Donegal GAA Thread

81

A bluffer

82

They haven’t made an AI semi since 2014.

83

Sickening. He’s not up to it. Obviously nobody has the courage to tell him.

84

Rory Gallagher was shafted when you look back at it in hindsight. He took Donegal at a very bad time when the likes of Toye, Kavanagh, Lacey, E McGee, McFadden, Gallagher, McGlynn, Gallagher had all came to the end of the road and the promising minor players like Gallagher, Langan, Brennan etc just weren’t ready at that point for senior level football.

Would be interesting if Gallagher took the job 2/3 years after he did how Donegal football would be now.

Under Bonner, Donegal have now lost knockout games v Tyrone (x2), Mayo and Cavan - 3 of those were for an AI semi final spot.

I wouldn’t be too optimistic for the future of Donegal football here. Haven’t really done a whole pile underage in recent years.

1 Like
85

That and nobody else being remotely interested in the position.

86

All men brought through the underage ranks by Declan Bonner in fairness. Rory Gallagher wouldn’t be let back in the door at this stage.

I have a sneaky suspicion that they want to see how Rory Kavanagh goes over St Eunans in the next two years.

87

Gallagher has done good jobs with Fermanagh and now Derry.

I think he’s quite clearly a far better manager than Bonner. Any Donegal player who played under Gallagher seemed to have spoken quite well of him, he just happened to get the job at a bad time when Gallagher, Lacey, McGee, McFadden, Toye, Kavanagh etc were all in their 30s and past their best while the new players coming through were a few years off being ready.

88

Dunno if you’d agree with this @Alphakrul1 ? There were huge issues in the last year supposedly that led to senior players clashing with him over the treatment of some panel members.

89

I don’t blame them. He’s obviously got allegiances to players that shouldn’t be starting every game that do. His gameplan is utter muck.
I am aware that he sent at least one lad packing from the squad due to indiscipline with booze and I have a feeling that the rules around all that aren’t being enforced as well as they were under Jim.
Ryan McHugh, Ciaran Thompson and Eoin McHugh were muck this year. Ryan and Thompson should have been benched with Eoin not near intercounty standard. McBrearty needs to be benched when he’s marked out of the game. I don’t believe for a second that we don’t have lads that can slot into our backline in the county club scene. He just keeps playing lads who can’t tackle in positions that don’t suit their abilities.
Shame on the clubs if they didn’t propose an alternative. I think because we got beaten by Tyrone and they gained momentum as they progressed, that they believe they were close to the standard to get to an all ireland final. We’re not. Kerry would have hockeyed us, if we would have got that far.

1 Like
90

Ate you talking about Bonner? I was asking if you’d heard that the players hated Gallagher by the end?

Gallagher’s tactic has always been to stop the other team scoring 12 points and hope to fuck that you score more. To my mind anyhow.

Bonner’s is horrible that seems to be one guy running as far up the wing as he can and then handpassing it off to someone inside. Easy enough to shut down for most teams.

Agree on McBrearty. The over reliance on him did make him easier to cover. Oisin Gallen should start and McHugh would be far better closer to goal with a licence/mandate to roam and help out further back the field.

Playing 4 inside fwds like Gallen, Murphy, McBrearty and McHugh should keep the opposition occupied enough before they have to even consider Thompson and McNiallas shooting from distance and Ban Gallagher etc making deep runs.

91

McHugh is a bit like Petey Harte. Great player but can get taken out of the game if he’s detailed which he has been.

Think Donegal’s problem is quite clearly their defence, they have the scoring power in their forward line but their defenders aren’t good enough. Ban Gallagher is really a wing back, McGee is now 35 and still vital for them, McMenamin’s form has fallen off a cliff and I don’t think the likes of McCole, Ward, Brennan etc are good enough at this level which leaves them with severe problems at the back.

They also need a stronger work rate from the likes of Langan, Thompson and MacNiallais. I’d say you can only start one of those based on their unwillingness to track back.

92

Bundoran appealing their loss in the SFC to Ardara as the former used six subs.

Interestingly Ardara and Glenties people generally attend the sane secondary school in Glenties…a review of the Maths teachers there must be conducted soon.

93

Was that match not played a month ago? Why the hold up?

94

Gillespie’s ACL gone again.

95

3rd time?

1 Like
96

Aye. Not an ounce of luck, that fella

97

That’s him done at IC level anyway. A shame as he looked like a good player under Gallagher in his first year.

Brendan Devenney reckoned that both he and Morrison were Donegal’s two best markers and could give Donegal a big boost next year if they were back.

98

That’s right. Don’t think we’ll see morrisson back next year either.
Knowing Bonner, he might stick McBrearty in at fullback.

1 Like
99

If a young lad does his ACL it’s very difficult to make it back I think.

Kilkenny probably the exception to the rule but you look at Donegal and they’ve had O’Connor and Gillespie fall that way. In Tyrone, Conor Clarke and Ronan O’Neill looked set for huge careers, Cork had Colm O’Neill.

If an intercounty player does an ACL, very few of them come back to the same level. Paddy McBrearty is still not the same player he was prior to his one. Particularly those who do it who are u25, I think it impacts them badly.

100

Yeah. A year is a long and vital time in development at that age.