Donegal V Derry, June 1st

[Our Nail Loney]

Derry toying with them here, donegal getting frustrated

[Our Nail Loney]

ten from bradley, how many from play?

[Maguire01]

Derry were getting very handy frees towards the end.  How can you possibly defend when the referee blow up so easily?

[Rudi]

Some excellent scores by both teams, ref was one of the worst I have ever seen.

[Maguire01]

Fair play to the referee, he must surely be a contender for man of the match, he pulled Derry back into the game by giving them easy, scoreable frees time and again whilst ignoring most of their indiscretions. Doherty should have walked mid way through the second half and if I was a Donegal man I would feel robbed this evening.
Physcality is being taken out of the game by over zealous officials, players like Paddy Bradley are buying frees by going to ground while in posession because they know that the ref will give them a soft, scoreable free. The ref got the first decision wrong in the game when he gave a free out to Kevin McCloy, who had clearly over carried the ball and he didnt get too many right after, including the penalty.

To be fair, if Derry had been scoring in the first half, they would have been out of sight.  Add that to a borderline penalty decision that went in Donegal's favour.
I do however agree with the handy frees won by Derry, especially towards the end.

Regarding Doherty, could he get a suspension if the ref doesn't have anything in his report?

[Tyrone Dreamer]

When will refs learn people dont come to games to watch them. Far to many soft frees followed by ticks/yellows. Too many referees make it pay to foul. If a team is breaking up the pitch then you should foul them. The referee will give a free and then stop the play for long enough for you to get your men behind the ball. Referees penalise the team who gets fouled by slowing down there plays. Surely someone should tell them to allow the advantage to the attacking team.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

How in Gods name did Docherty not get sent off for that swinging arm??? When a ref is giving yellow cards for fun and doesn't penalise that its disgraceful and then to listen to Brolly say he shouldn't have been sent off as no damage was done!!!

[Maguire01]

How in Gods name did Docherty not get sent off for that swinging arm??? When a ref is giving yellow cards for fun and doesn't penalise that its disgraceful and then to listen to Brolly say he shouldn't have been sent off as no damage was done!!!

Er, because he didn't see it perhaps?

[INDIANA]

maybe but you'd have to consider when he saw frees no-one else did, and missed the most important offence in the game, should he be there?
disappointing game, standard in ulster dropping rapidly unfortunately. pity the standard of refeereeing is getting even worse. he was poor today.

[Maguire01]

maybe but you'd have to consider when he saw frees no-one else did, and missed the most important offence in the game, should he be there?

Yes, but that's not the argument. It would be different if he had words with, ticked or yellow-carded Doherty but not sent him off. He obviously didn't even know it happened. That's plausable to be fair - the ref can't see everything and it was a crowded area of the field. I'm not trying to defend the ref's overall game though.

disappointing game, standard in ulster dropping rapidly unfortunately.

How can you really judge the state of Ulster football when 4 counties have yet to play (including 2 of the big guns) and when no Ulster team has played a non-Ulster team yet?

[J70]

Obviously gutted to lose, but Derry shaded it overall. The few minutes with McFadden's missed frees, the messed-up sideline kick, Doherty's slap and McCusker's apparent clean lift of the ground to make a score were the difference for me. Bradley definitely seemed to get a few handy frees at the end, but Derry will point to the penalty. My initial reaction was that it was a 13m free as Toye definitely seemed to be tripped, but the replays on RTE weren't exactly conclusive either way. I couldn't understand why Lacey wasn't put on Bradley either - our best defender by a mile and he was hardly seen all day as the game generally went straight from the midfield scraps into the full-forward lines. McGee was cleaned out, plain and simple, and should have been switched. And how many goals have we given up over the years from dropped balls in around the square?

Couldn't be arsed about the qualifiers at this stage, as we clearly have little prospect of making an impression on the All Ireland stage. Maybe the enthusiasm will return in a few weeks, particularly if we get an interesting draw. Games like last year's Leitrim or Westmeath ties are hard to get excited over though.

On the plus side, a good debut from young Murphy, while McFadden did well too, the two missed frees aside. Murphy's point early in the second half brought back memories of Martin McHugh riggling through defenders to score - let's hope he build's on the promise shown so far.

[Surreal Steve]

maybe but you'd have to consider when he saw frees no-one else did, and missed the most important offence in the game, should he be there?
disappointing game, standard in ulster dropping rapidly unfortunately. pity the standard of refeereeing is getting even worse. he was poor today.

the standard in ulster is easily the best in ireland im afraid.

dont know about donegal feeling robbed, thought the referee was very keen to give frees to both sides at even the merest hint of contact.

was i the only one who thought the penalty was a couple of yards outside the area? even after he fell he didnt seem to be inside to me.

[SCENTOFSAM]

Thought the ref was too card happy and he did find in favour of Derry in all the bigger calls. Good match though. Now for an away win next week in Healey Park.

[SLIGONIAN]

anyone else think ger canning is a sh*t commentator? he called derry 'tyrone' and at the end it was 'brian mceniff's' donegal not brian mcivor's. elementary mistakes for a 'professional'.

Agree wholeheartedly, absolutely inept commentator. Aswell as that was listening to michael o mhuirteagh gave the wrong score 3 times on the way home from club championship. First waterford were winnin 2-25 to 23 then it changed to clare and back to waterford. Had to wait till I got home and check text to be sure.

Marty duffy was useless today, whistle happy and fussy  and got peno decision wrong and doherty should of been sent off. Brolly was a disgrace on sunday game. Talk about blinkered vision. Highlighting the donegal players reaction who IMO was damn right to go down. It was a closed fist swing back into the face.

Too many teams cop out of going for goals too. Donegal had fisted 2 points in the first half when the goal was gapping and men were free. Have some courage.

[Surreal Steve]

anyone else think ger canning is a sh*t commentator? he called derry 'tyrone' and at the end it was 'brian mceniff's' donegal not brian mcivor's. elementary mistakes for a 'professional'.

Agree wholeheartedly, absolutely inept commentator. Aswell as that was listening to michael o mhuirteagh gave the wrong score 3 times on the way home from club championship. First waterford were winnin 2-25 to 23 then it changed to clare and back to waterford. Had to wait till I got home and check text to be sure.

Marty duffy was useless today, whistle happy and fussy  and got peno decision wrong and doherty should of been sent off. Brolly was a disgrace on sunday game. Talk about blinkered vision. Highlighting the donegal players reaction who IMO was damn right to go down. It was a closed fist swing back into the face.

Too many teams cop out of going for goals too. Donegal had fisted 2 points in the first half when the goal was gapping and men were free. Have some courage.

Brolly was doing his piece fot his county. He is more than aware of how strongly the meeja will impact any DRA/disciplinary decisions