Messages

cheers heffo and @ indiana, please try to be nice to us poor donegal folk, we're only up for the day out.

There is going to be about 30k of you people there Sunday Cadence, just be gracious in victory. We're fragile enough as it is.

aw now!

cheers heffo and @ indiana, please try to be nice to us poor donegal folk, we're only up for the day out.

science viewed through lens of hippy shades in the 70s. F A R  F U C K I N G  O U T !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmqhdozuf7Y

 

[There seems to be a terrible weight of expectation]

I've just watched a report from Donegal on the six o'clock news on RTE television. The hype in the county seems to be at boiling point with flags and colours all over the place. There seems to be a terrible weight of expectation building up among the whole population up there – not at all like '92. There's no way that Donegal will be able to come in under the radar this time.

interesting to see you forcing your own subjectivity onto donegal. stop worrying. it'll be alright.

With Martin McHugh tipping us, what's there to worry about? 

i've a few shillings on you mesell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3kyNGVK-hI

[There seems to be a terrible weight of expectation]

I've just watched a report from Donegal on the six o'clock news on RTE television. The hype in the county seems to be at boiling point with flags and colours all over the place. There seems to be a terrible weight of expectation building up among the whole population up there – not at all like '92. There's no way that Donegal will be able to come in under the radar this time.

interesting to see you forcing your own subjectivity onto donegal. stop worrying. it'll be alright.

for us donegal supporters, there's been very little from our team to whet the appetite. i wish there was more, but they're understandably trying to keep focussed. in that bbc vid i posted earlier on this page, mcguinness is realistic about the task ahead and on how good the dubs are and the dangers they poise. but he's nice and relaxed too and that's good for the players.

not much coming out of the dub camp either and there'll be nothing controversial from either camp. they're neither of them daft. 

mcguinness on the task ahead...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/14638022.stm

interesting insight to the mentality of the Dublin players going into the AI final in 92

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/carr-i-knew-dubs-would-lose-92-final-a-month-beforehand-2856006.html

they've learned from mistakes like this in the past. you can see it in the way they've prepared by training in a way that tries to get as close to game day intensity as possible and taking nothing for granted. that's great psychological preparation and so they'll not be wanting on the mental side i think, they'll be well acclimatised to being in battle mode.

but i also think they'll have to play a different game against us and that there'll be a different set of problems to solve between us and players from the rest of dublin squad. good and all as those players are, our lads will just be different. i also think it's going to about whether we can sustain our efforts right the way through, and donegal know we can do this and play our football too when the opportunities arises. they must be wary of what dublin are capable of though. they are cracking footballers with real appetite and hunger for grafting too.

wee bit of underground resistance inspiration for all donegal folk.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYAIJjZD1I0&playnext=1&list=PLD044CC76779EF1ED

make your transition!

only a wee bit of switcheroo fun. fair play to you heffo you saw that one a mile away.

anyway, for what it's worth, i do think there's something in the fact that dublin and their support have been noticably quiet in the build up to this game. it's the weight of history and i suppose that's the difference between us and you. we're happy to be in this postion and can make no bones about it either. we can stick the chest out and say we believe in our team and that we believe that our team can win. dublin will only really be able to come out and say stuff like that if you reach the final. oppostion teams can and do use stuff like that to fire them up and it stands to reason that it's psychological unwise to think the battle's won before the fray has been entered in any endeavour. because of past implosions and up until the point when dublin get to a final again, it'll be we'll take each game as it comes and we're not thinking about a final, never mind kerry. dublin give oppositions more respect these days. it's been very quiet from both camps, but i wouldn't read much into it that as sides must realise how much media interest and internets chatter there about this and how anything that's said can be spun as grist for the mill. 

besides, i like being able to have unbridled enthusiasm and to not give two hoots what the oppostion thinks.

You've hit the nail on the head there Cadence.

Irrespective of how Sunday's game goes though, Donegal are now a serious team.

They remind me somewhat of Tyrone in 2003 - Tyrone then played a horrible brand of football in 2003 (imo) and then evolved into a great team playing great football.

there's something in that tyrone analogy i think.

mcguinness is super astute and i love his philosophy. he deserves more credit than he's received and than he'd probably accept himself either from how he presents himself. it's very down to earth and mature way of approaching things. anyway, from what appears to be simple ingredients to begin with, it's all developing nicely into something else. i've been astonished at the transition of this donegal side. donegal have had a tradition of playing a certain style of football that has mainly been about good ball carriers and good movement breaking out and working the ball quickly up the field into scoring positions. it's slightly more complicated than that obviously, but as a basic rule, donegal players tend to be good with the ball on the move and at passing and moving. mcguinnes is the first in charge to devise a strategy to cope with the necessary evil in the modern era of having a defensive strategy whilst still allowing our traditional game to remain. donegal's game is not totally negative. going forward we are to my eyes still recognisably playing traditional donegal football with the same emphases on the skills and style we learned as youngsters. but i love more the fact that now we have that trojan never-say-die character. and it's not just in our defence, it's all over the field. there's no-one out there being carried because he's a wonderfully talented attacking footballer or whatever. it's awesome because the system itself is entirely worthless unless it's imbued with something that the players can anchor themselves to. and that's where mcguinness has done some job. the system is about the hours of hard graft in preparation, working together truly as a team, carrying on into the gloaming when things aren't looking too clever and doing it for donegal. never mind coming close, i honestly think that this donegal side will win an all ireland if they keep believing in what they do. and i have also started to believe that arguments about whether they have developed enough and have enough of an all round game are totally and utterly irrelevant, because the main factor intrinsic to them being successful is being together and pushing themselves collectively over the line.

love this donegal team. makes me proud to be a donegal man i'm telling you.

"Beyond the extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

William James

only a wee bit of switcheroo fun. fair play to you heffo you saw that one a mile away.

anyway, for what it's worth, i do think there's something in the fact that dublin and their support have been noticably quiet in the build up to this game. it's the weight of history and i suppose that's the difference between us and you. we're happy to be in this postion and can make no bones about it either. we can stick the chest out and say we believe in our team and that we believe that our team can win. dublin will only really be able to come out and say stuff like that if you reach the final. oppostion teams can and do use stuff like that to fire them up and it stands to reason that it's psychological unwise to think the battle's won before the fray has been entered in any endeavour. because of past implosions and up until the point when dublin get to a final again, it'll be we'll take each game as it comes and we're not thinking about a final, never mind kerry. dublin give oppositions more respect these days. it's been very quiet from both camps, but i wouldn't read much into it that as sides must realise how much media interest and internets chatter there about this and how anything that's said can be spun as grist for the mill. 

besides, i like being able to have unbridled enthusiasm and to not give two hoots what the oppostion thinks.

as far as i can make out, dublin have been very low-key and restrained about it all, seemingly not wanting to give any fuel for the donegal motivational fires. it doesn't fool us donegal folk one bit though. we see it for what it is. it's that particular brand of smug dub silence that is more or less saying we're focussing on the game and not getting ahead of ourselves because that's the only way donegal can beat us, which is us beating ourselves. you might as well tell us that you think we're shite.

You're a gas man!

pfft!

as far as i can make out, dublin have been very low-key and restrained about it all, seemingly not wanting to give any fuel for the donegal motivational fires. it doesn't fool us donegal folk one bit though. we see it for what it is. it's that particular brand of smug dub silence that is more or less saying we're focussing on the game and not getting ahead of ourselves because that's the only way donegal can beat us, which is us beating ourselves. you might as well tell us that you think we're shite. 

if donegal win it outright this year, i predict that i won't get so drunk the night and day after that i'll be able to remember the game. but that's for another thread when the time comes. donegal by 2-3.