 Welcome welcome on and all to the DL debate. Thanks so much for tuning in. If me, your host, Brendan Venne, this is your weekly radio show and podcast. Thank you for listening in. On tonight's show, we'll catch up with Barry McGeehan on all the men's GA news of the week, including the playoffs from the weekend. We'll also hear from former county star Maureen O'Donnell as she gives us her take on the ladies championship. We're down to the last big two in the senior coming on October 1st. It's Termin V Glenn Venne again. Let's get ready to rumble. Joe, do you like that? Joe Dex is here. He's thumbs up please. Not too sure about this introduction, but he's keeping me right tonight. Of course, I want to thank Donald Kavana for the news there and of course, Ivan Borland for the par or plus. Also on the show this evening, we have an interview with former county star. One of our heroes of 92, Tony Boyle will be on. I got to catch up with him a couple of weeks ago down and don't know. Always great to catch up with a legend that is TB. That's all coming up. But first to say, we're going to turn our attention to the ladies championships. They're all in common to a conclusion, the senior, the intermediate, the junior A and the junior B. And now I'm delighted to say we're joined by Maureen O'Donnell. How are you this evening, Maureen? I'm very good, Brendan. How are you doing? How are you? Not too bad. Can I see you there? I can hear you, but maybe I don't need to see you. You want to see me, huh? You want to see me? I want to see that nice face of you. Always smiling. There you are. Well, good to see you. Well, what's happening here? I'm all good. I can't complain back at school. Back at school. And this and educating the next generation, we're thankful for that. Yeah. And listen, what about the sport at the school you're involved in anyway, on that side of things? You don't want it to go with the TY coordinator post there at the minus. So it's keeping me really busy. But yeah, dipping in and out of the sport to be, but sure, listen, we have our own county star there, Katie Herron over with us now. So Katie, she gives me a stick because I call her Katie a Herron, she recommends, but it's Katie Herron. So a household name of the state. She looks after all the girls and showed they love having her over there, you know, yourself. And listen, coordinator, like, oh, there's a job I'd never get. Nobody would ask me to coordinate anything. You see, I'm looking a lot to use girls, not only use great fubblers, but use our very unintelligent side of things. You know, things have changed a lot. I'm thinking back to Oscar to Yahoo's at the time. It was kind of football and messing that was kind of the culmination of it. You seem to have the head well screwed on. Listen, we're always given the title as multi-tasking, aren't we? A lot at the one time. I'm all for the girl power, let me tell you. Listen, Maria. Maria will always remind me she won the All Ireland, and that's fair enough. Oh, and you can remind me of that as well anytime you like. Mo, tell me, I was just looking there, five years in a row now, it's the big two again. And I was even looking, there was a break of two years and then it was the two years before it. So seven out of nine. Basically, we have your home girls and the Glenn Finn, ladies, locking horns again. Did you, is this ever going to change? Well, listen, you could have probably anticipated it again this year. And when you look across the teams that are in the senior championship, I guess those two teams over the last decade of football have been the strongest up there in the top. And I always say to you, football is like swings and roundabout. It comes around in circles. And you could say senior units were the big, you know, your own club team was the big team for a huge amount of years there, dominated county and Ulster football with the ladies. And then in the last 10 years, as you say, there's Thurman and there's Glenn Finn. I will change, Brendan, it will change because it always changed and nothing ever stays the same. And you look at Thurman now, like the quality, we're trying to suppose improve the quality of football, especially senior football in Donegal at the minute. And you have Glenn, these and St. Noll's and Bon Crana over the last number of years that have come under the mix. And even Erua, they're, they're an asterior now. And it's great to see those teams coming up and competing. You know, you look at the semifinals stages yesterday, where, you know, Thurman will be against St. Noll's. You would expect that St. Unions, maybe to get as far. And Maville, probably the big shock, not in a semifinal, a senior semifinal for the first time in a while now. And I suppose that's because they suffered a heavy defeat to St. Unions, your own club, St. Unions, they're a number of weeks ago. And then they were beat down in the Bournemouth Rd by Thurman as well, which knocked them into the shield. Yeah, the shield semifinals yesterday as well, Brent. So there are changes, you know, and you got to look at maybe what the likes of the Australian football is doing for Donegal, for Donegal football, and I suppose for football in general throughout Ireland. And, you know, there's, there's the money aspect of it and professionalism and they're poaching players from us. So Maville have lost Neve McLaughlin. Keira Higary has moved for the last number of years down to, I think it's Kerry. So, you know, you've lost Neve McLaughlin to it, to the football. You've lost Yvonne McMunnigal from Glenn Funn, and then, of course, Jeremy's out for Thurman. Hasn't made it across to Australia, but don't think she's going to go there. But she's out. And when you look at those players, those key players missing from those top three teams, you have Glentys and St Junans and St Noll's, no thinking that they're going to have a chance this year, Brent. And they're pushing hard to get up in there. And they've been up on Senior Championship now for a number of years, and they're doing very, very well. You can see St Junans has done really, really well this year. And it was great to see St Noll's in a semifinal. Yeah. And I'm just thinking you mentioned those players, almost irreplaceable players. Moe, when you put it down to, say, the teams there, particularly Thurman and Glenn Funn and the Rays of Mavall there as well, what would you put that down to, Moe, in terms of the background of that? Is it something that's happened around the philosophy at the club? Has it come a bit from underage, or even speaking from Thurman, for example, which you obviously would know inside out, what has kind of made them the force that they are outside of the teams that are around them? It's an interesting topic at the minute, because you've got the whole transition that's gone on even at county level with the Senior Guarans at the minute. And we've seen that last year, where we're just really holding on to the last of the, you'll call the old experienced heads there. And it's really when you look around the county, and at the club scene, it's exactly the same. And I can't but put it back to, when we were playing county football, and when we were playing club football, we were playing grade A football, a championship levels, and the county setup. Now, you know, there's development squads, and you're playing at grade B, and you're playing at grade C, and your winning titles may be at those. But, you know, it's just not going to make the cut when you go to senior football. And, you know, we don't seem to be competing even within the clubs at the highest level possible, like really pushing on. It's more about trying to get as many people encouraged to play the game, which is a great thing, don't get me wrong. But there's that lack of raw talent, that real talented players, you know, that it's just natural ability. You're more coaching them on to roles. We talk about this often, Brendan, the way the men's football have gone. The ladies maybe haven't been, you know, took them a while to catch on to the men's football, but unfortunately, they're all now playing the men's game. And, practically, you can put any player into any position and tell them what to do. It's almost like they're a robot in that position. Do you know what I mean? So, perhaps that's maybe why it hasn't been, why we're going to lose the big players now. Those big players, like Yvonne, Geraldine, Nicole, Amers, Katie's, you know, the big, the Karen Guthrie's is probably coming close to an end. Like, we're going to lose those players. And what is it that's coming through? That's what we need to look after now and try and get them to play real high intensity football at the highest level. And how much of this now is down? Because we so much talk about academies here in Donegal. And how much of that is down to academies? It's down to club, but of course, schools as well. You know, there has to be a broad promotion of the game and coaching of the game and that infuses these girls to want to go on. Absolutely. And, you know, like, it's not a case of getting rid of these development squads or eliminating them. Like, it's very important to advertise the game and promote the game at school level, you know, at club level, and, you know, push them on to try and get them into these development squad. But I think when it comes to development squad, there should be that squad of 15 to 30 players that play in the A championships, you know, that are in there pushing, you only get you only get to come up to the same level as the great A championship when you're playing in them. Like we've seen teams coming up to division one this over the last number four years, like, and they have developed and they've progressed because they're playing among the best. Brenda, you want to compete among the best and it's the only way you improve your game at that level. So it's not a case of eliminating those development squads. It's maybe finding a different way of the selection process so that it doesn't, you don't feel like every girl in the county or every fella in the county, this county jersey is available to you. You know, you must be off a higher caliber to get into the 15 and 30 that makes the great A championship team. Just what I would see there, particularly, you know, we are bordering counties here and you talk with development squads, it looks like the schools are better at producing players maybe rather than academies. That would be my own thought, you know, when you look at some of the schools in the north, the way they, there's so many clubs feeding in them, you know, get me data off and talks about this, you know, when he said unions versus teaming in the north, there could be 10, maybe six, seven times amount of clubs pushing into that. How is the secondary schools in terms of their promotion of the game? Listen, there's a lot of football being played at secondary level, but I really think when it goes to secondary level, you've got to look at the area too, like the northern system is great. But then when you look at our girls, like our senior, our senior girls football championship and secondary schools, we're mixed in with teams in the north. So A, you have to travel a lot and B, you're playing in the top rankings in football. Like and for us, like just taking the example of Dale College, like JAA football wouldn't be of the biggest in that area, you know, we're convoy, luffer that's surrounding area. So, you know, then then you look at the likes of the girls convent and the secondary school in Liddard Kinney and they've been dominating Lady football and Gillick football and secondary schools over the last number of years, you know, and they're possibly too strong. That's why they changed the structure with undonegall, with undonegall secondary schools and they've put it more like into the north now for senior, which isn't really good for the lower grade teams. If you get me, they're not getting any competition at all. They're just going out in there. They're getting, you know, kicked off the field every day like so. I think maybe they needed to go back to the drawboard and look at the structure especially with undonegall. But yes, I can see why it would be the case for fellas like, you know, a lot, all but most boys are interested in football. There seems to be a lack of interest both in than the circles now and ladies football at the minute. There's probably a deeper social side that, well, we could talk about that. We'll keep that for another one. We could talk about that for a long time. Well, just with the term and you mentioned Gillie in the way there, obviously, you know, Jody McFadden hitting 2-1, but Keira McGarvey on the freeze hitting 10 points as well. Is that, you know, in terms of, you know, every team has injuries and setbacks? I don't know. Where is Gillie Nat in terms of recovery, but certainly, particularly with the two girls there, they kind of made the lion's shell of the scorn at the weekend and positive from a term of perspective? Yeah, Alison probably, Gillie's probably gone now for the rest of the season and something that, you know, they have to look at. But as you say, like hitting at and freeze there, Keira McGarvey's well able to step on. She's been able to, she's been shown that she takes freeze even on county level. So it's great to have that back up. You know, I think sometimes that's what happened. That's what happens with teams. You rely too much on the one player and, you know, everybody else needs to step up the mark then when you don't have that one significant player on the field. See, and Glen Funnery experiencing the same thing and also Moville. But that's why you need talent at what we call French players. But, you know, they're only French players because the bigger players are maybe taken over for a lot of the game and there's, there's heavy reliance on these bigger players. But these players then that step in and step up to the mark, the likes of Jody McFadden for term and then, and Keira McGarvey, who, who could score the goals? Because you'd, you'd said to yourself, who have we got to score goals when we take Jardine out of the setup? But you easily see that Jody McFadden steps in there or Russian McCaff playing on a fall forward is also able, well able to do the job of a Russian Yankee. So Russian Yankee frail. I always call it Russian Yankee. But, uh, only term as it was type of nickname. So you're so special with that. I never know. I never know where you just pull them out of the Inferness. I'm not from term and a dollar or anything like that. I wouldn't know. So I'll not say no. I'm feeling a few different places in time. The world. So listen, wherever, wherever you land, that's it. Glenn Fan, you mentioned there, obviously, who's coming behind and the brilliance of Karen Goddrey. It means that Junans played really well in the first half. Brilliant second half display from, you know, a top team like Glenn Fan. You get the feeling that the Junans are common, but you still don't have the experience that they are when you have a player like Karen Goddrey, you know, hitting the points, you know, um, that is, you know, a lesson to the Glenn Fan team as a team, of course, and so determine play brilliant. You have to pick out certain players for talent and Karen was certainly a player of the match in that game. You do. And listen, you said like everybody looks at the score line and thinks, oh my god, it's a tight game. And yes, it was a tight game and fair play to St. Junans. They did really well, you know, but they were going to try and get into a final against a big team. And they really took it to Glenn Fan on the day. But you know, you're mentioning like Karen Goddrey and you're mentioning Katie Herron there and stuff like those players, there's huge experience with on the Glenn Fan side and they've been that down. They were on three points down at half time and they've been that and more down at half time against bigger teams. So and the difference probably between St. Junans and Glenn Fan is that the experience was able to carry Glenn Fan through in those big games. And that is really the difference in those teams now at the minute that are in Senior Championship football is the huge experience that comes behind players like, you know, like players like Neve Higgardy and Mavall, you know, them Higgardys and Neve McLaughlin that they had and Katie Herron and all those county players years and years and years of experience behind them. And, you know, St. Junans probably just not there yet. And that's probably when you go on down at half time, you've got those experienced leaders in the dressing room pushing you through and you've always got somebody the rest of the team, they've always somebody to target or to take them over the line. And unfortunately, maybe for St. Junans, they're just not at that stage at those those experienced players, but they will be and they will it will come back again and they will come around again and, you know, look at the next 10 years in football, Termin are progressively Glenn Funner progressively going down the hill, losing their big players, losing their experience. And you're going to very much rely on this new generation of footballers. So that will change, Brendan, it definitely will. It will indeed move. That's the cycle of football, but make the most of it. Why it's this one still an absolutely fascinating final and a bit like any of those other games that those teams play can end up outside it. But you can be sure that this game is going to go down to the wire this final in the first of October. Yeah, like you mentioned at the beginning for consecutive finals, you know, for these two teams over the last over the last number of 40 years, I suppose, but on the last two finals that came down to the wire, like both both the final that the last two finals came down to extra time. And that's what decided it. And then so was a point or two between the teams. And you'd expect nothing less because they're just both very evenly matched at the minute in terms of county players in terms and in terms of their experience in terms of the quality throughout the field. So it's going to be a cracking match, Brendan, no matter what. And no, no people say it's the same thing again. Here we go again. But no matter what, when you go along to watch the match, it's a really, really good match. And there's quality football throughout throughout the game. So, you know, unless it's, I don't know, unless it's a real hiccup that I don't see any team running away with that, you know, handy. If you take most counties, it's some of their teams that, let's be honest, are in the final or one that's, you know, right across the board. It's in most places. I mean, maybe through our neighbours there in terms of men's championship would be the exception. But really, if you look at a lot of other championships, it's the same teams that are that are dominating. And as you said, it takes a long while for those cycles to be broken. The teams that are coming up most of that are working on the intermediate finals to be played. Kelly Beggs, Nevorah. Yeah, there's, yeah, the intermediate final, well, Kelly Beggs, and played Ardran, the semi-final, beat them by seven points. Kidour, Nevorah with the other final, a lot tighter. There was only one point of difference between those, but, you know, two really good teams coming up and like whoever one's there, you know, probably, I don't know, Nevorah is an up and coming team doing a lot of work down there with them. You could see them maybe taking Kelly Beggs on the day and like whoever one's there will be able to see your championship as well. And listen, it's very hard for me to go beyond that. I'm not going at the junior A finals there and Dunlore in the final. I have to, credit has to go to Dunlore. Every time you look on the Dunningall LGFA web page, all we see is Dunlore one-on-one at the minute. I think they won their same point. And big scores. And they're really on the rise, aren't they? Under 14-county champions. And I think they were runners up to St Juno's, your own crowd there, they're under 16s. But they were on that. I think they're in the quarter finals as a minor championship. And like the ladies won the division two final now, so they'll be up the division one next year. So there's huge work going on in Dunlore. And it's really, really good because Dunlore wouldn't have been a side that you would have talked about at all, even in my time in football over the last 20 years, you know, wouldn't have been a ladies football side. So it's really, really good to see new teams like that really getting involved and progressing. And you can tell that the work has been done down there. The coaching has been done. The development has been done. And their winning rings around them at the minute. So it'll be interesting to see them coming up. They'll be up intermediate next year. Of course, if they beat Dunning's in the finals, so it's Dunning's and Dunlore and the junior A final. Yes, indeed. Junior B, the semis are still to be played there. Mo was with. There's a wee bit behind that one. There's a McCool's red hues to see in that. A nice derby one. That's what we always love the derbies. Yeah, a good rivalry between the two's, you know, yourself like that works out. Yeah, yeah. All the players. Mo, just on, you mentioned there, and even Glatham, is there any, any updates on how you'd be in contact where, you know, how she's getting on? He's doing great out there. I do see clips of her playing and seeing a clipper of her playing at the weekend and her speed is just phenomenal. Like she's taken to the game really, really well and she's doing class. So what a natural talent. Mo, the girls that have gone out there seem to, everybody seems to do well. You know, we've lads go out there and it can be a mixed bag. It seems to take a long while from the far end. They seem, maybe, physically, they're usually out of maybe a bit younger and you don't hear about them. Then an odd one breaks through. Whereas are ladies that leave our championship seem to go out and foot straight in? They do. And I suppose that looking at the game that the Australians play, it's very physical, you know. So I'd say they're doing a lot of gym work and a lot of physical work and, and perhaps lacking the speed. And a lot of our girls that went out there, you know, the speed of the ladies, like football here in Ireland, the speed is just come on. You know, games are really, really fast. Like I would have watched the game 10 years ago and the speed was so slow, but that has improved tenfold. So they're doing a lot of work and like it's clear and it's evident to see when you're watching our girls out there playing is they're just natural ability in the ball. But the girls that are going out to play are natural footballers, you know what I mean? So they're just fitting right in there. And they're loving, I suppose they're loving the experience, the weather. There's a lot of conditions that we can bring in. The weather, why are we strong with the weather here? I know, we're not going to get a storm or anything. God, I mean, we're just, you might get pop, ass, neck, or that's the only thing, or what, we're creepy spiders. Bite you in the middle of the night and your leg will swell up. Listen, no, 100%, listen, we're jealous of them, but how do we trip to Australia one time? What a life is just so far away. But listen, great to see them doing well, what an experience for them and it's great that our sport can set that up. It's just terrible. We have to lose them on county and from club, particularly from club, the effect that's massive. But no, well, that's grand. You keep an eye on things there. I'll get a catch up is the challenge. I've got to check after he texts you on the decent after the show, they asked him where is he from? Actually, I'm confused about this one now. I'm sure you'll figure it out. I've got to figure it out. I've got to figure it out. Listen, you leave it with me, fair play to you. Thanks for running up and I'll be catching up as this championship unfolds. All right. Good stuff, Ben and Chatham. Thank you very much. That's Maureen O'Donnell here. Great to catch up from our county star forward and even though we spell in nets in towards the end of it, no border. We are going to talk with Barry Mehan after this. He's going to round up the weekend's action across the senior, intermediate and junior scene in Donegalia. Sarah's Laddercanny, serving food you'll love till 9pm daily in Sarah's kitchen. And there's free admission entertainment every weekend. We go through a loss to connect with our family. That's why Vodafone Red Family now rewards you with a minimum of 20 year off every month when you add broadband to your plan. Some moments like getting the dog they desperately wanted can be more rewarding after you fed it, walked it, cleaned it, played with it, walked it, taken it to the vet and walked it again. Search Vodafone Red Family or go in store. Vodafone, together we can. Offers objective in the third to sixth connection joining a Red Family account on a bill pay mobile or Vodafone home broadband plan. Per full term see Vodafone.ie 4th slash Red Family. Island radio time checks with Expressway. Travel Route 32 from Lettercanny to Dublin when you book online and travel for less. Expressway bringing you the time, ass. The DL debate with sister Sarah's Laddercanny, serving food you'll love till 9pm daily in Sarah's kitchen. And there's free admission entertainment every weekend. Yes, welcome back again. We continue the DL debate. I'm now joined by Barry Mehan. How are you, Barry? I'm even renting. How are you? Barry, thanks so much for joining us, Lad. Listen, from the get go, Barry, I have to ask you about fixtures here because I actually got a number of on the fixture guys didn't get a chance to ring them because it was being used by this disposal week off and Kelly Beggs and St Nolls and it was in the master plan of fixtures that there was to be a free week, which caused a bit of consternation in the your old club St Nolls, of course, and they ended up losing the match. Do you think they have a right to be aggrieved by this fixture happening last weekend? I certainly think so, Brent. I suppose if you look at it like a senior championship level, those teams have been going now for four weeks on the bounce. You know, when you take into account, they're not easy games, like none of them are easy games, like it doesn't matter what level you're playing at, and I suppose for St Nolls, they're placing units in the first day followed by Glenn Swally and Kilkar. You know, so that's three tough games in there, the tough game against Kelly Beggs, like when you think, you know, the amount of hits that players are taking during those games, and you know, they're only getting maybe six, seven days to recover, and this is going week on week for four weeks. And then you have that you have a week set out, you know, that it's a free weekend. It gives all teams an opportunity to recharge the batteries, and suppose they can feel rightly aggrieved then that they're, and I don't know what the reasons are behind it, you know, but, you know, the fact that the game had to go ahead this, or this weekend just passed, when there's, you know, plenty of time, time was on their side, like it wasn't a case where, you know, where it had to be played for a final to be played this weekend, common final is not on this weekend. So kind of, kind of beggar belief, why, you know, there was the big rush to get it again, but, you know, the opportunity was there to give, to give players a rest, like in sports from St. Paul's point of view, like they had to go minus John Rose, Barry Griffin, Stuart Johnson, Ashi Mogen, which like, you know, very few teams, it doesn't matter if you're a senior team, a junior team can afford to be minus, yes, a third, lots of a third of their team, like just, it doesn't make sense, you know, why it had to go ahead, but I mean, listen, maybe there was, maybe there was good reason, maybe there was, you know, only, only some people can answer that. Yeah. Well, they had Burnett said he's going to answer that at his county board meetings. So it'll be interesting to see what that is. Certainly the rumor mill was, was flying out there, but a few things, Barry. And certainly, you know, if you look at it, as you said there, you know, St. Nalls, probably most people thought with the full team would have been slight favourites going in the very slight now. So the fact that they lost the way they did, of course, they still have a chance now, but they're still waiting on it. I mean, that's a huge game now, Barry. So they'll play whoever comes out the wrong side of Milford and St. Michaels. And listen, that is, that's going to be a real do or die game, because we've certainly seen signs of St. Nalls in the championship there, probably where they were competing, you know, they're well set up, well drilled, you know, and they looked like somebody who aside or squad were going to, you know, certainly they were going in the right direction. So it'll be a massive blow to end up being sent back to Intermediate. Absolutely. And I can suppose like any team that comes up from Intermediate, they want to be playing the best teams, like, you know, and they want to be given, I suppose, a fair chance. And I suppose St. Nalls, they were playing the best teams, like, you're playing St. John's, you're playing the grand school, they should kill Cares, you know, and Kelly Beggs are a decent team too. I suppose their agreements will be, they didn't get a fair opportunity, you know, and suppose if they're, like, you're talking about the rumour mill, if the rumour mill is right as to why the game went ahead, like, you know, there'd be serious, there would need to be serious questions asked, like it doesn't seem too fair. But this, I suppose, from St. Nalls point of view, but the ending, and this point of view from there on in, they need to focus on getting every man right for a final, because that's what they're in, they're in a final, and they're in this situation last year, and they came out in top. You know, so they're in a final now, they probably, the one thing they have is, if it goes ahead, they probably should have two weeks to prepare for it, you know, so it means whatever team, you know, gets beat this weekend between St. Michael's and Milford, probably only have a week to prepare, you know, so depending on what injuries they have out of that game, it might be too, it might be great for them getting ready for the following week, you know, so, listen, maybe if St. Nalls would take the positive out of it, you know, that that gives them two weeks now to prepare and maybe get all the bodies right, and you know, give this final, making those relegations final, if they give this final the best track of the book that they can. Yeah, see, that's where you're good coach, you always look at the positive, you turn this round and listen, this is a, this is a good thing now, backs the wall, they give us a bad fixture, we're going to come out fighting, that'll be the rally cry, no doubt. There's a couple of strange things happening in the weekend now, the Burt Nivora, uh, Intermediate, uh, uh, playoff game. Um, yeah. That's the very one, of course, we had, we had some, we had some magic, uh, uh, and indeed, uh, in terms of, uh, the salvaging, alas, gas free, but Barry, how come that didn't go the extra time? Would be my thing. Well, that's, that's the big question, like, you know, where does nine and a half minutes come from? Usually it's a serious injury, you know, it's very rarely you'll see nine and a half minutes of injury time in a game for an accumulation of a few injuries and substitutes. That seems to be now, the report is that there was a lot of substitutes near the end and there was a few injuries, but like nine and a half minutes is a long, long time to add on the football match. You know, uh, why it didn't go the extra time then? Well, surely was there, was there not an agreement beforehand that if the game ended in a, in a draw to go the extra time, if that was the agreement, well, so be it. If not, you know, well, you know, we have to go again. You know, I'm not sure. Of all games, Barry, regulations are regarded. Right. But of all games, Brian, I don't mean the, you know, you're talking about playoffs, like in that, in that form to, to stay up on the, on the media championship. Surely both teams are mad keen to, to, to copper fasten their, their future in the championship, if you like. I mean, it's one thing, like if you're heading towards a, a county final, it's a semi, you know, it's a balls, maybe we're back in the semi, or we have a semi again, chance of a final. You're just trying to stay up. You want that finished on the day. I say it was, uh, Owen Martin there that, that held his nerve. You see, after all that extra time to kick that equalizer. It sounds, though, that they deserved at least that out of it. Barry, they've deserved that chance again, at least. Ah, yeah. And there's an entity in the comments from four points down, and then during that, it's supposed to say everything on the cracker. But, um, the thing about it, there's been very little between these two teams, the right here, like I think in, in the league, in the year that it was a draw, or a 1.1, like there's, there's been a couple of draws and a 1.1 here and there. Like, so there's been very, very little. So I'm sure both teams will be happy enough. What's the fact that they get, get another crack at it? Um, it's supposed to be, when you talk about, you know, players wanting to get it over and on with, absolutely, they ensure every single one of them, you know, wanted it to be over with on a week. Again, you know, it's supposed to be one thing, again, it's back to, and I'm going to be devil's advocate here. It's back to probably losing regulations. I think, isn't it, something about it at a final doesn't go to extra time on the first day. It has to go to a replay. I know that might be a counting final, but I wonder if it's the same, does the same rules apply in a relegation playoff because it's a final? Maybe that's working for them, not 100% sure. But we probably need somebody from the CCC to kind of get clarification on that one. We need, we need, we need, we need like a red phone here. Remember like Batman, you can pick up straight on the headburner, straight on the CCC and say, here, what, why is that? Let us do now. That's, that's what we need. You know, and there, listen, and there is like, in fairness to the CCC, there is so many rules and regulations. They probably are tied by certain stipulations that are made within it, within the championship rules and regulations. So, you know, there's probably certain things that they, they can't just change on a one, like, you know, so maybe, maybe that's what it was. Yes, indeed. Yeah, well, we need to see how that plays out. That sets up for, I suppose, a very interesting tie game, right? I know this, it will be, I suppose, for supporters and the players. It's, it's again, it's a huge thing to be involved in. I just got the feeling, if I was on that type of game myself, I'd want it read up either way. But listen, that's to be replayed now, Burt and Neve Wara. Junior A with another very strange situation there with a rearranged fixture after Ors failed to feel against Neve Connell, of course, them and the Rasa, whoever tops the group goes automatically through, as we know, very, so they had to have, because Ors didn't play, you couldn't bring scoring in there. So we had this rearranged game and a game. It was a tight one that went right down to the wire. And I suppose, in many ways, Neve Connell, they'll be wondering how he managed to lose them out. Yeah, and listen, I suppose, like, the last time out, it was the Rasa that were ahead and Neve Connell were back into it. But this time around, it was Neve Connell were ahead and the Rasa were back into it. And so I'd say, the Rasa would definitely be the happiest, you know, also those, listen, Aidan McHugh's putting up big, big scores for them in this championship, and he's playing really, really well. The one thing I would kind of look at there, the weekend, you know, there were minus Aidan Hanlon and there were minus Kelly and Bonner as well, Neve Rasa. And then the Neve Connell team, they probably played the first time around, Mark McDevitt, played senior football. He came on against the Dunans, so that's him gone from the junior championship. So, you know, Neve Rasa seemed to be the stronger team at the moment. They were able to bring Christian Bonner and JP McReady and JP Breslin off the bench. I mean, it's a bit of experience there as well. So I think the fact that Neve Rasa got through there was the fact they probably didn't want to be playing the playoff. That leaves them in a nice strong position now. And again, they had another good game, like in the first, I'm a big believer in tight games really help you and really develop your championship pedigree. So I think, you know, Neve Rasa in a semi-final, after a couple of tight games in that group, I think Group B was definitely the tightest in that junior championship. They'll be the happiest out of everyone. I think they're well-primed, you know. Yeah, yes, indeed. Just on Aiden McQ, how good is this lad? Barry, you know, I mean, a point down by the game almost over. He hits two in 40 seconds free and a brilliant strike from play, either foot. Talented lad. Is he someone that Jimmy McGinnis may be looking at? I wouldn't say quite not. Quite not, you know. You know, if Jimmy takes him into the panel and he can prove himself within a county setup, you know, suppose that would be the next step. And, you know, in no disrespect to the junior championship, it's probably at a lower level. But any man that's kicked in 1-4, 1-5, 1-6 consistently, week in, week out, you know, I would say Jim will be looking at him. And then suppose the next step, he'll probably bring him into the training environment and see if he can handle that there and see if he can step up. And that training environment, you know, and can he produce, you know, you're up against the likes of your rushing gallons in your pads with your birdies or hitting nine and 10 points a game at senior level, you know. But then, you know, that's probably the next level where you need to go to, you need to cut his teeth out. That's how you're level. Yeah, a big one for Jim Mary's convoy, Copperfast in the near place in the semi-final. They're moving well. There's obviously three teams, would you put it by that's pushed that butt ahead, do you think, and there is for this junior championship? I think so, yeah. I think so, definitely. And suppose Convoy are definitely one of those and suppose they're putting up big scores and suppose one thing that kind of stands out, and we're seeing Convoy a number of years back when they won the junior championship and Joe McGill was a huge player for them that year. Remember over in the final against Downings, they did a big game that night, one, well, it was kind of COVID year. And he seems to be over and back from London at the moment and playing really, really well for them. And then you've got Parry Dolan as well. So like you have two really, really good forwards. And suppose at that level that there's, that's a big help. And the fact that they're putting up strong scores, you know, it's really standing. And however, I was just going to take it with a pinch of salt at the moment because I think that Group B wasn't as strong as Group B. And again, that's no disrespect to the teams. And I just think Group A was far more competitive, which I think might help the likes of Mirassa and Neve Connell. And suppose the way now that the draw holds, Neve Connell, I think Pre-Movieville and Neve Alton, Pre-Neve Padric. So they'll be interested in quite a few finals to see them up against Neve Alton and Conville in the semi-final. Yeah. And do you think you're saying Neve Connell, St. Mary's Convoy and Neve Alton took a heavy beating from St. Mary's Convoy? What about Maville and Neve Padric? Moff, Jake, there's an opportunity to take a scalp in there. I think there is. I think I would say there's going to be very, very little between these teams. The thing about Neve Connell and this championship, they haven't put up big massive scores, but they're good at grinding out ones. Maville, similar team, suppose the fact that they're minus Tony MacLennan is a big thing. He's a big, big player for them. But Keir and Dover's going well and a good player for them. They're ex-county men as well, or Keir and Dover's an ex-county man. And if maybe if they had Tony MacLennan, I don't know what the situation is with them. Is he out long term, or is there a possibility he might be back for the championship? But if he were to have Tony MacLennan and their mobile team, they could definitely give Neve Connell a run. Looking at Neve Padric, again, their minus Keir and Dover call them. You know, when I suppose he was playing county this year, if we could get him back, you know, I think that they would really add to their panel, going into the quarterfinal. But there's a Neve Alton. Neve Alton are a good team too. They're young, teamed up and coming. Mickey Hagery's working with them. And like, again, you have Keir and Kennedy. He's hitting, you know, five, six points a game regularly there. So, you know, that will stand well to them. But I think there's not going to be much between these two, or these four teams in the quarterfinal. Yes, yes, interesting stuff. Barry Good round up there. Just in the minors there, Clonely, going to play Neve Padric Muffin, devising two minors. And in the A-grade, four masters at a big one over Guidoor, Boncranabit and St Junans by a point. So we're on the crunch time in the minors as well. Barry, good to see those competitions moving on. And again, four masters, you know, really building up a heiress team on the raids there. They seem to be involved in everything on the raids, coming through their massive work and coaching it on. Just shows you very, with a big focus, what can happen. And I know we talk about how players come through in it, but listen, you can't beat that type of grounding coming through in terms of the lads' focus and the future of the club. Definitely not. And like, you were very, very impressive against Guidoor on Saturday night over McLeod Park, I suppose. That's something the county board have to be credit for. Like there was like two semi-finals, double header in McLeod Park on Saturday nights and Junans against Boncranabit and Guidoor against four masters. Like in two good games of football, you know, Boncranabit just nippings and Junans. Last kick of the game, fine 45 to one of the game. You know, they were, like Boncranabit were five up at halftime. Junans came back with three up on the second half. Boncranabit came back with one up, Junans equalised. Right down to the last kick of the game, one up. Second game was very different. You know, very fancy Guidoor team against four masters. Four masters blew them away in the first 10, 15 minutes. Absolutely blew them away. Very, very impressive. And we saw this four masters, they made it in the year two out in the Ronald Park and they're very impressive. Now, they play a lovely, lovely brand of football. Very, very accurate. Very clinical and fun to the post. And I think they'll be hard to beat. Well, Barry, you have me on lovely brand of football. I love to hear that. And if you want playing lovely brand of football, then you've got my vote for plenty of more masters. Barry, me and thanks so much for rounding that up this evening. I'll speak to you as the week goes on. Thanks, Brandon. Maybe stop there, Barry, me and great roundup there of the weekend's action. I'll be back with an interview with Tony Boyle after this break. The DL debate with sister Sarah's letter, Kenny, serving food you'll love till 9pm daily in Sarah's kitchen. And there's free admission entertainment every weekend. Know alone and the work we do supporting older people to age at home. Due to the huge demand for our services, we are hiring problem-solving individuals to work across a range of positions to deliver our high-quality services to older people. 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And I said, at the top of the show, I caught up with Tony Boyle after I've done low-key door match recently for a chat here's what I had to say. I'm here with Tony Boyle, one of our heroes of 92. Tony, how are you this evening? Very good, Brent. Very good. Tony, as a young lad, I was on the stands in 1982. Little did I know, five years later, at the end of playing with yourself. That was quite a trip for me. Listen, it's been quite a career for you. Ah, yeah, Brent, I listened. 92 was obviously very, very, very enjoyable for me, because there was only young coming into the team. And I know that I would get to play with the legend DV five or six years later. But listen, I always remember that first team meeting that we had, and after that county final that you played in 87, you all stood in through us and listened like a just a whole, a whole one. And it was an absolute joy to play inside with you in the couple of years. Do you know what, Tony, just thinking about coaching, I've been a lot of talking about coaching in Donegal the last few years. And because of my own experience, I always said to myself, well, listen, how much does it matter? Because I never played on their edge, really, for Donegal. And I went straight on the side, and you talk about pinchers at the moment, they end up playing one of my heroes going straight on to Donegal came. So there's that thing, I suppose, Tony, of the difference between coaching and talent. And that, where do you lie, I suppose, on that spectrum? I'm a wee bit like yourself. Like, I think it comes down to, a lot of it comes down to natural talent. You know, I like footballers to go out and play and express themselves. Listen, the game has changed. The game has changed so much since we were playing inside. You know, but I'm still old school. I like two players inside. You know, even with the girls' teams that I manage, I like to play two players inside, and let someone drift out of the field. They have two scorers inside, get the ball in early, and try and cause damage. How, a bit similar to when we seven yourself, two people up back in 98. Yeah, and listen, the player that used to drop out at that time was, of course, Jimmy McGinnis. It was often the two inside. That was about as much tactics as we ever had at that time. When Jimmy's back, it's going to be exciting to have some Donegal, and people say about coming back. But his influence, I suppose, Tony coming back, it's a massive lift to Donegal in terms of, say, organisation, fitness, tactics. We can only see a lift in Donegal football. Yeah, absolutely, Bryn. Listen, the buzz since it's been announced has been absolutely massive, like I'm out on the road, and even I work through Ulster, and even other county people, or counties in Ulster are talking about it. You know, so listen, it's great to see Jim back. It's great that he's committed. I think the big thing is he's committed for three years with an option of four, which means that he's looking to develop this team over the next number of years. Listen, Avoun talks about Jim in his first term and how they played in 2011, but then went on to won the Lair in the game. It was a wee bit more expanded. Avoun's really, really sort of sitting back and waiting to see what Jim's going to bring to the party, but it's not only people in Donegal. I think people throughout the country are looking to see what Jim's going to bring, so it's exciting times ahead. And, Tony, on a club level, of course, Ghidor and Donegal are going to renew rivalries, an age-old rivalry. You played many yourself. Now you're going into this pre-quarter final. What have you made of Donegal this season? Now, listen, we'd be disappointed. As a supporter, disappointed this evening, you know, I think we left it behind us. We should have probably got a result. But listen, we're probably... I'm sure the boys are happy. I'm sure Desi's happy. We wanted to avoid that bottom four, which we did, and to get another crack at Ghidor after playing this evening, and getting good luck with them. So, in two weeks' time, we'll be looking forward. As Donal people, Donal supporters, we'll be looking forward to that in two weeks' time. Yeah, and, Tony, you're always involved in the background of Donal. How is the club in general, in terms of progression, finance, coaching, you know, the setup of the ground, how is things going in the club generally? Listen, to be fair, the club was probably in a really, really strong position over this last number of years. Obviously, we won the... We won the Premier League Championship. We had a couple of years where we dropped back out of senior, and we won the Intermediate Championship. We've got a great group of senior players, you know, probably an average age of 24, 25, they're really driving... Driving the club on, both on the field and off the field, because them boys are very, very heavily involved in what's happening off the field. Obviously, we've had development that we've been raising money over this last number of years for a second pitch. We need that second pitch. And obviously, I've been involved with the lady side over this last four or five years, and that's booming in the minute, so it's really good times for Donal at the minute. Yeah, and obviously, you remain optimistic, you're a national fan, so you have to be optimistic, Donal. But where can Donal go? Can they beat you, or can they push on as a senior team now? And listen, I think they can. You know, I think... I'm sure Desi and the boys, when they set out, they were probably looking... They probably wanted maybe to target... Target promotion out of Division 2, that didn't happen. But obviously, I think their aim would have been at least a quarter final, that they're still in there with a chance. They've got another crack at Ghidor, and listen, I think they'll be looking forward to that. And, you know, the minimum aim for that group of senior men is to get it to a quarter final. Antonio, you mentioned the ladies' football there and the coaching you're involved in. Obviously, involved with Donal Goal. Your daughter's involved. It's been a busy season for you and a very successful one. Yeah, absolutely, many. Listen, I've obviously done two, three-year stunts with the men, and I used to get it back when I come home from the Gairds, from my own daughters, that I never coached them or denying with them. So I got involved about five years ago, and listen, we're probably fortunate in the club that we have ex-players like Raymond Sweeney, Sean Sharkey, Joe Boyle, Jamie Sweeney, you know, boys that have daughters, and we got involved in the coaching over the last number of years, and it's really good. And listen, we have a couple of good group of players coming through, and we have good representatives on their age. My own daughter, Saskia, who played with the seniors this year, and she's driving standards both on and off the field for a senior Gaird. So listen, it's good. We won every underage championship last year with the underage group, and we've already retained under 14, under 16 championship. We're still in under 18 championship, and we have a junior semi-final coming up in a couple of weeks. So listen, the ladies have brought an absolute, a new sort of angle to the club and brought new people in. And listen, it's really, really good in going from cent to cent. Yeah, it sounds like Manhattan here in the background. Somebody must have won something here, Tony. There's a lot of celebrations going on around the Main Street in Dunlop. Dunlop, Tony, just talking about the senior football, we've had a discussion with a few of your Dunlop lads earlier about generally Dunligal club football, and particularly how that second half went for your club. Where are you lying, the tactics side of things? Is it something you'd like to get back involved in in terms of maybe front-foot football? Because we're seeing a lot of, I suppose, blanket defence type football. And certainly my feeling today, and I know I talked to Desi Galler after the game, and he said that he didn't intentionally go out and play full-blanket. That's certainly how it looked against good or second half. And although it was only a one-point defeat, it didn't look like at any stage, really, that Dunlop could won the match. And you often think where, you know, just fortune favoured the brave. What would be your idea in terms of club football now? Well, just to let you know, Brinn, that's actually an underage KG Rovers team that won a couple of stages. So just to let you know, as a good-killed young man, that the young daughter playing in that team that won Ballet-Arles-Night. But as regards coaching in senior football, it's, listen, we know in senior football, you have the big two at the minute, you have sentunions and you have clenties, you know, and everyone else is sort of trying to close the gap to them. Sometimes think that the best way to close the gap is to not try and do everything they can not to be beat. And a lot of the time that's getting 14, 15 men behind the ball. That's not something that I would be a great fan of, but sometimes you have to do that against the stronger teams. Listen, Dunlop, I don't know what Desi was saying, whether it's a default setting that we, at half time, I thought we had played really well in the first 15, 18 minutes, we were 6-3 up, and then we sort of sat back, similar to maybe the week before against Glenn Swally, and then we invited, tonight, we invited Ghidorah on for the first 10, 15 minutes. Now they didn't score a lot, they only scored two points, but then we had to chase the game and Ghidorah got 15 behind the ball. Listen, it all depends on sort of the, probably the type of players that you have. You know, I'm a believer, I'm very old school and people are wondering what we're doing, what the underage scares, and that, listen, we have a very talented, we have a couple of very talented groups, we'll let them go out and play, we'll let them go out and express themselves. Obviously, when you come to senior men's football, that's not as easy as that because of the setup, the setup and the tactics and that, but listen, from Dunlop's senior men's point of view, it's disappointing that we lost our neighbours the night, but it's absolutely brilliant to look forward to getting another crack in two weeks' time. Yes, certainly, all the play for Tony, great to chat as ever, as you join us in the day of the debate. No bother, Benny, thank you. Yes, that was the great Tony boy there, great always to catch up with our Tony, and hear his views on where the sport is at. At the minute, I want to thank, of course, my guests this evening, Maureen O'Donnell, Barry Meaghan, and Tony, who you heard there, Joe Dex for Producing, head of sport, Oshin Kelly, stay tuned for the excellent Monday Night Sessions with Jimmy and Paul, two lovely gentlemen, they're just outside the window, hands in the air, they have a huge following, I'm not sure is it the person that's going to be the personalities or is it the looks? I'll let you decide that. I'll be back next week for more DL Debates. Please tune in and we will chat you then.