National Forum

Donegal V Armagh

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I have to say I expected an awful lot more from Armagh, an awful lot more. But we were very very professional and clinical, some great great performances and once again lads stepping up. Defensively I thought we were really excellent in that first half to shut things down and very happy not to give even a sniff of a goal chance to Armagh until that last play

Niall O'Donnell was excellent, as were McGonagle and Mogan.

Great to see Paddy McBrearty get plenty minutes in as well.

Big worry now about McMenamin especially, McFadden I would hope is a precaution as we had the game sown up. But McMenamin's looked like a muscle pulled as he went on a sprint in that first few minutes which is always a real real worrying injury.

Overall though I'm really really delighted, very proud of the lads.

JoeSoap (Donegal) - Posts: 1125 - 14/11/2020 14:54:30    2308696

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Congrats to Donegal and commiserations to Armagh. Donegal looked brill today and are a really good team. I always smile at the narrative about Donegal.I love watching them play. They are exciting and at the mó they are the team I enjoy watching most. They have a great bunch of players at mó.

CiarraiMick (Dublin) - Posts: 630 - 14/11/2020 15:55:34    2308735

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Replying To JoeSoap:  "I have to say I expected an awful lot more from Armagh, an awful lot more. But we were very very professional and clinical, some great great performances and once again lads stepping up. Defensively I thought we were really excellent in that first half to shut things down and very happy not to give even a sniff of a goal chance to Armagh until that last play

Niall O'Donnell was excellent, as were McGonagle and Mogan.

Great to see Paddy McBrearty get plenty minutes in as well.

Big worry now about McMenamin especially, McFadden I would hope is a precaution as we had the game sown up. But McMenamin's looked like a muscle pulled as he went on a sprint in that first few minutes which is always a real real worrying injury.

Overall though I'm really really delighted, very proud of the lads."
Agree with all that Joe. Like you I thought defensively we were excellent led by Neil who looks as good as ever. Interestingly I heard Jim on OTB recently and he was commenting on how tackling and forcing turnovers that way is a bit of a lost art. Well certainly not today as thought we were really good in that facet. We also showed good variation with plenty of ball kicked in. Good to see Patton in top form as well as Ban who put in his best performance since returning. The biggest concern now is the injuries. Stephen McMenamin has had injury issues all year and with Odhran McFF not available he really is a crucial player for Donegal.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2458 - 14/11/2020 16:04:10    2308740

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I got this game totally wrong, I really thought Armagh would make this a tight game. I had predicted Armagh would give away a lot of fresh which never happened and Donegal would win by a few points. Armagh have good players but didnt show up today.

Donegal are motoring along nicely and look in a good position to win Ulster. Most pleasing is how our younger players are coming to the fore and we are not relying on Murphy, McHugh and McBrearty.

The one negative was the injury to Stephen McMenamin, we dont have many of those tough tackling markers. Also Paddy McGrath is injured and McFadden-Ferry is away with work.

Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1730 - 14/11/2020 16:37:56    2308756

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Replying To CiarraiMick:  "Congrats to Donegal and commiserations to Armagh. Donegal looked brill today and are a really good team. I always smile at the narrative about Donegal.I love watching them play. They are exciting and at the mó they are the team I enjoy watching most. They have a great bunch of players at mó."
They've been playing great football since the spring of 2012.

Its not their fault lesser teams copied their defensive style of 2011 and failed to emulate their progression from then onwards..

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 4135 - 14/11/2020 16:43:13    2308759

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Well done Donegal - impressive stuff.

That victory has had a pretty big effect with the bookies odds for Sam also:
Donegal now in at 4/1
Mayo 5/1
Galway 9/1
Cork 11/1

Fionn (Dublin) - Posts: 3309 - 14/11/2020 16:54:44    2308765

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Replying To Fionn:  "Well done Donegal - impressive stuff.

That victory has had a pretty big effect with the bookies odds for Sam also:
Donegal now in at 4/1
Mayo 5/1
Galway 9/1
Cork 11/1"
With the knockout nature of every game this year the odds will fluctuate more than normal!

Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 895 - 14/11/2020 17:18:14    2308776

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A very impressive performance again from our lads today. It really was a professional job. We were in total control throughout and it was very pleasing again to see a number of players standing out.

We can look forward to another Ulster final. It has been a phenomenal decade for us in the province. Without being disrespectful, it would be a shock if we didn't land another Ulster title.

The players and management deserve massive credit for the way they have gone about their business. I say that not just of Donegal, but of all counties. In these bleak uncertain Covid times the Championship has been a most welcome distraction.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 7075 - 14/11/2020 17:25:46    2308781

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Great win, proud Donegal man this evening, fantastic group of players and management team and there's scores coming from all over the pitch, if we can keep everybody fit and win the Ulster final we'll give Dublin a run for their money for sure, 3 in a row is there to be won now, awful pity we can't be there to see it.

I expected more from Armagh, painful defeat to take for a proud county,
lot of work needed there but they are back in div 1 next season so that will help them improve.
I'd say tomorrows semi final will be a lot closer, not sure which team I'd prefer in the final.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 1076 - 14/11/2020 17:56:12    2308800

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I called this earlier in this thread. Armagh played terrible today. Tried to rough up Donegal early on. Change of managerial tactics is needed.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 14/11/2020 18:44:54    2308826

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Good performance again today from our lads. Started well and when they smelled blood they finished Armagh off in a ten minute period. Very impressed again with the young lads. Niall O Sibel played better today with Mogan, Langan and Eoin ban also having good games.
Armagh will get better with Div 1 footbal next year but are still a bit behind that standard.
Special word for Shaun Patton. Had another good outing today and even with bad weather his kick outs were impressive.
The downside was the injury to Stephen Mc Menamin. I thought Bonner would have given some of the sub defenders a run out as were might be needing them later and they need game time. I'm thinking on O' Baoil, Mc Cole or Ward.
Lastly I have noticed a huge improvement on our kick passing and transitional play this year. Lovely on the eye!

Tir Conaill Abu (Donegal) - Posts: 1635 - 14/11/2020 18:49:44    2308829

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Replying To Tir Conaill Abu:  "Good performance again today from our lads. Started well and when they smelled blood they finished Armagh off in a ten minute period. Very impressed again with the young lads. Niall O Sibel played better today with Mogan, Langan and Eoin ban also having good games.
Armagh will get better with Div 1 footbal next year but are still a bit behind that standard.
Special word for Shaun Patton. Had another good outing today and even with bad weather his kick outs were impressive.
The downside was the injury to Stephen Mc Menamin. I thought Bonner would have given some of the sub defenders a run out as were might be needing them later and they need game time. I'm thinking on O' Baoil, Mc Cole or Ward.
Lastly I have noticed a huge improvement on our kick passing and transitional play this year. Lovely on the eye!"
There is no doubt that O'Baoil and Ward must be seriously struggling for form TCA as both would certainly have been brought in at some stage the last 2 games. Especially Ward who has been a model of consistency for us.

panamasam (Australia) - Posts: 2458 - 14/11/2020 19:03:47    2308839

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I like most predicted a Donegal win, but this wasn;t a defeat - this was a hammering,
Physically Armagh could not match Donegal in any sector of the field

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1589 - 14/11/2020 19:34:38    2308858

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "A very impressive performance again from our lads today. It really was a professional job. We were in total control throughout and it was very pleasing again to see a number of players standing out.

We can look forward to another Ulster final. It has been a phenomenal decade for us in the province. Without being disrespectful, it would be a shock if we didn't land another Ulster title.

The players and management deserve massive credit for the way they have gone about their business. I say that not just of Donegal, but of all counties. In these bleak uncertain Covid times the Championship has been a most welcome distraction."
Would agree with everything you said , you non can sit back and see who your next victims are

germac (Down) - Posts: 291 - 14/11/2020 20:32:09    2308891

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Replying To cuchulainn35:  "I like most predicted a Donegal win, but this wasn;t a defeat - this was a hammering,
Physically Armagh could not match Donegal in any sector of the field"
Like other teams including Tyrone, not enough players to win dirty ball. They might think they look well , white socks, hair freshly cut but that doesn't cut it. Mirror in kit bag men.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 276 - 14/11/2020 21:54:03    2308955

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I know I've harped on about it a bit in this thread but surely it's now time for McGeeney to go. Or does he want to wait until he's been embarrassed in division next year?

DL_Man (Donegal) - Posts: 89 - 14/11/2020 23:45:04    2308979

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Nah. Would never have got there only got lucky drawing a Meath team in disarray after the Leinster final of 10, also for Christ sake it was Down and he couldn't beat them.
Ask any Kildare gaa person. He destroyed the county and at some cost too.
Wouldn't put him in charge of a junior b team."
would you say that to his face? I wouldn't!

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 796 - 15/11/2020 00:08:45    2308986

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Assaulting. Haha. Yeah tell that to Murphy."
Murphy? Possibly the most fouled man in football and a very clean player. Nothing but respect for the big man, and he's been instrumental in beating us for years, so that tells you something. More of a man than the cowardly hatchet men that ye had in the 90s

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 796 - 15/11/2020 00:13:41    2308989

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Thought Donegal was very good and I expect them to challenge for the big prize. The have subs who are as good as some of the first 15 which is a great asset in any team. Much the better team but Armagh, who were never going to win was not helped early on by some very poor Ref decisions.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2189 - 15/11/2020 11:42:44    2309084

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