ulster semi final tyrone v donegal

[Club Rossa]

Disappointed to lose yesterday but i feel that Donegal have done us a huge favour because Derry would have hammered us and that would have been too much to take.
Tyrone should have been further in front in the first half but i think Kevin Cassidy's point just before the break was a huge turning point,it really lifted Donegal players and supporters.Joe McMahon was having a mighty game before his injury and was easily our best player yesterday,Gormley couldn't be faulted either.Longford away will be a tough test and Tyrone will do well to come out of Pearse Park with a win.
Finally i have to agree with that horrible little man Ian McCrea,i too hope Donegal keep the celebrations out of mid Ulster

[Any craic]

Donegal fans go crazy at the final whistle. Interesting that they say they're glad to play Derry and not Armagh. http://bit.ly/iup9qs

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Donegal have restored some of their pride no doubt, but it has come at a price.

Disgraceful strike on Joe Mc Mahon by Mc Loone, as low as it gets, especially from a man who's recently suffered a serious bone injury himself.

Not too disappointed in that it's no harm to opt out of the Ulster, not that Longford's going to be a waltz in the park.

[raff]

To be honest I don't think McLoone meant to do damage but it was a reckless swing and it was a red card. He seemed far too fired up and was involved shortly after in another shooving match just by the goals. McMahon was a massive loss as he was playing great stuff. Too early to write Tyrone off yet. Hopefully with Penrose and the 2 x McMahons back the next day out they will be able to kick on.

[Fuzzman]

Congrats to Donegal yesterday on their win and I can't say I was that surprised or disappointed when I heard the ending on the radio. I thought we'd managed to get a draw but it was a cruel end to the game especially tough on young Swift.

I watched most of the game last night on Sky+ and it was a bit like the Dublin game last year where we had enough to chances to win the game easily but kicked a lot of silly wides and lacked a cutting edge. It seemed like we almost dropped our intensity when we saw how poor Donegal seemed to be. Who would have thought Donegal would only score one point after 28 mins.
Still to go in only leading by 2 then at half time gave Donegal some great belief which they used well in the second half.

Stevie kicked some great scores but I think we missed Penrose more than we thought and Mugsy too often is not out in front or winning his own ball. Donnelly too found it hard going.
As someone said Cavanagh has got used to be always hauled down now every time he sets off on a run.
The attitude seems to be just sacrifice the free and maybe a yellow though try to share the yellows around. He must be fed up with it but in fairness he's getting on with it more these days.

I too hated the way we sometimes try to "Burst" through the blanket defense. We did it loads v Cork 2009 & then Dublin last year with us spilling loads of ball and then them counter attacking and we've men all out of position. Its fierce demoralising for us but more importantly its very encouraging for them as they know their plan is working. This is one thing I'd love us to STOP even trying. If there is no way through then just be patient and wait for an opening or someone to get into a good position to shoot from 40 yards like Jordan did yesterday.

I though the tackle on Joey was outrageous and though he probably didn't mean to go for his jaw, he certainly meant to swing around his head. Canavan said when he saw it first he just though McLoone was just late but when you see it from the other angle, I think he knew he was never gonna get the ball and he could use the opportunity to give Joey a good dig as he was our best defender. If you don't think this is at least possible then you're a naive fan.

I see there is the usual "Get rid of them all" cries going out which is to be expected. Whilst we do have an ageing team that do not maybe have that extra spark or hunger that younger guys have, we still have the makings of a damn good team there.
Its interesting reading the posts that say do we just sit back and let the older guys play out their last few years to the downfall of our team and the performances of our younger lads, or do we be more ruthless and say No, we need to move on now and get these new lads bedded in asap otherwise their time will have passed. Its tough enough for minors to push their way into a senior team at any stage but with players with 2 or 3 AI medals in their pocket keeping them out of the team, they have to be something really special. If those minors from 2008 were in any other Ulster county, I wonder how many would be regulars now on their senior team.

I think we'll do OK in the qualifiers and would be hopeful we'll beat Longford.

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Jesus some of the bitterness displayed by some posters on here is savage - you got beat (actually beat yourselves! ) sup it up and concentrate on Longford.

Thought that the match yesterday was a poor show by both teams, but when we went in at halftime only 2 down (after the Tyrone onslaught of the previous 35 mins) I knew we would win.

The good thing is that the Donegal team can only get better, has the makings of a great team, just still showing a fair bit of nerves. Hopefully against Derry the nerves will be gone and Jim lets the lads play a bit more attacking.

Think we'll win Anglo Celt, and even if not we'll do well in the championship (although in fairness I say that every year!!  ). Things looking good for the long term future as well.

[Mr. Nakata]

I wonder is it too early for Ronan O'Neill. He's a forward with undoubted talent, he shoots on sight and is a confident lad. On one hand you can say he's only 18 and he could be eaten up and spat out against a blanket defense. Stevie is a former player of the year and they were hanging out off him yesterday. On the other hand you could say he has already played senior club championship, shipped some serious heat and held his own. It's hard to know, but when he gets the ball, he goes for the sticks. I'm not trying to knock Donnelly but every time I've seen him play this year he's been reluctant to take a pop. For an inside forward this is incredible. Maybe I'm being harsh. His overall contribution with the exception of yesterday has been good, but you want your forwards shooting. There needs to be new blood injectied into the forwards but of course it'll not happen overnight. I'm disappointed but congratulations to Donegal, I hope yeez go on to win Ulster. Longford will be a good challenge for the red hands. I'm hoping July will be hectic....

[EC Unique]

Jesus some of the bitterness displayed by some posters on here is savage - you got beat (actually beat yourselves! ) sup it up and concentrate on Longford.

Thought that the match yesterday was a poor show by both teams, but when we went in at halftime only 2 down (after the Tyrone onslaught of the previous 35 mins) I knew we would win.

The good thing is that the Donegal team can only get better, has the makings of a great team, just still showing a fair bit of nerves. Hopefully against Derry the nerves will be gone and Jim lets the lads play a bit more attacking.

Think we'll win Anglo Celt, and even if not we'll do well in the championship (although in fairness I say that every year!!  ). Things looking good for the long term future as well.

Do you think the Donegal nerves were partially caused by the long delay on getting the match started?

[nrico2006]

I wonder is it too early for Ronan O'Neill. He's a forward with undoubted talent, he shoots on sight and is a confident lad. On one hand you can say he's only 18 and he could be eaten up and spat out against a blanket defense. Stevie is a former player of the year and they were hanging out off him yesterday. On the other hand you could say he has already played senior club championship, shipped some serious heat and held his own. It's hard to know, but when he gets the ball, he goes for the sticks. I'm not trying to knock Donnelly but every time I've seen him play this year he's been reluctant to take a pop. For an inside forward this is incredible. Maybe I'm being harsh. His overall contribution with the exception of yesterday has been good, but you want your forwards shooting. There needs to be new blood injectied into the forwards but of course it'll not happen overnight. I'm disappointed but congratulations to Donegal, I hope yeez go on to win Ulster. Longford will be a good challenge for the red hands. I'm hoping July will be hectic....

I was thinking the same yesterday.  The big problem we seem to have is that we are missing a real natural, quick and instinctive forward who will win the ball, beat his man and pop it over.  Ronan O'Neill came to mind and I don't see why he couldn't be brought in.  We could go through names here but it would be shot down as people here seem to simply believe that the 2008 minors and other players have been given a chance and simply not taken it.  I actually feel the only place that players evolve from under-age stars to senior stars is on the pitch, be it in the form of playing championship matches and losing or winning.  Look at the SON's, Kevin Hughes', Mulligans etc who didn't pull on a Tyrone jersey and run the show from day one - it took them to get a good number of championship games under their belts and evolve via the tests they faced. 

There are too many passengers on the Tyrone team, and I know people say Mickey knows best but if he doesn't change for the Longford game it will put a marker down on whether or not he will ever change.  He is too loyal to the faithful old hands (which is understandable), but things need freshened up, as things have gone stale.  The qualifiers could be a blessing in disguise, and there is some difference in the football a team can play in Ulster compared to qualifiers or quarters onwards.  Any game at Clones or in Ulster in general is a dogged, smothered affair where no team seems to get the space to play expansive football.  Every year is the same, even the last 2 seasons in Ulster everything was tight and space was limited.

The panel is what it is for 2011 probably at this stage, but I have mentioned players before who would add another dimension to Tyrone especially int he forward line.  The best forward I have seen in Tyrone this year is Johnny Lafferty, but he will never be given a look in.  The Tyrone forward line would be somewhat more menacing with a Lafferty, O'Neill or Coney floating about it.

[ONeill]

Some crazy ratings in today's Irish News. They said of Peter Harte 'they game seemed to pass him by'. I thought he was as heavily involved as anyone else in the first half, moping up around the half back line. They also saw something in Donnelly I didn't.

[HiMucker]

Some crazy ratings in today's Irish News. They said of Peter Harte 'they game seemed to pass him by'. I thought he was as heavily involved as anyone else in the first half, moping up around the half back line. They also saw something in Donnelly I didn't.

Joe McMahons rating of 6 was disgraceful!  Thought he was immense before he was taken out.
I Hope Derry win as it will be a victory for football.  Fair play to Donegal, I don't blame them for playing that system as its about results.  They don't have the players to compete with the best so they have certain style to level the playing Field.  Don't get me wrong they are a good team with some quality individuals and on their day could beat any of the big teams by even playing a more expansive game.  But if they played like that they would still lose the majority of games to the better sides like cork, Dublin, Kerry and Tyrone.  The flip side to playing the way they play is that the best teams with the best players will eventually find a way round it, and the new fad will come a cropper.  Armagh were the first side to really do it (though not as negatively as Donegal), and although i think they had a very good team I still don't think they had as good a squad as other sides and for me this is the reason they only won one AI.  Tyrone adopted it, got alot of abuse for playing puke football but i don't buy that.  They absolutely demolished teams on the way to winning their first all ireland.  They went on to win two more because they had one of the best groups of players about.  So donegal may catch the best teams out this year but the cream will eventually make its way to the top.  For me the defensive system can only ever be a short term fix.  Jim McG glenties side play the same way and its not like they dominate in Donegal.

[tyronebhoy]

Some crazy ratings in today's Irish News. They said of Peter Harte 'they game seemed to pass him by'. I thought he was as heavily involved as anyone else in the first half, moping up around the half back line. They also saw something in Donnelly I didn't.

Yeah I thought Peter Harte did very well in the first half but his confidence seemed to take a hit when he started missing frees.  Don't think he should have taken the first 45 as it was more suited to a right footed player and from then he didn't look confident with his place ball kicking.

Was dissapointed with Donnelly as he played much better in the league games and against Monaghan but a game against Longford should restore his confidence.

If Joe McMahon hadn't been taken out, he would probably have been Man of the match for keeping Murphy quiet and stopping Donegal's one (attacking) tactic of hoofing it up to Murphy.

[AQMP]

Tyrone beat themselves, they should have been 7 or 8 up at half time.  McLoone should have got the line. I said last year after the Antrim game that Dooher's legs had gone, shouldn't start the next day.

[omagh_gael]

Ratings in IN were terrible, a 6 Neil McGee and Joe! C'mon Crossan and Heaney, they were both immense!

I have already said it but if we are to have any hope of salvaging anything from this year the back door is our best chance. A relatively low key affair in Longford were we can, hopefully, scrap a win with a few changes to the team will get things back on track. We can be a frustrating team to follow at times as there are many instances where we look to have the potential to pulverise teams but a few clangers here and there stifle our confidence and we're sucked into a firefighting situation.

Our next outing has a defining feel to it, either plough on with the old hands or throw the pups in and see if they sink or swim. Interesting times ahead.

[armaghniac]

Any game at Clones or in Ulster in general is a dogged, smothered affair where no team seems to get the space to play expansive football.

The previous week there was a game in Clones where one team had all too much space to play expansive football.

I have already said it but if we are to have any hope of salvaging anything from this year the back door is our best chance.

Indeed, it is probably your only chance.