Ulster Senior Football Final, Donegal v Down 22nd July .

[norabeag]

Might as well get her started. Any point in us turning up?
Must say am looking forward to it. In fact cant wait.

[Aristo 60]

Yeah turn up. But best we don't give dem lads any more than 6 points of a headstart....

[eyeswideopen]

Will travel in hope rather than expectation.
Can't see where we will get the scores.
Hope for a strong ref who can spot Donegals cynical fouling when they lose possession.
Obviously a tactic to allow them to get as many behind the ball as possible.
Would be important for Down to move these kicks quickly but hard to do with a Donegal player standing in front of the kicker.

[From the Bunker]

Donegal continue to perfect the negative sides to the game without the ball, while still looking quite positive when they have the ball. McGuiness in 18 months has turned a bunch of Chokers and ala carte inter-county footballers into a fighting mean machine. On the negative side, they don't score much and they don't concede much which means their games against good opposition will be tight, and leaves them fecked if the opposition scores goals.

[Mourne Rover]

Norabeag asks if there is any point in Down turning up, and Paddy Power seems to think that the answer is no. He quotes us as rank outsiders at 4/1, with Donegal at a prohibitive 2/9.

Fair enough, Donegal are the form side going into the final, but they have never won back to back Ulster titles and the last time the Anglo-Celt was retained by anyone other than Armagh or Tyrone was Derry back in 1976.

While Donegal have not conceded a goal from play in this year's USC, Tyrone managed four or five decent chances today. We have a good recent record against Donegal, and, if we can get our strongest team out, 4/1 looks generous.

[Mourne Rover]

The point is that, apart from the Tyrone and Armagh dominance of the last decade, when they were well ahead of the pack, retaining the Ulster title is a very difficult challenge. Donegal are being quoted by the bookies as virtual certainties to achieve something which they have never previously managed in their history.

[omagh_gael]

Well they've never had a manager, fitness level, hunger, system, intensity, belief and experience like this before.

[Mourne Rover]

If history plays no part in the Ulster championship, how come Antrim have not won one in the last 60 years ?

[armaghniac]

If history plays no part in the Ulster championship, how come Antrim have not won one in the last 60 years ?

Because they are crap?

[Pangurban]

Have to admit i was worried about this pairing for an Final, but having watched Donegal carefully today, my fears are somewhat allayed, if Down are in form and play there normal attacking game,as opposed to the defensive mindset we occasionally fall into, then Donegal are very beatable. Tyrone fell today because their forwards retreated rapidly into defence when Donegal had possession, instead of applying pressure on the Donegal defenders. When the Tyrone defence pushed out and stopped Donegals runs around the 40, Donegal responded by ineffectually passing the Ball around, before being turned over or kicking wide. The Down forwards carry a greater goal threat, and goals win games. It will be tough, but i am certainly more optimistic

[CitySlicker11]

Judging on Donegal's win over Tyrone and Down's potential it is clear to see that this will be another tight game, with maybe a few more scores than witnessed today. Down are not capable of the type of game Tyrone played today, and therefore will play the way they know best attack, this will in turn force Donegal to be more positive and potentially create a good final pairing. However, it is easy to sit back and say Down's attacking ability will automatically create this situation, it is clear to see that no matter how hard teams try, it is not easy to break down this Donegal defence. The efforts they go to in training to perfect this system has to be commended. Last point on the last semi final, Tyrone were within a kick of the ball of Donegal who I tipped for Ulster before it began, so if they can stick together I expect to see much more from them before the summer is out.

[cadence]

Have to admit i was worried about this pairing for an Final, but having watched Donegal carefully today, my fears are somewhat allayed, if Down are in form and play there normal attacking game,as opposed to the defensive mindset we occasionally fall into, then Donegal are very beatable. Tyrone fell today because their forwards retreated rapidly into defence when Donegal had possession, instead of applying pressure on the Donegal defenders. When the Tyrone defence pushed out and stopped Donegals runs around the 40, Donegal responded by ineffectually passing the Ball around, before being turned over or kicking wide. The Down forwards carry a greater goal threat, and goals win games. It will be tough, but i am certainly more optimistic

i thought tyrone applied pressure on us around our hb line enough to allow them to set up their own swarm defence. tyrone set themselves up like this to prevent them being on the back foot defending against our counter attacking running game. we rarely got penetration (hehe, sorry, big kid) in our running game going. much harder to run through a swarm defence that's set up waiting for you. i thought tyrone had an absolutely fantastic defensive set up yesterday, slow down our counter attacks and set up an almost impenetrable swarm, i wouldn't be that confident if i was down that donegal will be ineffectual going forward unless you get enough numbers back and stop the running game too.

tbh, if down insist on playing an open attacking game against us, by all means, carry on, i'll be more than happy, because it will play into our hands. but if you were to press us high up the pitch, you'd need to do it as a team with a lot of numbers, then that's an interesting way of trying to shut down our attacks. i haven't seen down play either of these ways, with a swarm and counter attacking, or pressing high up the pitch in big numbers. we'll see what happens though. will be interesting to see what down come up with.     

[Fuzzman]

When's the last time Down met Donegal? If ye think ye can play open attacking football at any level yer in for an awful shock. If ye watch yesterday's game again look at EVERY time Mugsy, SON and Peter Hate get the ball. If they made a run into space and got a good pass, as soon as they caught it, if they didn't shoot or pass immediately they were surrounded by 4 or 5 men. To me these forwards were still hoping to take an extra touch or try a dummy or feign and then got swallowed up. Penrose to me was the only forward who had the pace and quick thinking to release the ball fast or shoot. Both teams totally snuffed out each others 'star' forwards and so I hope Down are not hoping Lavery will be their saviour again. I'd put big Dan at 14 alongside Benjamin if he's fit, with Lavery playing a roving role. He won't get space to breathe otherwise. Like my 3 year old daughter I'll be shouting Up Down

[extra time]

who the feck is lavery?

[cadence]

who the feck is lavery?

ah you have him off to a t (i'll be here all day!).