Messages

Podge and Rodge's lover, Margo produced this classic in the run up to the 92 final
I suspect this was written in 10 mins on the back of a beer mat.


Walking Tall In Donegal – Margo O'Donnell

From Bundoran to the Rosses, Inishowen to Dungloe
We're walking tall in Donegal for everybody knows
We're in our first All-Ireland and we won't give up
'Til we cross the bridge in Lifford with the Sam Maguire Cup

When we came out of Ulster we left them all behind
We beat Cavan and Fermanagh and everything looked fine
When we met the men from Derry they gave us no chance at all
But the scoreboard read two points ahead when the ref called for the ball

From Bundoran to the Rosses, Inishowen to Dungloe
We're walking tall in Donegal for everybody knows
We're in our first All-Ireland and we won't give up
'Til we cross the bridge in Lifford with the Sam Maguire Cup

Then came the semi-final, we met Mayo from the West
They said we could not beat them for they were far the best
They said we had no answer for the man they called McHale
But Matt Gallagher ran round him like a small boat in a gale

From Bundoran to the Rosses, Inishowen to Dungloe
We're walking tall in Donegal for everybody knows
We're in our first All-Ireland and we won't give up
'Til we cross the bridge in Lifford with the Sam Maguire Cup

There's a football star in Donegal, he's called Martin McHugh
His brother James and Tony Boyle, they'll know what to do
Gary Walsh and Joyce McMullan, with their captain Molloy
With Declan Bonner and the rest, the Dubs we will destroy

But we can't forget the backroom boys and the bossman Brian McEniff
He spent 20 years, oh torrid years, with those words of 'only if'
To get our first All-Ireland, we must win one more match
If it comes our way we all can say it's Donegal's best catch

From Bundoran to the Rosses, Inishowen to Dungloe
We're walking tall in Donegal for everybody knows
We're in our first All-Ireland and we won't give up
'Til we cross the bridge in Lifford with the Sam Maguire Cup

We're walking tall in Donegal, with the Sam Maguire Cup

It looks like Donegal will be picking 6 forwards from these options

Mc Fadden, Devenney,Bonner, Kavanagh
,Roper,Murphy,
Bradley, MHegarty,Wappa, Sweeney, Mc Dermott, Toye

Id be going with the first 4 as certainties, then Roper and Murphy.
with Sweeney lined up to replace Roper after 45 mins or so, and Toye/Bradley/Wappa all in line for some action in the 2nd half.

Thoughts?

With a reputation like that he would fit right in with his fathers old county.

The roller coaster season continues, this time on the up.

Are we away again in the next round or first team out of the hat get home adv? Preference would be for Laois or Monaghan as they wont have much time to recover for a qualifer game assuming the games tomorrow go with form. Def want to avoid Cork (esp away)

Hopefully have todays squad available for the next day, plus Dunnion, Roper, McFadden, Hegarty, etc

Good news if BD is fit.

bookies making Donegal very slight favourites.

BTW who gets home advantage in the next round - is it the losing provincial finalists, or first team out of the hat?

BBC claim  "Adrian Sweeney has returned to the Donegal squad after missing last weekend's qualifier win over Leitrim.""

Whats going on with the throw in time... 7pm, then 5pm, then 7pm again?

From BBC "The throw-in time for Donegal's All-Ireland football qualifier against Westmeath in Mullingar on Saturday has reverted to its original 1900BST slot."

Also they claim "Adrian Sweeney has returned to the Donegal squad after missing last weekend's qualifier win over Leitrim."
Rumours of his retirement were greatly exaggerated then.

Im guessing:

Durcan,
McCready, McGee, Lacey,
McConigley, Monaghan, Dunnion
Gallagher, Cassidy,
Murphy, Hegarty, Toye
McMenimen, Bradley, Kavanagh

but depends on Dunnion, Bonner, Roper, Sweeney fitness I suppose.

So did I... not only that, I've seen nowhere in any media report outlining what suspension he got, and furthermore whether that suspension would be extended after his sending off in the Club Championship.

Only for the fact he didnt play on Sat evening I'd wonder if he was suspended at all.

tricky draw but could have been a lot worse

After three less than impressive showings, they are still in the Championship, and if they could start playing with confidence again, who knows what's possible.

If Donegal get through this one, will McFadden be available for the next round?

What a relief. The Championship season stumbles on... hopefully the performances improve from here...

Draw will be interesting - Id like to see us avoid Armagh, Mayo and Meath. If we can past next weekend (with tired legs) then a few bigger names should be back for the last 12 of the all ireland.

Rumour is that Sweeney missed the game due to a delayed flight from the US - though a more plausible reason would be that he didnt get named in the line up despite the forwards being decimated by injury.

Fair play to them for digging it out in Extra Time.

Christ on a bike... McIvor needs to send McFadden on an Anger Management course

Whats the deal with his suspension anyway - I haven't heard a thing ?

And if the squad havent been meeting up, you'd wonder about the focus, about whether theyve analysed what went wrong in the Tyrone game, and god forbid, whether any of them have been back on the lager again.

If we can scrape past Leitrim ,get a decent draw then maybe some focus will return but right now its not looking great.

I also heard a rumour that Devenney is not in good shape, no idea if its true.

Certainly wont be easy v Leitrim. McFadden must feel like a right tulip.

Ads for Triple AAA Golden Maverick at half time during the sunday game.

I dont think he should or will go with wholesale changes, but I'd say Wappa comes in for McFadden, and Toye comes in for Sweeney... Definitely an argument for putting Cassidy to the half back line, possibly CHB - then what do you do with Barry M (who I thought got destroyed on Sunday despite Jim Carney's opposite opinion) - midfield perhaps... ?

Maybe play Rory K closer to the goals, allowing us to play the more direct ball in. I'd only play Hegarty if the opposition suits (ie. not Armagh)

J70, I don't agree -  do you not think we need as easy a game as  possible to get the lads back winning again and building confidence ?

We weren't short in leaders and confidence against Mayo in Croke Park when it really mattered - people can say it was only league but let nobody say that it was not a game of huge significance to Donegal - its still a mystery why they were so fragile on Sunday.  It reminded me of the 2nd half of the McKenna cup game earlier in the year.

Wappa, Toye, Hegarty, Doherty,  Dunnion and McCready will all come into the frame for the next day I guess. Maybe starting Eddie isnt the answer after all.

Personally I hope we avoid an Ulster team.