Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[Ryan O]

Lack of midfield and no-one showing for short kickouts puts a lot of pressure on whoever the goalkeeper is. We let Donegal away too easily at kicouts. The last 2 Donegal scores shows up how weak Derry are in this regard. On the scoreboard the goal for Donegal was the difference but overall they were better than us. Have Derry lost their attacking nous which was a highlight under Gallagher? I know it's only January but Meath in Croke Park looks a step too far at this stage.

What is that based on? How has Meaths pre season gone? Are they at Donegals level do you think and how will they hurt us compared with how Donegal did?

I would love to know how you think forwards were to blame there or attacking ability. I think it was kick outs and being a step to far off in defense that cost us + weak at midfield. (Which is the only thing I'm not worried about)

[Wildweasel74]

Donegal beat Meath in Croke park by 20pts. We coming down from Division 1 and should be way stronger than Meath. Big thing i notice,forwards tackling is very poor, its half a effort.

[Stickittotheman]

Some bed wetters on here. Beaten by last year's Ulster winners and All Ireland finalists by two points in a pre-season game.

Some new lads have looked decent. Just home from the game(imagine a City man going to a game,what will Ryan O think). A wee spell in the 2nd half where it got away from us but more minutes in the legs and a good, competitive game. Sets us up lovely for 10 days time. Hopefully with some big guns returning we can start well in Division two. Murray really has the potential to push on if he stays fit but McFaul is a big loss

[Wildweasel74]

I thought we seen a run out for Tommy Rodgers and N O'Donnell the nite,

[Estimator]

N O'Donnell was doing running drills with McGuigan, Rogers and a couple of others. Didn't look like he was an option to come on as he was working with the lads not on the game panel.

I definitely would have a few more subs thrown on. Especially as there was no limit to them. Rogers, Bradley, the two Youngs should have seen game time.

After the goal we hit two 2pter efforts wide, JD dropped the ball after a midfield flick on from Glass with the keeper still in midfield and Murray spilled the ball in a decent position. It was that spell that put the gap between the sides.

[Horseshoe2]

Donegal scored 1-7 without reply. Had a couple of more goal chances aswell but Derry be happy enough bar that period.Derry building a squad and it isnt just going to happen over night.
Good game of football for this time of year.

[theticklemister]

The season is over, we might as well go home ffs.

[tbrick18]

Apart from the result, I was reasonably happy with how the lads played.
imo, as the 2nd half wore on we looked like we were coming off the back of some very heavy training.

In the first half we really should have been further ahead given how we cut through donegal time and again. We had some really promising individual performances and at times looked like we were playing with a degree of confidence.

Murray and Loughlin did really well.
Mcateer was lively and his first score was top drawer.
Glass was a bit off the pace I thought and our midfield did go missing at times.

Mcguckin in goals I thought struggled a bit. Rushed his kickouts too much and as a result gave away possession too many times resulting in scores. He did make a good save, but the shot was a result of a poor kickout in the first instance. He wasn't bad, and will be good as cover but imo Scullion will be ahead of him with Lynchy still first choice when fit.

Donegal were very physical and I thought Langan was lucky to stay on the pitch. could have had multiple yellows. But at the same time when they strengthened at half time we struggled.
Not overly worried by that just now with the players we have to come back and the panel improving I. terms of depth.

Meath will be the game that could set the tone for the league for us. Win and we're in a strong g position for promotion,  lose and we will struggle. But we're very capable of winning that match imo, though I do think it will be a very tough game.

[statto]

I appreciate he's at best our 3rd choice keeper but the lad had a shocker.
Ethan and Paul Cass had poor enough days out, Niall Toner just not himself in first couple of games. Baker too lax on the ball thinks he has loads of time and then gets into a fluster.

Loughlin and Murray looked really sharp at times. Conor Mc Ateer and Sean Kearney causing plenty of trouble.
No panic but we've a level to go up yet at least, granted we've massive players to return. So do Donegal.

Does Cassidy have the physical presence to play inter county midfield? Would he play any of his club football there?

Meenagh seems to be trying to build a squad, which is where Derry have fallen down in the past.  With a couple to tough opening league games coming up could probably have done without the extra game at the weekend. 

[statto]

Donegal beat Meath in Croke park by 20pts. We coming down from Division 1 and should be way stronger than Meath. Big thing i notice,forwards tackling is very poor, its half a effort.

That's a little disrespectful to Meath. While they were hammered in AI semi final, they had a good year last year, have an excellent age profile and there will be a big buzz about Meath football coming into this year.  Derry on the other hand are coming off a couple of seasons where there are more questions than answers. (Though I do think they have finally got a Manager that is a good fit for them.)

[Ryan O]

I appreciate he's at best our 3rd choice keeper but the lad had a shocker.
Ethan and Paul Cass had poor enough days out, Niall Toner just not himself in first couple of games. Baker too lax on the ball thinks he has loads of time and then gets into a fluster.

Loughlin and Murray looked really sharp at times. Conor Mc Ateer and Sean Kearney causing plenty of trouble.
No panic but we've a level to go up yet at least, granted we've massive players to return. So do Donegal.

Does Cassidy have the physical presence to play inter county midfield? Would he play any of his club football there?

Meenagh seems to be trying to build a squad, which is where Derry have fallen down in the past.  With a couple to tough opening league games coming up could probably have done without the extra game at the weekend. 

Probably not, he's not a natural midfielder although was very good against Antrim. Suppose it highlights the difference in opposition standard.

[Ryan O]

The season is over, we might as well go home ffs.

Is it a forum for positivity only your after what's caused this conclusion.

Holes are allowed to be picked its the time of the year for it.

Apart from that Meenagh always gets it spot in with his interviews.

[jb77]

The midfield seems picked on the fact they play their club football at Midfield, wouldn't read into it much beyond that. Has Scud left the panel or what is with all the reaction about trying the 2nd keeper option?

Loughlin looks a lot sharper than last year, Murray not far behind. Toner looks like the man Shane will replace atm. I'm still a Dan Higgins  believer after what he done in the club championship, I know others don't see it but a bit of size could help the thing.

Ciaran Meenagh has alot more to work with than the Antrim game and I'd say he's fairly pleased about it.

[Maghera was Black]

Donegal beat Meath in Croke park by 20pts. We coming down from Division 1 and should be way stronger than Meath. Big thing i notice,forwards tackling is very poor, its half a effort.

That's a little disrespectful to Meath. While they were hammered in AI semi final, they had a good year last year, have an excellent age profile and there will be a big buzz about Meath football coming into this year.  Derry on the other hand are coming off a couple of seasons where there are more questions than answers. (Though I do think they have finally got a Manager that is a good fit for them.)

Meath played a development panel during the O'Byrne cup while their first team have been on the challenge game circuit. They drew with Donegal, beat Mayo and Galway beat them by 2pts in those games. Meath have massive men around the middle Conor Gray, Daithí McGowan, Bryan Menton, Matthew Costello, Shane Walsh all well over 6ft. Robbie Brennan well know all too well Derry's issues revolve around their kickouts with a lack of size around the midfield that find it difficult to win primary ball.

No disrespect intended to McGuckin but exactly how many games has he played exactly in goals at senior football for Magherafelt would it be less than 10? It just follows on the issue that as a county we are not producing goalkeepers players who are brought through the development teams from u17 to senior who play what has become a specialised position. The trend looking at senior clubs is sure stick in a veteran outfielder in nets and he'll do a job seems to have come back to bite us.

[oakleaflad]

A small bit of an overreaction to the McKenna Cup.
We were always going to struggle on kickouts against that Donegal side, especially given the physicality we were missing from the side.
Not even Cassidys first McKenna Cup playing midfield, he played there a couple years ago and wont be there come championship.
We've Rogers, McGuigan and McEvoy as certs to come back in to the team with the likes of Forbes, M Bradley and D Higgins as possibilities too.
I think we've found something in McAteer, even if it's as an option off the bench, and possibly Kearney too.
Jury still out on the rest of the newcomers for me but it's very early days. McKenna Cup served its purpose alright.