Cork V Dublin

I knows its a hypothetical question at this stage but how many Cork players would make the All-Star team? One match to go and I'd have zero of them on it, so interesting times ahead...........

Although I tipped Cork and backed them accordingly , I was disappointed for the Dubs yesterday.They were honest and worked hard but the simple fact is that they do not have enough good footballers to win an All-Ireland. If they had brought Keaney on earlier they might have won or drawn the game. McConnell is a loose cannon.Is Bernard Brogan the best forward that we have seen in a long long time bar the Gooch or even better than the Gooch.He was unmarkeable yesterday.

Moving on , yesterday's result was not the best one for Kildare or Down as Cork will be hard to beat in the final and deserve to be favourites .Their confidence levels will go up.However , they have gone back since last year and that presents an opportunity for Kildare or Down. Deep down I wanted Dublin in the final because they were the worst team in the last fourAnway it's Cork so game over and roll on next sunday

ps I was very impressed with Deegan the referee yesterday.He has been criticised on this forum before ( not by me ) but he was 100% fair yesterday and he never buckled under the pressure to make the match a draw.Well done ref.

They didnt win the game, although they had it within their grasp.

They were 2 points up with only minutes to go.

Bernard Brogan and Ger Brennan all had good chances towards the end, and shot very poor wides. At the other end of the pitch Rory O'Carroll and Ross McConnell were jumping in like it was a swimming pool when all they had to do was stand the attacker up.

I'm sorry but i think Dublin bottled it. Players took the worng decisions when the heat came on.
It doenst have to invovle the whole team to bottle it.

It was a good honest performance from very fit athletes, with Bernard Brogan the only really class act on the Dublin side.

Sorry fionn, I can't agree.

If we were to accept that Dublin bottled it, we must then accept that every Kildare player (or any other county) that ever made a mistake under pressure in any game also bottled it?

Did JD bottle it against Monaghan?

Did Star bottle those goal chances against Down?

There is a difference between having an off day and bottling it rgb, those are silly questions.

Dublin played very well to a point where winning the game was within their grasp.
Then silly shot choices and decsion making took over, which to me is bottling it.

JD didnt bottle it, he had an off day. Everything he touched went wrong.

Dublin played well yesterday, very well to a point.

So maybe Ross McConnell had an off day then.

Bernard Brogan had two silly wides in the last 12 mins. Did he bottle it?

Didnt see the game but am glad Cork won.

On current form, I'd agree Sam. Cork can be so much better though.

Its just my opinion RGB.

Ross McConnell was playing perfectly fine up until crunch time in the match, thats not an off day.

Brogan bottled it in the sense that the correct thing to do was to play in O'Gara or to recycle the ball rather than shooting from an impossible angle. Rush of blood to the head maybe.
Its something McGeeney talks about all the time, decision making.
Brogan was after hitting 1-06 at this stage,his confidence was up.

Its irrelevent whether they bottled it or not. Cork are through, we need to worry about ourselves now.

An Kildare/Dublin final would have been a one off, probably never to happen again, would have liked to have seen it.

You're well entitled to your opinion fionn.

We all love a bit of Dub-bashing but they have earned the respect of many this year and were a bit unlucky yesterday

To me, the phrase 'bottling it' means that the person/team hadn't the courage to do any better. Dublin didn't lack for bottle- just the savvy to finish the job.

The great escape, its reminding me of kerry last year, who will admit themselves to winning an all ireland without ever hitting top form. If this was to happen it would say a lot about the gulf in class between these two and the rest.

Was at the match yest and at half time i was thinking, jesus dublin will be hard beat this year because of the way they were set up and their dicpiline and honesty in their tackling, it was clear that they were set up very,very defensively getting cullen and corkery behind the ball anytime cork got past half way. Leaving brogan and the universal soldier isolated inside worked a treat (as it has done all year) it gives brogan the all space he needs to punish teams given the right ball.

Its hard to pinpoint wha went wrong with dublin in the second half, most of the good things they did in the first half seemed to elude them and their seemed to be a lack of belief and more importantly discipline. However because their 1st half performance was so impressive and high octane could it have been the case that they tired?

I wouldnt completely disagree with the notion that dublin bottled it however as I was impressed with a lot of the things they did yest. One thing is for sure, they wont get better chance than this year anytime soon and will be kicking themselves. Really,really hate dublin with a passion, however that bunch of players went up a wee bit in my estimation yesterday.

fionnmccool wrote:

with Bernard Brogan the only really class act on the Dublin side.

we had a debate about how good brogan is last year on the old forum, now i have to tell you i told you so

we didnt debate how good he was, there was never really any doubt in that.

The debate centreback was whether he deserved and All Star award based on one performance.

The thing about Cork is the strength they have in depth. Against Roscommon and Dublin again, they were able to bring in 3 or 4 lads who made a major difference. I'm sure Dublin were tiring but when you can bring on quality like Nicholas Murphy and O'Neill, it can really emphasise that.

Of course, it does beg the question does Counihan know his best team because surely Murphy in particular should be starting for them.

One thing is for sure is that if Kildare have chances early to build up a gap then we must be absolutely clincal with our shooting and build up as big a gap as possible because Cork have shown that they will finish strongly

Dublin had One scoring forward, and pushed Cork to the pin of their collar.

Alan Brogan looks to be a spent force. Brian Cullen has had a good year but isnt a forward.
Henry is not a forward. Eoin O'Gara is a poor mans Kieran Donaghy, Corkery is not a scoring forward either.

Cluxton has scored more in the Championship than Henry and Corkery together.
That says it all.

For Certain whoever wins between Kildare and Down, The Cork backline will be tested a lot more than they were against Dublin.

Cork are a shadow of the team that annihilated us 2 years ago. The have regressed badly. Counihan is playing a game plan that was around 20 years ago, get a team fit and hope that sheer talent wins out. He still doesn't know his starting 15 and is blessed with a talented bench that gets them home. He has no plan A, B or C.

Whoever gets to the final I would prefer to have met Dublin. Its easy to plan for 1 or 2 talented forwards but Cork have 5 top class forwards plus a few on the bench.

TheBigFullForward wrote:

The thing about Cork is the strength they have in depth. Against Roscommon and Dublin again, they were able to bring in 3 or 4 lads who made a major difference. I'm sure Dublin were tiring but when you can bring on quality like Nicholas Murphy and O'Neill, it can really emphasise that.

Of course, it does beg the question does Counihan know his best team because surely Murphy in particular should be starting for them.

One thing is for sure is that if Kildare have chances early to build up a gap then we must be absolutely clincal with our shooting and build up as big a gap as possible because Cork have shown that they will finish strongly

Have I stepped into a time warp here .. I was under the impression we were playing Down next week, not Cork.

flourman wrote:

TheBigFullForward wrote:

The thing about Cork is the strength they have in depth. Against Roscommon and Dublin again, they were able to bring in 3 or 4 lads who made a major difference. I'm sure Dublin were tiring but when you can bring on quality like Nicholas Murphy and O'Neill, it can really emphasise that.

Of course, it does beg the question does Counihan know his best team because surely Murphy in particular should be starting for them.

One thing is for sure is that if Kildare have chances early to build up a gap then we must be absolutely clincal with our shooting and build up as big a gap as possible because Cork have shown that they will finish strongly

Have I stepped into a time warp here .. I was under the impression we were playing Down next week, not Cork.

Hypothetically of course, not taking Down for granted at all.

fionnmccool wrote:

we didnt debate how good he was, there was never really any doubt in that.

The debate centreback was whether he deserved and All Star award based on one performance.

You lads have very long memories.

As has been said a Kildare v Dublin final would have been great craic a once in a lifetime match to end all matches. that's gone now so we as Fionn has said can only worry about ourselves now. The clock is ticking

Could be the winners of our match will win Sam. Wasn't impressed with Cork at all. Given the chance we'll give them way more problems up front than Dublin did. One man can only do so much. God knows we've known that for long enough. But not anymore!

Cork owe us an All Ireland ever since Fahy and Tompkins handed them two in '89 and '90.

Time to call in the Debt.

Yep. Brian Murphy wasn't enough!

Down this Sunday first lads ...............

It's all just what if talk.

McCartan seems pretty interested in Cork.... read this..

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/gaa/all-ireland-football-championship-down-given-food-for-thought-by-cork-14920650.html#ixzz0xTAauv41