Donegal v Tyrone Sun 17 May

[Captain Obvious]

Very hard to get goals against Donegal and if we're to have a chance we'll either need to hit them hard early and draw them out or hold on tight and nick a goal near the end.

Wasn't very hard for Cork to get goals against Donegal in the league semi final however the Donegal defending might improve on Sunday.

[twohands!!!]

It was mcginley I was thinking of, my mistake. brought in by gallagher from his time managing Kilcar. Seemed to find playing senior rough going when I've seen him.

2 hands...that Donegal bench is much stronger than when they won the AI imo

Totally agree and to my mind that made the victory even better in a sense - the thing is you can get away with for short-time periods but over longer time periods it's going to catch a team.  Donegal might "get away with it" again but it just makes it that bit harder.

Obviously I'm mentioning it in comparison to the other top teams (Dublin/Kerry) and especially when you look at through the prism of Donegal's likely path to the final.

[omaghjoe]

Donegal over the hill.

Nice wet day.

They're not over the hill yet.....but come Sunday they are going over the cliff!

[omaghjoe]

No matter what way I look at it I can't see us winning. It will be interesting to see if there is a different approach taken this year. Will we try two big men up front for a while and get fast high ball into them? Sean and McShane with McCurry/Bradley around them for scraps or will we see the same laboured running game that Donegal will eat up and spit out?

Very hard to get goals against Donegal and if we're to have a chance we'll either need to hit them hard early and draw them out or hold on tight and nick a goal near the end. Still think they'll hold us at arms length and pull away to win by 3/4.

Anyway, best of luck to the lads and hoping they prove my negativity wrong!

As I said b4 if you apply logic we are gonna be beat out the gate, they appear more experienced, fitter stronger, more skillfull, they beat us all the time, hammered us last time out in fact

However I still believe that that our boys will find a way to win it. Don't over think it just believe it, it can and it will happen

Tyrone Abu!

[ONeill]

Hell yeah.

Red Hugh was a balax.

[Puckoon]

Little Early for the Margaritas Omaghjoe?

[omaghjoe]

Hell yeah.

Red Hugh was a balax.

Dam right it was his marauding after Yellow Ford that left us with no support for the march south to Kinsale.

I'm telling ye they've never had their comeuppance for it in Tir Chonaill. On Sunday it shall be delivered!

That's right aye! Its coming for yis

[donegal lad]

Decent looking Donegal team - pretty strong all over the pitch. Tyrone need to keep Murphy and McBrearty under control and take our chances including frees which we haven't done in previous meetings.

What is the capacity on Sunday? I assume Donegal will heavily outnumber Tyrone - maybe around 3 to 1. Hadn't heard any talk of the split in tickets. Some went on general sale late (have now sold out) which I assume were sent back by Tyrone.

Capacity is 17500 on Sunday, both counties got 7000 tickets with an initial 3500 going on general sale (sold out in 40 minutes) to my knowledge donegal sold their full allocation but Tyrone didn't which led to supervalue and tickets.ie getting more to put on general sale (a lot of donegal clubs were buying these up as their initial allocation didn't cover the demand)

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Not even the first round proper in Ulster, and it's a complete sellout... I wonder will the first round in any of (take your pick): Leinster, Munster or Connacht be even close to a full house?! 

[Redhand Santa]

Decent looking Donegal team - pretty strong all over the pitch. Tyrone need to keep Murphy and McBrearty under control and take our chances including frees which we haven't done in previous meetings.

What is the capacity on Sunday? I assume Donegal will heavily outnumber Tyrone - maybe around 3 to 1. Hadn't heard any talk of the split in tickets. Some went on general sale late (have now sold out) which I assume were sent back by Tyrone.

Capacity is 17500 on Sunday, both counties got 7000 tickets with an initial 3500 going on general sale (sold out in 40 minutes) to my knowledge donegal sold their full allocation but Tyrone didn't which led to supervalue and tickets.ie getting more to put on general sale (a lot of donegal clubs were buying these up as their initial allocation didn't cover the demand)

I saw somewhere earlier in the week that there was nearly 2500 season tickets between the counties. Add in the ulster council tickets and based on 17500 capacity I'd say the clubs got around 5500 each. Tyrone presumably didn't sell their allocation. I'd guess we'll bring around 5000 to it.

The season tickets are a great job at rewarding genuine fans of the county teams. If Tyrone got to the all ireland final there would be a fight over 13000 club tickets. Yet we cant sell 5500 for a championship match with a neighbouring county. The same supporters used to slag Kerry for not travelling in big numbers.

[BennyHarp]

Tyrone to win this! Clearly playing possum in the league in Ballybofey. Donegal's inexperienced manager will send them out to take it easy and save energy for the big game v Armagh! The long grass is a good place to be!

[Redhand Santa]

Forget about the qualifiers, we need to find a way to win this badly. We have played second fiddle to Donegal for too long now and its time to stand up and fight to become the top team in Ulster again. It's been 7 years since we beat a top 3 or 4 team in the championship and it's time to deliver. Looking at the team we aren't exactly a young team. A lot of players should now be in around their peak years and to many of them have yet to do it on the big stage. Tomorrow is the day we need players to go out and really get stuck in. In to many championship games in recent years when things have went wrong we have lay down and accepted defeat. The old hunger and guts of Tyrone football has been missing.

It looks like we're going to set up defensively which I'm not totally convinced is the best approach. I think we need to push up for the first 20 minutes and really have a go. Both Dublin and Mayo have shown in recent years in championship games that if you go at Donegal early a lead can be built up. If you do this then play with patience its there for the taking. If we sit back like the league game and try to counter in small numbers Donegal will eat up the attacks and they will be happy sitting back and countering.

We have to be better at kickouts tomorrow. To often in the league when teams have pushed up and stopped our short kick outs we've ended up kicking out to a man isolated in the middle. We must be prepared to go back to basics and fight for breaking ball in that area. Similarly if we think possession is important I'm not sure we should let Donegal walk the ball up to our 50. If they do they are capable of scoring from distance and won't miss frees in that area. I really hope for a better refereeing display from McQuillan tomorrow. 2 years ago v Donegal they were aloud to stand directly in front of our free taker for the full game and the ball wasn't moved forward.

Lets hope tomorrow is a coming of age of this current Tyrone team. A big defeat and its a season ender for us. A win and the confidence will leave us hard to beat in Ulster.

[INDIANA]

Donegal over the hill.

Nice wet day.

"Mordor. The one place in Middle-Earth we don't want to see any closer. And it's the one place we're trying to get to. It's just where we can't get. Let's face it, Mr. Frodo, we're lost."

[cuconnacht]

Hell yeah.

Red Hugh was a balax.

Dam right it was his marauding after Yellow Ford that left us with no support for the march south to Kinsale.

I'm telling ye they've never had their comeuppance for it in Tir Chonaill. On Sunday it shall be delivered!

That's right aye! Its coming for yis

By jesus Omaghjoe inspirational and fearsome stuff,Im in.If  Tyrone declares war on Japan or Norway or any1 on the Monday following Im in.Inspirational

[ONeill]

What a minefield Ulster is. Beat Donegal and you're still in the quarters amongst the buckfast-soaked atmosphere in Armagh. Escape there and it's the inbreds from the Sperrins or the SDLP electorate. Get over that and you're mixing it with the knuckle draggers from Oriel. Better off getting out early and sampling Carrick on Shannon.