The 2015 All Ireland Senior Football Championship

Stoner

Tyrone remind me of Dublin in 2010.

Not great at the start. Into the qualifiers, got better and better had a run of wins under the belt, reshaped a bit.

Heading into a game with the favorites (at that time Cork) gave them a good game only lost by a point but the team was rebuilt and fixed for the following year.

It was the start of something new, I don't know if Tyrone have it in them to beat Kerry this year followed by Mayo or Dublin. I doubt it, but I think they'll come out of the championship stronger than they went into it.

Tyrone is possibly the best Ulster team now, started at the third best Ulster team. I just really haven't seen enough of their forwards to determine if they will produce though. I've read about how many lads score in games for them, but have they a number of lads you'd really worry about, like Murphy or McFadden, McBrearty?

The Kerry forwards are a class act. Lots of talk about their strength on the bench now being the strongest around. I'm not so sure as some are assuming that the lads that start are better than the ones that are coming on, I don't think they are apart from JOD. Bringing on Donaghey, Cooper D'O'Sullivan is fine but they are not players that can't get on the team IMHO. they are in many cases better then the starters, they just coming back in to form, back from injury or tactically withheld. Kerry would start a fit and on form Cooper, O'Sullivan , Donaghey and Walsh IMHO if you started those with Sheehan and JOD their bench would not look so dangerous imo. But that's their plan I think.

So how Tyrone start the game will be important but how they handle those lads coming on with 30 min, 20 min and 15 min left will tell the tale of how this all plays out IMO.

BonnieSituation

Stoner wrote: »

Tyrone remind me of Dublin in 2010.

Not great at the start. Into the qualifiers, got better and better had a run of wins under the belt, reshaped a bit.

Heading into a game with the favorites (at that time Cork) gave them a good game only lost by a point but the team was rebuilt and fixed for the following year.

A game and a result that will stick in the craw for me for a long time.

I've never left Croke Park so angry in all of my life.

ShamoBuc

BonnieSituation wrote: »

A game and a result that will stick in the craw for me for a long time.

I've never left Croke Park so angry in all of my life.

Twas a great win alright I left fairly elated!

DoctaDee

BonnieSituation wrote: »

A game and a result that will stick in the craw for me for a long time.

I've never left Croke Park so angry in all of my life.

You didn't make the 2006 semi v Mayo so :P

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Twas a great win alright I left fairly elated!

It was a brilliant match to have been at - the atmosphere for the whole game was incessant no let up - I was completely drained leaving, disappointed yeah but my jaysis we got our moneys worth !

DoctaDee

Tyrone have a poor return in the goals department this year 3 in 6 championship games. I have a feeling that they'll need a couple on Sunday to compete - without getting into the whys and where fors I don't think that they'll see the same return from pointed frees next time out.

Kerry conceding 15 goals this year should give them ample encouragement too - the Kildare performace v Cork/Kerry was night and day, the fact that Kerry didn't concede was a huge plus for them - the reality of the Kildare attacking threat shouldn't be lost on anyone either.

The moving of Mattie Donnelly to midfield has offered an additional option to their ability to carry ball from deep - he strikes me to be in the same mould as MDM (with a bit more football in him). If Tyrone can muster enough possession around the middle this lad can cause a few problems for the best midfield pairing out there.

Stoner

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Twas a great win alright I left fairly elated!

It was deserved alright, we ran out of puff and were a little one dimensional in attack, but I left happy enough thinking that we had a good base and achievable things to work on, this is where I see Tyrone now, plenty fixed but some more to do

Once fix from that was that the next year Dublin started finishing with their best team not starting with it and running it down, this is what Kerry are doing this year IMO, either forced by form/injury or tactically.

Jayop

Happyman42 wrote: »

Oh I have no doubt he is on a personal level. But his interaction as a manager leaves a bit to be desired.

I don't get this tbh. When he's interviewed he's nothing but cordial. He's the same in the sidelines.

I can accept someone not liking his management style or his teams but Mickey is a gentleman.

BonnieSituation

DoctaDee wrote: »

You didn't make the 2006 semi v Mayo so :P

But that was Mayo I bear them no ill will.

They aren't part of my axis of evil of Kerry, Cork and Meath.

I have a distinct memory of walking through Temple Bar with an Achill friend of mine on the Thursday before saying that "As much as a I want Dublin to win naturally, I still don't give a f""k about the result once Kerry get beaten".

And Mayo duly responded with a performance for the ages in both games.

Oh wait no, they spunked their load against us (as per usual) and rolled over against Kerry.

Stoner

lol you are looking for trouble BonnieSituation

Lets hope they only last till half time this year.

Peist2007

BonnieSituation wrote: »

But that was Mayo I bear them no ill will.

They aren't part of my axis of evil of Kerry, Cork and Meath.

I have a distinct memory of walking through Temple Bar with an Achill friend of mine on the Thursday before saying that "As much as a I want Dublin to win naturally, I still don't give a f""k about the result once Kerry get beaten".

And Mayo duly responded with a performance for the ages in both games.

Oh wait no, they spunked their load against us (as per usual) and rolled over against Kerry.

Mayo were beaten by a great Kerry team in 2006. A Kerry team well ahead of the current crop

BonnieSituation

Peist2007 wrote: »

Mayo were beaten by a great Kerry team in 2006. A Kerry team well ahead of the current crop

It rarely takes ye long to get out of the blocks. The whiff of criticism and "boom"!

Whatever about that Kerry team being "great", Mayo were appalling on AIF day.

aidan24326

For me there's no doubt at all that Kerry will win on Sunday. It won't be a hammering or anything like that as Tyrone will be tough and well organised as per usual. But Kerry quite simply have superior players and much better options off the bench.

I don't think Kerry are quite as good as Kildare made them look, but I still think they'll have enough to take care of Tyrone by about 5 or 6 points in the end. (the margin could be wider depending on how the game pans out).
But I cannot see anything other than a Kerry win.

The Mayo - Dublin game is much harder to call but right now I'd go with Mayo. One of these days it surely has to happen for them and maybe, just maybe, this could be their year. There were signs in the Donegal match that Mayo are going to be extremely diffcult to beat and the new deployment of AOS is proving almost impossible to counteract.

Personally I think the only option is to double mark him, one-on-one he is going to destroy you as on current form and with his strength and physical presence he is almost unmarkable by any one defender.

That's one to look forward to anyway, should be a cracking game between two attack-minded teams.

Peist2007

BonnieSituation wrote: »

It rarely takes ye long to get out of the blocks. The whiff of criticism and boom.

Whatever about that Kerry team being "great", Mayo were appalling on AIF day.

Boom what? I think the Kerry team of 2006 was a great team. Probably hasnt been a finer team since. There was no shame in losing to them at all. I wouldnt call it "spunking" or whatever childish term you used.

2013 was the one that hurt the most (of the finals lost since 2004). Dublin were absolutely useless on the day and we still couldnt get it done.

Peist2007

aidan24326 wrote: »

For me there's no doubt at all that Kerry will win on Sunday. It won't be a hammering or anything like that as Tyrone will be tough and well organised as per usual. But Kerry quite simply have superior players and much better options off the bench.

I don't think Kerry are quite as good as Kildare made them look, but I still think they'll have enough to take care of Tyrone by about 5 or 6 points in the end. (the margin could be wider depending on how the game pans out).
But I cannot see anything other than a Kerry win.

The Mayo - Dublin game is much harder to call but right now I'd go with Mayo. One of these days it surely has to happen for them and maybe, just maybe, this could be their year. There were signs in the Donegal match that Mayo are going to be extremely diffcult to beat and the new deployment of AOS is proving almost impossible to counteract.

Personally I think the only option is to double mark him, one-on-one he is going to destroy you as on current form and with his strength and physical presence he is almost unmarkable by any one defender.

That's one to look forward to anyway, should be a cracking game between two attack-minded teams.

I genuinely dont think O'Shea can be stopped at full forward. When i saw him throwing the McGee's around like schoolchildren, who else is there in terms of physicality left in the championship at full back who can deal with that?

Jayop

Big Joe in the final.

Peist2007

Jayop wrote: »

Big Joe in the final.

You know what, Joe McMahon would be the best candidate of all of the possible guys left.

BonnieSituation

Peist2007 wrote: »

Boom what? I think the Kerry team of 2006 was a great team. Probably hasnt been a finer team since. There was no shame in losing to them at all. I wouldnt call it "spunking" or whatever childish term you used.

2013 was the one that hurt the most (of the finals lost since 2004). Dublin were absolutely useless on the day and we still couldnt get it done.

Apologies. I assumed it was a standard stinicker-like response. Anything that remotely dilutes the greatness of Kerry usually results in a response like yours.

When I view your response from the pov of you as a man of Mayo (A Hellman? ), it is less bristling.

I still think Tyrone of that era certainly shades them in "greatness". But that's for another thread.


Funny you mention 2013, at the game I actually had little concern about Mayo making a sustained comeback tbh. Not once in the last 10min did I panic. Even with "that" free to come...

Peist2007

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Apologies. I assumed it was a standard stinicker-like response. Anything that remotely dilutes the greatness of Kerry usually results in a response like yours.

When I view your response from the pov of you as a man of Mayo (A Hellman? ), it is less bristling.

I still think Tyrone of that era certainly shades them in "greatness". But that's for another thread.


Funny you mention 2013, at the game I actually had little concern about Mayo making a sustained comeback tbh. Not once in the last 10min did I panic. Even with "that" free to come...

No worries amigo. I am 33 and i have been to every All Ireland since 1989. Even spent a couple of nights with the team in the Grand Hotel All Ireland weekend in 1989, as a 7 year old it was epic.

Of the finals i have seen the only ones Mayo should have won were 1996 and 2013. All others i thought they were second best.

As for 2013, the last 10 minutes were grand for you because the Dubs adopted Tyrone tactics for the last 10 and started playing bulldog out the field

BonnieSituation

Peist2007 wrote: »

No worries amigo. I am 33 and i have been to every All Ireland since 1989. Even spent a couple of nights with the team in the Grand Hotel All Ireland weekend in 1989, as a 7 year old it was epic.

Of the finals i have seen the only ones Mayo should have won were 1996 and 2013. All others i thought they were second best.

As for 2013, the last 10 minutes were grand for you because the Dubs adopted Tyrone tactics for the last 10 and started playing bulldog out the field

1996 is a given. 2013 I'm defo gonna have to disagree with.

That last 10min was the cynicism we had been sorely missing. Employed against Kerry in 2011 we would not have come close to relying on Cluxton at the end.

Though you couldn't possibly give me an example of a better way to win a game. Against Kerry. In Croke Park. In the All-Ireland Final.

(The thumping we gave them in 2013 was rather delicious though as well

Peist2007

BonnieSituation wrote: »

1996 is a given. 2013 I'm defo gonna have to disagree with.

That last 10min was the cynicism we had been sorely missing. Employed against Kerry in 2011 we would not have come close to relying on Cluxton at the end.

Though you couldn't possibly give me an example of a better way to win a game. Against Kerry. In Croke Park. In the All-Ireland Final.

(The thumping we gave them in 2013 was rather delicious though as well

Well i will agree to disagree with you on the 2013 final. I thought the first 50 minutes Mayo were on top and Dublin scored (heartbreaking) crucial goals at exactly the right times to keep in touch. I remember sitting with my father, a renowned football pessimist, at halftime and us both saying that now was the time. But the Dubs got it done and that is all that matters. Live in Dublin and had a great night out afterwards with the Dubs in fairness. If you want to talk football and slag and have some crack, there are few sounder bunches around than the Dublin fans.

ShamoBuc

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Apologies. I assumed it was a standard stinicker- like response. Anything that remotely dilutes the greatness of Kerry usually results in a response like yours.

:pac:....so true

Jayop

Peist2007 wrote: »

Well i will agree to disagree with you on the 2013 final. I thought the first 50 minutes Mayo were on top and Dublin scored (heartbreaking) crucial goals at exactly the right times to keep in touch. I remember sitting with my father, a renowned football pessimist, at halftime and us both saying that now was the time. But the Dubs got it done and that is all that matters. Live in Dublin and had a great night out afterwards with the Dubs in fairness. If you want to talk football and slag and have some crack, there are few sounder bunches around than the Dublin fans.

Agreed about that.

BonnieSituation

Peist2007 wrote: »

Well i will agree to disagree with you on the 2013 final. I thought the first 50 minutes Mayo were on top and Dublin scored (heartbreaking) crucial goals at exactly the right times to keep in touch.

See you're not far off with your analysis but my reading is that we were able to keep in touch without much difficulty.

I remember sitting with my father, a renowned football pessimist, at halftime and us both saying that now was the time.

That comes with being a Mayoman though doesn't it?

It's funny how different people at the same game can have such different opinions and thoughts.

But the Dubs got it done and that is all that matters. Live in Dublin and had a great night out afterwards with the Dubs in fairness. If you want to talk football and slag and have some crack, there are few sounder bunches around than the Dublin fans.

Completely agree with ya. In all honesty the craic is usually ninety when we're out.

When we're out with Donegal, Mayo or Tyrone as well it's savage as well.

Sure after the 2012 final I went on epic one ending around 8am and I was out with a load of Tyrone lads.

That's why I want more than anything a Dublin-Tyrone final. It will go down in the ages.

Or any one where ye actually win the AIF!

Peist2007

BonnieSituation wrote: »

See you're not far off with your analysis but my reading is that we were able to keep in touch without much difficulty.



That comes with being a Mayoman though doesn't it?

It's funny how different people at the same game can have such different opinions and thoughts.



Completely agree with ya. In all honesty the craic is usually ninety when we're out.

When we're out with Donegal, Mayo or Tyrone as well it's savage as well.

Sure after the 2012 final I went on epic one ending around 8am and I was out with a load of Tyrone lads.

That's why I want more than anything a Dublin-Tyrone final. It will go down in the ages.

Or any one where ye actually win the AIF!

I'd take a slippery goal to win an All Ireland Final against Kilkenny footballers at this stage (in a championship where all other counties have been disqualified or something!). Anything at this point to get over the line. Have been involved with some of the current squad at underage (losing a couple of All Irelands along our way) and it feels like ages since all that happened so i can only imagine how they are feeling at this stage. Aside from all of the sh1te talk etc from fans, this Mayo team getting there would be one of the best sporting stories you could see. People underestimate sometimes what football is like in Mayo. It is everything.

Jippo

BonnieSituation wrote: »

(The thumping we gave them in 2013 was rather delicious though as well

That game was incredible. I am not one of those people who don't give Dublin credit for their 2011 win (there was a game there to be won, and they won it) but I would still have believed that although ye were better on the day, our 2011 side was way ahead of your 2011 side. I am not debating whether I was right or not but this is what I believed.

Fast forward to 2013. We played well. We played really well and Dublin still beat us. That year, I had to come face-to-face with the realisation that I believed that ye were the better team: not only on the day but also on paper.

Now having given you that, I want to say that I completely disagree with your contention that 2013 was a thumping. The final score might have read that Dublin won by seven points but the fact of the matter was that Kerry nearly took the lead in the as late as the 68th minute.

I think we have improved since 2013 but am not sure about ye (I just don't know). If we are both lucky enough to win our respective semi-finals, I suppose I might be go back into my default view of being confident of the abilities of the Kerry players but you never know: the Dubs might topple that opinion as well as the Sam Maguire.

BonnieSituation

Jippo wrote: »

That game was incredible. I am not one of those people who don't give Dublin credit for their 2011 win (there was a game there to be won, and they won it) but I would still have believed that although ye were better on the day, our 2011 side was way ahead of your 2011 side. I am not debating whether I was right or not but this is what I believed.

In fairness ye're one of the few Kerry lads here who talk sense and are relatively egalitarian. I couldn't do it, mind.

I went into the 2011 final more in hope than anything. Our 2011 side wasn't a peak. In fact I think that if we hadn't won in 2011 and gotten the monkey of the back then 2012 would have been a different situation. Perhaps. Then again losing to Mayo in the SF was perhaps a blessing. That Donegal team were destined from the first throw-in they hopped up for in Ulster that year, but I digress.

Fast forward to 2013. We played well. We played really well and Dublin still beat us. That year, I had to come face-to-face with the realisation that I believed that ye were the better team: not only on the day but also on paper.

Completely agree.

Now having given you that, I want to say that I completely disagree with your contention that 2013 was a thumping. The final score might have read that Dublin won by seven points but the fact of the matter was that Kerry nearly took the lead in the as late as the 68th minute.

I think we have improved since 2013 but am not sure about ye (I just don't know). If we are both lucky enough to win our respective semi-finals, I suppose I might be go back into my default view of being confident of the abilities of the Kerry players but you never know: the Dubs might topple that opinion as well as the Sam Maguire.

Ye didn't score a drip since the 61st minute. A whole ten minutes of play went by without a Kerry score. over 1/7th of the game. In the closing minutes. If we scored those goals between 40 and 50 people would be talking about the thumping... That they were scored in the last few minutes of a game that ye were still in says more. The proverbial knock-out punch.

Jayop

This love in is making me feel sick. Where's the hatred and spite I know and love so well?

Jippo

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Ye didn't score a drip since the 61st minute. A whole ten minutes of play went by without a Kerry score. over 1/7th of the game. In the closing minutes. If we scored those goals between 40 and 50 people would be talking about the thumping... That they were scored in the last few minutes of a game that ye were still in says more. The proverbial knock-out punch.

I don't think anyone down here considered it a thumping.

I think a lot of Kerry people really enjoyed that match --- in the flesh it was incredible. For a while it was going at an awful rate and heading for some ridiculous score altogether.

I think what impressed me also that day was the way Dublin responded to the goals. They just kept going and the two final goals: I think a knock-out punch is a great metaphor but in a boxing match if the two are level going into the final two rounds and one of the contestants runs out of steam and is knocked out I don't think you'd call it a thumping.

Well we all enjoyed that match in one way or another. Although it was quite traumatic to see that Kerry weren't the best team in the country on their day, it was very satisfying leaving CP with absolutely no regrets.

BonnieSituation

Jippo wrote: »

I don't think anyone down here considered it a thumping.

I think a lot of Kerry people really enjoyed that match --- in the flesh it was incredible. For a while it was going at an awful rate and heading for some ridiculous score altogether.

I think what impressed me also that day was the way Dublin responded to the goals. They just kept going and the two final goals: I think a knock-out punch is a great metaphor but in a boxing match if the two are level going into the final two rounds and one of the contestants runs out of steam and is knocked out I don't think you'd call it a thumping.

Well we all enjoyed that match in one way or another. Although it was quite traumatic to see that Kerry weren't the best team in the country on their day, it was very satisfying leaving CP with absolutely no regrets.

That's not surprising. Ye never would! :P

I headed straight back down to Electric Picnic after it just in time to grab a beer from my tent and see David Byrne. That was an epic weekend.

yop

Jayop wrote: »

This love in is making me feel sick. Where's the hatred and spite I know and love so well?

Your all a bunch of w@nkers and I hate you all.

Mayo4Sam.





Is that better.....