2019 All Ireland Senior Football Championship *Mod note: Post #1*

kilns wrote: »

But you would agree replacing in the squad and first team Cluxton, Cooper, Fitzsimons, McMahon and OSullivan will be a tall order?

The forwards get all the plaudits but arguably two of Dublins most important players are Cluxton and Cooper, they will be huge losses

They're all top players, but Dublin will have no trouble keeping the quality up.

Everyone was saying the same thing about Connolly, Brogan and Flynn, and yet they were phased out without any issues whatsoever. Jack McCaffrey can take a year off, Rory O Carroll too.

Even if they were forced to just keep using exactly the same squad now for the next 3 years and didn't blood a single new first-teamer, they'd probably still be untouchable.

So apart from the new players coming through there are no new players coming through. Got it.

kilns wrote: »

Dublin were blessed to have Howard and OCallaghan to come through from the All Ireland winning under 21s to replace these.

As previously stated there is no evidence of players coming through to replace these important players in defence

I doubt very much that if it was the same squad in 3 years time they would be untouchable, given its age profile

P Ó Cofaigh Byrne, K Lynch Bissett, D Newcombe and obviously Archer are seriously talented young players. Archer and Ó Cofaigh Byrne I expect to see in the Dublin panel for the O' Byrne Cup in January.

kilns wrote: »

Wow arent you smart!

You are the one that seems to think that the best team in Ireland in the biggest population centre in Ireland and with the best youth development structures in Ireland will struggle to add a few good players in the next 5 years.

Strabanimal wrote: »

Armagh are our main rivals now. Donegal are still a great squad.

On the Donegal thread the guy said he was glad us tramps are out.

Want me to post the super 8s brag post you constantly avoid or not?

What are you attempting to say here, that Armagh are your main rivals now because they are a better team than Donegal.



If he read any of your posts re Donegal on various threads here you were warned about, and eventually earned a rest for, it would not surprise me if quite a few others felt the same way.



Post whatever you like, and while you are at it post the rants re Donegal you were consistently warned about for posting on a number of threads. With you being such a fair and balanced football critic that should not be a problem for you surely.:)

I had a conversation with a journalist in 2008 after the Kilkenny mauling of Waterford and he reckoned that Kilkenny could be going for 6 or 7 in a row. It didn't quite go to plan.

Whenever a team gets at least 3 All irelands in a row fatalism sets in. Was probably the same with Kerry in the early 80s.

I'd ease up on the talk of Dublin winning 6 or 7 in a row. They might do well to win 5. It's the holy grail for a reason.

Dublin will start to come back to the pack in the next year or so. The players in the 30+ bracket will start to fade out and even the likes of Kilkenny, Mccafrey, Mannion, Small will have a lot of miles built up by 2021. Jim Gavin might decide to bail out too.

Others will also come good. Kerry might have had their breakthrough win yesterday. Cork look to have turned a corner, Donegal look like they have potential. Mayo and Tyrone will still be formidable going forward. Meath have taken baby steps and Kildare under new management have a bit of scope for improvement.

Dublin will still be in the mix but they will draw a blank some day.

kilns wrote: »

How many defenders alone are at the top of their game when into their 30s? Any player in the full back line relies on speed off the mark, you dont think any player would lose that speed going into the 30s when opposing guys who will be 10 years younger than them, perhaps you could carry one guy at that age but not a group of them

This is an extreme thought experiment where literally not one single Dublin squad member or underage player makes a step up in 3 years. And you still only have 5 outfield players in their 30s on that team sheet.

Obviously there are some super players in that Dublin team who can't stick around forever, but the age profile of this current team should not be worrying at all for Dublin fans at the moment. And is very worrying for everyone else.

Strabanimal wrote: »

Armagh are our main rivals now.

Well this made my day balanced as ever!

ClanofLams wrote: »

Cyclical? This isn’t one team, half the team has changed since the first final. 8 starters were 26 or under.

The population advantage was always significant but bringing in underage development squads, specialised coaching at young age, etc essentially bringing an amateur sport much closer to professional standards that advantage becomes much harder to rise above. But I do agree with you that we are seeing some of the finest footballers to ever play and their skills are great to see:

Also can we stop with the comparisons to the 80s in relation to attendance? It took twice as long to get to Dublin from most of the country and almost nobody had money. Attendances were far lower across the board - there was hurling semi final double headers played in front of less than ten thousand.

Saturday night was a sell out on the basis of past Dublin Mayo battles - 45k went to Dublin Galway last year in the semi final.

From the 21 players that played in the 2015 final, there has only been Bastick, Alan Brogan and Paul Flynn who have left the panel. Two of the unused subs are gone - Brady and Savage - but the other three unused subs are still on the panel, meaning that 21 of the 26 named for the 2015 All-Ireland final are still involved with Dublin.

How many of the Kerry team that played that day will play on the 1st of September? Well, I don’t think we will see Aidan O’Mahony, Brendan Kealy, Fionan Fitzgerald, Jonathon Lyne, Peter Crowley, Anthony Maher, Johnny Buckley, Donncha Walsh, Colm Cooper, James O’Donoghue, Brian Kelly, Kieran Donaghy, Bryan Sheehan, Barry John Keane, Darren O’Sullivan or Paul Galvin, will we? That is 16 of the Kerry 26 in 2015 who I don’t expect to see anywhere near the Kerry 26 on the 1st September (I am happy to be corrected if I have got one wrong).

Apart from the five who I mentioned earlier, three others from the Dublin 26 in 2015 didn’t make the squad last Saturday - Bernard Brogan, Rory O’Carroll and Darren Daly - which meant that remarkably 18 of the 26 who were in the 26-man Dublin squad for the 2015 All-Ireland final were still in the squad last Saturday. Only around 10 of that Kerry squad survive.

If there is one thing that you can say about this Dublin team is that it hasn’t changed anywhere near as quickly or as much as its rivals. That means when the end comes, it will come quickly, as they will have to replace quite a few at the same time.

These are the facts.

Edit: Brogan, O’Carroll and Daly have featured in the Championship this year.

blanch152 wrote: »

From the 21 players that played in the 2015 final, there has only been Bastick, Alan Brogan and Paul Flynn who have left the panel. Two of the unused subs are gone - Brady and Savage - but the other three unused subs are still on the panel, meaning that 21 of the 26 named for the 2015 All-Ireland final are still involved with Dublin.

How many of the Kerry team that played that day will play on the 1st of September? Well, I don’t think we will see Aidan O’Mahony, Brendan Kealy, Fionan Fitzgerald, Jonathon Lyne, Peter Crowley, Anthony Maher, Johnny Buckley, Donncha Walsh, Colm Cooper, James O’Donoghue, Brian Kelly, Kieran Donaghy, Bryan Sheehan, Barry John Keane, Darren O’Sullivan or Paul Galvin, will we? That is 16 of the Kerry 26 in 2015 who I don’t expect to see anywhere near the Kerry 26 on the 1st September (I am happy to be corrected if I have got one wrong).

Apart from the five who I mentioned earlier, three others from the Dublin 26 in 2015 didn’t make the squad last Saturday - Bernard Brogan, Rory O’Carroll and Darren Daly - which meant that remarkably 18 of the 26 who were in the 26-man Dublin squad for the 2015 All-Ireland final were still in the squad last Saturday. Only around 10 of that Kerry squad survive.

If there is one thing that you can say about this Dublin team is that it hasn’t changed anywhere near as quickly or as much as its rivals. That means when the end comes, it will come quickly, as they will have to replace quite a few at the same time.

These are the facts.

Edit: Brogan, O’Carroll and Daly have featured in the Championship this year.

You have taken a rather radical example there in Kerry, I highly doubt there has been as much turnover in any other county.

Murchan, John Small, Con O’Callghan, Howard, Scully, Mannion, none started the ‘15 final, all started final last year. Only John Small was in the squad in ‘15.

Eight of those who started last Saturday were 26 or under. There’s no wholesale surgery required. Gavin will do what he has done the last four years and gradually adapt the team year on year. Domination will continue.

Demographics are demographics. Can’t fight population ten times the size when the game, for player development purposes, has gone professional.