Keith Duggan gets stuck into the Sunday Game panel

[Blowitupref]

Hasn't been all "puke football" from Donegal, apart from the 1st half of the Kildare v Donegal match it was arguably the most exciting & edge of the seat type of game this summer. In the final you can be sure Dublin will work to their strengths (strong defensive football,high levels of fitness) to try & beat Kerry.

Point is Donegal are only one year into this defensive style & in a few years don't be surprised if it's similar to Dublin's style now.

[Leo]

As one of the few Ulster posters who despise the Armagh inspired, Tyrone developed and Donegal perfected negative appraoch to gaelic football I have to say that Duggan's article stopped me in my tracks and I thought - yes - sh**e football started a lone time ago.
The TV remnants of the  Kerry team who, let it be said, relied on the Bomber creating havoc so that lesser mortals could hand-pass the ball to the net, and the blatantly cynical Meath team which seems to have spawned more pundits than most, and the lucky Derry winners who benefited from Cork's "ultra of the time" diirty challenge that led to his much more effective teammate's dismissal and handed the oakleafers an all-ireland, these guys are (through the might of a very big television presence in a small pool) attemptimg to carve out for themselves some sort of celebrity status at the expense of amateur sportsmen who are entitled to a bit more respect.
And naive GAA clubmen up and down the country are craving to have these carpetbaggers as their "celebrity" guests at annual functions instead of some of the great but unsung footall and hurling heroes that do not crave such attention.

For Joe Brolly read Eamon Dunphy. O'Rourke thinks he is Johnny Giles. Spillane is ...... (fill in your own opinion).

[Hill16 Blues]

A load of self serving rubbish from Duggan trying to defend his own county. Strange there's no mention in his article that he is from Donegal - at least that would have been honest of him.

Spillane, Brolly and O'Rourke are paid to voice their opinions. t's the nature of their business that they overstate their opinions from time to time as Dunphy does with soccer and Hook with rugby. In essence they were absolutely correct in regard to Doengal's negative approach and also in regard to the cynical bull sh*t behavious of many of the Donegal players from start to finish of that game.

It was the worst game of football I have ever attended and if football is going this direction myself, my kids and the lads I go to the games with will not be paying in to watch it.

Mr Duggan might try to look at the bigger picture and be a bit more honest about his motives in voicing his opinions.

[Jinxy]

As one of the few Ulster posters who despise the Armagh inspired, Tyrone developed and Donegal perfected negative appraoch to gaelic football I have to say that Duggan's article stopped me in my tracks and I thought - yes - sh**e football started a lone time ago.
The TV remnants of the  Kerry team who, let it be said, relied on the Bomber creating havoc so that lesser mortals could hand-pass the ball to the net, and the blatantly cynical Meath team which seems to have spawned more pundits than most, and the lucky Derry winners who benefited from Cork's "ultra of the time" diirty challenge that led to his much more effective teammate's dismissal and handed the oakleafers an all-ireland, these guys are (through the might of a very big television presence in a small pool) attemptimg to carve out for themselves some sort of celebrity status at the expense of amateur sportsmen who are entitled to a bit more respect.
And naive GAA clubmen up and down the country are craving to have these carpetbaggers as their "celebrity" guests at annual functions instead of some of the great but unsung footall and hurling heroes that do not crave such attention.

For Joe Brolly read Eamon Dunphy. O'Rourke thinks he is Johnny Giles. Spillane is ...... (fill in your own opinion).

Oh jesus.
Don't set Myles off.

[mylestheslasher]

As one of the few Ulster posters who despise the Armagh inspired, Tyrone developed and Donegal perfected negative appraoch to gaelic football I have to say that Duggan's article stopped me in my tracks and I thought - yes - sh**e football started a lone time ago.
The TV remnants of the  Kerry team who, let it be said, relied on the Bomber creating havoc so that lesser mortals could hand-pass the ball to the net, and the blatantly cynical Meath team which seems to have spawned more pundits than most, and the lucky Derry winners who benefited from Cork's "ultra of the time" diirty challenge that led to his much more effective teammate's dismissal and handed the oakleafers an all-ireland, these guys are (through the might of a very big television presence in a small pool) attemptimg to carve out for themselves some sort of celebrity status at the expense of amateur sportsmen who are entitled to a bit more respect.
And naive GAA clubmen up and down the country are craving to have these carpetbaggers as their "celebrity" guests at annual functions instead of some of the great but unsung footall and hurling heroes that do not crave such attention.

For Joe Brolly read Eamon Dunphy. O'Rourke thinks he is Johnny Giles. Spillane is ...... (fill in your own opinion).

Oh jesus.
Don't set Myles off.

[ck]

The fact that Keith Duggan is from Donegal completely ruins the article for me.
This would have been a much more credible article had he written it before this year. Bottom line is that whilst Spillane is an absolute bollix, he has gained huge support this year with his forthright comments on Donegal... Most of the country agree with his sentiment apart from Donegal people and a few pockets within Ulster. With McGuinness at the helm Donegal are quickly becoming the most hated county in Ireland and one that many will enjoy beating. The likes of Donegal man Keith Duggan does little to alleviate this!

[Hardy]

Proposal: That we ban the use of the lazy catchword "cynical" from this forum. We are better than that. If we want to be critical we have a duty to be original. Do I have a seconder?

[ONeill]

Brolly and Spillane articulated, albeit in a typical headline grabbing RTE manner, what a lot of people were thinking during that first half. Perhaps Mr Duggan should save some of his ire for those peasants who shared their concerns about the manner of McGuinness' tactics. He mentions the 0-8 to 0-6 Derry/Donegal game. It was played in atrocious conditions. It was also played between the reigning All-Ireland champions and the future All-Ireland champions and no quarter given was the lasting memory. Real tough head-to-head football. And what has the poisonous atmosphere got to do with anything. Duggan completely veered off his initial point here, within a short paragraph. I also don't get the reasoning behind mentioning the Kerry dominance of the 80s and the same old faces.

He mentions the handpass tally RTE were regularly showing especially in the first half and attempts to compare that to Spillane's team's handpassed goals. There's no merit in this analogy. You were allowed to do that and it doesn't attempt to compare the quantity during a game.

The association football and baseball point has no relevance to gaelic football. Finally, if he thinks Spillane et al should apologise to McGuinness, do we all have to as well - or those who felt the same way?

[Hardy]

By the way - Myles, do you ever get invited to parties?

[Jinxy]

In Meath?

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

Posted this on another forum,sums up my feelings on the matter. I'm not a particular fan of Spillane's pre-prepared lines and schtick either by the way and he should be told to give that stuff a rest.

There's a huge amount in that piece that I disagree with to be honest. Some of it is right of course..the non-showing of the hit on Lacey was just another in the line of errors and coverage mistakes by RTE.
Duggan has got on his high horse a bit here and needs a reality check..99% of people if asked straight after that game last Sunday to sum up the game in one sentence would have said "that was sh*t" or words to that effect, and it WAS really dire stuff. I understand why Donegal did it,but I am glad it didn't succeed. The RTE panel are paid to give their views on the game (and not to be reserved lets be honest) and in this case I happen to agree with their verdicts, even if there was extravagant terms used by Spillane as usual to describe it.
The digs Duggan has at the 3 amigos are fairly weak aswell.
Spillane - Played a semi final once that had a paltry attendance?
Brolly - Once played an Ulster final in a monsoon that had the same score as last Sunday??
O'Rourke - Played in a All Irelands that were very physical/dirty with Meath.?
Even at their most tense and edgy in 1990, Cork and Meath scored 11 and 9 points respectively and produced some good passages of football...there was very little good to take out of the game last Sunday.

[mylestheslasher]

By the way - Myles, do you ever get invited to parties?

I've told you before I'm not your type. Try Jinxy or Joe shierdan, they might go with you!

[Hoof Hearted]

Posted this on another forum,sums up my feelings on the matter. I'm not a particular fan of Spillane's pre-prepared lines and schtick either by the way and he should be told to give that stuff a rest.

There's a huge amount in that piece that I disagree with to be honest. Some of it is right of course..the non-showing of the hit on Lacey was just another in the line of errors and coverage mistakes by RTE.
Duggan has got on his high horse a bit here and needs a reality check..99% of people if asked straight after that game last Sunday to sum up the game in one sentence would have said "that was sh*t" or words to that effect, and it WAS really dire stuff. I understand why Donegal did it,but I am glad it didn't succeed. The RTE panel are paid to give their views on the game (and not to be reserved lets be honest) and in this case I happen to agree with their verdicts, even if there was extravagant terms used by Spillane as usual to describe it.
The digs Duggan has at the 3 amigos are fairly weak aswell.
Spillane - Played a semi final once that had a paltry attendance?
Brolly - Once played an Ulster final in a monsoon that had the same score as last Sunday??
O'Rourke - Played in a All Irelands that were very physical/dirty with Meath.?
Even at their most tense and edgy in 1990, Cork and Meath scored 11 and 9 points respectively and produced some good passages of football...there was very little good to take out of the game last Sunday.

great post to be fair, totally agree. i too thought he was grasping at straws in those highlighted parts

[Orangemac]

To be honest, I think he's looking at the analysis of the Donegal game as the straw that broke the camels back.
Spillane is at the same craic every week.
Constantly running down players and teams, saying they don't have the basic skills and spend too much time in the gym.
It's the tried and tested RTE model, be it Gaelic games, soccer or rugby.
Employ pundits to say controversial things, ruffle a few feathers and get the great unwashed chattering.
Spillanes nonsense about "Shi'ite football" was a contemptible piece of soundbite manufacturing, even by his own pathetic standards.
Newstalk have shown how the games can and should be presented.
Intelligent, young, enthusiastic contributors and analysts that actually provide some genuine insight.
No ham-fisted attempts at yokelry, no irrelevant facts about where the players great-grandparents are from.
I can guarantee you'll never hear the phrase 'kick-passing' on Newstalk.
The Sunday Game is geared towards the older generation and people with only a passing interest in the games.
That approach has a limited life-span in an age where there are hundreds of thousands of young, educated people playing and watching the games, who are tired of the same tired old rubbish week in week out.
If the Newstalk lads ever get a television platform to work off, they'll wipe TSG out.

TV3 should poach McDevitt from Newstalk as their GAA anchor. Good as Matt Cooper is on the last word, he is obviously a sports fan but not insightful enough. Canavan is good, Dara O'Se would be a good addition as a pundit and Kieran Shannon formerly of the Tribune.

This line up would wipe the floor with RTE.

[AZOffaly]

Posted this on another forum,sums up my feelings on the matter. I'm not a particular fan of Spillane's pre-prepared lines and schtick either by the way and he should be told to give that stuff a rest.

There's a huge amount in that piece that I disagree with to be honest. Some of it is right of course..the non-showing of the hit on Lacey was just another in the line of errors and coverage mistakes by RTE.
Duggan has got on his high horse a bit here and needs a reality check..99% of people if asked straight after that game last Sunday to sum up the game in one sentence would have said "that was sh*t" or words to that effect, and it WAS really dire stuff. I understand why Donegal did it,but I am glad it didn't succeed. The RTE panel are paid to give their views on the game (and not to be reserved lets be honest) and in this case I happen to agree with their verdicts, even if there was extravagant terms used by Spillane as usual to describe it.
The digs Duggan has at the 3 amigos are fairly weak aswell.
Spillane - Played a semi final once that had a paltry attendance?
Brolly - Once played an Ulster final in a monsoon that had the same score as last Sunday??
O'Rourke - Played in a All Irelands that were very physical/dirty with Meath.?
Even at their most tense and edgy in 1990, Cork and Meath scored 11 and 9 points respectively and produced some good passages of football...there was very little good to take out of the game last Sunday.

My thought's exactly. Thanks for saving me the bother. The bit I've put in bold is the key for me. FWIW, I actually think Donegal will refine this approach next year, to be a bit more dangerous offensively, so this might be the low water mark for Donegal.