Memories of Football 08

K-9

So the end of the Championship has come and Tyrone are back, who'd have thought?

05 was that goal by Mulligan, 06 that goal by Donaghey against Francie, last year hard to pick from Kerrys games, many fine moments.

This year for me was Tommy McGuigans sublime pass to Joe McMahon for Tyrones second goal against Dublin to effectively kill the match.
That to me, was when Tyrone announced "we're back".

Honorable mention, Mattie Fordes goal against Armagh and Pauric Joyces goal against Mayo.

Overall, I think it was a decent championship and it really picked up from the Q/F's. It was also the most open and best Ulster Championship in years.

plasmaguy

I think the shoot out between Kerry and Galway in the Q/F, one of the finest displays of point scoring I have seen.

A bit like two boxers slugging it out without defending themselves. Whatever Galway could do, Kerry could do as well, a great advertisement for the game and the basics of catching and kicking points, none of the swarm defences and off the ball antics. The fact that Joe Bergin could come in and make an impact shows you don't have to have lots of match practise and high fitness levels to make a difference.

blackbelt

I have to say there were few highlights of the championship for me.However the ones that did stick out seemed to be in the provincials.

Leinster

Wexfords match against Meath when Wexford were 10 points down with 20 minutes left and they came back with an explosion.I remember watching it on RTE web stream.Even though RTE sound for the stream isn't the best,you could feel the tension..were Meath going to hang on,would Wexford earn themselves a draw or would thet go on to beat them.In the end they beat them.I think that game was the start of the making of Wexfords championship although their game against Armagh would probably their fondest memory.

I also liked the Wicklow-Kildare game.It wasn't the best of games but I was delighted to see Wicklow finally win a match in Croker against a decent side by their standards.I thought this game summed up the theme of the championship with the amount of surprise results.I liked the Wicklow-Laois match as well down in Carlow.It was a good game between two sides full of young players.I liked the Wicklow story although it was a bit short lived.

Also, from a personal view,Dublins Leinster Final win against Wexford.

Connaught

Not too much to crow about here.The Conaught Final was a good competitive game.Otherwise other decent moments was Leitrim when for spells of the Galway game they looked as if they could hang with them.

Munster

Couldn't talk about Munster without mentioning the Galvingate affair.It pretty much dominated headlines for the championship and could be looked at as the factor that cost Kerry an All Ireland.

Didn't see too many other games like Cork-Limerick but the Munster Final was a good game in atrocious conditions.Highlight was Corks 2nd half comeback from the dead (8 points down) to beat Kerry by 5 points.

Ulster

I liked the Donegal-Derry game.Full of passion and rivalry and good football played apart from that incident Joe Brolly tried to defend.:mad:

Moment of Ulster for me had to be Barry Owens coming back from heart surgery to score that goal against Derry.

Qualifiers

Kerry-Monaghan was a nice game to watch.It had recent history to it and an edge that would see if Monaghan could finish the job they didn't last year.Some good point scoring in this game.Donaghy was he difference.

Donegal-Monaghan was another game.Very tight game and physical at times.Thought Monaghan were there for the taking but Donegal didn't take their chances and lost.

All Ireland Series

Wexford v Armagh was a good game.Thought this was by far and large Wexfords game of the summer.Loved the long ball into Forde who shimmied and put it away.I think Ronan Clarke scored a lovely point from the cusack-Davin end line that hit the post and over the bar.

Kerry-Galway was the best display of pure football this summer I thought.Very high scoring game and the Galway midfield really made Kerry work overtime when everyone thought Kerry would walk it in midfield.Meehan was on fire even when it p1ssed rain that day.

Tyrone-Kerry

Didn't think it was a great match but it was a good match.Highlight of the game was Paschal McConnells saves,Padraig Reidy mis-cueing the clearance for the Tyrone goal and Doohers point that was orcestrated from the Cusack side.


All in all there were some very good matches but few moments that really stuck in the memory banks.

yahoo_moe

blackbelt wrote: »

Donegal-Monaghan was another game.

Thanks for clearing that up Although in Ulster, maybe worth clearing up :P

blackbelt wrote:

Kerry-Galway was the best display of pure football this summer I thought.

Great game alright and one I'll remember for its entertainment value in much the same way as the free-scoring match between Kilkenny and Galway a few years ago ('05, I think). EDIT: in the hurling championship!

blackbelt wrote:

Doohers point that was orcestrated from the Cusack side.

Closest thing to a Mulligan or Donaghy moment for me. For me, Dublin didn't offer enough of a fight (mainly out of shock) against Tyrone for McMahon's goal to be it. To produce the moment of the championship, I think the game should be tighter and would generally involve the championship winners - but great as it was, I'm not sure I'll remember Dooher's point in years to come the same way I remember Donaghy's goal, for example.

Definitely a better football championship than in recent years though.

K-9

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Thanks for clearing that up Although in Ulster, maybe worth clearing up :P

It wasn't in Ulster!

Though you'd be forgiven for thinking it! Donegal, Derry and Monaghan where in the same side of the draw in Ulster and also the Qualifiers with the winner of the trio playing Kerry! Nice easy draw there!

yahoo_moe

Seanies32 wrote: »

It wasn't in Ulster!

Though you'd be forgiven for thinking it! Donegal, Derry and Monaghan where in the same side of the draw in Ulster and also the Qualifiers with the winner of the trio playing Kerry! Nice easy draw there!

Fair point, should have said 'between Ulster sides'. Thanks for forgiving though

Guisseppeth

Seeing Brian McGuigan back in a Tyrone jersey after everything he has been through since 2005.

In fact like Kevin McStay pointed out on the Sunday game, any of the human stories that came with the Championship this year: Owens, McGuigan etc etc Says a lot about what the game means to these guys and to all of us in general.

TyroneBhoy79

Highlights for me would be the floodlight matches.

Tyrone against Down in the Marshes was a wonderful game of football and could have went either way.

Galway and Kerry was exceptional considering the horrendous conditions. Watching that game made me think that nobody in the country would be able to get close to Kerry if they continued to perform like that.

Tyrone and Dublin was the best Tyrone performance since at least 2005 and possibly one of the best ever.

aidan24326

Seanies32 wrote: »

It was also the most open and best Ulster Championship in years.

The most open yes. But the best? Hardly. The final was contested by Armagh and Fermanagh and we saw in subsequent games that they were two pretty ordinary teams, Fermanagh in particular being very one-dimensional. I'd actually say it was the poorest Ulster Championship we've seen in a while. The Down v Tyrone game was excellent alright though.

Highlight for me personally was Meehan's superb preformance against Kerry. Many had questioned whether he had it in him to produce the goods in a game like that but he answered those questions in some style.

Overall it wasn't a bad championship at all, and it was nice to get a good final after the anti-climax of the '06 and '07 finals.

Het-Field

aidan24326 wrote: »

The most open yes. But the best? Hardly. The final was contested by Armagh and Fermanagh and we saw in subsequent games that they were two pretty ordinary teams, Fermanagh in particular being very one-dimensional. I'd actually say it was the poorest Ulster Championship we've seen in a while. The Down v Tyrone game was excellent alright though.

Highlight for me personally was Meehan's superb preformance against Kerry. Many had questioned whether he had it in him to produce the goods in a game like that but he answered those questions in some style.

Overall it wasn't a bad championship at all, and it was nice to get a good final after the anti-climax of the '06 and '07 finals.

It has been stated before, it was the strangest Championship ever. This was for many reasons, spreading all across the championship spectrum, and not confined to one province

-The Paul Galvin Saga
-The Dubs beating Wexford by the highest score in a Leinster Final Ever
-The Dubs getting their biggest trouncing in 30 years to Tyrone
-Tyrone's defeat to a poor Down Team
-Kerry v Galway's match of the Decade (in all the rain)
-Kerry's concession of 3 eight point leads over Cork
-Wexford's appearence in an All Ireland Semi Final
-Kildare's appearence in an All Ireland Quarter Final
-Wexford Overturning Meath's 10 point advantage in the Semi Final
-Meath's huge defeat to Limerick
-Sligo's indiference and pettyness towards the Tommy Murphy Cup
-Dublin and Kerry's concession of three goals in 1 Championship game
-Derry's defeat to Monahgan and Fermanagh after their comprehensive NFL wi
-Return of Stephan O Neill
-Tyrone's unexpected, but well deserved win.

Flukey

I'd agree with a lot of the ones mentioned. Given the weather we had, we had far less sunshine fans. Some of the great memories for me, include the weather. That unreal day in Croke Park when Kerry were playing Galway has to be top of them. What a day, unlike anything I've ever witnessed in Croke Park. Torrents of rain; floodlights on; notices of road closures on the big screen; announcements about flooding on Jones Road and... some absolutely marvellous football! There was that other wet day with that spectacular bolt of lightning at the start of the Dublin v Tyrone match, which proved to be an omen for us.

One of the big lows was the feeling I had after Tyrone had beaten Dublin and strangely one of the highs was the feeling I had after Tyrone had beaten Kerry. It shows what diverse emotions a GAA fan can get from the same team, even a rival one. Probably the most animated I got while at a match was last Sunday. I was just as if not more excited than my Tyrone friend beside me, known as Tir Eoghain to most of you here.

Dublin's great display against them and Wexford's subsequent displays were high points, as were some of Wexford's earlier displays, especially their defeat of Meath.

Wicklow beating Kildare was great. That Fermanagh v Kildare bore was a low. It would have been nice if Limerick had beaten Kildare and got to play in Croke Park. There was the strange moment in Croke Park when the announcer announced that Fermanagh had beaten Armagh in the Ulster Final, although at that time there were still about 7 minutes to go, and the score he announced was actually the reverse of what the score was at the time. I was listening to the game at the time. A big cheer rang around Croke Park after that announcement, but unfortunately it was't true.

Moving outside the football for once, one of the great moments of the summer was hearing "Come on ye boys in blue" ringing around Nowlan Park when Dublin played the Wexford hurlers there. It would be great to see that replicated for the Dublin hurlers in Croke Park.

There are many other memories, but I'll leave you with those few.

homerjay2005

from my point of view -

the late winner against cork.
tommy walshs goal in the semi.
the 8 rapid points v galway in torrential downpour.

aidan24326

Het-Field wrote: »

-The Paul Galvin Saga
-The Dubs beating Wexford by the highest score in a Leinster Final Ever
-The Dubs getting their biggest trouncing in 30 years to Tyrone
-Tyrone's defeat to a poor Down Team
-Kerry v Galway's match of the Decade (in all the rain)
-Kerry's concession of 3 eight point leads over Cork
-Wexford's appearence in an All Ireland Semi Final
-Kildare's appearence in an All Ireland Quarter Final
-Wexford Overturning Meath's 10 point advantage in the Semi Final
-Meath's huge defeat to Limerick
-Sligo's indiference and pettyness towards the Tommy Murphy Cup
-Dublin and Kerry's concession of three goals in 1 Championship game
-Derry's defeat to Monahgan and Fermanagh after their comprehensive NFL wi
-Return of Stephan O Neill
-Tyrone's unexpected, but well deserved win.

Yeah looking through that list it was a strange year alright. We had probably the best championship game of recent years (Galway v Kerry) and undoubtedly the worst (Fermanagh v Kildare). I was actually hoping it would get to halftime at 0-0, that would have been a first I'd imagine!

The Galway v Kerry match was as surreal as it was entertaining. I remember in the last few minutes of the first half it had gotten so dark you could barely see. Looking up at the big screen it looked much brighter on tv, people watching at home would have had no idea just how dark it had got. I knew they'd have to turn on the floodlights.

I don't think two teams can ever have served up such a cracking game of football in such atrocious conditions.

Another memory is being in Thurles at the Cork-Galway game and being phoned up by my brother-in-law to tell me the latest score in the Meath-Limerick qualifier. Limerick ahead by 3-7 to 0-3 at that stage. Couldn't resist a laugh when I heard that. Was even more amazed when I heard later that night that it had gone to 4-11 to 0-3 at one stage before Meath bizarrely shot 4 goals in a row. What on earth happened to Meath that evening, they lost the last 20 mins of the Wexford game by 2-6 to 0-1 and then the first 55 mins in Limerick by 4-11 to 0-3, a cumulative 0-4 to 6-17!!

K-9

aidan24326 wrote: »

The most open yes. But the best? Hardly. The final was contested by Armagh and Fermanagh and we saw in subsequent games that they were two pretty ordinary teams, Fermanagh in particular being very one-dimensional. I'd actually say it was the poorest Ulster Championship we've seen in a while. The Down v Tyrone game was excellent alright though.

Indeed sure Tyrone lost to Down and sure look what happened to Tyrone!