Donegal v Meath semifinal 2025

[thejuice]

Yeah. Shouldn't have been allowed near the GAA ticket sales. GAA have their own broadcasting platform in GAAplus. Time they got their own ticket sales system and cut the Ticketbastards out.

[Dunneroyal]

Yeah. Shouldn't have been allowed near the GAA ticket sales. GAA have their own broadcasting platform in GAAplus. Time they got their own ticket sales system and cut the Ticketbastards out.

Totally agree. It's a shambles

[thewobbler]

Ticketmaster is a vile institution. With nothing else to gain or explore apart from inventing new ways to extract as much as possible from everyone it engages, it's at the sharp end of why monopolies hurt the end consumer.

But there's a reason why there's so little serious competition in their market. Multi venue booking systems with reserved seating are highly complex pieces of software. Once queuing systems and server latency are considered, it would be a mammoth task to take them on and do it even nearly as well.

[marty34]

Could the GAA not just set up a version of Ticketmaster or am I being too simplistic?

Just for GAA matches, courses and events etc.

[Joeythelips]

I get its odd for people to write off Meath given who they have beaten, but we can only go on our own opinion from what we have seen so far. For me I think Donegal will have a bit to spare over Meath and I expect them to win by 5+ points or so. But this is why we love sport as anything can happen, for example while Galway may not have been at their best they were still beaten fair and square at Croke Park, Meath fully deserved the victory and will no doubt improve even further as a result. They will go in again as underdogs and each time that has happened this season (I assume Meath were favs for Leinster final) they have upset the odds.

However, the way Galway tore them open with direct running when they got those two goals in quick succession would worry me from a Meath perspective, you could see Donegal making hay as that is their bread and butter. Easy to say on here, luckily football is played on grass so will see what happens.

Prediction: Donegal 2-17  1-13 Meath

[DaleCooper]

The old ticket rush at clubs with physical tickets was great craic, you'd be on the phone to relatives you hadn't spoken to in years and so on.

Plus you had a nice souvenir ticket. Surprised GAA hasn't offered a €10 surcharge for physical ticket option.

[twohands!!!]

However, the way Galway tore them open with direct running when they got those two goals in quick succession would worry me from a Meath perspective, you could see Donegal making hay as that is their bread and butter. Easy to say on here, luckily football is played on grass so will see what happens.

Meath have conceded a fair few goals to direct running besides just the Galway game.

[imtommygunn]

If you ran at them boys in the early 90s you'd have done it once and not have been doing it again in a hurry.

[tbrick18]

If you ran at them boys in the early 90s you'd have done it once and not have been doing it again in a hurry.

Just ask the Tyrone men 

To be fair, I loved watching Meath in the 90s. A real hard team with great footballers all over the pitch. I remember Derry v Meath in a Div 1 league final that finished up a draw then went to a replay in Clones with Derry winning a tight game. Big Tohill score a screamer of a goal.
But I get what you're saying about not running at them a 2nd time - they played right on the edge and were brilliant to watch.

[tbrick18]

For what it's worth, I think Meath are in with a real shout here.
They've come out of nowhere really this year and its a free swing for them. They're young, athletic and can score 2 pointers.
If they can relentlessly run at Donegal, there's scores to be had. It could be a shoot out this one.
I also don't think Donegal are quite as good as they are made out to be - though they are very good.
I just feel the gap isn't as wide as some think.

[DaleCooper]

Meath showed real guts to get over the Galway rally. They indeed do have a serious chances, in bonus territory with nothing to lose. Pressure is all on Jim to deliver.

Would be legendary stuff if Brennan took them to a final

[imtommygunn]

Donegal have been awful in the first half of the last two games and then big fifteen or twenty minute spells have pulled them through. They also struggled over mayo and then obviously Tyrone beat them. They are very good when they get going but they seem to be patchy in matches and if they wee to win an ai they would need to maintain it. Kerry the same and have only played in patches. Meath definitely have a chance here.

[Wildweasel74]

If Donegal go out, i take it McBrearty and Murphy will stay on another yr,(Maybe last of a 3yr cycle) Take them 2 and McHugh out of the team and Donegal could regress bck fairly.

[Dunneroyal]

We have a chance no doubt. I actually think we have a good chance not because Donegal are a bad team but because majority of Meath team don't care about reputations. They are kids for the most part. Majority are aged 20 to 23. Youth dictates indifference and arrogance. They not only believe they Will beat Donegal but also win the whole thing out. Now on the flip side of that you have lack of experience and been naive. This showed up in Leinster final. This is where the experience lads in keoghan Menton and lavin come in. Their job is to try to balance what the kids do. So far it's worked.
There's a story going around Meath that in the talk during the week after Leinster final someone said that they felt very bad for not delivering keoghan and Menton a Leinster medal, one lad stood up and said well let's put it right and give them a all Ireland one instead this year. How true that is I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was said. The belief is unbelievable. I'm sure age wise if you took keoghan and Menton out of it the average age would be one of the lowest to ever reach the last 4 ? Someone better at stats might look at that.

[DaleCooper]

The exuberance and energy of youth could be critical indeed. Played a role against Galway