Where next for Donegal?

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Yea let me correct that Fear ón Srath Bán, agree with you 100% there, what i meant was more equating the critriciam Tyrone got at the time to now being lauded. I like that 'fire blanket defence' good description and that is what we were, Tyrone had the Sean Cavanaghs that Donegal does not have yet but give it time.

Fair enough Gg, time will indeed change perspectives.

[Orangemac]

After all Tyrone we crucified when they appeared with their blanked defense now coming up on ten years of they are lauded, well donegal are at the start of that journey...

Fair dues there Goldengreen, you've every right to be extremely proud of your team.

But, you're incorrect in that statement above (to equate our system with yours): at no time in our games at any stage of our evolutionary cycle did we utilise the single solitary attacker in the oppostion half for our kickouts as a strategic ploy, never.

If what we employed was a 'blanket defence', then your lads were employing a 'fire blanket defence'.

More like a duvet defence. It covers more than a blanket.

If I were a Donegal fan, Gallagher talking about upping the fitness for next year would be worrying. More of the same only better. It is understandable McGuinness making Donegal harder to beat this year but this tactic may not be as effective next year.

If Brogan had scored a goal with that early chance or Kildares goal been allowed the plan was out the window and there didn't seem to be a plan B.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

If what we employed was a 'blanket defence', then your lads were employing a 'fire blanket defence'.

More like a duvet defence. It covers more than a blanket.

I was thinking of it being even more impenetrable than the blanket defence! 

[INDIANA]

IMO Murphy can play this foraging game because he is young and still has that springy and sprightly step /athleticism that youth gives you.
This wont last and his physique isnt suited to that game .His physique is also not one that you could slim down a whole lot unless he goes on hunger strike.
Even if he lost loads of weight, he would take a while getting used to playing a completely different type of game as right now he is a strong powerful runner who knows people out of his way.
without the bulk and strength, he wont be able to do that- and will he be as effective.
IMO you pick players and play them to their own strengths in a side whose formation and style you tailor towards the players you posess.
Next year will be interesting.
Who will knock the Dubs off their perch as All Ireland champions !!

agree with you about you pick and play to their strengths. there's no doubt he's young and fit and a powerful lump of a man... but for even young men with the years smiling on them, there's the potential there to up the performance level. i don't mean he needs to drop down to a silly weight, i mean he can be fitter aerobically and also keep his power, even improve on it. if he keeps training, it'll happen nice a slowly, which is the most sustainable and safer for avoiding injuries. takes years to get to that level. i'm not just talking about murphy here either, the whole camp will be monsters if they keep the discipline and the training going.

the dubs are unbeatable as we all know so i'm taking that was rhetorical.

You think Donegal are going to see many more Michael Murphy's? Every other team builds their team around the talisman.

Donegal do the opposite.

Its actually quite simple how to beat Donegal and this system. Kerry would have destroyed them in my view.

Dublin panicked which doesn't bode well for the 18th.

[cadence]

After all Tyrone we crucified when they appeared with their blanked defense now coming up on ten years of they are lauded, well donegal are at the start of that journey...

Fair dues there Goldengreen, you've every right to be extremely proud of your team.

But, you're incorrect in that statement above (to equate our system with yours): at no time in our games at any stage of our evolutionary cycle did we utilise the single solitary attacker in the oppostion half for our kickouts as a strategic ploy, never.

If what we employed was a 'blanket defence', then your lads were employing a 'fire blanket defence'.

More like a duvet defence. It covers more than a blanket.

If I were a Donegal fan, Gallagher talking about upping the fitness for next year would be worrying. More of the same only better. It is understandable McGuinness making Donegal harder to beat this year but this tactic may not be as effective next year.

If Brogan had scored a goal with that early chance or Kildares goal been allowed the plan was out the window and there didn't seem to be a plan B.

i don't necessarily think that more fitness will mean that we'll play as defensive as against dublin. i think what mcg and ng are going to ask of the players next year is to defend and counterattack for the full 70.

i must confess though, the more stick we get, the uglier i want us to be and the more i want our game to be about graftin' and  turning games into the type of battle we saw sunday. i was going to say i hope we have a more varied game, but i honestly couldn't care less, as long as we win. 

[INDIANA]

After all Tyrone we crucified when they appeared with their blanked defense now coming up on ten years of they are lauded, well donegal are at the start of that journey...

Fair dues there Goldengreen, you've every right to be extremely proud of your team.

But, you're incorrect in that statement above (to equate our system with yours): at no time in our games at any stage of our evolutionary cycle did we utilise the single solitary attacker in the oppostion half for our kickouts as a strategic ploy, never.

If what we employed was a 'blanket defence', then your lads were employing a 'fire blanket defence'.

More like a duvet defence. It covers more than a blanket.

If I were a Donegal fan, Gallagher talking about upping the fitness for next year would be worrying. More of the same only better. It is understandable McGuinness making Donegal harder to beat this year but this tactic may not be as effective next year.

If Brogan had scored a goal with that early chance or Kildares goal been allowed the plan was out the window and there didn't seem to be a plan B.

i don't necessarily think that more fitness will mean that we'll play as defensive as against dublin. i think what mcg and ng are going to ask of the players next year is to defend and counterattack for the full 70.

i must confess though, the more stick we get, the uglier i want us to be and the more i want our game to be about graftin' and  turning games into the type of battle we saw sunday. i was going to say i hope we have a more varied game, but i honestly couldn't care less, as long as we win.

But you wont. The system is quite easily beaten. It took dublin 55  minutes to figure it out.
It will never work again.

[cadence]

IMO Murphy can play this foraging game because he is young and still has that springy and sprightly step /athleticism that youth gives you.
This wont last and his physique isnt suited to that game .His physique is also not one that you could slim down a whole lot unless he goes on hunger strike.
Even if he lost loads of weight, he would take a while getting used to playing a completely different type of game as right now he is a strong powerful runner who knows people out of his way.
without the bulk and strength, he wont be able to do that- and will he be as effective.
IMO you pick players and play them to their own strengths in a side whose formation and style you tailor towards the players you posess.
Next year will be interesting.
Who will knock the Dubs off their perch as All Ireland champions !!

agree with you about you pick and play to their strengths. there's no doubt he's young and fit and a powerful lump of a man... but for even young men with the years smiling on them, there's the potential there to up the performance level. i don't mean he needs to drop down to a silly weight, i mean he can be fitter aerobically and also keep his power, even improve on it. if he keeps training, it'll happen nice a slowly, which is the most sustainable and safer for avoiding injuries. takes years to get to that level. i'm not just talking about murphy here either, the whole camp will be monsters if they keep the discipline and the training going.

the dubs are unbeatable as we all know so i'm taking that was rhetorical.

You think Donegal are going to see many more Michael Murphy's? Every other team builds their team around the talisman.

Donegal do the opposite.

Its actually quite simple how to beat Donegal and this system. Kerry would have destroyed them in my view.

Dublin panicked which doesn't bode well for the 18th.

we've always been able to produce talented players and every so often each generation produces a few crackers. i def agree with you that he was taken out of where he was most effective. he didn't have his shooting boots on and i can only guess that this was why he was shifted back as far as he was. having one man forward only is too extreme, so the management have to strike a better balance and figure out a way to tweak the system enough to ensure we're not soft defensively and at the same time have enough going forward.

think cork are better suited to beating our system than kerry. we'd suffocate kerry too. cork have the power runners to do us damage. they'd have to keep their width though, that's where dublin had the most joy in the end. very interesting to see what'll happen next year when we all go again.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Donegal will be just fine.They will be better in 2012
I am of the opinion,that they will not be quite as defensive-minded next year as they put into place,Part 2 of their plan, Linking their very effective  blanket defensive system to an effective attacking strategy.
At times they had 12-13 players behind the ball,
This will be reduced to 9-10 next year,with the extra player or two providing the link between the blanket defense and what should be a very potent full forward line of Murphy,McFadden and McBrearty.

[Kerry Mike]

think cork are better suited to beating our system than kerry. we'd suffocate kerry too. cork have the power runners to do us damage.

I am crying with laughter thanks we all needed a good pick me up. And the bit about the Cork power runners, who are they again and how come they never mastered Kerry when it mattered ?

very interesting to see what'll happen next year when we all go again.

As George Hamilton once said, "a nation holds it breath"

[cadence]

After all Tyrone we crucified when they appeared with their blanked defense now coming up on ten years of they are lauded, well donegal are at the start of that journey...

Fair dues there Goldengreen, you've every right to be extremely proud of your team.

But, you're incorrect in that statement above (to equate our system with yours): at no time in our games at any stage of our evolutionary cycle did we utilise the single solitary attacker in the oppostion half for our kickouts as a strategic ploy, never.

If what we employed was a 'blanket defence', then your lads were employing a 'fire blanket defence'.

More like a duvet defence. It covers more than a blanket.

If I were a Donegal fan, Gallagher talking about upping the fitness for next year would be worrying. More of the same only better. It is understandable McGuinness making Donegal harder to beat this year but this tactic may not be as effective next year.

If Brogan had scored a goal with that early chance or Kildares goal been allowed the plan was out the window and there didn't seem to be a plan B.

i don't necessarily think that more fitness will mean that we'll play as defensive as against dublin. i think what mcg and ng are going to ask of the players next year is to defend and counterattack for the full 70.

i must confess though, the more stick we get, the uglier i want us to be and the more i want our game to be about graftin' and  turning games into the type of battle we saw sunday. i was going to say i hope we have a more varied game, but i honestly couldn't care less, as long as we win.

But you wont. The system is quite easily beaten. It took dublin 55  minutes to figure it out.
It will never work again.

dublin had from the day they beat tyrone to figure it out and were at a loss imo. it wasn't just a case of figuring it out, tiredness played a part too and we didn't kill it off when we could have. the system itself is far from being quite easily beaten. some people don't like it, but sure what odds.... it's effective.

[imtommygunn]

McBrearty is a great prospect too so Murphy may not be on his own in a few years.

Donegal need to change a little and I think they know that. Not one team in the country will want to play them next year come business end of the championship that's for sure. I always felt if they were behind they could be in bother and so it proved.

You look at Sunday and you could point to a few things though- Lacey's loss was a massive blow and also the referee seemed to forget Dublin could concede a foul in the last 5 or 10 minutes. (The Dublin corner back had his elbow on the ball while on the ground on the 20 - Donegal would have equalised - and that was one of the most ridiculous reffing decisions I have ever seen at this level as it was blatant). All in all they weren't that far away but they do need some tweaking just yet. They could have won that game however they'd not have beat Kerry.

I think they are missing a half forward with a good engine - if they could uncover one of those it'd be a great help. They have to play at LEAST 2 forwards though.  Next year they'll be fitter too as I think they ran out of steam a bit.

[heffo]

the referee seemed to forget Dublin could concede a foul in the last 5 or 10 minutes. (The Dublin corner back had his elbow on the ball while on the ground on the 20 - Donegal would have equalised - and that was one of the most ridiculous reffing decisions I have ever seen at this level as it was blatant

Thanks be to jaysus that Deegan was reffing it Sunday and not you.

Under what rule what you have given this 'blatant foul' that would've entitled Donegal to an equaliser?

Pray tell please enlighten us.

[BallyhaiseMan]

the referee seemed to forget Dublin could concede a foul in the last 5 or 10 minutes. (The Dublin corner back had his elbow on the ball while on the ground on the 20 - Donegal would have equalised - and that was one of the most ridiculous reffing decisions I have ever seen at this level as it was blatant

Thanks be to jaysus that Deegan was reffing it Sunday and not you.

Under what rule what you have given this 'blatant foul' that would've entitled Donegal to an equaliser?

Pray tell please enlighten us.

Its called the "Jackeen rule" heffo,
If a dub defender even looks at the ball inside the 20 metre line,its a free in to the Cultie team.

[muppet]

the referee seemed to forget Dublin could concede a foul in the last 5 or 10 minutes. (The Dublin corner back had his elbow on the ball while on the ground on the 20 - Donegal would have equalised - and that was one of the most ridiculous reffing decisions I have ever seen at this level as it was blatant

Thanks be to jaysus that Deegan was reffing it Sunday and not you.

Under what rule what you have given this 'blatant foul' that would've entitled Donegal to an equaliser?

Pray tell please enlighten us.

Its called the "Jackeen rule" heffo,
If a dub defender even looks at the ball inside the 20 metre line,its a free in to the Cultie team.

We call it the Gooch rule.

[cadence]

think cork are better suited to beating our system than kerry. we'd suffocate kerry too. cork have the power runners to do us damage.

I am crying with laughter thanks we all needed a good pick me up. And the bit about the Cork power runners, who are they again and how come they never mastered Kerry when it mattered ?

very interesting to see what'll happen next year when we all go again.

As George Hamilton once said, "a nation holds it breath"

sure i'm laughin' too!

if i can stop me splutterin' for a second....  we were talking about donegal here weren't we? i just think different teams pose different problems. i think we'd cope better defensively against kerry than cork. kerry are all about movement and making space, but when there's no space to make i think even the great kerry might find that a wee bit tight and not be able to score as freely as some people think. just a theory like. cork are the most powerful running team out there and if we were to play them i'd be worried. less so than if we had to play kerry. you fight fire with fire and all that.

anyway, please forgive me, i didn't mean to insult you. youse are still the best ever, how's that?!