All-Ireland Football Final Maigh Eo vs Baile Átha Cliath

One of the main things Mayo improved on this year was their tackling. Their ability to turnover the ball is one of the strengths of their game so Im not surprised they conceded so few frees. What constitutes a fair tackle seems to vary from referee to referee so that's why we're left in these situations where we all feel wronged by the man in black

As a neutral (my team was knocked out early) I thought the qaulity of the football and handpassing was fairly poor. There were way too many silly frees given, too many simple hand passes missed, lots of errant kicks and plenty of lads carrying a ball into a tackle only to lose the ball. also, this short passing game and mentality of trying to keep possession that has crept in over the past few years has IMO removed a lot of the excitement from the game. The tactic of getting 12/13 men within your own 45 to defend is another thing slowly killing the game.

Overall though, dublin probably deserved the win. They were able to charge through Mayo's midfield and half back line way too easily. The goals were very poor to give away but bernard brogan was clinical and will be an all star this year no doubt. Can't understand the choice of taking a point at the end. Surely a quick free and attempt aty a goal was the best choice.

One final thing, one poster mentioned that the Hill should be Dublin fans only. I find this the most ridiculous comment I've seen in a while. Croke park was paid for by all the counties and not one has a right to a particular part no matter how big or small in terms of size or population.

Congratulations to the Dubs, fully deserving all ireland champions and the game panned out pretty much exactly as i expected. Mayo good start, Dubs come back and finish strong.

Ive always been a big critic of mcquillan, but i dont think he did Mayo any harm yesterday, they got alot of calls their way. The amount of time Cillian o Connor took taking the frees was insane, not saying it cost them, but it defo prevented them having another minute or two to get the equaliser.

one thing - was i the only one that though the Dublin function last night was a bit strange on the Sunday game? seemed to be alot more low key than other years and not alot happening there.

Muff Richardson wrote: »

yeah shame on them for celebrating winning the all ireland, arms in the air and all that noisy cheering. what are you on about.

if you are going to talk about unsportsmanlike behaviour look no further than Andy Moran trying to taunt the Hill after his goal with his hands behind his ears...clearly rehearsed in

front of the mirror at home only the idiot didn't bank on the Hill being half full of his own supporters so I'm not sure it really had the intended impact

Wat i mean is by their unsportsmanlike fouling, and gavins comments which attempt to justify the charade. Absolutely celebrate no problem. They did just about deserve to win overall but the manner of victory makes it a little hollow.

And as for other teams doing it absolutely. That behaviour shouldnt happen - end of.

But this thread is about yesterdays match.

Just dug this out as one of my prophetic moments pre Kerry game...

DoctaDee wrote: »

With the risk of indulging in hyperbole ... Dublin/Kerry matches in the championship have given some of the greatest defining moments in Football. The 70's are now consigned to nostalgia .. but even back to the 2 games in Thurles in 2001 and "that" point. The 2007 & 09 S/F's for differing reasons rubberstamped the greatness of the Kerry team. The '07 SF was a match between the 2 best teams in the country and befitted a final.

2011 gave (and I'm biased) Dublin a well deserved AI from all the disappointments in the intervening 16 years and beating Kerry added it as a "proper" AI.

So 2013 I feel will be no different. In many cases over the years one of the SF's was in actual fact the game of the year - followed by a damp squib of an AI final. The result is unclear but there's every chance this game will leave an indelible mark for years

I personally felt yesterday was slightly anti-climatic, in what was probably the most brutally hard game of football I've seen in years. Dublin hung in there in the face of Mayo ascendancy 1st half and when their time came to dominate, Mayo couldn't live with them.

I was listening to Brian Carthy on RTE radio on the way home asking Liam O'Neill whether he thought there was another drawn match on the cards, he answered no .. that it was the type of match you knew that there would be an outcome from .. that one team knew how to win, the other didn't.

Huge credit to all the Mayo fans that were there yesterday it's a hard one to take - there's no platitudes that can be offered to lessen the hurt. Mayo are in the unfortunate position of having a great team but having found one team better than them in the last 2 years. Ta

joe swanson wrote: »

Wat i mean is by their unsportsmanlike fouling, and gavins comments which attempt to justify the charade. Absolutely celebrate no problem. They did just about deserve to win overall but the manner of victory makes it a little hollow.

And as for other teams doing it absolutely. That behaviour shouldnt happen - end of.

But this thread is about yesterdays match.

Where you at the match?

joe swanson wrote: »

Wat i mean is by their unsportsmanlike fouling, and gavins comments which attempt to justify the charade. Absolutely celebrate no problem. They did just about deserve to win overall but the manner of victory makes it a little hollow.

And as for other teams doing it absolutely. That behaviour shouldnt happen - end of.

But this thread is about yesterdays match.

I wouldnt call the victory hollow as Dublin deserved to win.
I did find Gavin's comments to be a bit idiotic though- you cant justify a few rugby tackles by saying lads were frustrated.

His comment on the amount of frees given to Mayo is something that he will probably regret when he watches the match again.

To put it simply- you cant tackle with 2 hands- a wrap around tackle, which too many Dublin players doing, is illegal.
What you're meant to do is get your body in the way to hold up the player and then disposses with 1 hand- to be honest I thought Dublin could have conceded more frees yesterday

iDave wrote: »

1.5 million tuned in and a 74% share of the TV audience. Terrific stuff.

Wonder does that take into account, multiple people watching one broadcast i.e Big Screens, GAA clubs, Family homes etc? You could probably add a couple 100k to that if so

naughtb4 wrote: »

Only if they stop it for COC as well

Sunday Game had a clock on him for the last 2 frees, 40 seconds each, crazy taking that length of time to kick 2 easy frees in injury time when chasing the game, Cluxton didn't even try wasting time for the last kick out, as he had done the whole game he had it placed into a Dublin mans arms before some of the Mayo players even realised the game was back on!

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Your heart would go out to Mayo, (as a Dub). The level of support from what is a small county population wise, not to mention distance, is a total credit to them,

In fairness I wouldn't describe Mayo as a small county. Mayo is a huge county (size wise) and is pretty much right in the middle of the 32 counties as far as population goes. Try telling a Leitrim, Rosmommon or Sligo man that Mayo are a small county and they would probably laugh.

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

In fairness I wouldn't describe Mayo as a small county. Mayo is a huge county (size wise) and is pretty much right in the middle of the 32 counties as far as population goes. Try telling a Leitrim, Rosmommon or Sligo man that Mayo are a small county and they would probably laugh.

pretty much this, mayo and kerry size and population wise are very close

we ie roscommon brought 20,000+ down to ennis for an all-ireland minor replay in 2006 on a saturday evening, if we ever got a senior final not a man, woman or child with a bit of roscommon blood would be left in the county