General GAA - AOB

Rex wrote:

Would it be a stretch to say Kildare gave Dublin their toughest test so far this Championship. We scored 1-17 and missed a sitter half way through the second half to bring the game to 3 points. I have kept an eye on their game with Tyrone and they never broke sweat. I makes our defeat to Armagh more galling because I reckon we would have really tested a defensive Tyrone.

Anyway apart from Dublin I think everyone else in Div 1 will be beatable in the league. Due to time of year and preparation levels

I was going to post something similar Rex. I know some felt we were getting too much praise for ´keeping Dublin´to that margin but we at least asked them questions at times and we had a cut at it. Imagine how Sean Cavanagh feels now, going out with a whimper is being generous.

It should be a great final and I really would love to see Mayo finally do it. Tyrone dropped the heads so early that the Dubs were not tested, but Mayo have shown they just don´t stop and there is more to come.
If O´Shea moved back to where he is best suited then, as JD noted in his 42.ie column, he will draw frees for O´Connor to pop over.
Then Keegan is due a monster game plus the Mayo bench has shown that it´s not just the Dubs who have options.

Even from a purely football point of view Dublin v Mayo will be a good game.

I would say we definitely gave them most to think about but I'd say Dublin have improved since too, certainly in defence.
Our defeat to Armagh was galling but I'm not sure Tyrone would have been as defensive against us they set up against Dublin either.

Oh I'm not saying that in terms of our season overall it's more of a case of at least we went for it and I don't think we should criticise O'Neill or the lads for not wanting to go purely negative.
Dublin have improved and they weren't even near their best today.

Great final in store!

The hurling is also a brilliant match-up too. I would like to see Galway do it as the Granny was from there. It's hard not be totally neutral though in this one.

What was astonishing today was that Tyrone's approach wasn't much different to Westmeath's in the Leinster Final in 2015 when it was more a damage limitation exercise rather than trying to win the game. Yet in Tyrone we are talking about a so-called top 4 team with one of the most experienced managers in the game. It was a no-contest today and there seemed to be no ideas on the sideline.

Kildare's star has certainly risen today as to our credit we at least gave it a go and played for the full 70 minutes. But I certainly wouldn't get carried away as to how far we are still behind Dublin. However, we certainly are not as far behind the rest of the 'Top 4' as we might have thought. Mayo are an example as to what is required to compete at this level - how many times can a team go to the well and still perform. Dublin will be favourites for the Final but maybe, just maybe ............

Are we the only team to score a goal against them in the championship this year? We also missed two more with Moolick and Flynn which would have made it interesting.
More confident now about next season as long as our defending improves greatly. That is the big priority for Cian next year.

I think some of our defending could be put down to lapses as opposed to massive failures. Plus an over-reliance on Eoin Doyle directing proceedings. But we have enough pace to funnel back and break without going all-out defence.
Div 1 will be a steep but great learning curve. The Dubs and Mayo show us and everyone that on top of extra bodies the basic art of tackling is done by individuals.
Overall the Dubs and Mayo are teams that can produce moments that really quicken the pulse. Colm Boyle bombing along is great to watch.
I called Mayo and Dublin this weekend and for no reason I have a feeling the West will be awake in September.
Feck they would be serious band wagons to jump on for the craic too.

There is a definitely a feeling out there now that Kildare's stock has risen on the back of that... Thought Tyrone were abysmal tbh - I really though they'd get in their faces, but stood off and let Dubs run riot. Very lethargic performance from Tyrone, so unlike a Mickey Harte team.

Plenty of attacking flair in our team, but we need to tighten up, get more aggressive and get rid of our perennial choking tendencies. Jesus when we see Mayo this year and the way they get stuck into Dubs over past couple of years, what we wouldn't give for men like Boyle, Keegan, Higgins et al. Honestly there are times watching this Mayo team when you'd feel jealous such is their bravery and resolve.

Something for us to aspire to... But we're still on a learning curve, with Div 1 to come and more underage talent coming through. Watch this space etc...

It wasn't so long ago they were losing qualifiers to Longford if I recall. Those same players have matured and turned into a extremely formidable side. I thought their legs had gone a couple of years ago but they look stronger than ever. The extra games helped and battle hardened them even more, but they were hanging on by the fingernails against Derry and Cork.

They won't beat Dublin, no matter how well they prepare an amateur team who have half a squad traveling across the country three or four times a week for training won't beat a professional team all living within 20 minutes of their training ground and who play at home.

Very good points Rex, it is ludicrous the advantages the Dubs have, which is why some of the media fawning is truly risible.

Still, Mayo generally get stuck into them more than most. Hopefully another ferocious battle like we've had over the past couple of seasons.

Frightening to think that Brogan, who tore us a new one when he came on in Leinster final, wasn't even used off the bench yesterday

Again, very true - the money spent in Dublin has produced a frightening amount of top players. They have forwards like Conor McHugh and Colm Basquel, who'd be starting in most other counties - and they can't even get in the squad!

I honestly think splitting them is going to come back on the agenda over the next few years. The resources as listed above, most counties simply can't compete. It's really making the football championship pretty dull.

While splitting them is the obvious thing to do I can't see it happening in my lifetime. It would create a constitutional crisis never seen before in the GAA. Dublin County Board are too powerful to allow it to happen and will argue that if they're split then so should other counties with large populations (Cork etc) or a record of consistent success (Kerry, Kilkenny). It would bring the whole structure of the GAA into question and that's not something that's going to be allowed to happen. Not sure what the answer is but there'll have to be some re-distribution of funding and an explicit levelling of the home/away playing field. Even if that means playing AI semi finals involving Dublin in Semple or Pairc Ui Chaoimh. I'd be quite happy with leinster Finals in Tullamore!

mayo are some team when you think about it . they only train as a full group collectively 1 night a week for most of the year due to so many lads working in dublin.
some achievement for them to even compete with the Dubs

Dead right... People say, oh, Mayo spent X amount in such a season. Let's get real here - Dublin have had a a financial investment unprecedented in the history of the GAA. They have far more resources than Mayo and a far greater pick of players - as you say this Mayo group are an unbelievable group of men.

I think Dubs playing more outside Croke could be thin end of wedge. I think splitting them will come back on agenda because they are a unique case - as I say, they have received an unprecedented amount of money. Incidentally, I do think this is an issue in Kilkenny as well, albeit to a far lesser extent, but they do ignore football altogether and plough all their money into hurling. How they get away with that, I don't know.

For me, Kerry example is specious reasoning as their great teams were built on nothing more than tradition and other counties always felt that with the right organisation, they had a realistic chance of competing. Not so most counties and this current Dubs set-up. I mean, not even the great Kerry team under Micko won four consecutive league titles. I think if Dubs continue to dominate this debate is going to kick off again in a big way.

I remember the great Gerry McEntee saying a couple of years ago that for counties like Kildare and Meath now, this is not a level playing field. The best case scenario is, we are hoping we hit them on a day when they're a bit sluggish – which happens virtually never under Jim Gavin – and we play out of our skins.

That old dynamic of we dominate for a bit, they dominate for a bit has disappeared completely and to me that is totally wrong. Not what sport is supposed to be about – in Leinster, you need a few teams competing hard. GAA would want to watch it though because the air could go out of it rapidly if the likes of Kildare and Meath start getting disinterested.

One thing that pleased me a bit about weekend... You get boys up North saying, Kildare and Meath have gone soft, Dubs getting it too easy now... Well, we've seen the state of play this season - Dubs would incinerate everyone in Ulster as well. Tyrone definitely went back with their tails between their legs.

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

One thing that pleased me a bit about weekend... You get boys up North saying, Kildare and Meath have gone soft, Dubs getting it too easy now... Well, we've seen the state of play this season - Dubs would incinerate everyone in Ulster as well. Tyrone definitely went back with their tails between their legs.

Ulster football back to where it was 20 years ago I think. Our performance against Armagh was an abomination

Agreed - once we went ahead late on I'd thought we'd win. Shocking how badly we caved - the worst aspects of Kildare football surfacing yet again.

**Major asterisk here in terms of the whys and hows of Dublin football before anyone jumps down my throat.**

Say what you want about the Dubs but as a Kildare man it shouldn't be the case but they are a team I really like. As soon as Pat Gilroy came in he stopped that running up clapping the Hill soccer style.
They always try to play positive football and they think on their feet.
Their players are largely decent lads. Any young player would look up to many of them. McCaffrey is going to be a doctor and took a year out to volunteer in Africa.
I would love McMenamin if he was with Kildare and he is also a decent trad man who is meant to be great craic. (Saw him play with his brother's band in a random lock-in one night. V sound lad)

Mayo have so many honest players too. Who could begrudge Higgins, Boyle or Andy Moran lifting Sam above their head. For their fans too it would be amazing.
For all the above you have to be happy no Ulster team made it through as this will be a much more honest battle.

I would include Kerry losing as a plus too. The old saying if a man gets a name for getting up early he can lie in bed all day.
That is Kerry when it comes to awful nbegative stuff. Under Fitzmarice they have perfected the tactical drag fould around the middle and have lads dropping back all the time.
As for Donaghy he can go straight on to the refs panel as that is what he has been trying to do for years.

This is becoming a rant but the gist is that Mayo v Dublin will bring all the good bits of gaelic football. I am not saying they can't mix it with shady stuff, but by and large they will play to win and not play to not lose.

Going back to be liking opposition players I think it is great to have our lads getting some attention and to be talked about again. Dan Flynn at full pelt is a sight to behold. Feely fetching high balls and kicking off both feet.
It was a shite way to end the year but we made a huge leap in 2017 and as we see from the general state of play in Gaelic football we are going about things the right way.

As I said I know why the Dubs can do what they do, but on a personal human level you can admire this team.

It's not going to happen but should Feely get an All-Star? Who's been better in midfield this year? Tom Parsons I suppose... I think Feely deserves one, the same way Gary Brennan did last year. But they only give them to the elite teams... same as everything else in the GAA!!

I think as you say, we went out too early and realistically the way it is set up if you don't make the 1/4 finals you may forget about it.
As an aside on Tom Parsons. His skills seemed to have improved a lot this year. He always struck me as a dog of a player in the best possible way, but now he seems much more composed putting boot to ball.

I think Parsons is brilliant, have always felt him and O'Shea were a superb midfield partnership. Honestly, I've felt that from 1-9, Mayo have been the best team in the country over the past five years... All they were missing was a bit of extra quality upfront to finish it off. Like, if they'd had Conor McManus I think they would have won it already.

Young Loftus has helped them but still think they might come up a bit short again... Almost too cruel to be true but such is life...

But Parsons seems to be more willing to play kick passes than previous years and even have a shot at goal, or is that just me thinking this?

Personally I haven't really noticed that... He's been a decent kicker the past few years. Got up and shot over a mighty one for opening score of last year's final.