Greatest Individual Performance Since 1985 - Football?

Lostinspace

Right...so who in your honest opinion gave the greatest individual performance on a Gaelic football pitch in the last 25 years?

I would have to say Maurice Fitzgerald when he single handedly destroyed Mayo in 1997. He was phenomenal that day.

thegen

Jaysus, you missed me in the Mentors match this year;)

homerjay2005

maurice was good in 97, though i honestly think kerrys best performer was Liam Flaherty that day, he was immense.

hmmm, Gooch was amazing in 2007 v cork final, absolutely amazing.
canavan in 95, though not sure how many of the 11 points he got were from frees.

didnt some lad score 3-10 in one game, rory gallagher from fermanagh?

and ian ryan got 3-7 or something for limerick against meath 2 years ago.

Lostinspace

homerjay2005 wrote: »

didnt some lad score 3-10 in one game, rory gallagher from fermanagh?

and ian ryan got 3-7 or something for limerick against meath 2 years ago.

Ya but you have to take in the circumstances as well. Like Ian ryan was playing in a qualifier below in the gaelic grounds in front of about 5,000 people. Not taking away from it but you have to look at the overall surroundings, the occasion, the opposition, etc...

wow sierra

Brian Dooher v Dublin Qtr Final 2008. Awesome performance - he just popped up everywhere - never saw a player cover so much ground - where ever an interception was needed he was there. I remember feeling like there were about three of him on the field.

He is a great player and I'm sure he has had even better days in higher profile games but that is one of my great sporting memories - a bit like Paul McGrath v Italy.

Nuigforce

Padraig Joyce had some game against meath in the 01 AI. 0-10 off the great daren fay

Hammer Archer

Jody Devine - 1997 Leinster semi final replay vs. Kildare - Extra Time 2nd half.

corny

Declan O' Sullivan last year for Kerry against Dublin. They had to resort to assaulting him to try stop him.

Hammer Archer

Nuigforce wrote: »

Padraig Joyce had some game against meath in the 01 AI. 0-10 off the great daren fay

Common misconception on that one. Darren Fay actually had a decent game on Joyce in the first half. Then Joyce was moved out to the corner and Mark O Reilly (I think) was marking him and then he had a field day. Great performance though.

Nuigforce

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Jody Devine - 1997 Leinster semi final replay vs. Kildare - Extra Time 2nd half.

JODY AGAIN!!

aidan24326

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Common misconception on that one. Darren Fay actually had a decent game on Joyce in the first half. Then Joyce was moved out to the corner and Mark O Reilly (I think) was marking him and then he had a field day. Great performance though.

You're quite right. Joyce had a poor first half and was being well marshalled by Darren Fay. He then proceeded to torture Mark O'Reilly in the second half but why Meath didn't just let Fay follow Joyce I don't know.

Ja Fallon in the 2nd half of the 98 final deserves a mention too. He was immense. Won ball after ball and kicked three great points.

Another that stands out for me is Declan Browne v Donegal back in 2002 I think it was. It was a qualifier and I'm pretty sure it was Browne's first time to play in Croke Park. To say that he showed he belonged on the hallowed turf would be an understatement. Brian McEniff said it was one of the greatest individual performances he'd seen, and I'm sure he's seen a few. Shame he didn't play for a better team so we could have seen him on the big stage a bit more often. It would have been interesting to see how he'd have handled the different kind of pressure of being in a top team, playing in All-Ireland finals etc.

NufcNavan

Maurice Fitzgerald in 97.

For Meath, Stephen Bray V Galway 2007 was special.

homerjay2005

corny wrote: »

Declan O' Sullivan last year for Kerry against Dublin. They had to resort to assaulting him to try stop him.

ya he was great but i cannot for the life of me see how gooch didnt get man of the match that day, gooch was involved in everything for kerry and knocked over 1-7 for his troubles, 1-3 from play. its not all scores that matter of course, but gooch was awesome in that game and the best player on the field by a distance.

Tora Bora

Seamus Clancy for Clare vs Kerry in 1992 Munster final:D:D
Jacko retired as a result:D:D

conno16

ray cosgrove v laois in 2006

grenache

Brian Dooher against Kerry in the 08 final. He was everywhere, just awesome. It was a pleasure to witness that final, the best of the last decade.

From a personal point of view, Muiris Gavin's display for Limerick against Cork in 2003 and John Galvin's performance against Kerry in this years Munster final were exceptional.

megadodge

Have to say it's very hard to pick just one out and to be honest I immediately thought of Maurice Fitz in 1997.

However, being a Rossie I have to mention Frankie Dolan's performance in Portlaoise 2003 against Kildare. He scored 13 points that day (having scored 12 in the previous match v Offaly) and honestly, some of the points were so outrageous even some of the Kildare supporters were applauding. Disgracefully overlooked for an All-Star IMO.

Lostinspace

How about Donie Shine's performance V Sligo in the recent Connaught final? I know it's very recent but he was a one man show that day. Some of the frees he scored were excellent. Everything he touched turned to gold.

aidan24326

conno16 wrote: »

ray cosgrove v laois in 2006

Cosgrove was a bit of a flash in the pan really. Had one great season in 2002 and never did much after.

homerjay2005

Lostinspace wrote: »

How about Donie Shine's performance V Sligo in the recent Connaught final? I know it's very recent but he was a one man show that day. Some of the frees he scored were excellent. Everything he touched turned to gold.

yes he kicked some nice frees BUT.

am i right in saying he didnt score that many from play, maybe 1, max 2 points?
he also kicked about 8 wides, so that means sligo must have condeded about 16-18 frees withing inside or around the 45 meter line.

grenache

megadodge wrote: »

However, being a Rossie I have to mention Frankie Dolan's performance in Portlaoise 2003 against Kildare. He scored 13 points that day (having scored 12 in the previous match v Offaly) and honestly, some of the points were so outrageous even some of the Kildare supporters were applauding. Disgracefully overlooked for an All-Star IMO.

i remember that game, it was a Saturday night, he was unreal. I can remember my father saying to me if only Limerick had a forward like Frankie Dolan!

Hulk Hands

Gooch in a couple of All Ireland finals afainst Mayo and Cork.

Ja Fallon in the 1998 All Ireland final.

The best I have seen in recent times is Michael Meehan in the QF in Croker against Kerry in 08. Was totally on his own up front in terrible conditions, kicked ten points and took the then footballer of the year Marc O'Se to the cleaners.

Ian Ryan for his 3-7, and a couple of Declan Brown performances also.

megadodge

homerjay2005 wrote: »

yes he kicked some nice frees BUT.

am i right in saying he didnt score that many from play, maybe 1, max 2 points?
he also kicked about 8 wides, so that means sligo must have condeded about 16-18 frees withing inside or around the 45 meter line.

He got 3 points from play.

He certainly did NOT kick 8 wides. I can remember 3.

Hulk Hands

megadodge wrote: »

He got 3 points from play.

He certainly did NOT kick 8 wides. I can remember 3.

He scored 7 frees and missed 6

megadodge

Hulk Hands wrote: »

He scored 7 frees and missed 6

How many wides though?

Not being smart, but I don't think he had 6 wides and definitely not 8.

Hulk Hands

I presume it was 6 wides also from them frees, it would be very rare drop Shine to drop a free short. It shouldnt take away from a great performance. It was Sligo's stupidity to keep giving him frees from 50 in

UlsterJoe

Michael Meehan v Kerry in 2008. Terrible conditions, fantastic match.

Tucker.Tim

A cheat, because one cannot be mentioned with the other - Frankie Dolan (Roscommon) vs. Offaly and seven days later vs. Kildare. He scored 12 pointsi nthe former and 13 in the later - including all 6 in extra-time in the rather heart-stopping conclusion to the Kildare match. His sideline ball to level the match was in a word, ridiculous.

To my (admitedly biased) mind, I can't think of a better series of performances that wasn't honoured with an all-star. What might have been had he not been mad as a hatter.

EDIT: And someone else rightly said everything I did! I'll just add the fun footnote of 'naked snooker'. Every Roscommon fan (and most GAA fans with half a memory!) knows what that means, and it sends a shiver down all our spines!

Tucker.Tim

UlsterJoe wrote: »

Michael Meehan v Kerry in 2008. Terrible conditions, fantastic match.

I have to admit that was one of the most enjoyable matches I've ever seen and I think it never got the credit it was due - some of the points in the heavy rain and wind were ridiculously fantastic on both sides.

rpurfield

two instantly came to my mind and one was maurice fitzgerald in 97 the other was john mc dermott for meath against armagh in 99.they tried the crowding the middle tactic and he was still winning kick outs left right and centre for the whole game and getting them away to team mates

Het-Field

aidan24326 wrote: »

Cosgrove was a bit of a flash in the pan really. Had one great season in 2002 and never did much after.

It is often forgotten that Cossy had two superb games against Armagh in 2002 and 2003. All that he is remembered for is hitting the upright. He was also superb against Laois in 2006 when he hit 1-3 having not appeared in a Dublin shirt for almost two years. Sadly, the rest of the season wasnt so good, and his last act in a Dublin shirt was to skive the ball across the Kerry goal in 2007.

Lu Tze

UlsterJoe wrote: »

Michael Meehan v Kerry in 2008. Terrible conditions, fantastic match.

Hulk Hands wrote: »

The best I have seen in recent times is Michael Meehan in the QF in Croker against Kerry in 08. Was totally on his own up front in terrible conditions, kicked ten points and took the then footballer of the year Marc O'Se to the cleaners.

Tucker.Tim wrote: »

I have to admit that was one of the most enjoyable matches I've ever seen and I think it never got the credit it was due - some of the points in the heavy rain and wind were ridiculously fantastic on both sides.

Phenominal Match, considering the conditions, and the highlight of that years championship. Meehan was immense. I think that was within a couple of weeks of Joe Canning doing the same to the cork defence in the hurling (scoring 2-10?) and like meehan, ending up on the losing side in the end. It's harsh when players put in performnaces like that, yet still haven't managed to influence the end result