Ulster championsip 1st... Donegal v Down

orangeman · May 30, 2010, 04:09:15 PM

Well done Down.

Great win in Ballybofey.

Down South · May 30, 2010, 04:10:08 PM

Coulter man of the match. Contender for score of the championship. Lot of work to do, but its great to get a win in Ballybofey. Stick that up yer hole Oisin.

Mickeys beard · May 30, 2010, 04:10:44 PM

One of the great performances in Ulster by Coulter. Was everywhere in the last five minutes.

The Worker · May 30, 2010, 04:10:57 PM

Quote from: Down South on May 30, 2010, 04:10:08 PM
Coulter man of the match. Contender for score of the championship. Lot of work to do, but its great to get a win in Ballybofey. Stick that up yer hole Oisin.

orangeman · May 30, 2010, 04:12:38 PM

Quote from: Mickeys beard on May 30, 2010, 04:10:44 PM
One of the great performances in Ulster by Coulter. Was everywhere in the last five minutes.

Coulter always was a class act.

Man for the big day.

Danny Hughes had a good one as well.

anportmorforjfc · May 30, 2010, 04:16:23 PM

Anybody else watching the game on bbc think that mc conville keeps copying what mc hughs is saying?

J70 · May 30, 2010, 04:18:24 PM

f**k that anyway. We were shite, but we still should have saved that at the end. John Joe won't be around for next season if things don't improve dramatically in the qualifiers. Far too many basic errors, turnovers and lads refusing to take the responsibility of shooting. Stupid changes at midfield swung the game Down's way in the last fifteen minutes of normal time. Two tactics - hit it long and aimlessly towards Murphy or pass it back and forth across the 45, both done while taking far too long to break out of defense. I don't expect us to be challenging, but you should at least be making the best of what you have.

Well done to Down. Think you'll have to seriously step it up to win an Ulster though.

Down South · May 30, 2010, 04:19:04 PM

Quote from: anportmorforjfc on May 30, 2010, 04:16:23 PM
Anybody else watching the game on bbc think that mc conville keeps copying what mc hughs is saying?

mumble mumble mumble mumble. At least McHugh is understandable (ish)

guevara · May 30, 2010, 04:29:53 PM

Great to get a win!! Tyrone will be a much tougher test out the next day!

McVeigh - Good kick outs & great hands when it counted. No chance with either goals

McArdle - Caught badly for the first goal but recovered well & shackled Murphy well

Rooney - Quiet day on his return but went about his business well

Rafferty - Down's best defender consistently this year. Another massive performance.

McKernan - Very poor in my opinion again. Lucky to remain on field as frustration boiled over again.

Colgan - His serious lack of pace invites opponents onto our defence & even in the sweeper role though he was poor.

Garvey - Average day, but always sticks to his task & tries to recover from his mistakes

Gordon - Definitely not back to his best & anyone claiming he is is foolish. Overshadowed by his midfield partner & struggled with Cassidy.

King - Massive preformance. Close runner to Benny in MOM. Dominated the middle & brute strength forced Donegal to rethink around the middle.

Hughes - Works himself into the ground on regular basis whether he is having a good game or not. Some great scores.

Poland - Tries very hard but at times he went missing. Need more of a scoring threat but should start against Tyrone.

McComiskey - Shockingly poor no matter what RTE said! Living off good performances against poorer teams like London. Didnt have any impact in forward line in my opinion & shouldve been replaced earlier.

Coulter - MOM. How he hasnt bagged an All Star yeat when his opposite number Lacey has 2?? Destroyed Donegal & looked sharper than ever.

Clarke - John had a hard day at the edge of the square. Always tries his hardest but just didnt go for him today.

Clarke - Media have hyped serious pressure on him & at the minute I think it weighs heavy on him. Kicked some sublime scores from tight angles but overall think he needs to have a greater influence on games in the future.

On the ref I thought he was very poor in the opening stages. How 3 Down players managed to get booked while Donegal in guys like Molloy managed to not even get ticked was very frustrating. Sense prevailed with the "Hand Pass" rule & think refs are now using their own common sense as opposed to the GAA's directive.

Down South · May 30, 2010, 04:35:33 PM

Guevara I would agree with all of your summary except for the keeper. It is a goalkeepers job to make himself as BIG as possible in a one on one situation. McVeigh failed to do this on both occasions, but he improved greatly as th game went on and took a great ball out of the sky when a point looked certain. Alder is the better keeper.

J70 · May 30, 2010, 04:44:10 PM

Quote from: guevara on May 30, 2010, 04:29:53 PM
Great to get a win!! Tyrone will be a much tougher test out the next day!

McVeigh - Good kick outs & great hands when it counted. No chance with either goals

McArdle - Caught badly for the first goal but recovered well & shackled Murphy well

Rooney - Quiet day on his return but went about his business well

Rafferty - Down's best defender consistently this year. Another massive performance.

McKernan - Very poor in my opinion again. Lucky to remain on field as frustration boiled over again.

Colgan - His serious lack of pace invites opponents onto our defence & even in the sweeper role though he was poor.

Garvey - Average day, but always sticks to his task & tries to recover from his mistakes

Gordon - Definitely not back to his best & anyone claiming he is is foolish. Overshadowed by his midfield partner & struggled with Cassidy.

King - Massive preformance. Close runner to Benny in MOM. Dominated the middle & brute strength forced Donegal to rethink around the middle.

Hughes - Works himself into the ground on regular basis whether he is having a good game or not. Some great scores.

Poland - Tries very hard but at times he went missing. Need more of a scoring threat but should start against Tyrone.

McComiskey - Shockingly poor no matter what RTE said! Living off good performances against poorer teams like London. Didnt have any impact in forward line in my opinion & shouldve been replaced earlier.

Coulter - MOM. How he hasnt bagged an All Star yeat when his opposite number Lacey has 2?? Destroyed Donegal & looked sharper than ever.

Clarke - John had a hard day at the edge of the square. Always tries his hardest but just didnt go for him today.

Clarke - Media have hyped serious pressure on him & at the minute I think it weighs heavy on him. Kicked some sublime scores from tight angles but overall think he needs to have a greater influence on games in the future.

On the ref I thought he was very poor in the opening stages. How 3 Down players managed to get booked while Donegal in guys like Molloy managed to not even get ticked was very frustrating. Sense prevailed with the "Hand Pass" rule & think refs are now using their own common sense as opposed to the GAA's directive.

The ref obviously didn't see the Molloy elbow, which happened just after the ball had been released and in the middle of a bunch of players. Very unfair to dismiss his performance in the early part of the game as poor based on that. Molloy was very lucky though.

As for Lacey, his All Stars were thoroughly deserved, and bar top class performances in late August/September, they are not given out just because a player happens to give a previous All Star the runaround in one game. Perhaps Coulter has merited one in the past, but there are numerous players in the running in any particular season. Who should he have replaced?

Highlander3 · May 30, 2010, 04:49:32 PM

I think that i would put big Dan at FF v Tyrone, and maybe Benny at CHF i thought he played very well when he moved out there. Thats assuming Ambrose is back, do think that we have to have a serious look at Howard and A Carr once we can get them fit.

Overall i am happy that we got the win, we dont normally see to do well in these type of tight games anymore, and to come out of Ballybofey with a win is good. A lot more to do but i do think the team seems alot more organised. I thought Marty seemed off his game today but still scorced some great points, i dont know was it the presure or was he not feeling well but he did not look as sharp as normal especially with his free's.

Jinxy · May 30, 2010, 04:53:12 PM

Ruairi Kavanagh is well able to kick a score.
Why would he not shoot today?

orangeman · May 30, 2010, 04:57:37 PM

Quote from: Jinxy on May 30, 2010, 04:53:12 PM
Ruairi Kavanagh is well able to kick a score.
Why would he not shoot today?

[/b]

He wasn't on his own !

guevara · May 30, 2010, 05:04:09 PM

If the Ref was unable to see the Molly hit then the Umpire should've! It was blatant & the sort of nonsense that tends to be let go at the opening stages of games. King was booked for leaving his hand in the tackle & any justification of it being a high tackle is way off the mark as the replay showed.
This is the problem, inconsistency in decisions. I understand its a very fast game & its impossible for a ref to see every little incident. But he has 6 other officails at his disposal in order to ensure that the game is done as impartially as possible.
But dont get me wrong I thought McQuillan was a big improvement on some of the performances from officials earlier in the Championship!

On the McVeigh performance Down South, the first one was a complete mix up between McArdle & Colgan that left Molloy free a few yards out & the Second was again after Colgan had been dragged out of position & a fortunate rebound off a post left Dunne with a simple chance. McVeigh is Down's best keeper by some distance in my opinion.