton and did it to shaft him but the reality is much less exciting.]

Armagh are a D2 team; we're a D3 team that was nearly promoted with a horrid list of absentees thanks to club, Sigerson, u21 and injuries. There is no great chasm between the teams if we don't come out with the defeatist attitude some supporters always (and I mean always) espouse.

I'm not going to play the poor mouth when there's nothing to be gained from it. There's no point coming to a discussion board and acting like a politician running for office.

The 'rumours' he's talking about aren't even rumours, a few of the 2006 minors have went off to the States on J1s for the summer, visas that had to be booked weeks, if not months, in advance. Rosfan will try to play up the angle that they somehow hated Des Newton and did it to shaft him but the reality is much less exciting.

The most important thing to happen since Galway is that we've started to seriously blood our stand-out u21s (Cathal Shine, Colin Compton and Donie Smith) and they've done well against decent opposition. A solid midfield is the key ingredient we've been missing all year and if Cathal Shine proves to be the answer there we've every chance of winning.

You obviously dont know anybody on the panel or close to the set up so, as a lot of the players are supposed to be very disappointed with Des Newtons set up which is well short of inter county standard. This will be more than likely be his only year in charge. Things are obviously in a very bad way when a lad as committed as David Keenan decides to pack it in for the year.

Rumours rife that all is not well with the Fly... May not run tomorrow I have heard...

Where did ya hear that sammy? His price is still rock solid on betfair!

Kilkenny people are probably thinking the same about Meath hurling board, would imagine Kilkenny would beat Meath by same score at hurling.

Eh Larry Fitzgerald...I think it'd be worth staying to watch just him, just made two unbelievable catches in overtime!

One of the soundest men ya'll ever meet and delighted to see him doing so well.

http://www.skysports.com/skysportsnews/story/0,,19494_7342603,00.html?_ft_qid=5680832390684458358&_ft_mf_story_key=10150415486014360&_ft_filter=live&_ft_substories=2&_ft_fbid=200870853327413%2C283063828402349&_ft_c=m

[when he could have run him in the 2 1/2 mile chase on saturday at down royal.]

Interesting that Colm Murphy sends Zaarito to Exeter tomorrow, when he could have run him in the 2 1/2 mile chase on saturday at down royal. I think the fact that zaarito will be getting weight from all the market leaders might be the reason for this. Murphy has a great record when he sends his horses to England and hes a very talented horse that seems to just lose his concentration at crucial times in races. Obviously for that reason ill be keeping my stakes to a small e/w bet at 7/1.

He couldn't. The race on Saturday is restricted to horses who did not win a chase before 25 April 2010 (second season novices in other words). Zaarito needs decent ground and the fences in England don't tend to be as stiff as they are at the likes of Naas, Leopardstown and Punchestown. If he puts in a clear round then he's a player off a mark of 148. It's a big if though considering he has failed to complete on 5 of his last 11 starts.

It's a very good race for this time of year. Captain Chris will probably have achieved most out of these by the end of the season but whether he'll win tomorrow is another matter. Both Ghizao and Medermit have beaten him before and the only horse you could rule out with any certainty is the bottom weight who is about 60lbs inferior to the rest of them. Oiseau De Nuit and particularly Cornas are seasoned handicappers who are capable of picking up the pieces should the market principles not perform. Zaarito definitely has his chance but it all depends on his fencing. Given his size, he's not able to clout one like Captain Chris can and get away with it.

Interesting race, but one to watch for me.

DH, i hadnt realised that was a second season novice on saturday. Ill prob just watch now as that was one of the angles I was looking at in deciding to back him. Definitely a big if to have a clear round as hes carried my money on a few occasions when coming down with the race at his mercy! Agree that captain chris is best horse in the race and was really impressed how he improved in 2nd half of last season but Ill be waiting until later in the year to back him.

Ruby was very keen on sam winner going chasing last year so id expect him and menorah to have a good battle aswell!

Interesting that Colm Murphy sends Zaarito to Exeter tomorrow, when he could have run him in the 2 1/2 mile chase on saturday at down royal. I think the fact that zaarito will be getting weight from all the market leaders might be the reason for this. Murphy has a great record when he sends his horses to England and hes a very talented horse that seems to just lose his concentration at crucial times in races. Obviously for that reason ill be keeping my stakes to a small e/w bet at 7/1.

[It will never work again]

After all Tyrone we crucified when they appeared with their blanked defense now coming up on ten years of they are lauded, well donegal are at the start of that journey...

Fair dues there Goldengreen, you've every right to be extremely proud of your team.

But, you're incorrect in that statement above (to equate our system with yours): at no time in our games at any stage of our evolutionary cycle did we utilise the single solitary attacker in the oppostion half for our kickouts as a strategic ploy, never.

If what we employed was a 'blanket defence', then your lads were employing a 'fire blanket defence'.

More like a duvet defence. It covers more than a blanket.

If I were a Donegal fan, Gallagher talking about upping the fitness for next year would be worrying. More of the same only better. It is understandable McGuinness making Donegal harder to beat this year but this tactic may not be as effective next year.

If Brogan had scored a goal with that early chance or Kildares goal been allowed the plan was out the window and there didn't seem to be a plan B.

i don't necessarily think that more fitness will mean that we'll play as defensive as against dublin. i think what mcg and ng are going to ask of the players next year is to defend and counterattack for the full 70.

i must confess though, the more stick we get, the uglier i want us to be and the more i want our game to be about graftin' and  turning games into the type of battle we saw sunday. i was going to say i hope we have a more varied game, but i honestly couldn't care less, as long as we win.

But you wont. The system is quite easily beaten. It took dublin 55  minutes to figure it out.
It will never work again.

IMO if donegal played dublin again this weekend with full line ups, dublin would do well to surpass there total of 8 scores.

I have to say I think some people on here have been far too critical of donegals tactics. The donegal management set there team up that gave them the best chance to win. On the dublin team they probably have 3 or 4 players who are capable of scoring points from play under pressure, alan and bernard brogan, connolly and cullen is reliably accurate too.

None of the dublin backs or there midfielders are capable of taking a ball on the forty and kicking it over the bar under pressure, you could add cahill and flynn from the forwards into the category. It seems pretty sensible to me for donegal to drop all there men back and force the dublin half forward line and midfield to beat them.

Dublins first 3 points came from frees that very very soft, the first one i do feel that brogan was pulled and deserved a free but the other two he just dived. Dublins 4th point came from anthony thompson stupidly knocking a ball out of dublin players hands after free was awarded which brought the free into cluxtons range which he then scored.  Neil mcgee got a poor fist on a high ball that went for 45 which cluxton kicked dublins 5th point, im sure mcgee would like that back because donegal would have worked on not conceding cheap 45s.

On another day donegal might have held dublin to 3 or 4 points. That leaves donegal only needing to score 5 or 6 points to win. While obviously this isnt everyones idea of how football should be played, this was donegals best chance of beating dublin.

With regards dublins kickouts, dublins main focus of there attacks is to move the ball fast up the field by kicking preferably to stop the blanket defence getting in place. Donegal just got into there defensive position straight away and let dublin have the ball because donegal felt once they had the brogans marked and space crowded out dublin wouldnt have the creativity to break them down.

The majority of dublins goals this year came from turnovers in the middle of the pitch and then quick direct ball into full forward line. Donegal just left extra men back at all times so if they turnovered the ball, dublins counter attack could quickly be snuffed out.

I felt the losing of the game for donegal was around same time lacey went off, players like walsh, kavanagh, murphy and bradley got tired and when donegal won the ball in defence they didnt have the legs to get forward and donegal struggled to get by halfway with there running game in last 25 minutes as a result. A few fresh legs needed to be introduced.

Having been at the tyrone donegal match in which donegal started with mcfadden and mcilhinney in full forward line and mcbearty just in front of them, they changed on sunday to just mcfadden inside the forty. I believe this was as mentioned above donegal felt they had to completely crowd out there own forty to nullify the two brogans and connolly and make the dublin midfielders and half backs try and score from outide the forty. I reckon if donegal had beaten dublin on sunday they would have changed back to the their formation from tyrone game against kerry.

There tactics simply wouldnt work against kerry as while dublin only have 3 or 4 players capable of scoring under pressure kerry have 9 or 10. The likes of sheehan, maher, brosnan, 2 o sheas would be well capable of kicking scores from outside the forty and gooch inside much more creative than any dublin player at being able to breakdown the donegal defence. Kerry would easily score 12 or 13 scores against donegal and       donegal wouldnt be able to just leave one up front because they would never get the scores required.

No doubt donegal will continue with there defensive system, I just think people need to realise that the one used on sunday was an extreme version of the one they were using all this year and the extreme version was used because I feel donegal felt they could win the game with 6 or 7 points.

To me Frederick Engels has been the most impressive two year old so far this year. He beat Roman Soldier (who power beat a neck in coventry) a lot more convincing that the winning margin the last time at Newmarket and if he was from one of the big yards he'd probably be joint favourite with Power. Looks a great price at 4/1, only negative for him is Aidan o' Briens record in the race!