 The staffing crisis and its effects on the children's disability network teams were discussed during the meeting, with families impacted by the staffing crisis having their say. Josephine Corcoray, a member of the special needs parent network, and Donnie Gull attended the meeting this morning. She says the discussions focused on what will help families now. So we spoke about maybe using some of the budgets that are currently underutilised to provide families with that route. We spoke about redeployment into the CDNT areas. We spoke about urgent support being needed for schools and we spoke about the equipment needs. So children out there are waiting for equipment and need clarity around how they can access that equipment whenever a therapist is in the place. We spoke about that as well. There was a good bit of discussion about the staffing crisis but to be honest with you ourselves and the special needs parent network tried to redirect the conversation towards what will help families now. The HSA will today launch an inspection campaign targeting renewable energy installations including wind farms, solar farms and anaerobic digestion facilities. As the climate action plan target of up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030 is being delivered on, there will be continued growth in the industry across the country in common years. This was the first campaign of its kind to be carried out by the authority due to a rapid growth in the renewable energy industry. Now for your weather update. Dry this evening with a mix of cloud and spells of sunshine and light to moderate east to south east wind. Cold and dry tonight with patches of frost possible. Low temperatures of 0 to 4 degrees and light to moderate easterly breezes. It will become wet and breezy through the day tomorrow with outbreaks of rain in the south extending to all areas. Highs of 9 to 11 degrees with moderate to fresh and gusty east to south east winds. That's all for today. Your next local bulletin will be tomorrow morning. In the meantime, there will be national and international updates on our website at highlandradio.com. For myself and the highland radio news team, good evening. Hello Joe, can you hear me there? Welcome all to the TL debate. Thanks for tuning in. Now live on Highland Radio or back via the podcast, this is a special county final preview this week. We are live here at Highland Motors at the mountaintop, Letter Kenny in their beautiful showroom where Lawrence has been knocking after us. Thank you very much. Lawrence Highland Motors of course sponsors of sport on Highland. Joe Dex is here producing the show as ever and if he's missed any headphones or leads or anything, he can run across the street. We're not too far in terms of an OB. What a great show we have in store for you this evening, folks. Before we get to the preview, I have to say a massive congratulations to Downins and the Rasa, lifting the intermediate and junior championships at the weekend. We commiserate with Malin and Maval who put in a huge effort coming up just short in the final. Later on in the show, myself, Brent Lecombecoin and Guy McGregor-Dade will discuss the finals in depth. But here we are for the preview lads, the big county final. I'm going to be joined by Neve Connell, Chairman, Peter McGinley and of course Clubs Dalwart, John Gilday from the Blue and White. And on the Goudour side, we have Chairman Donal Rua-Galler. He's made the trip along with former championship winner and a guy who's a bit shy. We might have to turn his mic up, Joe, he's a bit shy. Stephen Cassidy is along with us. As I say, they're going to make up Stephen and John's going to make the first panel. Then we're going to hear from the two Chairman and then Brendan Kilcoin and Gary McGregor-Dade will join us. But first up, John Gilday and Stephen Cassidy. Welcome to the show. Thanks, Brent. Thanks, Brendan. John, at the start of the season, I'd be more surprised if you weren't sitting this seat looking at me because it's Neve Connell, Neve Connell, Neve Connell. Stephen, it's been a couple of years since you've been in it. Now, at the start of the season, were you expecting to be in this final? No, I don't think so, Brendan. I'd be surprised. There's a good few of our lads that have went travelling. And we've got one or two of them back since we've made the final. But I think it's a big surprise. Nice to find yourself in the final no matter what way you come through it. Nobody gives a chance. I've been here in this top four for the past maybe four or five years now. And we know we're always in it. But this year, all of a sudden, I think year four, we were knocked out of it. So I think it's a bit of a surprise. So nice to be there, all the same. Yeah, and John's huge history, of course, between yourselves and Ghidor. You know, going back to 17, 18, Ghidor going all the way to be also champions. And then the following season, that epic trilogy. You know, and we thought at that stage, this was going to be every season. Now, users still there about his castes for different reasons between, you know, it looked like a conveyor belt of talent of Ghidor. Didn't all completely maybe materialize the way the rest of us were thinking the wood plus his cast was in so much immigration in that, but certainly McNeely and Francie Freeland have pulled the Ghidor a brilliant season in their back now and deserve to be in the final. Yeah, no, absolutely. They've done exceptionally well. They've been a fancy McCool side and they've really come into the final under the radar, which is a perfect place to be. Like ultimately, all the talk this week is going to be about New Connell and seven finals. And you know, the one thing I would say is nobody in New Connell is going to take anything for granted. Like we've been in finals before and you've been all of you, all right. And yeah, I've been favourites and lost. And traditionally speaking, favourites going into all finals isn't a good place to be. And Ghidor will be very, very happy coming in under the radar. They've built a new team. There's some new lads in there that nobody they're not household names yet. But I remember harking back to, you know, 2005 and when we won our first championship, you know, the new people knew one or two of us because we played with the county. But there was a whole squad of players that nobody had an idea who they were. And since then, those men have gone on and, you know, the Anthony Thompson's, the, you know, Leo McClune's, etc. Those guys have all iron medals, the multiple ulcer medals. So you never know what's waiting in the grass and you never know who's ready to replace you at the top of the pile. And we're at the top of the pile because we won the championship last year. But, you know, that Ghidor team has shown a lot of life and a lot of bite and a lot of legs that has really supplemented the older lads and have carried, you know, like Mangelis and Eamon and Neyland, etc. So there'll be a tough nut to crack. And I suppose maybe because we haven't had that history with them in the last couple of years after the trilogy, there's a they're going to come and and bring things that maybe St. Union's haven't done because there's very tight rivalry between St. Union's and Ghidor, where Ghidor can come and throw the dice. And as we've seen in the last couple of games, like their scoring goals for funds, that's what they're building around. So it makes for a very interesting contrast and styles. Yeah. And indeed, John, you're in Paris at the weekend. You know, you talk about the weight of expectation, you know, the Irish team coming up short. I got a sense of feeling in that game that all backs played at something almost like a new column, very solid at the back, rebuffed attack after attack. But when they broke up the pitch, the gaps were there. Did you get that bit of a sense from that display? There was something similar in that. There is, yeah. And expectation and the weight of expectation plays differently on players. And when you can come into a final like Ghidor with no expectation and no weight of expectation on you, it gives you a huge advantage because what's the worst thing can happen? You can lose a final that you were never expected to one to a certain extent. So, you know, a very, very, very dangerous animal with some top class players that can't be written off. And, you know, I think people are making a very, very big mistake to even look at this and go, OK, well, let's leave Collins to lose because, you know, we're only two years away from when, you know, Neve Connell were the best team in the county ever. It was only a matter of showing up against St. Juniors and beating them in the final in 2021. And we all know how that ended. So, you know, well, there's words there from John White. You're smiling there. Yes, you know, John mentioned their goals, you know, very strange season when you look at it from Ghidor's perspective, because we weren't sure what they were building. You had the two, particularly the two Dunlopy. You know, really tough, tight games. Dunlopy, in many ways, playing a bit of a Neve Connell system. They came down with nine points the first, eight, ten, the second, one up by a point. And then we had this absolute goal fest since eight goals in the next two games. Has that preparation, would you have been better having the two Dunlopy games, the more recent two games? Because it could be hard enough getting a decent shot for a point against Neve Connell, never mind goals. Yeah, Brendan, I think you're right there. I think a lot of people say we've not been tested yet. You don't have not been tested yet. The two Dunlopy games, they're a bit of a test. John, I'll tell you, any time you play your neighbours, championship football, that's a battle. No matter who you're playing, that's a real battle, you know. Dunlopy will come up one in the intermediate last year. Good young team, they're building. I would probably rather, from a Ghidor point of view, having a really tough semifinal, rather than can ease and write in. Not that we eased a scene, I think. I'd rather it was for three, four without reply. At the weekend there, it was probably the Oshin Gallon kind of show we had to stop Oshin. He still scored ten, but I just feel that at the second time I've seen McCooles and their young team, I know they're building, they're probably very young. One of the youngest, I'd say, that we're in the semi-finals, they're in the quarter-finals out of all the teams that were in it. I just believe that you need a wee bit of tough, tough battles going out of those games. Not that the Union's game was tough, I just think Glendy's ground out, never looked in trouble, always was in control. Brendan is funny, I think, John is at four, he's a one out of seven finals. Yeah, that's right. And actually eight finals out of nine, if you count it, and I'd say those four, you're probably under rocked. I don't think it'll suit. Glendy's been favorites. I think it'll suit me all better. Yeah, yeah, indeed, you concur. That seems to be a thing though, John. I just, you talk about systems now, I actually have to do a wee article for the program on the day, and I was thinking about all the GA statements, all the things we throw about, and one of them is it's on the day, and you still hear people say that, but surely now on the day is kind of gone. But you have that wee nagging thing about the favoritism, which Nekon don't like, but really it's down to the system, it's routine, it's played the same way, everybody buys and you'll get rewards, and by and large, Nekon have got the reward for that. Yeah, but in one-off games, anything can happen. You know, it's, county finals are not won on the bookies, and they're not won on the newspapers or in shows like this, great knowledge it might be. It was great though, yes. But it's, like if you look back down through the ages, like in Gary, I'll talk later on, if you look at that final that Kilkar played Glenswally, and I can't remember the exact year, and everybody's mind, it was a manner of, you know, it was the end of that great Glenswally team, and Neil was starting to slow down, Michael, you know, and what happened was Kilkar showed up on the day to win a final, and they didn't, the game just didn't go for them. The weather conditions played into it, Michael kicked the goal in a couple of points. Before you know it, you know, it's gone. So I think a lot of the, you know, the Halter schedule that would have been maybe 20 years ago, when nobody had any idea who was gonna win a final is gone, because I think teams are more structured, they're more professional, they're more disciplined. They take the emotion out of the game to a certain extent, and then it's about just doing what you're supposed to do. And I think Neve Connell are very, very good at that, like they've an incredible bunch of players, and quality footballers, that all have bought into a system that Martin has adopted within the club, and they have a track record of success. It makes them very difficult to beat, but as we've seen two years ago, it doesn't make it impossible. So you just always have to try it carefully. This is an up-and-coming Ghidor side, with a sprinkling of a very seasoned experience, a couple of all-stars, you know, not to be taken lightly. And on any given day, as we all know, you know, a couple of balls into the edges square, slippy goal, the man sent off for a high tackle. There's a million things that can happen in sport, and you have to just roll with the punches and try to get out the far side. And ultimately, it won't matter to Ghidor if they won by a point or 10 points, and vice versa, same from the Neve Connell perspective, it's about one on the game, whatever way you can. Yeah, and Stephen, you're a man for a goal in the final yourself. I don't want to go in two. I wasn't a good debut, did he? I'm not, I'm just crazy, and we'll leave it there, right? But is the feeling, Stephen, after all the goals that you've got, I just got the feeling, I guess, because, and you mentioned about the test of it, because there seemed to be a wee bit of experience in the Ghidor side on how to keep the ball and how to work the game, because we're a bit young. But in any given game, there's going to be a bit of two and throw. Was it important, I guess, that you seen that element of it? Because there's one thing you're going to have to do against Neve Connell, is be very assured on the ball and keep the ball. And you mentioned that wonder goal that you scored in that final, I guess. If you're looking at it for Ghidor, they're going to have to get a goal against Neve Connell and probably keep a clean sheet to somehow, you know, tip the balance, because you call Argon in this as huge favourites. They call and don't lose many goals, they'll bring them. They've got that kind of defensive structure that they will not lose the goal. John, you know, it's a big score. Ghidor can get them, I think, a big factor. It's Cain Mulligan not being there. I think Cain is always a goal threat and I think he's a big, big factor in this. Probably going back to the trilogy. We're probably weaker, John. I know you're saying about Laurie Newlads coming in. It's great. Let's see how they're doing in a county final. Some can maybe freeze. Some might go on with no fear. You're talking about Owen McFadden Ferry not there. Aim and column was a good sharpshooter back in those games when we won it in 18. And during the trilogy, the three games, Cain's a big loss. There was a few young Nisha, remember we Nisha? We fliered to break the lines. So Brendan, hey, listen, on any given day, a final is a final. Like, in the two we played against, you was Brendan. We were underdogs. And it took two goals probably to shake you a bit when it needs a game and it rattled you. We weren't even in that county final. And it just rattled you and you stopped playing and you was on total control. I had never seen it before. Whether we can do that to these guys, I'm not so sure. Different machine. Cass, I thought the man still sitting down bummed back. Do you want to head off and try and get Cain? Where is he, anyway? I think he's in Tokyo, Japan or somewhere. It was a bit of a trip, but you know, if you took a bit of extra fuel, go after him. Micheal Carroll, what's the update? I don't know, to be honest with you. I don't think he'd be trained in a full tilt. He got a bad injury about six weeks ago, but he could be a good feature. Good man to have. Good man to bring him. Listen, I was so impressed with him, you know, funny from a neutral's perspective. Every time I watch certain players that come, I always think don't he go all then in the background. I'm watching him carry in the ball and games, particularly not don't know much. There's nobody else in the pitch could carry like him. And when you think of Steve Connell, you're going to have Steve somebody with a bit of power that'll break the game lines. And that's going to be a key factor. And we'll talk about this more just after this break. 919955 or email info at countrymusictours.ie. We'll see you in sunny Saloo. Forestry to combat climate change, increase biodiversity and improve our rivers. So for you, for all of us, it pays to plant trees. Explore your options at gov.ie forward slash forestry, an initiative of the government of Ireland. Rest, text, beds and furniture, special offer for this month only. 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Welcome back, folks, to the DL Debate, the special championship preview here in Highland Motors Letter Kenny, at 20 past 7 on this glorious Monday evening. Lads, we were chatting ball, ball, ball, just off, Mike, there, or off, off air there, John. I just mentioned about, we were talking about players coming back, you know, likes of Ethan Harkin, a brilliant semifinal for Guidour. You look at your ability to take players out on top of everything else, particularly like Zoltan Daughty, Mark and Nile, the Donnelly and the semifinal. If there's any, you know, dangers in that Guidour setup of players that need to be marked out, you just have the players to do that. And then in that structure, the team builds from that and goes forward in the game, we have to mention, 11 shots, 10 points. I mean, it was an absolute ruthless semifinal, which is the reason why everyone's looking to leave Collins to win this match. Yeah, no, unless we're blessed with quality defenders, there's no doubt about that. And if, you know, it's, Alton had an exceptional game against Nile and Donnelly, he really shut him down. And, you know, the old adage, you hammer the hammer, and, you know, the Adonals are mainstays within the, a good Glenties men I might add, that just happened to wander into, you know, it's at the wrong time. But, you know, it did a great job. You look at the other side, then you have Jason Campbell, who's having an amazing year as well, Mark Patrick, we've read it the week before. So we have options when it comes to man-marking. And then you add into that, the system on top of that. And obviously, Ethan had an amazing semifinal and I suppose the pressure's on him to step up again, because as Cass pointed out earlier on, maybe you don't have the level of shape shooter that you had, maybe in 18 or 19. But by the other side of the coin, we won a county semifinal with 10 shots on goals. It's not really good, and one wide. It's not really good enough either in the bigger picture. So we'd be expecting more to maybe be more in the front foot and maybe create more, because you're shooting a 90% conversion rate. It's incredible in any sport. And there'll be days that you'll take those shots and they won't go over the bar. And Neve Connell can't afford to, you know, sit and let Goudour come on to them, get a couple of scores, and then hope that, you know, Jack and Cairne and Anthony are going to kick these wonder scores again. Some days they just don't go over. Against St. Euron's, they did. It was fantastic and they're very capable of doing that. So I'd want to maybe see a bit more for them and come on out and try to play a bit, as well as maintaining their solid defensive structure as they move forward. Yeah, and so Stephen, is it all about the mindset for Goudour? If you look at it, Neve Connell's way of playing is probably about breaking your ability to go into the game. I mean, you look at the many tight games they've won down through the years, a point, two points. It's not by coincidence. If most teams are a point up or two points up, there's a pressure on them, because the other side gets a score, gets equaliser momentum. To Neve Connell, they may as well be 10 points up. They play, that doesn't bother them. You see, in this mindset, and if you look at it probably the last two seasons, the county final last year, I thought there were streets ahead of St Junans. They won by a point. The last day again, I thought Neve Connell could have destroyed St Junans. They're happy enough just to sit and won. So really, that mindset for the 70-plus minutes of Goudour must be real controlled football. To stay in the game, stay in the game. But really, in the back of their minds, they must be thinking, if Neve Connell are in the lead, going down the stretch, we're in trouble. That's a very tough proposition for this new team that the Mineliuses go back into this final to get their head around in such a big day. Yeah, Brendan. I would say a well-drilled machine. I noticed that when they were four points up in Junans, I thought the game was over. And next minute, Junans go back to one. They didn't panic. They didn't shoot from anywhere. They keep Paul, they keep possession. The way they get a score and opportunity are the way to work those frees. And they get that second point and then they just sit again. Very, very hard to play against. It seems as though they have a system that they must train together with us. They must plan this. They don't panic at any given time. I've never seen them ever panic, ever. So I don't know how we'll go about it. My opinion would be I was screaming. I think it was the second game of the trilogy or maybe the third. We were two points up and I was saying, and we kept going at them. And I was saying, hold it. Go back to your back line. Hold it, keep the ball. Get them out of the comfort zone. No, no. Team seemed to... Junans were two points up. Against a bit of a breeze. I mean, you spoke up with us. Are you surprised that that don't get us as no one has ever said, why don't you just keep the ball for a while? I would keep it. Let's see what happens. Train for the next round. Or I would say on the last day, take Padden off. There was no point in Padden being on the pitch, particularly the last 20. Put on a player. Like, are you surprised, John, that no one has ever tried, they at least had a... There's no point in doing something else because Neve Connell are going to beat you otherwise. Well, I can't remember the exact year that Neve Connell played Kilkar, Peter, a bit better, you know, and I don't know what the score was. It was like 2-1. It felt like 2-1. It felt like my life flashed before my eyes. It was... It was certainly... Absolutely. So Kilkar did try that. And to be fair, both teams were nearly asked to leave the country after it. You know, and rightly so. Rightly so. You know, but it's very, very hard because Neve Connell can do this and get away with it because they're successful. And Martin Regan is an exceptional manager with an exceptional track record. If you're in St. Unions, or you're in Ghidor, and... Now, Francie's not, you know, afraid of pulling everybody in the balls behind the balls. We don't bother Francie too much. But most teams find it difficult to have enough confidence within themselves from a management perspective and even from a player perspective just to go, okay, we'll just keep the ball. No matter how the crowds react and we'll just keep the ball and we'll throw it around. It's a very, very hard thing to do. Neve Connell can get away with it because they have ones in the bank. And as a club and as a town, we've bought into it and, you know, they're part of the community and they're nearly an identity of the community to a certain extent. So, interestingly, Neve Connell supporters will get as much joy out of stripping the ball and turning the ball over and breaking out of defense than they will to watch Cairn Thompson kick a point. And that's ultimately what it comes down to. That's what it comes down to. John Gilday, Steven Castay, thank you so much for your help. We have a break coming up and after that, we're going to hear from the two chairman involved in the game. John, thanks so much. I know you're not feeling the best after Paris. I'm not feeling the best myself. I came broken as we potion for us waiting and sister Sarah is down there if you want to come down after. I don't know if that'll help us or not, but we'll try. Thanks very much. And to the Virgin Media Playhouse and Unleash our best offers, like 500 megs Superfast Reliable Broadband for just 39 euro a month, and we'll see you next time. This is Peter Power from UNICEF, with an emergency appeal for children affected by the crisis in Gaza. Right now, hundreds of thousands of children are in extreme danger. Innocent children have been killed, injured and left homeless. Terrified children desperately need medical supplies, shelter and clean water. UNICEF is on the ground in Gaza, but we urgently need your help. Please donate now at unicef.ie to support our work. Thank you. The DL Debate with sister Sarah's Ladder Kenny, serving food you'll love till 9pm daily in Sarah's Kitchen. And there's free admission entertainment every weekend. Welcome back to Heiling Motors here for this special championship preview. I'm delighted to say I'm joined by Don Gallar, chairman of Ghidor and Peter McKelvie. Peter, I can't even read my own writing there. I was just scribbling there coming in. I have such a famous name around, Dave Connell and McKelvie Naomi. Peter, listen, I know you've had a massive time with the club over the years between playing and involvement, of course, refereeing, I suppose between the infrastructure, the club and everything that's happened. It's a phenomenal time for Dave Connell. Yeah, we've had 17 or 18 good years now writing up, but it was a hard struggle to get to that position. But I think it all boils down to our underage structure that we have and we still have it. Just a lot of hard work and that's what brings us where we are. Yeah, it's interesting. We're seeing that happening in four masters now. They basically went back to basics and people talk a lot about underage. Peter, I'm bringing sides through and how many players come through, but it has to be, I suppose, coherent the whole way up. And that's something at the club. There seems to be a real total club focus, not just the club, but the town. You know, I was looking at... Do you know why sometimes you see the Christmas lights still up in businesses around the county? You could nearly leave the blue and white that bumping up around Dave Connell and Funtown because you're there every year. Yeah, well, it's up fairly often, all right, yeah. But that can all be changed, as John said earlier, that can change too, so we're making the best of what we have at the moment. And, yeah, even this year, the buzz is just as important as it was 10 years ago, you know? Yes, indeed, indeed. And don't listen. I've never been a place that could work for names and the funniest names in the world. Don't gather, but really, Daniel Ruia is how everybody would know you, Daniel. Of course, clubs to all work. Stephen mentioned an old final back there. I don't want to go into that as well, but now you've ended up club chairman. Did you think you were going to get this position from your playing days? Not really, you know. At the time when we were playing, we were just playing an enjoyment out of everything, but a lot of players then go on and do take up roles in the club, which is also a good thing, having the involvement of, and having the interest in the club that keeps things going, you know? Yeah, of course, every time I'm on channels and down in my keys, I have to look at these pictures. Every time I go out for a pad cash, and I'm like, oh, here we go again, hoping nobody mentions those old finals. But great times, I suppose. The more I said to Stephen this season, there was a lot of talk about immigration and people going away, and, you know, five, six players left, and then Kean left and Darrell Boyle left. Of course, did you pull Darrell back early? Was that what happened? How did his woman take to that? I don't know. She's still away. I didn't need to ask her that question, I think, but it was nice to see him back without a doubt. And I think he's really, really helped the team along the way in the last couple of games. He's played very, very well for us. Kean has been a huge loss, no doubt about it. But there's still young players there. We competed on the 21 last year. We won it. A few of them boys come through this year, so it's all about trying to keep the convert belt going all the time. Yeah, and that convert belt lasts, because I know your two clubs very well, obviously, and you just, you get a real sense that you've called in Ghidor, that the club is really at the heart of the community, you know. I travel all around Austria with my job and that. And when you go on to your place, and you know the GA team nearly represents the place, you know, you go on to different towns in Donegal, and they're not chatting GA all the time. They're not talking football. But you get that when you go on to Glentys or Fintown, wherever, football is number one here, and that all transpires through because you're on a bit underage and then into seniors. Everyone's thinking football, football, football. If you have a young player, a young girl, and she can play or get involved, she's there, or he's there. We don't have much else to talk about in Donegal. There's only football in it. The football and the weather are the two things we just mostly discuss. You have Jim McGill, let's talk about now again. Well, we have now again, but that, we didn't have Amber or Wiley there, but anyway. Yeah, but yeah, it does mean a lot to the parish, a big amount to the parish now, there's no doubt about it. Yeah, yeah. And then underdogs tag, you know, that the lads was mentioning there. Is that something that you, I remember the shot of McKelvey after that final, the Dunans won a couple of seasons ago, talking about the systems again, it goes a wee bit against what I was saying. The routine and the normal leave call performance wasn't seen that day. Now we've seen it now in the last couple of seasons. Is that the only fear from you as a chairman going in that you could have some kind of drop in performance? Because if you look at it, if leave calls stick to how you've been playing all year, don't forget to put away a call car as well, you know, brilliant second half against them, really routed them and really controlled St Dunans. Is it a feeling where lads do your jobs and we have another title in the bag? Well, there's no title in the bag until there's one anyway. Well, that's for sure in Ghidoran, make sure about that. But yeah, there are confidence about them at the moment that they do feel they can win games. And as John alluded to that, they don't panic either, they stick to their guns and it's working for them. Now anything can happen. A mistake one way or another can change a game, we know that. And especially the way glinties play because they never won games by big amounts. So one goal near the end can turn the tide. But they are confident and they play with a confidence and they play for one another. There's nobody leading the bunch, they just play for one another. And they're all, we are always hoping if a man has an off day that somebody else will have it twice as good, you know, so that's what you're banking on. And that continuity that Martin Regan has brought in, like that is another huge big I suppose thing that Ghidoran have to get over is how they play the game and how they stick to the system. Now John Harn came out at halftime in a row and shouted at a few of the St. Juniors players, you're not going to do that at halftime, are you? No, I'll leave it up to the management. That's what they're up for. So maybe they did the come out of the semi-final as well. Well, that happens, that's passion. That's what it is. That's what it is, listen to me all the way. In many ways, you know, people can look at that two ways. But you know, I think when you know your team's not playing well, you know, you want to get involved, but listen to me. I will hold back and watch it from the stands, I think. And we won't get too involved in things like that. But listen, it's on the day. That's how football is. Whoever performs, whoever turns up, small, maybe ascending off, a left decision, things can go against you, things can go for you. Hopefully it's a good open game, that's it. After that, you know, obviously, Epic Ulster won the final next year. Is this in many ways a bit of a stepping stone to pull you back up? You know, whatever happens at the weekend, it's been a massive, I suppose, plus in terms of these lads having this experience, some of the younger players in, that they're back at the pinnacle of Donegal Club football. Ah, yeah, it's nice to be at the top table. That's where you want to be all the time. We've had quite a number of good groups coming through, maybe not continuously all the time, but there has been excellent groups coming through with that 18 side. You had quite a few older lads with Neil de Neyman and Oren and a few of them. Then you had the second group then, with Keir and Gillespie at the time and Neil Freel and, you know, that Norman Fadenferry and that group, and they blended well together at that time. We had a good structure in place at that time, too, with Michael and Cochinus, and he was a big help to the club at the time. Now, there's no doubt about that. Is Keir an option? I know we played against Ardra, you know, obviously, terrible luck with injuries, and that's another thing I suppose doing from that brilliant team, the amount of kind of obstacles between players emigrating and the likes of him and Big Gavin picking up an injury as well, it's been a tough, tough time for McNeely. I suppose he should have a better squad to play with at the minute, but there's been a lot of things working against him, which makes this final even more impressive that they've got there. It is, yeah, but you had the backup of the 21s last year coming through, too. There's about five or six excellent players on that side, and a lot of them are still on the 21 this year again, so that's a plus for the club as well. But we'll see what happens on the day. We'll see what happens on the day, you agree with that? We certainly will, yes, we certainly will. Peter McEvy and indeed Dool Ria, all the best. Thanks very much. Thank you, Mike. Good job, those breaks. 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That's the two mathematical and tactical masterminds at our brand of the coin. And Gary, the Pep Guardiola of the Glen. McDade, how are you slads? All good to be. Thanks for having us. There's no more talk about the 2006. No, no, no. Before, I want to get your opinion on your previews on the final as well. Just be careful because down there we have about a few. I see Emmanuel Boiler and Donald Bonner and John Bosco. We better be careful. We're a bit outnumbered here with the Ghidor crew. But listen, we'll keep it all right. Before we get to that, it's fascinating to know what you've made of two brilliant junior and intermediate finals from the weekend. First of all, Narassa. Gary, as soon as Declan Bonner took this job, we were thinking there's one thing on his mind, there's one in the title. They did that, but it wasn't easy. But in many ways, Maville, a lucky moment in the game. Were they possibly, we could have won that match. Yeah, Bren, really, really good game. I enjoyed it. It was, I loved both teams. Nearly every kick out was long. And everyone was contested and it was actually a very fast game for junior football. The quality of the ball was good. Probably Narassa had more players comfortable in the ball than Maville had. Maville battled right to the end. You know, Maville led for most of the second half and Narassa, even though they were behind, I was watching it. It was like, and they reminded you of Glent. They never really panicked. They kind of were still in the game, not fully controlling it, but knew that they had something there going down the home straight. And they showed that. And if you look at the results during the year, they did that a lot during the year going down the home straight. And it was like the old dogs for the hard road, because they certainly were. Even though some of those older players, you have to commend them. They were in terrific shape. Like they were lean. There was no one carrying any weight. And from what I heard from Chattano, a few of the supporters at the game at halftime and at the commitment that some of them boys, I think those boys, there's a few of them flying home from England every weekend for public games. Is that something that Deckham Bonner brings to it? Is that something that has influence? Because he's going to be thinking that like a county setup. Yeah, well, I suppose it was a survival setup for Narassa. Because if they didn't get those lads home, they weren't going to have enough players to fail now. And saying that, I think they had 34 players named in the program at the weekend. So it was fantastic to see that. But they struggled for a long time for years there to make sure they had 15 in fair play. And they kept the show on the road. And I was laughing. There were a few jealous supporters there at the weekend. They were calling them the United Nations, so they were. They had boys in from everywhere they reckon. But listen, you've got to hand it to them. You've got to do what you've got to do. You've got to do the one on challenge. Yeah, well, I think Swinney and Hanlon, but they played, Swinney's on the, maybe on the Narassa side. Hanlon had played underage. There's a story there, I suppose, behind it. Brendan, if you look at the game coming down there, it was big diver went through one-on-one with the keeper. He blazed the ball over the bar. I think Maville were a point up at that stage. That would have given them, you know, an extra three. He put the ball over the bar, obviously. But if that goal went in, because like it takes, Johnny Quig, the last, I mean, the story of himself and Pat McLaughlin taking the job to soccer, man, you know, and Quiggy never coached the team in his life. Isn't that amazing? When you think of Declan Bonner and all he's been through and the coaching that you have Quiggy in there, who himself says, I know I'm a diggielic, you know, but he goes, I know how to get a team fit and move the ball. It's remarkable that they were there. And I felt Maville were a front foot type attacking team. They ended up sitting. And I don't think it suited them, Brendan, on that one point. That said, you were going on the injury time, nearly they were that point up. But just as Gary was saying, the wee bit and know how, you know, particularly with X, Oshin, Coffield, McQ at 11, they just maybe had a couple of extra players that were going to open them up. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, you mentioned Oshin, Coffield. I thought it was for particularly when the game was in the melting pot the last 10 minutes kind of thing. It was Oshin that was carrying, really carrying the game to Maville. Maville put up a great performance, a really enjoyable game to watch. So it was, but they just had that bit extra quality at that stage. So they thought Young, Killian Bonner a really good game too for Narasi. And so I kicked a couple of lovely rebounds kind of thing. But it was Oshin, Coffield, to me, that was drive and force when it was needed. And in finals, you need bodies to stand up. You need heroes to stand up. And, you know, Narasi had them and that bit of know-how, that bit of noose just in the last few minutes. Yeah, he was no Oshin. Very mature head. Brent seemingly got the ball. It was a controlled, you know, we keep talking about the Neve Collin players. He was probably playing like a Leo McClendon or, you know, a Thompson when he was on the ball for such a young lad. Yeah, definitely. He showed a lot of maturity. He showed maturity way beyond his years because he's only 19, like, you know, so he really showed maturity beyond his years and really contributed. But it was a good team effort. It was an all-round team that defended well and then when the game was there to be one of the Sabres and they had enough of the tank to go out and win. And the block of Melly's there. Fantastic, yeah. Brilliant, yeah, yeah. You know, those things from games, we're always looking to the points, but they basically saved the score, which could be the difference. Hats off to them. They're going to endolster now to represent the Donegal for Man of Champions. They're playing Gary. Gary, Downins, what a story this is for Downins. You know, junior champions a couple of seasons ago, you know, a lot of people would say, you know, possible gave Intermediate a rattle. Nobody's thinking they've won it. Here they are, champions, you know, and a malin team that some people had a bit of a fancy for Malin Goodin to this game, but Downins champions. Yeah, listen, and probably does every so, really good game again. I enjoyed it, you know, it was tight. It was kind of nearly the Johnny McGrady show against the Christy McLaughlin show. Like Christy was outstanding from Malin at Wing Forward, so he was, and really carried the fight for them. But Johnny, you know, we just give an exhibition. You'd be proud of it yourself, of the place ball kickings we did. I think we had five from freezing, one from play, and, you know, from talking to the locals down there in Downins, you get out what you put in, and he's one man they say that you'll always see down at the pitch, kick and freeze, you know, and he lives up to that name, and he showed it for Donegal Miners in under 20s. Well, of course, last year, the brilliant game against Kerry in the National League got two points in that game, and had a good McKenna Cup game for them. Like, where'd they come from? 2018, they were in Division Four, and as you said, then they won the Junior two years ago. So in five years, they went from Division Four to Division One, maintained their status in Division One, won the Junior two years ago, went to an Ulster final, got beat by the Cavern team, Dan, and now they play the Cavern winners again, so they do now in Ulster, but interestingly, you know, from talking to some of the boys afterwards, I think what they said was, you know, yesterday, Brandon, was their 53rd week training, that's Intermediate Football, so it is, so... And that's ASP training as well. And that's the level... You're going to be rolling there. You know, that's the level that you probably have to go to, you know, if you want to one, you know, when Downins are lucky, you know, from talking to a lot of the locals down there, you know, they have a really invested group of players who want football. Downins in the past would have been maybe known as The Holiday Town, The Seasonal Town, and been very hard to get players out in the summer. We work in parties and that kind of thing. This group seems different. They seem... They're about football, so they are. They love football. Like, they've even got the extremes I heard that each player invested in his own GPS. You know, like, there's nobody else, I'm pretty sure, intermediate football. There's a lot of senior clubs, one of their own GPS. They went and each player individually invested their own GPS to make sure they had that to get the most of themselves. The club are lucky they have a group of players blessed who are dedicated to football and dedicated to the GBA. You don't play a lot of soccer, is what you're saying? Well, listen, I don't know what ends it out to that there, but listen, you got to admire them. And I would always affirm, Believer, you get out what you put on. They've invested heavily and they got the rewards. Huge over, Michael Burn. You know, you're a fantastic lad, Bren, you know. And Malin, I suppose to be a senior club for so long, there's been no doubting, they have learned a lot from this season, Bren. They'll be back next year straight away. You have put them in as one of the favourites to come back and get back into that final. Oh, you will, definitely. And you look at the crowd, the Brought to O'Donnell Park yesterday, like those great colour and noise and everything from them. So they're definitely going in the right direction. But I suppose the key with a lot of that is keeping that team together and getting more of these young fullers through. You know, the two O'Neill's that were playing for them yesterday, Connor and Sean O'Neill played really well, like, but they're young fullers, and it's about building on where they were. Of course, Christy Valdarro was the man, like you put in a really top-class performance. But if you look, I felt Lorten Connor really played a big part in this downings win. Yes, they're particularly late on in the game again. Are they county players, Bren, and that you think you'd do something for them to go? Listen, they're probably worth having a look at, Bren, and like it's a different... I don't think it's fair to kind of look at a guy in an intermediate final and say, listen, he should be playing for the county. You have to bring them in, look at them, and test them at that level. But the two of them, like Johnny, was faultless on the freeze. And Lorten, again, I spoke about Ashing Caulfield when the game was in the melting pot. Lorten, I think he got closed line three times down the far side line and laid on in the game, and he was determined to get on the ball to make something happen. And they're the difference. They're the margins that win it, kind of thing. But it was at number 17, Allen Posoma, who came in and started to, had a really good game for Downing, so he had and... They'll miss this McGinnis training camp though anybody's still involved. This ultimate hell week that's coming up. Yeah, I would like to go on that haldis somehow. And I'm also glad there was no GPS things around when you were playing, neither did they, I don't think your figures are going to be too good. I used to just hang about the 21. I know. Kick it off free. That's where it went. But like, we're brilliant. And Balli Hayes, who they're playing in the next team, I have two big customers up there, and so me and Kevin, Cookie would be good mates, you know, I'll be coming up following them for the lies in the coming week. I can only imagine that's Terry Highland, where we're performing that. Interestingly, they beat in in the final in the cabin final yesterday, who beat Downing's in the junior or sub-final there a few years ago, yeah. Hey, they were cracking good side as well. Yeah, they are a good side, yeah. But that's that red up. I'm fascinated to get your views, lads, on this final. And Gary, the tactician that you are, how do you door break down this Neve Connell defense? What is the conundrum? What would be your plan going into this final for Guido? You know, looking at Guido's semi-final, I thought Gavin McBride was instrumental in the first 10 minutes. So he was, they were using him a lot. There was an extra player for McCool's to mark. When he went off, he went off injured. Now, hopefully, for their sake, he'll be back for the final, because it means he's a big man to mark. It means you have the likes of him. You have Eamon McGee and Ethan Harkin, all three men who are over well, over six foot, all three men who are not easy push to the ball. To me, you know, they like have a triple threat up there. Eamon's probably doing something that very few players in club football are doing. He's showing hard into the D. They're managed to clear the D a lot for him. He gets in, gets that wee pop ball and lays it off, like he plays to his strengths. So he brings a lot of players into the game. I think they have to really try and get a massive, intensive start, almost like the French game last night. They're starting the fourth half. They have to come guns blazing at the start. They have to get ahead in this game. And the three boys, I think, inside are key to that there, and they have to pummel them with ball and I think they need to make peace that they're not going to want every ball that goes in. You know, I'm really looking forward to that battle, because you think you have AJ, Jason and Alton will probably be the three boys picking them up inside. So it's going to be a massive battle inside. Steve McFadden, who was the man who came in for him then, I think he has to start. You know, he was brilliant the last day. They need their best team on from the start. They can't wait and hold anyone. I think they need to go half an hour start. And whenever he's in, Meahill Carroll, I think he could be the ace in the pack, so he could. If there's only half an hour in him, I would get him in the first half hour, because he's probably, he is a player. That football probably comes natural to... People say football is a game that you work at. It comes natural to Meahill Carroll every time I've seen him to play. You know, and from what I hear, he's working hard. You know, on his own down there, the last fortnight, county finals don't come around very often. You know, and you have to grab it when the opportunities arise. You know, the Glentys kick out. If you look at it, if you look at the county final last year, and you look at the semi-final this year, Steve McGrath, Long, down the middle, Charlie comes out. They have Leo there, they have Karen Thompson there. They have, then it's always head into that area, always. And then, coming off of the breaking ball, then, you have Jack McKelvie. We, Owen, Doherty, and Ethan all. They're probably the three quickest players they have. And this is done on purpose. They come at speed, and they really hurt unions on that the last day. Probably, you know, knowing Francie and Ronan as well. You know, they're going to be looking hard at that there, because that is their go-to kick out all the time. And it's up to Guido to build a wall somewhere around that there, men in the middle, and to stop them. To me, they have to stop Jack McKelvie. So they have to, they have to, they have to landmark him. They have to landmark Karen Thompson. You know, Jack McKelvie, you know, he's done a brilliant job in the game. Glenty's, even Doherty went on and marked him out of the game. In the second game, they changed that. They didn't start him in Doherty. And Jack McKelvie was instrumental, two points in the game. He is huge along with Karen Thompson. He has the ability to run the game and turn the game for Neve Connellself. So they have to landmark the two of them. They, Guidor to me, have to outrun them. We're talking about GPS there. I think, you know, they probably have a younger age bracket in them. You know, I talked there about the three young lads, the boys with a real athletic ability for Neve Connell. They are the athletic ability. Probably if you look at Guidor, they probably have more athletic ability in team, but they have to show that at the weekend. They have to outrun them. Their GPS has to be red hot. So it has to be, it has to be blowing out of the water. It's the only way they're going to come in here and get over the line. If they don't, you know, do that, do that there. If they like some Nile Freil, it would be really impressive if young Michael wrote it and winged back. That's two winged backs who are quality. And they have the ability, they have two boys who can blow their GPS red hot. They have to get up that line time after time. And both of them are good ball players. So they have, you know, they're the lads that they have to look to. And to me, you know, that's what they have to do about. You know, I talked about those on you the last time about this new quality in my mind. I said, you know, possibly the greatest have come out of Donnie Golland. A lot of people disagreed with it at the time, but I would still stand by. People disagree with me. Gary, I don't get that at all. Brennan, let's some great points from Gary there. Ethan O'Donnell, of course, didn't look like he was going full tilt. He had a bit of an injury. He'll have a couple of weeks rest back in this as well. Gary just mentioned there, the conundrum for Ghidor as Gary's on, but they have to go in front. What if they don't? And even if they do, it's not going to bother Neve Connell either if they do go in front, because they'll just keep playing the same system. So the whole mindset on this full match is about Ghidor being confident enough to stay in the game against this machine like Neve Connell did. Absolutely, Brennan. Like you look at Neve Connell, they went four or five down against Kilkar. They went down again against Unans. And they were down six points, I think, at the game over in David Brennan Park. So that won't phase them over. They phase them either. They can deal with these situations within a game. I felt the one time that Neve Connell was suspect this year was that first half against St. Juniors. When Unans ran at them hard from deep, when they turned them over inside their own 45-65 and ran at them hard, they caused endless problems for Neve Connell coming from them areas. So, and Ghidor have the players to do that. You mentioned Mihal Rorty, Niall Freel, very underrated player, like never has a bad game for Ghidor, always looking to get up the field to create. And then you have, of course, Oren the master. If Oren McNeely comes out and puts in a big performance and you get a big performance from the Ghidor lads, you know, they're a different animal come a final. They're just, we know that from experience, Brennan, and they're well capable of really putting it up to this Neve Connell team. And I'd say that they're quietly confident down they're preparing for the game this year. They didn't expect to be, I'd say, where they are as, you know, they may have surpassed their expectations in relation to that. But it promised to be a great final, so it does. And, you know, Neve Connell are going to be hot favourites for a reason. Another trilogy, maybe, no. I don't know about that. Neve Connell are going to be hot favourites for a reason. But Ghidor in a final. Who are you tipping? Listen, for all reasons known, you have to go with Neve Connell. You have to favour them because of what we've seen, because of what we've known. They've taken out Keith Caren, a quarter finalist in Juniors in a final. This so-called top big four, can they take out three of the big four? That's the question, Brennan. You alone with that, Gary? Yeah, listen, I'll go with that there. Same thing, like, it's a lot. Finals gone live for the rowan. It's a lot for Ghidor, so it is. It's a lot of things have to come right, and maybe it's too much has to come right. As I said, probably the greatest teams ever come out of Donegal, so I'm not going to go against them now. Well, there you have it, lads. That's the final. Two experts of the seven, and I want to thank them for wrapping things up. Of course, Daniel Rua and Peter McKelvin, who was Steven Cassidy and John Gilday on previous. I want to thank everybody for contributing. Lawrence, thanks very much here. And Highland Motors for looking after us. Here is Port Osh and Kelly, who's my boss here this evening. Joe Dex has ever produced on the show. We're going to speak to you all next week. We'll see who's beholden the Doctor McGuire. And who knows, we might get another trilogy. We'll be all back here again. We'll see what happens. That's all for DL Debate this evening. Stay tuned for the excellent Monday Night Sessions. I'll speak to you all next week. Every weekend.