From his days watching football, Michael McMullan selects a team of players that would excel under the new rules with a limit of one player per county and with every Ulster team represented… 1 Michael Byrne (Antrim) I HAVE watched Antrim a few times and Byrne has impressed. An excellent shot stopper, safe with the […]
Early Kingdom mission for Donegal
January 25, 2025
By Michael McMullan ULSTER champions Donegal kick their new season into gear on Sunday with a trip to Kerry. It’s the second season of the second stint for manager Jim McGuinness and there are solid foundations to build on. More than solid. They will look with regret at how close they came to making last […]
McGuinness hopes game settles in coming weeks
January 23, 2025
By Ryan Ferry DONEGAL senior football manager Jim McGuinness says strength-in-depth will be needed this year as county teams get to grips with a new faster and more demanding game of gaelic football. With three players on each side having to stay at either side of the field, there is going to be a heavy […]
JOE BROLLY: Murphy’s law
January 12, 2025
I WAS in Donegal last week and three different people told me – in absolute confidence (“Don’t mention my name Joe”) – that in their in house training games, Michael Murphy has been playing in goals. According to them, Jimmy has discovered a loophole in the no pass to the keeper rule, by not putting […]
A wry look at the year
December 26, 2024
Cometh the man, cometh the hour For long stretches of Glen’s All-Ireland final against St Brigid’s back in January, it looked like we were on course for an upset. It just wasn’t happening for the Watty Graham’s, but we all know what happened next: Conor Glass scored a fantastic goal and they ended up with […]
McGuinness announces additions for 2025 season
December 12, 2024
By Michael McMullan JIM McGuinness has revealed five players he will have as part of his plans for 2025. The high-profile addition has been the return from retirement of All-Ireland winning captain Michael Murphy. In an interview on Monday’s DL Debate, on Highland Radio, McGuiness outlined a further four players he can call on for […]
JOE BROLLY: Planning permission
November 18, 2024
IT is a terrible irony that Jimmy McGuinness’s system won Michael Murphy an All-Ireland medal yet ruined his best years. As a young footballer Michael was so good it was cartoonish. Here was a real life Hotshot Hamish, fetching impossible high balls and driving them to the net like Tony Yeboah, the ‘keeper standing there wondering […]
KEVIN CASSIDY: Christmas has come early
November 7, 2024
JUST as I was about to finish this week’s piece the earth-shattering news broke that Micheal Murphy has returned to the Donegal camp. Rumours had been floating about for a number of weeks and I have to admit when I saw him on TV during the interprovincials last month, I noticed he has trimmed down a […]
Making an early mark
August 5, 2024
2023 Ethan Doherty DYNAMIC Derry half-forward Ethan Doherty scooped last year’s Young Footballer of the Year award following an impressive showing all season with the Oakleafers. Doherty, who made his championship debut in 2020, has developed into a mainstay of the Derry team and made a particularly big impact in their run to last year’s […]
Casting the net: How the Buncrana Cup fed into Donegal’s consistency
May 9, 2024
Sunday will be Donegal’s 11th Ulster final in 14 seasons. Michael McMullan spoke with All-Ireland winning captain Michael Murphy and former county chairman John McConnell to look into the foundations. DONEGAL didn’t place their long-term succession planning on the crest of the 1992 All-Ireland wave. John McConnell has the benefit of hindsight when outlining why they […]