Dublin GAA Discussion Thread MOD WARNING POST #2944

TallGlass wrote: »

Why are we paying a license fee to RTE television services if they won't pick up the slack on this and show one of the GAA match's so both can go out live? GAA need to cop on also, the biggest populated county in the state is playing and there not showing it live.

Oasis_Dublin wrote: »

TG4 needs to make money on advertising, and they aren't going to make it if RTÉ are showing the Dubs, live, in English!

Oasis_Dublin wrote: »

But both TG4 and RTÉ make money outside of their tv licence allocation. Whether ignoring a match involving the teams that produced the two best games of last year's Championship would have been fair is certainly open for debate.

I know Dublin City FM broadcast games from Dublin - don't know about the away ones!

Kavrocks wrote: »

In other news a good win for the Hurlers yesterday despite not playing too well. Some good performances from the fringe players. Conor Murphy has been very impressive at corner back, Ben Quinn was everywhere too from mopping up at the back to a free outlet in midfield and Eamon Dillon with another fine display.

Hopefully there will be a big crowd in Croke Park next Saturday for it and people won't just wait for the football game.

DoctaDee wrote: »

I was waiting to see if there'd be any 1st hand accounts of Sundays game, as duty called and I had to don my Bainisteoir jacket and baseball cap for the start of the CCC2 football season

So all I've got to go on is the TG4 coverage and a 10 minute chat with one of the lads who went down, so if I'm talking out me blowhole feel free to correct me. First of all fair dues to Cork, stuck to the task, plenty of endeavour and pride shown and all things considered they finished the stronger and were worthy winners (nothwithstanding Dublin goal chances wudda cudda shudda). Secondly it's the bones of 5 years since I've been down in Pairc Uí Rinn and the pitch is if anything worse than it was and it was particularly poor in 2010.

Just before Christmas Jim Gavin came out and expressed the view that the NFL should be done away with, stating there was no place for it in the modern football calendar - he felt that the provincial championships should be brought forward and the AI series would then be a standalone competition run somewhat on the lines of the champions league with round robin group game etc. Of course with back to back NFL titles there was an undoubted natural response that it was easy for him to say that. The dog of a day against Donegal was far from a distant memory when he made clear his opinion and to me at least it seemed to be quite a self serving opinion from a Dublin perspective.

Dublin through no fault of their own due their dominance in Leinster, have operated in the AI series the vast majority of the time without the aid of a safety net - one loss and they're out - the redrawing of the championship format to Gavins mind would offer the safety net that to the mainpart they have not been afforded. The benefit in getting a first look at an opposing team in championship mode would allow them the scope to map out strategy for any return fixture. I suppose rightly or wrongly the thought would be that over an 8 game round robin campaign they could remedy a slip up straight off, just like Madrid or The All Blacks do in their respective codes. I think the abiding consensus from the camp and also alluded to by Colm O'Rourke was the team were undercooked last year, having not been stretched to any great degree until Donegal.

So what purpose or benefit will the Dublin football panel hope to derive from this seasons NFL campaign ? My own thinking would be from a championship football perspective - none. I know it's early days but I suspect based on Jim Gavins own admission, that there will be clear separation between the 2 competitions. The NFL has the look of a development strategy for the fringe players to experience IC football, while behind the scenes the hard work will be undertaken for the AI campaign.

21 players got a run out against Cork - 4 of those changes Fenton, Reddin, Lowndes & McHugh were made while the game was in the melting pot, with both of the largely effective midfielders being replaced within 10 mins of one another, and paid little attention to the strategic changes it forced on the field - the prevailing thought to my mind was that the focus was on giving everyone game time rather than winning the game.

The next couple of games will give a stronger indication whether this is in fact the case - it might be a tough couple of months being a Dublin supporter if we're not privy to the wider plan that Jim Gavin has in place. At the end of the day we're Dublin supporters all year, and would like to think that they'd win more games than they'll lose, as every defeat takes it toll in some way or another. There's long trips to Killarney and Castlebar ahead and it's a tough ask to commit to those games if the side issue is to see a development team continue to take the field. Ta

PERFORMANCES, NOT POINTS, are Jim Gavin’s focus as Dublin set off in search of a third National Football League title in as many seasons.

Defeat in Sunday’s league opener in Páirc Uí Rinn extended the Dubs’ joyless record in Rebel territory, a winless streak that stretches back to 1990.

Conor Dorman kicked a late point to seal a 1-15 to 0-16 win for Brian Cuthbert’s men, but this was a Dublin side virtually unrecognisable from last summer’s championship.

Only four of the team which started the defeat against Donegal were present, with the remainder either injured, given extended breaks, away on club duty with St Vincent’s or, in the case of Alan Brogan, still mulling over their inter-county future.

Gavin’s intent was clear as the game entered the final 25 minutes with the result still in the balance. Off the bench came Brian Fenton, Ciaran Reddin, Conor McHugh, Eric Lowndes and Michael Deegan, all relative newcomers at senior level.

The heavy artillery could wait for another day. With the Sigerson Cup and beginning of the U21 Football Championships fast approaching, Gavin was more concerned about getting game time for his younger, untested players while they were available to him.

Don’t mistake that experimentation for lack of interest in the bigger prize though.


I think if you look back to the squads we played last year [and] in 2013, we’re always spreading the net,” Gavin explained on Tuesday.

“We want to get performances and getting players onto the pitch to get through that process of getting performances on the field of play. If that happens, we’ll get results.

There were some very good performances on Sunday. We came away having learned a lot. And again, we’re giving players exposure in very competitive games, in situations and scenarios where they have to figure out when the game is in the balance and they have to try and work themselves towards getting the result.

Such is the competitive nature of Division 1, a couple of early losses can see teams nervously looking over their shoulder at relegation rather than at the prospect of a semi-final.

With Donegal under new management in Rory Gallagher, and with their tails up following victory over Derry last weekend, the Dubs could very easily find themselves still pointless come Saturday evening.

Gavin is not worried, and even if a semi-final place slips through their grasp amidst all the chopping and changing, he has Plan B ready to go to ensure that their championship preparations are not interrupted.

“At this time of the season we’re looking for performances. That’s what we want. One would not be satisified if we get two points on the board and don’t perform particularly well. Longer term that won’t do us any good at all. That’s the main focus.

“There were some really good passages of play offensively on Sunday and defensively, Cork got two shots off in 70 minutes of football which is quite pleasing. The goal came from a mis-hit from Daniel Goulding that caught our backs unaware. I think defensively we were quite structured, midfield we did ok.

We played against a very defensive system, the most defensive I’ve ever seen Cork play, and it was pleasing that we created so many chances and put ourselves into a position to finish the game.

“We made some adjustments going into the final quarter, giving players some game time, and it just didn’t work out for us.”

Cork’s emphasis on getting men behind the ball and then breaking at pace to counter-attack is a puzzle likely to present itself time and again this season, not least against Gallagher’s Donegal on Saturday evening.

“We did [see it a lot] last year in the league and in the championship. Some games we figured it out and some we didn’t.

“There’s trends being set and coaches pick up on different trends that were being set and that’s just one of them.

“We’ll play teams that mightn’t be as defensive-minded and that’s just part of the challenges for both myself as a manager and the players as well.”

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

I think he was waiting for the ball to go out of play for blowing up.It would be a bit harsh to stop a team on the attack for half time.