Kerry GAA Discussion Thread Mod Warning Post #4167

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I wonder- Dublin are playins some terrible football in the league and still have the Crokes Players to come back. I can see Kerry walking this one. Moran looks like the find in the league so far to me anyway.

For my sins I watched the Mayo Dublin game - it was car crash stuff.
While the pitch wasnt great and there was a tricky wind it doesn't look like Dublin have made much in the way of progress. Still looks like Brogan as the only forward of quality - scored 5 of their 8 points. The Dublin forwards kicked an array of some of the worst wides imaginable. After 25 mins it was something like 5 points to Dublin no score to Mayo {one wide} and Dublin with ten wides. The only hint of a gameplan seemed to be get the ball to Brogan. I'd also have concerns about Whelan's discipline and I thought he was once again lucky to stay on the field after some more silly buggers. Maybe it was an off day but having seen a fair bit of the Meath v Monaghan game I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Meath beat them in the first round.

I would expect to see a Kerry first fifteen which would bear a much greater resemblance to the starting Championship fifteen with Gooch, Galvin and Dec Sullivan all back. I really cant see anything but a Kerry win in this.

I am banned

LeoB wrote: »

Just glancing at a few posts and now understand why there were so jokes when I was growing uo;)

Just to reply on a serious note. Ciaran Whelan getting bad press again. Lets face it he is more sinned against than most players. Darragh O'Se for example had one or two things pointed out against him in the media and it appeared to me a few Ref's were pretty hard on him, unfairly in my humble opinion. If people are going to say Whelan is at silly buggers its a little unfair, it is very easy to stir up a little campaign against a player by saying he is at it again. Its also emailing R.T.E and raising some silly point about what a player does. This happen believe me. We had it in Hurling with goalies and the small square.
Tomorrow Kerry will win I think by a few points
AS for Kerry 2009? They will win All-Ireland and remember you hard it hear first, from a Dub:)
By the way Kerry4sam Dublin fans prefer to play away than at home in Parnell Park. Unless you are away every wekend you will have noticed they travel in good numbers and bring a great bit of crack to towns when they do travel. For the people making their way up tomorrow have a safe trip

Seeing as I'm the one who described what Whelan did in the Mayo game as "silly buggers" I'll expand on it a bit. What I was mainly referring to was the incident where when holding the ball with both hands Whelan used it to push against Peadar Gardiner's head. It was after the whistle had gone, pretty sure for a free to Mayo and it's quite difficult to describe accurately mainly due to how frankly bizarre it was. The ref gave Whelan a talking to and a black card/ticking. Whelan was also involved in another incident where he seemed to commit what to my eyes could have been a yellow on Moran (I think) but if it had been given would probably have been harsh. Neither of the incidents were especially dirty but on another day he could have easily got the line - the Gardner incident was just bizarre and seemed to be as a result of frustration - I'd say Gardiner was more confused than anything else. Overall to describe it as silly buggers doesn't strike me as remotely unfair and I'd be very surprised if many Dublin supporters who saw the game would disagree with me.

As to the notion of Whelan getting bad press, it's really kinda amusing as I doubt that little if any notice has been taken of his behaviour in the Mayo game, silly and all as it was. The only place where conceivably might have been noticed was possibly by the Dublin management seeing as he is being rested for the game today, which struck me as a bit odd when I saw it considering Dublin's position in the league. What I think about the notion of a campaign against Whelan being stirred up, I think that's just wandering into paranoia territority.

I would also disagree strongly with the notion that he is more sinned against than most players. He is a high-profile player who has a track record of letting his temper get the better than him and in my opinion in his career he has been slightly fortunate in terms of his dealings with referees/officalfdom.