Were /are Donegal 2012 to now a great team?

[sensethetone]

They may not have been a great team probably better than just a good team definitely more than a lucky team. Donegal at present will still be hard to beat by most counties.

[general_lee]

You're proving my point twohands.

Donegal (imo) showed about a dozen or so similar counties what is possible with a bit of belief, commitment and hard work. To go from mediocre to AI Champs in two years is spectacular. Like I said Kerry and Dublin are great teams just by sheer wealth of talent, Donegal were great because they went that extra mile and did what no one thought they could do. It was nothing short of phenomenal. Kerry and Dublin can win all Ireland's till the cows come home and it won't be out of the ordinary. What Donegal did was unprecedented

[GalwayBayBoy]

They remind me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsNTmjlf1vI

If they won this year all would be forgiven.

BTW the Kerry team since 02  only beat 1 finals team
9 finals. Lost to Tyrone, Armagh , Dubs
Beat Cork , Mayo, Donegal
Cork and Mayo have the worst final records

If you go back to 2000 they beat Galway who historically have as bad a record in All Ireland finals!

Eh? I believe Galway have a 9 from 22 finals record which is 40.9%. Mayo 3 from 14 which is 21.4%. And Cork 7 from 23 which is 30.4%. Substantial difference between all those.

[omaghjoe]

So if the ball hadn't shifted on the tee for Durcan or McFadden's late fisted effort had gone in and not come back off the post and we got a winning point or won the replay, they'd be classed as a "great team"?

That's a thin line!

Tis indeed. Same as Gormleys block on Stevie.

Here was me thinking yous all blamed it on Marsden's rush of blood to the head

[Captain Obvious]

You're proving my point twohands.

Donegal (imo) showed about a dozen or so similar counties what is possible with a bit of belief, commitment and hard work. To go from mediocre to AI Champs in two years is spectacular. Like I said Kerry and Dublin are great teams just by sheer wealth of talent, Donegal were great because they went that extra mile and did what no one thought they could do. It was nothing short of phenomenal. Kerry and Dublin can win all Ireland's till the cows come home and it won't be out of the ordinary. What Donegal did was unprecedented

Nail on head.

[seafoid]

They remind me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsNTmjlf1vI

If they won this year all would be forgiven.

BTW the Kerry team since 02  only beat 1 finals team
9 finals. Lost to Tyrone, Armagh , Dubs
Beat Cork , Mayo, Donegal
Cork and Mayo have the worst final records

If you go back to 2000 they beat Galway who historically have as bad a record in All Ireland finals!

Eh? I believe Galway have a 9 from 22 finals record which is 40.9%. Mayo 3 from 14 which is 21.4%. And Cork 7 from 23 which is 30.4%. Substantial difference between all those.

Cork are surprisingly shite in finals. If Mayo could string together 2 or 3 they would be ahead of Cork.

[From the Bunker]

They remind me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsNTmjlf1vI

If they won this year all would be forgiven.

BTW the Kerry team since 02  only beat 1 finals team
9 finals. Lost to Tyrone, Armagh , Dubs
Beat Cork , Mayo, Donegal
Cork and Mayo have the worst final records

If you go back to 2000 they beat Galway who historically have as bad a record in All Ireland finals!

Eh? I believe Galway have a 9 from 22 finals record which is 40.9%. Mayo 3 from 14 which is 21.4%. And Cork 7 from 23 which is 30.4%. Substantial difference between all those.

Cork are surprisingly shite in finals. If Mayo could string together 2 or 3 they would be ahead of Cork.

If you look at records since 1970 - Mayo are on zero out of 20. Galway have 2 out of seven. Cork have 4 out of 10! All three have been shite really with Mayo naturally the Kings of Shite!

[Il Bomber Destro]

Of course they're a great team. McGuinness took a crop of perennial underachievers and party boys and turned them into a disciplined unit that went above and beyond their ability to claim an AI and almost win a second. On paper they were part of a band of counties that could only hope to cause upsets and maybe reach the odd quarter/semi final. Kerrys, Dublins  etc are expected to churn out great teams, it's actually a wonder Dublin haven't been more dominant in  the past decade or two

Really hard to argue that they were that great a team when you look at what pretty much the same squad did in the championship in the years before McGuinness took over.

2010 - First round Ulster loss, first round qualifier loss
2009 - First round Ulster loss, stumble through the qualifiers against a couple of minnows before getting destroyed by Cork
2008 - First round Ulster loss, beaten in the 2nd round of the qualifiers.

The teams that beat them in those 3 championship years were Down, Armagh, Antrim, Cork, Derry, Monaghan
The teams they beat were Carlow, Clare, Roscommon, Galway, Derry and the Galway and Derry wins were both only by a point with the Derry game being after extra-time.

A great team just doesn't have that kind of record in the championship over a 3 year stretch no matter how bad the management (and there is probably an argument to be made that John Joe Doherty was the worst intercounty manager in a long time)

The Donegal team from the first round Ulster loss in 2008 (just to show how much of Jim's squad were present during those days)

Donegal: P Durcan, K Lacey, N McGee, E McGee, F McGlynn, B Monaghan (0-01), B Dunnion, K Cassidy (0-01), N Gallagher, C Toye, M Hegarty, R Kavanagh (0-02), M Murphy (1-01, 1-00 pen), C McFadden (0-06, 3 frees), D Walsh (0-01).
Substitutes: B Roper for Hegarty, K Rafferty for Toye.

I don't get take on board this point.

What Donegal did before McGuinness is irrelevant to me, he completely changed the discipline, approach and attitude of Donegal football. Kerry would have won zero All Irelands in the 00s if they had the same approach that the Donegal players had to the county jersey before McGuinness took over.

During their AI triumph in 2012 they beat the 2010, 2009 and 2008 Champions along the way as well as a Mayo team in the final who have been constantly knocking on the door. Their 2012 AI triumph was the most convincing in a long, long time - they never really looked like being beaten, they pretty much led from the front in all their games. They are still the only team to beat Dublin in Championship football under Jim Gavin, they did so convincingly in what has probably been the biggest footballing shock in a long, long time.

Donegal were a great side, it's just a shame from their point of view that McGuinness only arrived when a lot of their key men were hitting their late 20s. The talent has been there in Donegal since the early 00s but their approach to the game was a million miles away from the other counties going for All Irelands in that time period.

[Syferus]

You're proving my point twohands.

Donegal (imo) showed about a dozen or so similar counties what is possible with a bit of belief, commitment and hard work. To go from mediocre to AI Champs in two years is spectacular. Like I said Kerry and Dublin are great teams just by sheer wealth of talent, Donegal were great because they went that extra mile and did what no one thought they could do. It was nothing short of phenomenal. Kerry and Dublin can win all Ireland's till the cows come home and it won't be out of the ordinary. What Donegal did was unprecedented

Donegal is a big county and with lots of passion. Won another one not too long before 2012. Don't be blowing up that AI, few doubted that Donegal would be contenders at some point again.

[muppet]

They remind me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsNTmjlf1vI

If they won this year all would be forgiven.

BTW the Kerry team since 02  only beat 1 finals team
9 finals. Lost to Tyrone, Armagh , Dubs
Beat Cork , Mayo, Donegal
Cork and Mayo have the worst final records

If you go back to 2000 they beat Galway who historically have as bad a record in All Ireland finals!

Eh? I believe Galway have a 9 from 22 finals record which is 40.9%. Mayo 3 from 14 which is 21.4%. And Cork 7 from 23 which is 30.4%. Substantial difference between all those.

Cork are surprisingly shite in finals. If Mayo could string together 2 or 3 they would be ahead of Cork.

If you look at records since 1970 - Mayo are on zero out of 20. Galway have 2 out of seven. Cork have 4 out of 10! All three have been shite really with Mayo naturally the Kings of Shite!

What is this including? U-21 & Minor have had about 6 wins since 1970 combined.

Is it Provincial titles you are talking about? Surely Galway would have more than 7 since then?

[BennyCake]

So if the ball hadn't shifted on the tee for Durcan or McFadden's late fisted effort had gone in and not come back off the post and we got a winning point or won the replay, they'd be classed as a "great team"?

That's a thin line!

Tis indeed. Same as Gormleys block on Stevie.

Here was me thinking yous all blamed it on Marsden's rush of blood to the head

What would make you think that?

You crazy, omaghjoe!

[Kickham csc]

I don't think they were a great team at all. Derry weren't a great team when we won ours and neither were Armagh.

I agree you need to win at least 2 to be considered in that bracket!

Got to disagree with you there. That Derry team was a great team, but due to politics didn't deliver to expectations. You need