Donegal V Tyrone Ulster Final 17th July

[skeog]

David Coldrick is a good choice for the final imo.

[Captain Scarlet]

I know it may have been said before but am I reading right that this is the first time the counties have met in an Ulster Final since 1989??

[Redhand Santa]

Yeah 1989 sounds right. Massive games for both teams this Sunday. Winners will fancy pushing on and giving the all ireland a real shot, the losers will be in trouble. Great to have two decent teams meeting in the final and a real hard game to call.

Would arguably be tyrones biggest win since the 2008 final and a first senior championship trophy for many of the team. That will give lot of hunger especially as it's Donegal but also adds a bit of pressure. Harte has always been good at getting teams to perform on big days though.

Can't see any more than one change to the team if even that. And it's good that we've a strong bench if under pressure. The likes of Rory Brennan Meyler Bradley and mccurry could add serious energy in second half.

[Fuzzman]

Yeah we've met quite a bit in the semi finals in recent years and in the first round a few times with a very partisan reception in Ballybofey.

How do people see this game panning out? Will it be more of the same of what we've come to expect between the two over the last few years or have Tyrone progressed with more of the young lads coming in bringing more energy and pace.
Donegal seem to be saying that their average age is now down to 25 but with McGee back then that back 6 plus Rory Kavanagh have indeed a lot of mileage on the clock. Is McGrath their youngest defender?
Donegal have brought in a few good players as well to help Murphy and McBrearty. McElhinney seems to always play well against us.

I would imagine that the team that gives away the least amount of turnovers will win the game.

[An Watcher]

Not overly confident for this game.
Seen tyrone lose 3 times to donegal in championship this past number of years.
The fact that it isn't in ballybofey gives us some hope though.
Also hopeful of a dry day.
The tide has to turn some time so why not Sunday

[redzone]

Id be v confident, I've championed this team to go all the way from the start and expect 5/6 point win. If mcguiness was still over donegal it would have made the task harder that's for sure

[Il Bomber Destro]

I'm confident but realise we will need to be at our best to get past a dangerous Donegal side. A win could set up a potentially handy route to an All Ireland final (particularly is someone can take care of a stuttering Mayo before the QF), I would say this is the biggest game Tyrone have played since the 08 All Ireland final.

Tyrone look the more finished article than Donegal at the moment, but the provincial ground suits Donegal better, it's tighter and I believe Donegal are a more physically intimidating side that us who can push us around if the play gets slow - the faster and looser it is then the more it suits Tyrone. Donegal have issues in defence and midfield and hopefully we can exploit those.

[skeog]

mc guinness has other things on his plate now tonight celtics worst ever resulf

[SkillfulBill]

I see a number of posters over the past few weeks dismissing Tyrone's form on the basis that they have only played Div 2 opposition thus can't be judged. I was wondering does this actually mean anything on the basis that Div 1 teams include Roscommon Down Monaghan and Cork.None off which i would count as the bench mark for Tyrone. If what people are saying is that because Tyrone have not beaten Dublin, Kerry, Mayo or Donegal yet this year then fair enough.

[sambostar]

This is a huge game for Tyrone both in terms of the possible route to an AI Final & for the psychological benefit from not just an Ulster title but also getting the Donegal monkey off their back. Is Tyrone's gameplan enhanced enough this year to break down the Donegal defensive system? Tyrone's tallies in the last 4 championship games against Donegal are 0-09, 0-10, 0-10, 1-10 - they will need more than that to win on Sunday.

You would like to think this Tyrone side has more pace than it's predecessors & so should be able to break the Donegal defensive line. But they have to commit, all too often in the previous games the pace has been too slow up to the Donegal 45 & then Tyrone get turned over or fouled or resort to Hail Mary attempts. You are not going to kick 0-14 from distance to win the game.

The free-taking will need to be good as Donegal are likely to see this as a weakness & not mind fouling just outside the 45. If Morgan could nail an early kick or 2 it would make Donegal think twice about repetitive fouling. Heaven forbid if Morgan misses the 1st few & it turns into the circus we saw in Ballybofey a few years back with the Donegal crowd on his back for the whole game.

1 area where Tyrone might have the edge is on the subs bench. There's plenty of pacey, talented players like R Brennan, McCurry, Richie, Meyler who could make a big difference in the last 20mins when the game might grow a little more stretched.

Really looking forward to it now, hard to believe it's 6 years since the last Ulster Final appearance - the celebrations might be a little more raucous this year with a win   

[Redhand Santa]

Will be interesting to see some of the match ups for this game. Murphy will probably continue his role out the field with some spells inside, justy did well last year so is the most obvious to track him. Though that would disrupt his sweeper the role. Mcnamee could be the other option. McCarron will probably pick up mcbrearty. The mchughs are very important at ball carrying for Donegal and will need close attention.

At the other end Eamon Magee usually picks up cavanagh. That'll leave Neil and McGrath for Mcaliskey and oneill.

I think Tyrone could get joy pushing up on Donegal kick outs for at least part of the game. The Donegal keeper looked nervous against Fermanagh and it'll be his first ulster final. One or two dodgy kick outs and there'd be huge pressure on him.

[lenny]

Id be v confident, I've championed this team to go all the way from the start and expect 5/6 point win. If mcguiness was still over donegal it would have made the task harder that's for sure

I'd agree with that. Donegal have impressed me with their angles of running and their attacking play has improved. Their overall structure isn't as tight though under Gallagher and I think Tyrone will cut them open at times.  Depending on the weather I fancy a scoreline of 2.13 to 1.10

[sensethetone]

Id be v confident, I've championed this team to go all the way from the start and expect 5/6 point win. If mcguiness was still over donegal it would have made the task harder that's for sure

I'd agree with that. Donegal have impressed me with their angles of running and their attacking play has improved. Their overall structure isn't as tight though under Gallagher and I think Tyrone will cut them open at times.  Depending on the weather I fancy a scoreline of 2.13 to 1.10

2.13 to whom?

[BluestackBoy]

A lot of very confident sounding Tyrone posters giving their judgement but it is hard to escape the feeling that there is a whiff of whistling past the graveyard about it all.

[sensethetone]

It's not gonna be easy for us but it's not gonna be easy for them either.