Derry v Donegal

[Zulu]

Derry (SFC v Donegal) - Thomas Mallon; Dermot McBride, Gareth McKinless, Chrissy McKaigue; Kevin Johnston, Mark Lynch, Gerard O'Kane; Fergal Doherty, Patsy Bradley; Ciaran McFaul, Sean Leo McGoldrick, Enda Lynn; Benny Heron, Emmett McGuckin, Cailean O'Boyle.

Subs: Eoin McNicholl, Conor McAtamney, Aidan McAlynn, Charlie Kielt, Mark Craig, Oisin Duffy, Niall Holly, Carlus McWilliams, Emmet Bradley, Ryan Bell, Ciaran McGoldrick, Declan Mullan, Aaron Devlin, Terence O'Brien, Declan Brown.

So that's 3 out of 3 for Ulster coaches who have named a team that will clearly not start as named.

[imtommygunn]

Who was chb in the league for derry?

Would be hard to believe their best defender in the league, allbeit an attacking one, and thir best attacker will near enough be swapped about.

[J OGorman]

Derry (SFC v Donegal) - Thomas Mallon; Dermot McBride, Gareth McKinless, Chrissy McKaigue; Kevin Johnston, Mark Lynch, Gerard O'Kane; Fergal Doherty, Patsy Bradley; Ciaran McFaul, Sean Leo McGoldrick, Enda Lynn; Benny Heron, Emmett McGuckin, Cailean O'Boyle.

Subs: Eoin McNicholl, Conor McAtamney, Aidan McAlynn, Charlie Kielt, Mark Craig, Oisin Duffy, Niall Holly, Carlus McWilliams, Emmet Bradley, Ryan Bell, Ciaran McGoldrick, Declan Mullan, Aaron Devlin, Terence O'Brien, Declan Brown.

So that's 3 out of 3 for Ulster coaches who have named a team that will clearly not start as named.

All part of the intrigue and mystery of the Ulster championship.  Total football I believe it's called :-)

[Zulu]

Donegal (SFC v Derry) - Paul Durcan; Eamon McGee, Neil McGee, Karl Lacey; Frank McGlynn, Leo McLoone, Anthony Thompson; Neil Gallagher, Martin McElhinney; Christy Toye, Ryan McHugh, Odhran MacNiallais; Patrick McBrearty, Michael Murphy, Colm McFadden.

[Throw ball]

Two strong teams. Looking forward to this one.

[donegal lad]

Donegal (SFC v Derry) - Paul Durcan; Eamon McGee, Neil McGee, Karl Lacey; Frank McGlynn, Leo McLoone, Anthony Thompson; Neil Gallagher, Martin McElhinney; Christy Toye, Ryan McHugh, Odhran MacNiallais; Patrick McBrearty, Michael Murphy, Colm McFadden.

This may be the team named but it might not be the one that starts. Was told yesterday by member of back room team that Gallagher would have a fitness test Sunday morning. It be a great boost to the team if he was fit to start

[orangeman]

Loads of respect for Brian Mc Iver in Donegal which is nice to see :

At the time, it was labelled the night of the long knives. Brian McIver's status as Donegal senior team manager wasn't even on the agenda at the September 2008 sitting of county committee; he was just in Ballybofey to give his annual report.

But once uncertainty over his position raised its head, the former Ballinderry Shamrocks boss saw his head slip beneath the water line.

In the Ulster championship quarter-final, McIver's side lost narrowly, 1-14 to 1-12, to Division 1 champions Derry before eventually vacating the All-Ireland qualifiers when Monaghan won 0-16 to 0-15 at Ballybofey.

McIver was a year into a term that was to last for three, his second stint since initially taking over from Brian McEniff for 2006. Having dispensed with Kevin Cassidy for disciplinary reasons and without the retired Brendan Devenney and Colm McFadden, who was in Liverpool Hope University completing his teaching qualifications, Donegal enjoyed a decent championship.

Eamon McGee, banished for breaking a drinking curfew, made his peace with the manager and was recalled.

"I've a lot of respect for Brian on a personal level and as a football man," McGee says. "He really stuck by me when a lot of other managers would have said 'get out of my sight'."

McIver gave first championship starts that year to Frank McGlynn, Neil McGee, Anthony Thompson and Rory Kavanagh, who scored a fine goal against Down on his debut in Ulster after a frustrating period of clicking his heels since 2002.

"He's a very good manager, a great man-manager and I'll always be indebted to him for giving me that first start," Kavanagh says.

Donegal reached the Ulster final, where they suffered their obligatory defeat by Armagh. The 1-9 to 0-9 reversal was a fifth successive season they lost to the Joe Kernan's team.

In terms of what had gone before, it was only a flesh wound and Donegal regrouped to run Cork close in the All-Ireland quarter-final, losing 1-11 to 1-10, as Ger Spillane scored a late winner.

In 2007, McIver guided Donegal to a first ever Division 1 title and opened Ulster with a fortunate 1-9 to 1-8 win over Armagh, when the returning Devenney's speculative last-minute pop at a point flew into Paul Hearty's net when another prodigal son, Cassidy, jumped for the ball.

Donegal were stuffed by Tyrone in the semi-final, 2-15 to 0-11, and reverted to what was then their stereotype. Whilst the celebrations after big wins have now been etched into their folklore, the gatherings following defeats were said to last days and not hours. McIver required fresh impetus ahead of the qualifiers.

"I was playing minor that summer, 2007, watching the senior matches from the terraces," says Michael Murphy. "I got in for the qualifiers. Brian put his neck out on the line with a young fella who was 17 and a lot of people would've been taking strange looks."

Murphy scored a goal on his championship debut against Leitrim and helped Donegal overcome Westmeath. Monaghan, 2-12 to 1-7 winners in Omagh, was a step too far and the championship was over in time for the Galway Races.

McIver resigned as 34-year-old Jim McGuinness, who had helped Naomh Conaill of Glenties to a first ever Donegal SFC in 2005, prepared his CV.

However, after mulling over it, McIver, made himself available again and was granted the aforementioned three-year agreement in the autumn of 2007.

A year later he had just completed his annual report when, out of the blue, dissent broke from delegates of two clubs – Gaoth Dobhair and St Eunan's of Letterkenny. Strips were torn off McIver from the perception of 2008 being a backward step.

Gaoth Dobhair later clarified their delegate was never mandated, whilst St Eunan's had a club meeting the previous week where McIver's position – again not on the agenda — was discussed.

"In three years, we seem to have gone back," St Eunan's delegate Paddy Mullen said.

"We have regressed rather than progressed. We believe, and this is not a swipe at Brian McIver, the only way we will get intensity into our game is if a Donegal man is in charge."

Vice-chairman of the Donegal County Board, PJ McGowan, voiced his disgust over the way McIver was spoken to. Before anyone could catch their breath, there was a motion of no-confidence. McIver, with tears in his eyes, walked off into the night never to return.

Perhaps he was better off. Donegal proceeded to create a circus the whole country was given free tickets for; one that saw the appointment of 1992 All-Ireland winner John Joe Doherty in a botched process when the joint ticket of Charlie Mulgrew and Declan Bonner were also offered the job. McGuinness, merely a footnote in the drama, was overlooked for a second time.

"We were very attached to him as players and he was a very personable man," Murphy says of McIver. "He brought a certain level of professionalism to Donegal, something we mightn't have got before. What annoyed the players was the way he was ousted. It wasn't a very respectable way to do it."

Kavanagh, as a clubman of St Eunan's, was surprised to hear the news. He hadn't forgotten how McIver had taken a chance on him, aiding the transformation from the peripheral figure to an intricate cog who now has amassed 45 championship appearances, just five short of the Donegal record shared by Michael Hegarty and McFadden.

"The way Brian left wasn't ideal," Kavanagh says.

"I wasn't happy with the way the whole thing was managed. It could've been done with a lot more dignity."

McIver, to this day, has maintained his counsel over the treatment he received that September night.

His next public appearance in the county was with James McCartan's Down, as a mentor, in their 1-16 to 2-10 extra-time win in what proved to be Doherty's last game in charge in Ballybofey in 2010. Down's season gathered pace only to lose by a point, 0-16 to 0-15, to Cork in the All-Ireland final.

McIver was named Derry manager in September 2012; the same month McGuinness took Sam Maguire to Donegal for only the second time.

From McGuinness's starting XV that day in the 2-11 to 0-13 final win over Mayo, McIver had given Kavanagh, Murphy, McGlynn, Ryan Bradley, Neil McGee and Thompson their first starts in championship football whilst nurturing Eamon McGee, McFadden, Neil Gallagher, Paul Durcan and Karl Lacey.

Tomorrow at Celtic Park, McIver will meet his former students in the white-hot atmosphere of the Ulster championship, maybe even with a score to settle.

"I know he said he'd never manage another county after us but that would've been a shame for Gaelic football," Eamon McGee says. "I was really happy to hear he'd got back involved with Down and it was just the same when he took over Derry.

"Not many people that have the kind of love and passion for the game Brian does. It's infectious. The GAA needs those kind of people."

© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved

[hairyUlsterman]

I think Derry will win this by 5-7 points

[Captain Obvious]

Donegal by a point or two.

[anfheardubh]

This is going to be a really tight game, if Big Neil  does start then Donegal by 2-3 points

Without Neil we will take a pounding at midfield and lose by 2-3

[Zulu]

Rumours Donegal are going to go ultra negative. Massive game for both counties, win and the year opens up, lose and you suspect the wheels might come off.

[Zulu]

Late changes for Donegal O'Connor and McGrath in for both midfielders.

[maigheo]

Strange that Mcguinness  would say in the interview with Rte that Gallagher was starting and then we find out a few min later that he is not starting.Not sure what he is trying to gain

[Zulu]

Bradley in for Herron on the Derry team.

[From the Bunker]

First Black card bottle of the day!