Dublin GAA Discussion Thread MOD WARNING POST #2944

Kavrocks wrote: »

The first yellow Cooper got you can clearly see in the replays Kerrigan was holding his hand. To be disappointed in him is a bit harsh.

The hurlers on the otherhand were fantastic for the 50 mins from the 10th to the 60th minute. Bar the Tipperary game we've had some very rock solid performances.

I would have been heavily against Ger Cunningham last year but he seems to be doing really well with the guys so far this year and having met him briefly this year he's a nice guy. His game plan is very interesting to see and some players are really performing well under him. All the Cuala lads bar Mark Schutte have been in flying form. We'd be in relegation trouble without them! Onwards and upwards heading to Waterford next. 2 more points will have us playing Division 1A hurling next year which is the main thing at this time of the year!

It will be hard to get anything in Dungarvan the way Waterford are playing.:(

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

I know it is a bit late now. But for future reference I always check near fm90.3 and Dublin city FM stations.

I saw DCFM had both live yesteday. I didn't hear them, so I can't comment on quality :pac:

ProudDUB wrote: »

Yep. They are both marked men this year. I'm not going to even try to argue against it. I don't have my blue tinted glasses so welded to forehead, that I can't see that they have both made their beds, so now they have to lie in them. But it's very unfair if the rules are not applied right across the board. Any one watch that slugfest down in Tralee? How Donaghy, O'Mahony and Sheehan avoided getting their marching orders is a miracle. Donaghy alone must have dragged Donegal lads down to the ground, by the neck, 2-3 times ! :mad:

Unbelievable what Donaghy in particular got away with today. He should have been gone very early on in the match. He set the tone for the nastiness that followed, imo.

Johnny Cooper's second yellow was fairly soft, but I suspect his reputation might be catching up with him. I quite like him as a player, but a wee bit of a nasty streak can creep into his game sometimes.

Thought it was interesting that Cooper didn't start against Monaghan. Was that to give someone else a run out, or did he lose his starting jersey because Jim Gavin was concerned about his becoming a liability? He didn't do anything on Saturday night to help his case. Be interesting to see if he starts against Down. Donaghy and crew were very cute. With all the black and red cards handed out so early, they knew damm well that the ref wasn't going to go down in the history books, as the ref who finished the game with 10 players left on each side. And boy oh boy, did they take advantage of that? :rolleyes:

ProudDUB wrote: »

I'm not saying for a second that lads should be played, just because they are young. But how else are they to force their way into the side, if they aren't getting game time? Form on the training pitch will only tell you so much. They need a good run of games, to show what they can do. When was the last time any of them got a good run of Spring games to do that?

Against Monaghan, we started 10 lads who featured in the AI final. Deano, Jamesy and Philly (God, they sound like a boy band, don't they? )all played in the first O'Byrne Cup game down in Enniscorthy on the 3rd of January. That's madness imo. How else are we to find the next Brian Fenton, if they are all sitting on the bench, while lads who have AI medals in their back pockets, are hoovering up all the game time in January, February & March? There is a balance to be struck between blooding newer lad and giving the established players a good run out. Last nights starting selection hit it perfectly for me.

We are a cert to make the semi finals now, so I'd like to see some more experimentation in the next three games. I've no time for this "laying down a marker" stuff. Any win or loss we rack up against Down, Roscommon or Donegal, won't mean a thing come August & September.

We're probably not going to agree on this ProundDUB but for what its worth i see the logic behind what your saying, i just don't agree.

I feel Gavin is right in making lads earn the jersey. It cultivates, in what is probably one of the strongest GAA squads ever assembled, a fierce competition for places that makes lads push to improve. The likes of Fenton, Small and Byrne prove that Gavin will play untested lads if they perform. If they don't he shouldn't give them 5- 10 games in the hope they'll improve.

O' Conghaile has started 3 National League games and come on as a substitute in the other. He's been given plenty of opportunity in fairness. Anyway i'm hoping they get tired of warming the bench and get back playing hurling.:) Lowndes especially.

PressRun wrote: »

Johnny Cooper's second yellow was fairly soft, but I suspect his reputation might be catching up with him. I quite like him as a player, but a wee bit of a nasty streak can creep into his game sometimes.

Every team needs a player or two with a streak in them. The fact is Dublin players were "too nice" for years. It is good that we have two backs Philly and Cooper who can handle themselves if needs be. Cooper is the best man marker Dublin have and he is incrediably important to the Dublin team. He does not do flashy stuff like Jack McCaffery, He does the Donkey work.
I remember when Dublin played Derry in the league. It was a time that Mark Lynch was flying for them. Cooper was detailed to Lynch and kept him quiet.
Yeah, he plays on the edge and normally get's a yellow! But with O'Carroll gone at full back he is easily Dublin's best defender at defending.

Stoner wrote: »

That's my worry too. The halfback line couldn't take the loss of McCaffery and McCarthy. Looking back 4/5 years you had Nolan, Brennan, Diaz all more or less gone now. I think that the sweeping role that McCarthy played for the last three games left year , I think small would struggle there, too much Speed lost across the line.
I'm a fan of Deveraux, someone's going to tell me he's away or something, but I wonder if the mccaffery bomb could have been dropped earlier to allow more time in for others to fit in, Nicky is fast too.

Couldn't Philly McMahon play at wing Back? he loves bombing forwards anyway?
Just an idea!?
Also what about Hubbard from Ballymun he loves bombing forward as well and his little legs going 90 mile an hour.
I remember seen Vincents v Ballymun this year and Nathan Mullins scored two points from wing back (Brian Mullins young fella)

Good news for hurlers is that whatever happens in their next two games if Galway are beaten by Tipp or by Waterford then Dublin avoid relegation and go into the quarter finals.

Kavrocks wrote: »

Not if Tipp beat Galway, Galway beat Waterford, Cork beat Kilkenny and Tipp and we lose both of our games. Then Tipp, Galway, Cork and Dublin will all be on 4 points and it will come down to scoring difference.

Its head to head before points difference. So if Dublin and Galway finish on four points a piece, then Galway play Cork.

There are other permutations of course! Tipp could still end on two points if they lose to Galway and Cork.

Anyway, Dublin position is a lot more comfortable than it was and hopefully they will be architects of their own fate with a win against Waterford or Cats. big ask but not impossible.

Kavrocks wrote: »

As far as I know that's only if 2 teams are level on points. If 3 or more are level it goes straight to points difference.

Mmmm. Not 100% on that so won't say you are wrong.

In your scenario points would have to come into play but only I think because head to heads would have cancelled one another out; ie. Tipp would have beaten Dublin, but have been beaten by Cork and Galway, while Dublin would have beaten those two!

BKWDR wrote: »

Didn't see the replay but his second yellow card im nearly sure was for mouthing at the ref...as in the ref didn't give it straight, there was discussion.

That's one thing that shouldn't be acceptable by Jim Gavin

We saw yesterday in Tralee where mouthing off leads to, so we can have no complaints if a ref decides to punish a Dublin player, if that was what happened.

Just looking at the Kerry/Donegal game, it is clear that the usual suspects on both sides were the main instigators. Strangely AOM and "Star" appear to have a charmed existence when it comes to all sorts of snakey bollix that at times leads to other lads getting clocked. Old AOM not averse either to poking fellas in the eye and then retreating a safe distance. any approach to himself runs danger of witnessing a performance of the Dying Swan.

Of course there are others on the Donegal side as well. Be interesting to see if both teams get the sort of punishment visited on Dublin and Tyrone in 2006 :-)

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Every team needs a player or two with a streak in them. The fact is Dublin players were "too nice" for years. It is good that we have two backs Philly and Cooper who can handle themselves if needs be. Cooper is the best man marker Dublin have and he is incrediably important to the Dublin team. He does not do flashy stuff like Jack McCaffery, He does the Donkey work.
I remember when Dublin played Derry in the league. It was a time that Mark Lynch was flying for them. Cooper was detailed to Lynch and kept him quiet.
Yeah, he plays on the edge and normally get's a yellow! But with O'Carroll gone at full back he is easily Dublin's best defender at defending.

Don't think that anyone is denying that Cooper is a very, very good man marker, when he wants to be. He is well capable of shutting his man down, so that he fluffs a shot on goal, or sends a point wide, or gets in a great block...all that good stuff. But he undoes a lot of all that good work, when the very next time the ball goes into his man, he charges into the tackle hell for leather, concedes a free, gets the free moved up for mouthing off to the ref and oh yeah, picks up a yellow card for his troubles. These days, you can almost set your watch at Gavin having to take him off at or around the 55 minute mark, because he is in serious danger of getting a second yellow, or a black card.

Playing on the edge is one thing, but Rory, Cian, Jack Flash, Jamesy and even Philly are able to keep their men quiet for the most part, without it becoming a liability on the score board. Maybe he needs to do some yoga or something before games, to relax him. A lot of the problems, seem to be his just being so wound up before & during games, that he doesn't know how to channel it, in the most productive of ways. It's not like he is going out and deliberately trying to act the hard man.

Speaking of hard men, fair play to a lot of Donegal peeps for not condoning, or making excuses for what went on in Tralee yesterday, both on the pitch and on the sideline. Naturally the Kerry crowd still think their $hit don't stink and, that they are the victims in all this. :rolleyes:

ProudDUB wrote: »

......
Speaking of hard men, fair play to a lot of Donegal peeps for not condoning, or making excuses for what went on in Tralee yesterday, both on the pitch and on the sideline. Naturally the Kerry crowd still think their $hit don't stink and, that they are the victims in all this. :rolleyes:

I've always maintained that there's a world of a difference between going to Killarney and Tralee - there's an unmistakable "atmosphere" in Tralee, I tend not to spend any longer in Dodge than I need to. It was an ugly mean spirited game, I'd find it particularly difficult to justify the divide between the saints and the sinners, but I would say the majority of the provocation came from da kingdom - bigger fool Donegal for reacting - it was a game they should've won comfortably. In saying that when Kerry needed a shoulder to the wheel I thought the star was immense .. now I have to go brush my teeth

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

I agree with you there does seem to be a hostile atmosphere in Tralee. When you go to Kilarney there is more a holiday atmosphere there for obvious reasons.
I watched yesterday's with interest as I figured both teams would be knocking lumps out of each other. I was not disappointed on that score.
I was shouting at the telly for Donegal
1) Because I dislike Donegal less then Kerry
2) Because I would like to see Kerry relegated because I can't remember that happening (it probably wont happen now!)

All I know is that the Dublin team do not have to resort to any of these melee/farcas/fisticuffs tactics we are better then that these days

Yeah you've summed up the difference in the 2 venues in a nutshell - I never really bother about picking a 2nd favourite team or a team to shout for against another - tho I'm starting to hedge towards Roscommon tbh. We need Kerry in Div 1 for the guaranteed 2 points

Yeah it would make more sense that he was sent of for lip rather than the foul - which was innocuous at best