So Donegal Lost then…

Sep22
by admin on September 22, 2014 at 1:16 pm
Posted In: Buncrana, Carndonagh, Derry, Donegal, Greencastle, L/Derry, Letterkenny, Moville, Redcastle

Donegal

Even though Donegal were effectively 4 points to nil down after not very long I still felt that they would win. They came back to equality at 7 points all. It was theirs for the taking now.

It was just like the Dublin match where the Dubliners were 9 points to 4 up until Donegal first hauled them back and then thrashed them.

It was all going to plan when the Donegal goalkeeper suddenly made a nonchalant pass to a Kerry player who promptly stuck it in the back of the net for a goal.

Kerry went 4 points up.

Plenty of Time

There was still plenty of time left, though.

Everything was starting to go well again when Donegal hauled themselves back to just two points behind.

“They’ll catch them” I thought.

However, the Donegal goalkeeper had become thoroughly spooked at his mistake.

Clincher

Even the commentator noticed that he had stopped kicking the ball short and was kicking it long all he time – to Kerry players.

There must have been 5 times in a row when he kicked it out and Kerry got hold of it – at a vital stage of the game just when Donegal were clawing their way back into it.

That was the real clincher for Kerry to get 5 extra lots of possession at that crucial stage when there were just 2 points in it and time to get those for Donegal.

Time Trouble

Although they missed a lot (as Donegal did) at that stage, they still managed to take advantage of two of them and stretch their lead to 4 points. That put Donegal in time trouble. They cut it to three points but didn’t have enough time to get those three individually.

They had to go for goal.

They came so damn close too – hitting the post with virtually the last kick of the game.

Donegal’s Tactics

I’ve heard people say that it was Donegal’s tactics that lost the match, that they had no Plan B.

However, they wouldn’t have needed it except for the bad luck of the keeper kicking the ball out to a Kerry man and then kicking away lots of possession as he didn’t want to go short again.

Ah well!

There’s always next year!

And it was great fun while it lasted.