Keith Duggan gets stuck into the Sunday Game panel

[Jinxy]

I remember how everyone was pissed off when Inter Milan beat Barcelona and went on to win the Champions League.
They came up with a plan and beat the best team in the world.
There's a lot to admire in that.
At the same time, you wouldn't want to watch it every weekend.

[mylestheslasher]

Have you ever heard of the prime skill of Gaelic Football, Zulu - kicking points from distance? Donegal's system presents plenty of chances of long range points for the opposition. Dublin, for instance, had numerous opportunities in the first 60 minutes against Donegal and put them all wide. That wasn't Donegal's fault, it was Dublin's failing. Donegal's system wouldn't work against a team that could kick points. McGuinness was smart enough to know that if you prevent Dublin scoring goals and also make them shoot from distance, they'll find it very hard to get the scores to win.   

Rubbish. You can not rely on scoring only from 50 mtrs out to win a game. The idea that donegal would allow free shooting from 50 mtrs is also rubbish. At best you will be under pressure and miss every 2nd shot allowing the made defence to counter. The only way to beat it is to play just as ugly and that is not good for the game

[blast05]

Have you ever heard of the prime skill of Gaelic Football, Zulu - kicking points from distance? Donegal's system presents plenty of chances of long range points for the opposition. Dublin, for instance, had numerous opportunities in the first 60 minutes against Donegal and put them all wide. That wasn't Donegal's fault, it was Dublin's failing. Donegal's system wouldn't work against a team that could kick points. McGuinness was smart enough to know that if you prevent Dublin scoring goals and also make them shoot from distance, they'll find it very hard to get the scores to win.   

Rubbish. You can not rely on scoring only from 50 mtrs out to win a game. The idea that donegal would allow free shooting from 50 mtrs is also rubbish. At best you will be under pressure and miss every 2nd shot allowing the made defence to counter. The only way to beat it is to play just as ugly and that is not good for the game

Well if the opposing team set up their stall a la Donegal and thus will only be good for 4 or 5 points tops from play themselves then its not too ambitious a target. The range of most Dublin forwards the last day was about 35 metres. Bring that up to 50 metres and suddenly the space that needs to be covered by Donegal increases by ~95%  (for anyone doing the maths, i would have put it at 100% but for the pitch is 'only' 88m wide)

[cadence]

I'm sorry, but no..even at their most frenzied level of desperation to win an AI in 2003, Tyrone were not as bad as Donegal the last day IMO...And thats from a Kerry man who was disgusted coming out of croker when they beat us.

Thank you Donegal, you've rendered (some) Ciarraí folk nostalgic for the Tyrone team of 2003! Jim Mc Guinness truly has Messianic powers, all hail! 

i actually did laugh out loud there. fair does, that was funny.

mcguinness in the herald. he's some cheek being annoyed that mcguinness. he should just stfu and take what's coming to him....

http://www.herald.ie/sport/gaa/mcguinness-annoyed-by-backlash-against-donegal-2867456.html

f**king ruining the game!!!!

[andoireabu]

Have you ever heard of the prime skill of Gaelic Football, Zulu - kicking points from distance? Donegal's system presents plenty of chances of long range points for the opposition. Dublin, for instance, had numerous opportunities in the first 60 minutes against Donegal and put them all wide. That wasn't Donegal's fault, it was Dublin's failing. Donegal's system wouldn't work against a team that could kick points. McGuinness was smart enough to know that if you prevent Dublin scoring goals and also make them shoot from distance, they'll find it very hard to get the scores to win.   

Rubbish. You can not rely on scoring only from 50 mtrs out to win a game. The idea that donegal would allow free shooting from 50 mtrs is also rubbish. At best you will be under pressure and miss every 2nd shot allowing the made defence to counter. The only way to beat it is to play just as ugly and that is not good for the game

Well if the opposing team set up their stall a la Donegal and thus will only be good for 4 or 5 points tops from play themselves then its not too ambitious a target. The range of most Dublin forwards the last day was about 35 metres. Bring that up to 50 metres and suddenly the space that needs to be covered by Donegal increases by ~95%  (for anyone doing the maths, i would have put it at 100% but for the pitch is 'only' 88m wide)

Not sure about that.  To increase the ground to be covered by that much Dublin would need to have been shooting from almost twice as far out, i.e between the 65 and halfway lines. Bringing it out to 50 meters only increases it by ~40%. Take into account the increase in distance from a bigger angle and it reduces the 40% further. And sure Donegal had a spare man up the field for that

[Jinxy]

Oh great, another maths thread!

[cadence]

the square of the hypotenuse equals that this thread rocks.

[Hardy]

Have you ever heard of the prime skill of Gaelic Football, Zulu - kicking points from distance? Donegal's system presents plenty of chances of long range points for the opposition. Dublin, for instance, had numerous opportunities in the first 60 minutes against Donegal and put them all wide. That wasn't Donegal's fault, it was Dublin's failing. Donegal's system wouldn't work against a team that could kick points. McGuinness was smart enough to know that if you prevent Dublin scoring goals and also make them shoot from distance, they'll find it very hard to get the scores to win.   

Rubbish. You can not rely on scoring only from 50 mtrs out to win a game. The idea that donegal would allow free shooting from 50 mtrs is also rubbish. At best you will be under pressure and miss every 2nd shot allowing the made defence to counter. The only way to beat it is to play just as ugly and that is not good for the game

Not if you can't score from 50 metres, you can't. That was kinda my point. Except it wasn't 50 metres. Dublin were missing shots from inside the 45. Not every 2nd shot, which wouldn't be unusual. It was 100% of them until the last ten minutes. That's ugly. Not good for the game either. And who suggested that any team should allow free shooting?

[ross matt]

Well put, cadence. For many people, if they're not supporting a team, sport is just about the spectacle. They want it to be, well, spectacular. In my opinion, they're wasting their money going to football matches or any regular sport if that's what they're after. They might as well go to the circus. Or better still, go to one of the many junk sports that are springing up to cater for this mentality.

If you're interested in who can jump the highest or do the fanciest tricks when under no pressure, surely you'd get much more enjoyment out of watching an acrobat or one of these lads with the jumping bikes than watching a football match and wishing nobody would tackle the star player so that he can score nice points or hit nice looking passes.

But if you're more interested in watching how people react to pressure or how a team responds to adversity or how a manager tries to counter an unexpected tactic by his opponent, then you'll enjoy a football match that has these elements no matter how low the score. And you'll certainly enjoy a 6-points-apiece draw ten times more than a ten point win for one side, unless it's for your own team.

i with you.... love the aspects of the game you talk about + the bare-faced tenacity and cheek of it to try and beat those who on paper you've no right (as some would see it) to be even lining up against. i just think that's really admirable.

+ i'd like to add that i don't want the skill aspect of football taken away. but i'd hate to see football just to be aesthetically pleasing on the eye. it would become like those meals in fancy restaurants with the finicking little swirls on the plate, lovely to look at, and even nice to consume, but you're left starving, unfulfilled and disappointed by the whole affair. football is so much more than the high field, the pick up, etc, much and all as these are great aspects of the game. i wish we hadda learned our lessons sooner!

Congrats. Of all the pathetic feeble justifications of "Visionary Jim"'s pig ugly tactics your post beats the lot. 

[muppet]

This is where we will be in a couple of years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TzIlW9p3a8

[ONeill]

This is where we will be in a couple of years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TzIlW9p3a8

Some of those boys had ample opportunity to kick it over the bar. Disgusting lack of knackers.

[blast05]

Ireland set up shop around the goals and they are heros.
Donegal do it and the get lambasted from every corner.

Andoireabu ..... you need to go back to maths class - area of half a circle with radius of 50m versus area of half a circle with radius of 35m.... 'pie times radius squared / 2' and all that

[J OGorman]

Ireland set up shop around the goals and they are heros.
Donegal do it and the get lambasted from every corner.

bulldung..Ireland played a 4-4-2 formation (as usual under Trapp). Donegal played a 13-0-1 formation

[seafoid]

Letter in IT

•   Sir, – Keith Duggan speaks for all Donegal GAA fans in his reasoned and balanced piece ("No class in RTÉ Establishment's crass attack", Sports Weekend, September 3rd). I was lucky enough to be in Croke Park, along with more than a quarter of the county's population, to watch Donegal play Dublin. Those who watched at home, "up there" in Donegal, would most likely have tuned into the BBC coverage, far superior in terms of balanced commentary, and reflecting the passion felt by ordinary county supporters.
Donegal played with heart and commitment, and while it was not a classic game, the team made us feel proud. Donegal teams and fans have felt the chill wind of contempt and disrespect from Montrose commentators long before this season. Keith Duggan spoke for a whole county. – Yours, etc,
BRID McGINLEY,
Moville,
Inishowen,
Co Donegal

[Jinxy]

'Donegal teams and fans have felt the chill wind of contempt and disrespect from Montrose commentators long before this season.'

Nicely done Bríd.