All Ireland senior football final 2012 Donegal v Mayo

[Zulu]

I don't think it shows that at all. Yes, he achieved something very notable but he didn't do it with the waterford footballers. He had at least 5 or 6 players many counties would have gladly taken and the real superpowers of the past decade are in decline so he in essence he got a very good bunch of players to win an All Ireland by getting them to commit to the necessary level of application.

As I said, that's no small feat but he hasn't worked miracles. Horan has done an equally impressive job and swop McFadden and Murphy with Cillian O'Connor and Varley and Sam would probably be down in Ballina tonight.

[the Deel Rover]

Congrats to Donegal and all the Donegal posters on here should be a great few months up there . Haven't watched the match again but will do so tonight we put up a brave performance but the 1st 11 minutes cost us the game.

[DownFanatic]

I don't think it shows that at all. Yes, he achieved something very notable but he didn't do it with the waterford footballers. He had at least 5 or 6 players many counties would have gladly taken and the real superpowers of the past decade are in decline so he in essence he got a very good bunch of players to win an All Ireland by getting them to commit to the necessary level of application.

As I said, that's no small feat but he hasn't worked miracles. Horan has done an equally impressive job and swop McFadden and Murphy with Cillian O'Connor and Varley and Sam would probably be down in Ballina tonight.

In my opinion Donegal were a very average team a few years back. To take them from the state they were in to All Ireland champions in such a short space of time is phenomenal in my eyes.
Id guarantee that McGuinness or someone of a similar ilk could take the likes of the Waterford footballers to a much higher level than what they are currently at in a short period of time.

[ross matt]

Congrats to Donegal. Best team in the country by far this year. McGuinness might have had some talented footballers but Donegal have had them in the past (Devenney.... Adrian Sweeney etc) and failed to win anything significant with them. So he deserves all the plaudits he is getting for maximising the potential of what he had available to him. They are young and hungry enough to come back for more but it's a matter of whether they can continue to make the sacrifices off the field in their family and work lives etc in order to stay at this level of performance.

The worst thing Mayo could do now would be to lump this AI defeat in with any of their previous ones. It was entirely different. There was no collapse. In fact they showed massive strength of character to bounce back from a start that would have buried most teams. They were very unlucky in that they should have had a free before the 2nd goal. That was a 4 point difference because they would have scored their free. They didnt help themselves with some high tackling but the ref was a little too hasty to dish out yellows to them... possibly infleunced by some of the media comments about their fouling tactics in the Dublin match. But the key thing for them is that they competed so well with Donegal in the 2nd half. They are still a work in progress but one that is going in the right direction.

I thought Cafferkey based on his form this year would have handled Murphy. Ger Feeney surely should have started ? I thought Conroy should have been left on in the sense he might have been capable of scoring  a goal in the last few moments.

Leaving all that aside Andy Moran was a massive loss.... think Donegal without McFadden or Murphy. Horan.... Andy Moran and the rest of the panel are ambitious enough to come back as an improved outfit next season.

[Lar Naparka]

Tough one again and yet another damp evening-after in the west just like the last ones. Funny how the I can remember things like that but would probably be the same if we had won.

Hats off to Donegal. A great team to have won as many games on tough routes over the last two years. In my book they are up there with great teams like the meaths/corks of the late 80's and the Galways 90's and Tyrones/Armaghs of 2000's. Couldn't happen to a nicer county and its great people.(Kerry were in a different league to everyone else lest it's mentioned)

Agree with someone above in that it didn't feel great heading for the match. I know I'm getting on now but I had more confidence going to all the previous finals. Bloody hell I hope i'm not "loosing the Faith".

Anyway a bit too sad and tired to go into deep analysis. You could maybe point to a few of our players who might have grabbed the game by the scruf, a quicker reaction on the line like Richie in sooner, but its easy to talk here.

I firmly believe however now more than ever that we have been unlucky in that we have never produced an outstanding forward to build a forward unit around like Allen, O'Rourke, Linden, Fitzgerald, McConville, Canavan, Brogan, Joyce and now Murphy.

Just my two cents worth 

Anyway i'm sure we'll get back on the horse again fairly soon & enjoy your win up there in Donegal.

http://spailpin.blogspot.ie/

The bit in bold could have been me. The blogger above appears to concur. There were thousands of us there yesterday who were hoping wheels would not come off but knowing that they would have to. Thats our story and the odessey continues.

It will take something really special to change the script. I think our current team is a bit special. They ve worked hard but have been unlucky with injuries. Donegal were always going to be a big ask - but there ll always be a Donegal, Kerry or Cork or Tyrone. Nobody is going to hand us one.

John O Keefe made the same point about the stand out forward, that you do, today in his column. I thought we were close to finding another way this year - lets face it we cant hang around for a Murphy to emerge. I thought management wrongly resorted to a 3 man ff line when the running game was developing, and was the game needed for Donegal, who were always a likely opposition late in champ.

Mind you in the past we had some top finishers like Joe McGrath and Kevin O Neill but the rest of set-up was a mess too often. Be great if we had a Tom Langan type now but we dont but we ve a lot of other qualities and I d expect 3/4 new faces next year by championship.

Tom Langan came to mind because Murphy s goal was awfully similar to Langan s effort v Meath 60 odd years ago. For those of you that don t know - there will be many - Langan was full- forward on the Millinium team. Ar dheis Dé go rabh an anam.

Bedad, moysider, you do come up with some thought-provoking diversions.
Padraig Brogan reminds me of Paul Gascoigne. Brilliant without a doubt but ultimately useless.
A bit like a lighthouse in a bog.
Padraig sure had potential but no one could harness it.  Coincidentally, Donegal couldn't either. But, leaving me auntie and me uncle aside, if only Mayo had managed to mould a team around him, we could have gone places then. We had plenty of fine footballers in the mid-eighties but, the nearer you moved to the opposition goal, the more the quality declined.
That's been the case as far back as I can remember.
Maybe McGrath and O'Neill bucked this trend but in O'Neill's case, he was hampered by injuries and out of favour with John Maughan during his relatively short playing career. Noel Durkin and James Horan were top class forwards but neither were goal scorers and without a doubt goals win games.  Same goes for Supermac and Conoreen.
I thought Andy was coming into his own when disaster struck. Without doubt, he would have been the linchpin of the Mayo attack and Horan seemed to have Varley and Conroy as his preferred corner men. With them and Dillon, O'Connor and McLoughlin outside them, he'd have the best Mayo attack I have seen.
Ah, shag it, that pisreog about the funeral in Foxford might be true after all!
While I'm at it, why did Michael Murphy's father have to move to Donegal? 
That priest in Foxford will have an awful lot to answer for on Judgement Day.
BTW, I don't think Seamie O'Shea or anyone else could have handled Murphy on Sunday. With Mayo's midfield malfunctioning, the quality of the passes directed in to him would leave Mayo in danger all through the game.
Still, the switching of Keane and Caff did steady the Mayo defence and both of them played quite well for the remainder of the game. But by then, the horse had well and truly bolted.
Horan seemed to lose his sure touch as the game progressed. I don't think we could have won without Andy but if horan had gone for broke earlier, who knows what might have happened.
He could have put a sweeper back in front of Murphy but he didn't. McGuinness did this when O'Shea moved in to the edge of the square in the closing minutes and it worked to great effect. As it was, Aidan was clearly unfit from the throw in and was left in midfield until the last few minutes. With Gallagher and Kavanagh making hay, McFadden and Murphy no doubt found the going easier than they had anticipated.
At this stage, the game is over we're gallant losers one more time.
Commiserations instead of congratulations as per usual.

[saffronandblue]

While Cian O'Neill can be complimented on bringing a top level of fitness to the Mayo set up, one has to question why he seemed to jump ship before the All Ireland final.  It was common knowledge within the Mayo squad that he was on his way well before last Sunday. 

It may not have effected the result, but it certainly could have done little to improve the confidence levels of the Mayo team if your coach is leaving for pastures new.  Timing could have been so much better.  Lets hope the new backroom team will be capable of bringing us to the promised land

[ballinaman]

While Cian O'Neill can be complimented on bringing a top level of fitness to the Mayo set up, one has to question why he seemed to jump ship before the All Ireland final.  It was common knowledge within the Mayo squad that he was on his way well before last Sunday. 

It may not have effected the result, but it certainly could have done little to improve the confidence levels of the Mayo team if your coach is leaving for pastures new.  Timing could have been so much better.  Lets hope the new backroom team will be capable of bringing us to the promised land

Hopefully we can get the appointment of Barry Solan through. He's one of the most dynamic forward thinking s&c coaches out there so the void left by O'Neill will be hardly noticeable. An out and out Mayo Ballagh man too so he'll bring plenty of passion to the role.

The undeniable, inescapable pang of defeat in the base of my stomach doesn't seem like shifting anytime soon however.

[Square Ball]

Daniel and Jimmy singing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V581Otb3VI&feature=plcp very good indeed

[moysider]

Tough one again and yet another damp evening-after in the west just like the last ones. Funny how the I can remember things like that but would probably be the same if we had won.

Hats off to Donegal. A great team to have won as many games on tough routes over the last two years. In my book they are up there with great teams like the meaths/corks of the late 80's and the Galways 90's and Tyrones/Armaghs of 2000's. Couldn't happen to a nicer county and its great people.(Kerry were in a different league to everyone else lest it's mentioned)

Agree with someone above in that it didn't feel great heading for the match. I know I'm getting on now but I had more confidence going to all the previous finals. Bloody hell I hope i'm not "loosing the Faith".

Anyway a bit too sad and tired to go into deep analysis. You could maybe point to a few of our players who might have grabbed the game by the scruf, a quicker reaction on the line like Richie in sooner, but its easy to talk here.

I firmly believe however now more than ever that we have been unlucky in that we have never produced an outstanding forward to build a forward unit around like Allen, O'Rourke, Linden, Fitzgerald, McConville, Canavan, Brogan, Joyce and now Murphy.

Just my two cents worth 

Anyway i'm sure we'll get back on the horse again fairly soon & enjoy your win up there in Donegal.

http://spailpin.blogspot.ie/

The bit in bold could have been me. The blogger above appears to concur. There were thousands of us there yesterday who were hoping wheels would not come off but knowing that they would have to. Thats our story and the odessey continues.

It will take something really special to change the script. I think our current team is a bit special. They ve worked hard but have been unlucky with injuries. Donegal were always going to be a big ask - but there ll always be a Donegal, Kerry or Cork or Tyrone. Nobody is going to hand us one.

John O Keefe made the same point about the stand out forward, that you do, today in his column. I thought we were close to finding another way this year - lets face it we cant hang around for a Murphy to emerge. I thought management wrongly resorted to a 3 man ff line when the running game was developing, and was the game needed for Donegal, who were always a likely opposition late in champ.

Mind you in the past we had some top finishers like Joe McGrath and Kevin O Neill but the rest of set-up was a mess too often. Be great if we had a Tom Langan type now but we dont but we ve a lot of other qualities and I d expect 3/4 new faces next year by championship.

Tom Langan came to mind because Murphy s goal was awfully similar to Langan s effort v Meath 60 odd years ago. For those of you that don t know - there will be many - Langan was full- forward on the Millinium team. Ar dheis Dé go rabh an anam.

Bedad, moysider, you do come up with some thought-provoking diversions.
Padraig Brogan reminds me of Paul Gascoigne. Brilliant without a doubt but ultimately useless.
A bit like a lighthouse in a bog.Padraig sure had potential but no one could harness it.  Coincidentally, Donegal couldn't either. But, leaving me auntie and me uncle aside, if only Mayo had managed to mould a team around him, we could have gone places then. We had plenty of fine footballers in the mid-eighties but, the nearer you moved to the opposition goal, the more the quality declined.
That's been the case as far back as I can remember.
Maybe McGrath and O'Neill bucked this trend but in O'Neill's case, he was hampered by injuries and out of favour with John Maughan during his relatively short playing career. Noel Durkin and James Horan were top class forwards but neither were goal scorers and without a doubt goals win games.  Same goes for Supermac and Conoreen.
I thought Andy was coming into his own when disaster struck. Without doubt, he would have been the linchpin of the Mayo attack and Horan seemed to have Varley and Conroy as his preferred corner men. With them and Dillon, O'Connor and McLoughlin outside them, he'd have the best Mayo attack I have seen.
Ah, shag it, that pisreog about the funeral in Foxford might be true after all!
While I'm at it, why did Michael Murphy's father have to move to Donegal? 
That priest in Foxford will have an awful lot to answer for on Judgement Day.
BTW, I don't think Seamie O'Shea or anyone else could have handled Murphy on Sunday. With Mayo's midfield malfunctioning, the quality of the passes directed in to him would leave Mayo in danger all through the game.
Still, the switching of Keane and Caff did steady the Mayo defence and both of them played quite well for the remainder of the game. But by then, the horse had well and truly bolted.
Horan seemed to lose his sure touch as the game progressed. I don't think we could have won without Andy but if horan had gone for broke earlier, who knows what might have happened.
He could have put a sweeper back in front of Murphy but he didn't. McGuinness did this when O'Shea moved in to the edge of the square in the closing minutes and it worked to great effect. As it was, Aidan was clearly unfit from the throw in and was left in midfield until the last few minutes. With Gallagher and Kavanagh making hay, McFadden and Murphy no doubt found the going easier than they had anticipated.
At this stage, the game is over we're gallant losers one more time.
Commiserations instead of congratulations as per usual.

That s unfair Lar. Brogan was one of the best footballers I ever saw. One of the best that ever played colleges football. For well documented reasons he hit his prime around 19 but had some club career. The culture of the time in Mayo and the fact that we didn t have a decent manager at the time meant that there was no attempt to nurture his talent. Badly missed in 89 and could still have bben some asset in 96/97.

Ah well, we re the architects of our own misery. And we were last day as well to a degree.

[moysider]

While Cian O'Neill can be complimented on bringing a top level of fitness to the Mayo set up, one has to question why he seemed to jump ship before the All Ireland final.  It was common knowledge within the Mayo squad that he was on his way well before last Sunday.  

It may not have effected the result, but it certainly could have done little to improve the confidence levels of the Mayo team if your coach is leaving for pastures new.  Timing could have been so much better.  Lets hope the new backroom team will be capable of bringing us to the promised land

We can t be surprised by that.

Wasn t there a bit of a 'review' of his role in the set-up. It appears he wanted more of a coaching input than just being a drill monkey.

But being based in Limerick it makes more sense to go to Kerry. That s his story and it s good enough for me.

[moysider]

While Cian O'Neill can be complimented on bringing a top level of fitness to the Mayo set up, one has to question why he seemed to jump ship before the All Ireland final.  It was common knowledge within the Mayo squad that he was on his way well before last Sunday. 

It may not have effected the result, but it certainly could have done little to improve the confidence levels of the Mayo team if your coach is leaving for pastures new.  Timing could have been so much better.  Lets hope the new backroom team will be capable of bringing us to the promised land

Hopefully we can get the appointment of Barry Solan through. He's one of the most dynamic forward thinking s&c coaches out there so the void left by O'Neill will be hardly noticeable. An out and out Mayo Ballagh man too so he'll bring plenty of passion to the role.

The undeniable, inescapable pang of defeat in the base of my stomach doesn't seem like shifting anytime soon however.

Here s something that will make that pang last all winter long!

2-7 of Donegal s total came from Mayo in possession and kicking the ball into the full-forward line and it not sticking. Ok a bit did stick but did we lost out big time on that. And lets face it we knew it was a busted tactic after losing Andy. Yeah we got a lot of return with ball inside v Dublin but Donegal had already beat our inside men up above in Ballyshannon. They were rubbing their hands with this prospect. Also meant we took Dillon and Mcloughlin out of the game largely but Donegal got the best match ups there also. Donegal dictated the match-ups and we did nothing to change tack.

I d love to know why we abandoned the running game that suited us and would have limited Donegal the ammo they need ?- counterattack possession. I d also love to know why Keith Higgins was left minding the house after it was robbed. Unbelievable! Higgins spend all spring terrorising oppositions with his pace and devil. Yet when we need that we take him out of the game ourselves and put him on babysitting duties. It was sad to see him realise all was lost and try to punch forward last few minutes. WTF are we doing with that kind of shite.

And any bollocks that comes along and tells me that Keith is a corner back and his job is to defend is...........

looks like we ll never get it right. Can have all the fitness science, (a must) psychologists, etc in the world but if we cant select a team and get the tactics sorted. Probably the most important bit being recognising where your vulnerable yourself and taking pre-emptive action. This nonesense of just playing own game is shite. The really good coaches play both teams games in their heads before the real stuff starts. Mayo has never done that. McGuinness and Harte have def. for 2 anyway.

[Lar Naparka]

Tough one again and yet another damp evening-after in the west just like the last ones. Funny how the I can remember things like that but would probably be the same if we had won.

Hats off to Donegal. A great team to have won as many games on tough routes over the last two years. In my book they are up there with great teams like the meaths/corks of the late 80's and the Galways 90's and Tyrones/Armaghs of 2000's. Couldn't happen to a nicer county and its great people.(Kerry were in a different league to everyone else lest it's mentioned)

Agree with someone above in that it didn't feel great heading for the match. I know I'm getting on now but I had more confidence going to all the previous finals. Bloody hell I hope i'm not "loosing the Faith".

Anyway a bit too sad and tired to go into deep analysis. You could maybe point to a few of our players who might have grabbed the game by the scruf, a quicker reaction on the line like Richie in sooner, but its easy to talk here.

I firmly believe however now more than ever that we have been unlucky in that we have never produced an outstanding forward to build a forward unit around like Allen, O'Rourke, Linden, Fitzgerald, McConville, Canavan, Brogan, Joyce and now Murphy.

Just my two cents worth 

Anyway i'm sure we'll get back on the horse again fairly soon & enjoy your win up there in Donegal.

http://spailpin.blogspot.ie/

The bit in bold could have been me. The blogger above appears to concur. There were thousands of us there yesterday who were hoping wheels would not come off but knowing that they would have to. Thats our story and the odessey continues.

It will take something really special to change the script. I think our current team is a bit special. They ve worked hard but have been unlucky with injuries. Donegal were always going to be a big ask - but there ll always be a Donegal, Kerry or Cork or Tyrone. Nobody is going to hand us one.

John O Keefe made the same point about the stand out forward, that you do, today in his column. I thought we were close to finding another way this year - lets face it we cant hang around for a Murphy to emerge. I thought management wrongly resorted to a 3 man ff line when the running game was developing, and was the game needed for Donegal, who were always a likely opposition late in champ.

Mind you in the past we had some top finishers like Joe McGrath and Kevin O Neill but the rest of set-up was a mess too often. Be great if we had a Tom Langan type now but we dont but we ve a lot of other qualities and I d expect 3/4 new faces next year by championship.

Tom Langan came to mind because Murphy s goal was awfully similar to Langan s effort v Meath 60 odd years ago. For those of you that don t know - there will be many - Langan was full- forward on the Millinium team. Ar dheis Dé go rabh an anam.

Bedad, moysider, you do come up with some thought-provoking diversions.
Padraig Brogan reminds me of Paul Gascoigne. Brilliant without a doubt but ultimately useless.
A bit like a lighthouse in a bog.Padraig sure had potential but no one could harness it.  Coincidentally, Donegal couldn't either. But, leaving me auntie and me uncle aside, if only Mayo had managed to mould a team around him, we could have gone places then. We had plenty of fine footballers in the mid-eighties but, the nearer you moved to the opposition goal, the more the quality declined.
That's been the case as far back as I can remember.
Maybe McGrath and O'Neill bucked this trend but in O'Neill's case, he was hampered by injuries and out of favour with John Maughan during his relatively short playing career. Noel Durkin and James Horan were top class forwards but neither were goal scorers and without a doubt goals win games.  Same goes for Supermac and Conoreen.
I thought Andy was coming into his own when disaster struck. Without doubt, he would have been the linchpin of the Mayo attack and Horan seemed to have Varley and Conroy as his preferred corner men. With them and Dillon, O'Connor and McLoughlin outside them, he'd have the best Mayo attack I have seen.
Ah, shag it, that pisreog about the funeral in Foxford might be true after all!
While I'm at it, why did Michael Murphy's father have to move to Donegal? 
That priest in Foxford will have an awful lot to answer for on Judgement Day.
BTW, I don't think Seamie O'Shea or anyone else could have handled Murphy on Sunday. With Mayo's midfield malfunctioning, the quality of the passes directed in to him would leave Mayo in danger all through the game.
Still, the switching of Keane and Caff did steady the Mayo defence and both of them played quite well for the remainder of the game. But by then, the horse had well and truly bolted.
Horan seemed to lose his sure touch as the game progressed. I don't think we could have won without Andy but if horan had gone for broke earlier, who knows what might have happened.
He could have put a sweeper back in front of Murphy but he didn't. McGuinness did this when O'Shea moved in to the edge of the square in the closing minutes and it worked to great effect. As it was, Aidan was clearly unfit from the throw in and was left in midfield until the last few minutes. With Gallagher and Kavanagh making hay, McFadden and Murphy no doubt found the going easier than they had anticipated.
At this stage, the game is over we're gallant losers one more time.
Commiserations instead of congratulations as per usual.

That s unfair Lar. Brogan was one of the best footballers I ever saw. One of the best that ever played colleges football. For well documented reasons he hit his prime around 19 but had some club career. The culture of the time in Mayo and the fact that we didn t have a decent manager at the time meant that there was no attempt to nurture his talent. Badly missed in 89 and could still have bben some asset in 96/97.

Ah well, we re the architects of our own misery. And we were last day as well to a degree.

I had thought that you would have known what I was referring to. Let's say Padraig had other interests outside of football. A few acquaintances told me he was the best banjo player they had ever come across and they were regulars on the pub entertainment circuit. Maybe that took from his interest in football. You can't serve two masters and his football suffered as a result of his other activities.
Whatever the reason, his football talent was never developed. He would have been a great asset in '89 without a doubt but there's no point in dwelling on that now. He wasn't appreciated by management but that's only part of the story.

[kevmy]

Strangely I believe more than ever after that game that we will win the AI next year.

Yes we need to improve and push on. Yes we need to find/improve a couple of forwards. But I think there is something different about this Mayo team. The tenacity and mental fortitiude show nby the likes of Boyle, Keegan, O'Se, Moran, McLoughlin and Higgins was great. I think we'll need to have Andy in FF and find a couple of more options. Our goal scoring opportunities went with Andy, a great man to make ball stick and lay it off.

[From the Bunker]

Ah, you have to say McGuinness has done a great job. Jez, they have retained a Anglo-Celt and Won an AI. Not even looking at the massive win that an AI is, Donegal had lost 5 Ulster finals in a row before JMG. I think they had won only 1 outta 8 Championship games in Croker. They have had no underage success, bar an Ulster under 21 a few years ago. They really have relatively came from nowhere and anybody who says the opposite does not follow football.

Horan, in his own right has done well also. But has to fine tune a few things. He will probably have learned far more this year than last year.

Strangely I believe more than ever after that game that we will win the AI next year.

Yes we need to improve and push on. Yes we need to find/improve a couple of forwards. But I think there is something different about this Mayo team. The tenacity and mental fortitiude show nby the likes of Boyle, Keegan, O'Se, Moran, McLoughlin and Higgins was great. I think we'll need to have Andy in FF and find a couple of more options. Our goal scoring opportunities went with Andy, a great man to make ball stick and lay it off.

We need luck with injuries, need to condition a few players better, strenghten the foward divison of our bench. But it's all good.

[Halfquarter]

Strangely I believe more than ever after that game that we will win the AI next year.

Yes we need to improve and push on. Yes we need to find/improve a couple of forwards. But I think there is something different about this Mayo team. The tenacity and mental fortitiude show nby the likes of Boyle, Keegan, O'Se, Moran, McLoughlin and Higgins was great. I think we'll need to have Andy in FF and find a couple of more options. Our goal scoring opportunities went with Andy, a great man to make ball stick and lay it off.

I think that this game,if nothing else ,got rid of the bad taste left after the the 2006 All Ireland for a lot of people,although it did not look likely after 11 mins.
That was badly needed anyway.