Donegal v Mayo NFL Final

[armaghniac]

Getting worried now for the Ulster Championship.  Wink

Don't worry Ziggy, we in Armagh will do our level best to relieve Tyrone of the burden of having to beat a resurgent Donegal in the Ulster championship.

[Rufus T Firefly]

Congratulations to Donegal - glad to see them and their supporters get a day in the sun!

The Championship game will be a tough one for Armagh - and with that victory today, Clones would have probably been sold out! A lot of people will miss out.

[Bud Wiser]

If Galway had beaten Mayo in the semi-final I'd say they would have had more of a thirst for this game, - Ooops.

[Caitlin]

Well done J70 and all the Donegal people- you were the best team in the league and deserved it. What about the injury to Ciaran Bonner ?I think I saw him in the celebrations so hopefully he is OK- at one stage the physio put him in the recovery position so it looked bad.He's a first cousin of a good friend of mine and I've met him a couple of times - mad for football. He got a lot of bad press for the blind-side tackle on the Fermanagh player last year but he plays a very physical game- like Toye and Kavangh , they cover some ground- I thought Kavanagh could have come on sooner although delighted for Adrian Sweeney. Was Devennney injured or just took off ?Anyway, the game in Ballybofey will be a hum-dinger- is it live ?Should be - the pick of the first round games anywhere

[ziggysego]

I think he had a bit of concussion, but is basically ok. Nothing's going to keep him down tonight. Party time in Dublin tonight and Donegal tomorrow.

[Farrandeelin]

I thought Mayo had us when they got level in the last ten minutes. Maybe the injury to Ciaran Bonner came at a bad time for them. It took three fabulous points from the subs to finish it off in the last few minutes.

Totally agree with what you say there. We were beginning to get on top at that stage but the stoppage kinda put a halt to that. Anyway, scrappy enough game I suppose, we got a few soft frees but you'll have that. I also thought that losing this wouldn't be too bad but it is. I wasn't there when we won the league in 01 and it would be nice to see the newspapers saying something positive about Mayo instead of chokers. The texts were flying in within 15 minutes of us losing of people saying those things. At least D Brady will be back for the game against Galway to win some primary possession around the middle of the field (although I have to say when we were getting on top towards the end J Nallen was catching cleanly). Peadar Gardiner must have let the occasion get to him as he was captain to start because he was woeful. Liam O'Malley had his hands full with McFadden. Mayo's stand out player was Andy Moran followed by Keith Higgins who I thouhgt did well against the Donegal forwards.

Well done to Donegal though.

[J70]

I think Devenney's injury ended his game. He didn't look too fit to me in the half-hour he played, although he did fine whenever he got on the ball. Even when he played a couple of passes in to McFadden and Roper to set up early scores, he looked a bit restricted. I'd say once it started bothering him a lot they took him off. Or maybe he pulled something else that time he got in on goal, just before he came off.

[Tatler Jack]

Peadar Gardiner must have let the occasion get to him as he was captain

Gardiner does not seem to perform on the big day. Was a big disappointment also last Sept

[mayo51]

good game today with donegal deserving their victory.from a mayo perspective,after a slow start we came into the game well.higgins , omalley and padden done well for mayo in defense while heaney and nallen done ok in midfield.andy moran and dillion were the pick of the forwards.for me conroy,ger brady and devenny are not good enough for inter county football.brady turns the ball over all the time and just does not work hard enough.devveny is not up to the pace of inter county football and again loses the ball easily in the tackle.also it looks as if killcullen will not be the fullback on may 20 and i think omalley will fill that position.we may get past galway on may 20 but to be serious contenders for the all ireland we need mcdonald and morttimer back on the team.

[blasmere]

Congratulations to Donegal, fully deserved victory.

Nice to see that it meant so much to them.

The race for Sam is wide open this year and Donegal have as good a chance as any, injuries permitting.

[Shrewdness]

If i was a Mayo person, i wouldn't be looking at the All Ireland picture at all. Don't forget that Mc Donald was there in 97, 04 and 06 and didn't really perform on any of those occasions. I think Mayo have problems at full back for starters. Just 4 weeks to the Galway game, and no stand out candidate springs to mind.

When O'Neill didn't start, why didn't O'Mahony include a recognised forward in his place?. I think the last week has exposed weaknesses in this Mayo team, and with the championship so close, Johno has much to ponder.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Galway take them on May 20.

[redhandluke]

Congrats to Donegal, definitely the best team in the league this year.  Great game today although I thought Mayo depended too much on Mortimer looking and scoring frees - goes down too easily in my opinion.

Thought McGee, Dunnion and in particular Roper had great games today, but the highlight was Rory Kavanagh's point - great dummy with the left and scoring with the right - great stuff.

[Pangurban]

Good game of Football,congragulations to Donegal, but was it only me or did any-one else note,that every decision of the referee was hotly disputed by players from both sides. This is a worrying trend in the G.A.A. which seems to be getting worse. If it continues i forsee a time we will have no whistlers, who would take that kind of abuse week in and week out

[aodhruadh]

A wonderful day in Croke Park, the hoodoo of losing finals finally put to bed. And a great atmosphere at the presentation of the cup and for 30mins afterwards as the team did their lap of honour with Goats Dont Shave pumping out over the PA system.

Some magnificent point taking by Roper, Sweeney, McGee, Wappa , Bonner etc.

Thought we were in trouble when Mayo got level. Couldn't understand how Toye was still on, and Sweeney on the sidelines.

Hopefully the team sober up for the big tests around the corner. 

[J70]

They've got five weeks. McIver will have them back out running on Thursday! And its Armagh - motivation will not be a problem! Plus, any boys who slacken up will be out of the team - replacements are not scarce this year!