GAA: DONEGAL’S Kerry-conquering heroes have swept the boards in the Team of the Week selection with FIVE players chosen as the best of the quarter-final weekend at Croke Park.
That’s more nominations than any other county, says the journal.ie.
The only surprise was the omission of donegaldaily’s man of the match Mark McHugh, who had a fabulous game on Sunday.
But here’s who they picked and why:
2. Neil McGee (Donegal) – Is he the best man-marker in football right now? The semi-final will tell a lot more but after 2011 where he took out some of the better forwards out there, in 2012 he has now taken out the best forward in football. Tortured Colm Cooper from pillar to post, and even if the Kerry man is having a bad season, two points from play in Croke Park was testament to McGee’s marking job.
4. Frank McGlynn (Donegal) – If anything changed at the weekend, it’s the fact his teammate Colm McFadden might have edged ahead of him in the Footballer of the Year stakes, but that isn’t to put McGlynn down. He played as a second sweeper effectively and then did his usual ball-carrying and distribution routine while covering huge ground.
6. Karl Lacey (Donegal) – First things first, Declan O’Sullivan has been improving and growing in confidence in recent weeks and beginning to look like the player that was the best link man in football in 2009. And now onto the Donegal man who never gave him in inch, ensured it was one of the least effective performances of O’Sullivan’s championship career and saw him pulled after 45 minutes.
8. Rory Kavanagh (Donegal) – Not only are they a side that can break with the ball, but with him, Ryan Bradley and Neil Gallagher as midfield options, they can win clean ball too. The middle third wasn’t for the weak or scared in Sunday’s big game, but that wasn’t a worry for Kavanagh as he relished the kickout battle and linked the play.
15. Colm McFadden (Donegal) – He’s been marked by some of the best about this year but each and every time he’s taken the game by the scruff of the neck and dragged his team over the line. If Donegal’s game has evolved and allowed him quicker ball in more space with support players, then his game has evolved too and he’s far more direct and far more accurate. Game-high, game-winning 1-6 v Kerry.
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