Ros v Donegal 19th July

[Rossfan]

Rossfan - "Then we need the Co Board and Executive to make some major strategic decisions regarding the future management of Ros County Teams and the development of the recent run of good and decent minors.
Over to you Messrs McGuire, Maher etc and please no running off to get a short term "name" manager forom any neighbouring Counties"

- Truest thing ever said. Hopefully your advice will be heeded.

They havent listened to me up to this Matt........but I suppose they might see the light now as we hit rock bottom once again - 4th year in succession really.

I think I might stick an oul' € on us all the same ........

[Rossie11]

Its the strongest team Ross have fielded in 2 years with Casey Daly and Rogers back in.
Pity that we have such a tough draw as I feel we could at the very least be competitive with some of the others left.
Donegal always have had good players and on their best form they are in top 5 in country. A huge step above where we are at present
We have had some close league games with them in recent years and I believe our current downward spiral started with a loss to them in the hyde in 2004.
7 points up and lost by 1, missed out of promotion to division 1 on scoring averages.
Think Frankie tried to volley home a goal instead of catching it and making sure.
That one instance summed up the lack of focus at the time.

Would be an ideal place to start the long road back but its a bit much to expect.
What we hope for is a honest effort for 70mins and see how close that takes us.

[GAA_Punter]

Great come back from Ross after being 6 down to only being 2 down at half time ,
Still seems to be a mystery why Cathal Cregg was sent off.
Lets hope they can stay close

[J70]

Great come back from Ross after being 6 down to only being 2 down at half time ,
Still seems to be a mystery why Cathal Cregg was sent off.
Lets hope they can stay close

According to the Donegal commentary it was a high tackle.

[glenullinabu]

whats the score lads

[J70]

3-9 to 1-6

[J70]

Full time 3-11 to 1-9

Poor performance by Donegal by the sounds of it. McHugh going nuts about the Donegal tactics, particularly in the first half, when they pulled Ryan Bradley back into defense (a tactic which should have been, but was not used against Derry). Reckons that we haven't a hope unless there is a dramatic improvement, particularly in terms of a game plan (labelled the Rossies as second only to Kilkenny among the poorest teams in the country BTW!). Apparently Roscommon dropped seven balls into Durkin's hands, while Donegal could have had four or five more goals.

Hopefully it was partly complacency on the part of our lads, but these lethargic performances come around too often for my liking. Not too hopeful at this point.

[orangeman]

Full time 3-11 to 1-9

Poor performance by Donegal by the sounds of it. McHugh going nuts about the Donegal tactics, particularly in the first half, when they pulled Ryan Bradley back into defense (a tactic which should have been, but was not used against Derry). Reckons that we haven't a hope unless there is a dramatic improvement, particularly in terms of a game plan (labelled the Rossies as second only to Kilkenny among the poorest teams in the country BTW!).

Hopefully it was partly complacency on the part of our lads, but these lethargic performances come around too often for my liking. Not too hopeful at this point.

Why doesn't Wee Martin take the job then if he knows all there is to know about football and Donegal tactics in particular ? Maybe he should abandon the comfort of the pundit's chair like Ger Loughnane did, giving up a €100k salary as well ?

[J70]

I would like to see him step up at some point, but we'll see.

As a pundit, he has to speak his mind though. Otherwise, what is the point?

[orangeman]

I would like to see him step up at some point, but we'll see.

As a pundit, he has to speak his mind though. Otherwise, what is the point?

The point is that he talks a lot of rubbish ! 


Seriously though, I too would liketo see him take the job - why has he not taken the job so far ?

[IolarCoisCuain]

There was a rumour that McHugh was considered for the Mayo manager's job back in 2006 but the Board wouldn't stump up his travelling expenses, which were considerable. Allegedly. But surely it wouldn't be as long a trek for him to get to Ballybofey?

[J70]

I would like to see him step up at some point, but we'll see.

As a pundit, he has to speak his mind though. Otherwise, what is the point?

The point is that he talks a lot of rubbish ! 


Seriously though, I too would liketo see him take the job - why has he not taken the job so far ?

Previously it was because of relationships with certain members of the Donegal County Board. He was particularly bitter over the way the selection process was handled when he went for it to be player-manager in 1994 when McEniff stood down. He has also said more recently that he couldn't commit the time, but how true that is, I'm not sure. He took the Sligo Sigerson team a few years back, while his brother and some of his former intercounty colleagues are all managing Donegal clubs (obviously the county job would be a bit more demanding, timewise). 

I don't think anyone can deny that he did a good job in Cavan and with Sligo IT. He was a major factor behind the scenes, as well as one the pitch, in Donegal's All-Ireland win. Various members of the Donegal team that won the All Ireland were adamant that he would have brought the squad close again had he been manager i the mid-90s. He took his club to county championships as a young player-manager in the 80s. Why people dismiss the idea that he would be up to the Donegal job is beyond me.

[J70]

There was a rumour that McHugh was considered for the Mayo manager's job back in 2006 but the Board wouldn't stump up his travelling expenses, which were considerable. Allegedly. But surely it wouldn't be as long a trek for him to get to Ballybofey?

Er, no!

Kilcar to Ballybofey is about an hour drive. Kilcar to Castlebar would be close to three.

[Shamrock Shore]

I had the, eh, pleasure of listening to this on Shannonside. Mother of God. Willie Hegarty! Thank God RTE haven't stepped in for him and that the 29 or so other counties in Ireland have been spared.

From the fish in Donegal to the make up bill in Shannonside nothing was too much for bauld Willie. He almost calved when the second Rossie was red carded by Jake Bannon. TBH it all sounded strange. The first Rossie walked cos he fell onto a lad's boot!

[Ryano]

The three stooges in black ruined this game. Three sendings off!!! Are they taking the piss? John Bannon is a muppet at the best of times but by God he found two clowns this evening to complete the trio. How or why Cathal Cregg was shown a straight red is beyond me, Cathal and most of the fans. Nobody from either side in the crowd could tell why the linesman advised Bannon to show red. A joke. But the other sendings off just took the biscuit. The Donegal player fell and caught Dunnings leg and held on. Dunning shook his leg free they both fell to the ground hopped up and got on with the game. Hand bags at 10 paces. Plike lines man kept his flag in the air for 3/4 minutes until he got Bannons attention and both were shown red cards. The Ros bench went nuts and rightly so. In the end the Gardai had to go in and quieten things down. The penalty Roscommon were awarded simply was not a penalty. Bookings were handed out were they not deserved and were they were nothing was done. No consistancy (apart from the awful performance of the ref and his linesmen) and in the end it killed what was a competative entertaining ganme. Ros handed Donegal a 2 goal lead in the first 10 minutes but then got going and it was actually a good game. Even after Cregg was sent off it was still a good close match but once Ros were reduced to 13 it was curtains. I don't normally criticise refs as they have a difficult job but it's hard not to when you seen what they did this evening. A disgrace and I'm sure Ros will end up getting a severe repremand over the scenes at ht and also after the second sending off.

The three stooges should be also repremanded! Well done Donegal, deserved win just a pity the game ended with 20 minutes left.