Dublin GAA Discussion Thread MOD WARNING POST #2944

Jesus, reading the final thread it looks like a lot of peoples Christmases came at once and lots of new contributors to the forum from the 'neutrals' :rolleyes:

First things first, Dublin didnt deserve anything from that game. Kerry were much they better team.

I thought Dublin were way off the pace, very lethargic, while Kerry looked much fitter. The Dublin lads looked fúcked after 15 minutes tbh.

I dont know how many times i noticed Connolly, Brogan etc walking and not even looking for the ball when we had possession. The lack of runners was worrying. The Kerry defenders were brilliant i have to say, stuck to them like glue all game. Kilkenny is class when he drives forward and not passing it across the pitch.

Mannion has to start the Championship. Andrews/BB/Flynn were poor yesterday. Flynn in particular was poor. Surprised Gavin didnt make changes soon, O'Gara should have been brought on once Kerry got that run on us in the 2nd half. Connolly... clueless. and we missed him.

We gave away far too many stupid frees.
Fitzsimons again was brilliant. O'Sullivan didnt look interested yesterday, was leggy and again didnt look fit.
When Cooper, Small and Jack Mc are back, it will be interesting to see who plays. I think Small at 6 will be putting it up to COS this year.

All that said, we were only the width of the post from extra time and we should have had a peno.

Slattsy wrote: »

Jesus, reading the final thread it looks like a lot of peoples Christmases came at once and lots of new contributors to the forum from the 'neutrals' :rolleyes:

First things first, Dublin didnt deserve anything from that game. Kerry were much they better team.

I thought Dublin were way off the pace, very lethargic, while Kerry looked much fitter. The Dublin lads looked fúcked after 15 minutes tbh.

I dont know how many times i noticed Connolly, Brogan etc walking and not even looking for the ball when we had possession. The lack of runners was worrying. The Kerry defenders were brilliant i have to say, stuck to them like glue all game. Kilkenny is class when he drives forward and not passing it across the pitch.

Mannion has to start the Championship. Andrews/BB/Flynn were poor yesterday. Flynn in particular was poor. Surprised Gavin didnt make changes soon, O'Gara should have been brought on once Kerry got that run on us in the 2nd half. Connolly... clueless. and we missed him.

We gave away far too many stupid frees.
Fitzsimons again was brilliant. O'Sullivan didnt look interested yesterday, was leggy and again didnt look fit.
When Cooper, Small and Jack Mc are back, it will be interesting to see who plays. I think Small at 6 will be putting it up to COS this year.

All that said, we were only the width of the post from extra time and we should have had a peno.

Good post. Nice to see us teaching our country cousins a thing or two about losing well. We were not the better team yesterday. End of. No bellyaching about the ref, media conspiracies, missed calls etc etc costing us the win. Accept that the other crowd were the better team on the day, take your beating, learn from it and move on. And we will.

As the Jesuits were fond of saying - We're tops in humility !

I think the fact that they came so close to forcing extra time as well shows how strong this Dublin side are, mentally as much as anything else.

They've pretty much been beaten in four league games this year before yesterday and comne back to either draw or win (v Monaghan).

Kerry were the better team yesterday & Dublin weren't at the races, but still weren't far away from forcing ET. That mental resolve is huge- not knowing when they're beaten.

Teams will need superb 75 minute performances and a bit of luck if they're to beat Dublin in the Championship this year.

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Yeah, that is what I thought Dublin were getting momentum.

Yeah, but we need to stop finding our mojo/momentum, or whatever you want to call it, in the 65th minute. We need more stable, steady performances over the full 70 plus minutes and, less of the helter skelter, manic final 10 minutes. Sooner or later, we were going to get caught out and yet another come from behind win would be just beyond our reach. It happened yesterday. It's all well and good patting ourselves on the back for all the grit and determination shown when we battle back from yet another deficit. But if the reason the deficit exists in the first place, is bad decision making, poor shot selection, no off the shoulder support running, piss poor ball into the full forward line, sloppy fouling etc etc, then I'm not going to all that carried away, when we pull another one of the fire.

Yeah agree things need to be tightened, but also think the fact alot of the lads only came back towards the end of the league played a big part.

They'll all be fully up to speed come summer, so that's gonna be a better time to judge the team then imo.

Agree that the record gone is probably a weight off their shoulders more than anything. Just a pity they didn't lose a meaningless league game rather than the final...

Donal55 wrote:

A bit of housekeeping is required to tighten up some loose areas. Im sure Gavin will address this now that the hype of leagues and records are finished with.

Exactly a big eye opener. I think McMahon is actually playing well but missing Cooper to help out.

John small will get his spot back i think.

I'd say O'Sullivan is more focused now
I'm still happy with Flynn this year the signs have been good.

I don't know what to say about Connelly, I've said we don't need him in the past, but in a game as close as that he might have been the difference as he was moving very well.

I think John O'Leary said it all today about him.

John small , McCaffery and cooper will all add zip to the defense.

Regarding the forwards Mannion obviously is going well.
However a half-forward line of Kilkenny, Connelly and who Flynn or Mannion ?

I'm a fan of Shane B Carthy too. He's nearly a Flynn and can score.

Costello to come back in. It's all there just a question of fixing midfield again and basically if the hunger is there and if management can get things addressed.

As it stands I'm happy going into the championship now with a more realistic view of things.

ProudDUB wrote: »

Not really sure we'd learn the lessons that we needed to learn yesterday, if we lost a meaningless game in Ballbofey or Clones. Losing a national final, to Kerry, in Croke Park, is a much bigger kick in the pants, than anything else. It's a horrible feeling walking glumly down Clonliffe Rd, with the Rose of Tralee blaring from the loud speakers & "ta an-athas orm an corn seo a ghlachadh..." being shouted out in non Dub accents....but I'll take it any day of the week, if I am skipping gleefully down the same road in six months time.

I have never left Croker as quick. Straight down the north strand in record time.

Couldn't bear to watch the sneering.

ProudDUB wrote: »

Yeah, it was a strange feeling alright. Oh well, at least we know how the other 30 counties live now. :P

Except Down. They haven't a clue what it's like.

I'm disappointed we haven't seen Flynn in midfield. Reddin kicked two lovely scores but he was physically not able to deal with Moran. I'd have huge concerns if he were to mark him (or someone of his ilk) later in the year. Emmet O Conghaile, Carthy, Reddin, none of them seem up to September football; Bastick is probably gone beyond starting and MDM is earmarked for the bench. Flynn (as he proved against Mayo) is obvious for the job.

Brendan Kealy never kicked the ball once near Fenton. In fact they did everything possible to work the play away from him. I couldn't understand why Fenton and Reddin didn't switch. Moran was just too influential. It was an obvious advantage for them we didn't address. Actually there were loads of rather obvious tactical nuances that were ignored on Sunday. You get the feeling Dublin were keeping their powder dry. Maybe Kerry were too knowing Fitzmaurice.

Gavin has prided himself on innovation each year he's been in charge. COS to sweeper, KK playing deep, etc. Have we seen anything new from Dublin thus far? Not to my eye. Rolled out in a Leinster semi and final? Almost certainly.

Stoner wrote: »

Kilkenny or O'Sullivan might show up in midfield yet.

He's been doing well on the throw ins i suppose.;)

Yeah bit of a strange one leaving Reddin on Moran - in fairness Reddin broke as many balls in the air as Moran but in general play he was bullied a bit. Not quite sure whether the thinking was that Fenton would have a bigger influence on the game than Moran away from each other.

I'd just caution against the clamour of starting Mannion, reminding you that he was introduced with 10 mins or so to go against a tiring defence, he was a big influence don't get me wrong but it's only last year that he was pretty anonymous at times when starting championship games - you can also throw Costello into that bracket too.

One thing that particularly frustrated me was the number of times our outball was kicked into the corners for the forwards to gather, certainly as a player and coach it was/is a complete no no, I remember some stat that suggested that it took on average 3 further passes to recycle the ball into a scoring position - all the time allowing the defense to set themselves.

There was a certain similarity at times on Sunday to the bad old days when Kerry had the upper hand, when we had to work twice as hard as them for the scores - the 2Nd half brought that feeling back.

Bastick is a huge loss. Much under-rated but did an awful lot of the trench work. Dublin are chasing games now when throwing in MDM. Need another option there beside Fenton as a starter. Reddin is good, but more a half forward perhaps than a mullocker in the centre.

PARlance wrote: »

It was Kerry's thinking anyway. Moran did a post match interview for the GAA Hour podcast and it was clear that Barry was tasked to mark Fenton. Moran was kind of crediting Barry and his job on Fenton for allowing him to get MOTM.

I was listening to it while nodding off so that could all be just a dream.

A nightmare.

Stoner wrote: »

Kilkenny or O'Sullivan might show up in midfield yet.

What about mcCarthy? played there for Ballymun

McCarthy is the best half back in the game.

Mucking around in midifeld is beneath him.:)