Where was this woeful panicky shooting today from Galway against us .Well done to Armagh just about the better team so a deserved win ,never gave Galway a goal chance and took some good scores themselves. Chances are it will be open enough for the next few years so we have to freshen up our team and find some lads who can take a point from play instead of winning the ball moving up field and then recycle not that far out .
it feels like the end of an era for Dublin, the northern teams are all much more competitive than us now
I got my two AISF predictions well wrong and all - thought it would Donegal v Kerry final.
I assumed Kerry would be too smart not to be caught by Armagh (a one dimensional side), and Donegal would be too smart for Galway (even though Galway have been knocking at the door for the last few years).
Maybe Dublin won't have to do that much rebuilding to be competitive after the "auld legends" retire? Could be a really open decade for teams in contention for Sam. Suddenly there could be regularly about 6 teams at a similar level, in the mix for Sam.
There does not seem to be a team that is clearly ahead of the pack now. Maybe the next new Football Dublin team being "solid" will be enough?
I see Con O'Callaghan is still the leading scorer from play in the Championship.
Their exit makes my year every year when it happens.
Can this nonsense of this Kerry team being some sort of beacon of light and a good watch be put to bed? Today was an aberration. Statements about the neutral preferring to watch them are beyond me.
Having then out now means the summer can start. Finally.
There is a god and his name isn’t Clifford
At least it's not Kerry's year, doesn't make up for two weeks ago but it softens the blow a bit.
If it helps any with a rough picture until you get the full Championship & scoring data to go with it, here's some of the selection information for the normal 7 rounds of the league (minutes approximated, ignoring the final, black/red cards & added time).https://x.com/TsuDhoNim/status/1772223275067679143
At that level it is all about participation. And if Clubs likes Crokes can field more teams that means the players are learning in better environments/facilities which can only be a good thing for football overall.
The fellas that are any good from the smaller clubs will end up transferring to the nearer bigger clubs anyway especially if some of their school mates go with them. For example Brian Fenton was with Naomh Barrog at primary age and then went to Raheny when he was older. But that was mainly because that was where his friends were then.
If fellas really want to move to a different/club or area as adults because it is a higher level or whatever reason they can like Jayo and Fennell did for example.
EDIT: Error
That'd be @Gael85 I'd say
I don't know which one of you does it normally or where you find the stats.
But has anyone a breakdown of the scorers for Dublin in the championship/league. As well as who started and was subbed etc. I am just curious to see how consistent Dessie Farrell was in his line up and substitutions.
That makes more sense because the way the changes were announced was odd not “like for like” seemed last minute.
It feels weird not to be even worried about getting AI SF tickets. I don't know what I will do with myself on the day of the AI final!
I remember back in 2003 I refused to watch it because both Armagh and Tyrone annoyed me! And I said it is only like a hyped up Ulster Final.
It looks like it will be a Kerry v Donegal/Galway final this year. Galway v Kerry would be a better spectacle for the neutrals I think. I will probably watch that though.
I have heard from a fairly good source that 7 of the team were very sick before the game,Paddy small just before the game. Hence the forced changes. Makes sense.
Bang on that became a trade mark dublin goal this past 15 years. I have to say even in the league final loss dublin looked like they had a figured out some new players such as cian murphy, Ross Mc Harry and cillian Mc guiness to name a few. That young keeper wasnt also out of place. Dessie unfortunately naively went back to the tried and trusted. Dublin would have been better off working these new guys across the 2024 season for the long term gains and using the older guys from the bench. I found it also strange that paddy small and basquell lost their places at the weekend, this time last year they began to catch fire. It's all left dublin football at a crossroads!
O'Callaghan spurned an excellent goal chance that would have made it 1-12 to 9 PTS.
He tried a hail Mary head down full power kick through a Galway man that was easily blocked instead of getting the head up and seeing he had a wide open McCaffrey one on one with the keeper to his left.
Peak Dublin were so clinical at these sorta goal chances.
Had they scored that they'd have won imo. It wasn't apparent at that exact time but it really was a huge turning point in the game.
Agreed, the Fitzsimmons one was quite bizarre. Anyway it's immaterial now, Galway gave it their all and congratulations to them.
He definitely was one of them in my opinion.
The threshold of Galway getting frees and us getting frees were night and day. Needs a bit of work on his hand singals too. Making it up as he went along.
I'm not and never have blamed the clubs. I'm simply stating that it's a problem. I also never mentioned the GPOs, who do great work by the way. But clubs can and do put flyers up on school noticeboards etc, especially the smaller clubs trying to get players. This has lead to some fairly heated decisions between clubs at times.
Bigger pool of players to pick from and better facilities.
Your original comment was that the super clubs are 'hoovering up players', which for me points the finger at the club for doing something wrong.
Also - on the outreach point - the GPOs are paid by the GAA to promote the game, this is not outreach on behalf of the club. If a GPO goes into a school, he/she deals with all the kids there, they dont just say I'm only here to coach players from a particular club.
An advantage in what sense? What simply happens is that the one-team club plays in division 5, alongside Crokes B team or C team.
Where is the advantage or disadvantage?
Isn’t that what I just stated? The gentrification of lower income areas has lead to this type of thing. I’m also not sure what clubs can do when so many parents have notions that their kid needs to play for a club in a middle class area.
There 100% isnt.
The games promotion officers go to the local schools. Thats all, no more.
Your point is that they go outside their catchment area, hoovering up players from smaller clubs. (I assume thats your point).
There is no other outreach of this type. The large clubs are keenly aware they are struggling to cope with numbers and would be only too happy for other clubs to take them.
Whats happening in practice - if you look at the super clubs, they are all basically in middle class areas. And a lot of the one or two team clubs are in the lower income areas. Some parents in the lower income areas are making the decision to send their kid to the middle class club thats a bit further away. Thats whats happening, thats the long and short of it.
Any truth that there was illness going around the group in the week leading up to the game?
There absolutely is outreach by the clubs, especially to schools and it's very much not the "done" thing to try out your flyer up in a school that another club feel is in their area.
But it's mostly down to parents, many of who will have no ties to the area. The massive influx of non Dubs into those areas has also led to the falling player numbers in the smaller clubs.
Its great to see strong participation in GAA at underage levels in Dublin but it is becoming inequitable were the likes of Crokes can field 5-6 teams at u11 for example and on the other hand the smaller GAA clubs in Dublin can struggle to field 2. The resources/facilities of the likes of Crokes give them an unfair advantage but that's another days argument.
