Donegal where terrific today and the way they went about it is to be admired end of. Enjoy the day, its richly deserved.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4898 - 31/08/2014 19:17:26    1645477

Donegal where terrific today and the way they went about it is to be admired end of. Enjoy the day, its richly deserved.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4898 - 31/08/2014 19:17:26    1645478

A lot of very gracious comments from Dublin fans, fair play. Absolutely correct to point out that it was the media who hyped up this team to the extent it was. Never heard anyone from the Dublin camp say they were unbeatable. Hope the media don't turn on individual players now as they often do.

Rightly or wrongly Dublin stuck to their game plan today, and it came well short against what was a complete performance by a brilliant Donegal team. Delighted for them, they were written by almost everyone on here and by absolutely everyone in the media. No ambiguity in the result, absolutely emphatic.

Looking forward to the final already.

FullyForward (Kerry) - Posts: 13 - 31/08/2014 19:44:02    1645505

As good a weekend of Gaelic football as I can recall, credit to all teams involved especially Kerry & Donegal.It should be a great final.
As for the title of this thread I can't say I heard any Dub saying they were invincible or unbeatable, the media love to label and build teams up for the big fall is more like what happened.
Dublin played very well in the first half, if they had taken their goal chances the outcome could have been very different .That said hats off the Donegal on a great win.

Barnowl94 (Galway) - Posts: 3150 - 31/08/2014 19:45:38    1645508

AthCliath
County: Dublin
Posts: 3374
The only solice i can take out of today is that people can now see what some of us Dublin posters have been saying , although our voices were swamped by the noise of a few people to proclaim this team unbeatable. It was 2012 All Ireland Winners against 2013 winners. 15 against 15.It was always going to be a tough match. Donegal battled harder and the loss of last year to Mayo was a huge motivator ,this is why back to backs are so hard to win. I hope it will be the same for us next year. These are amatuer players who are only human and every team can play poorly on a given day. Again Well done Donegal your tactics were spot on today .

That's it exactly.

rcarragh (Dublin) - Posts: 305 - 31/08/2014 19:49:22    1645511

did the dublin players believe in the hype around them? how many times have dublin been over hyped?

kerryluck (Kerry) - Posts: 2517 - 31/08/2014 20:15:07    1645539

AthCliath
County: Dublin
Posts: 3374

1645445
The only solice i can take out of today is that people can now see what some of us Dublin posters have been saying , although our voices were swamped by the noise of a few people to proclaim this team unbeatable. It was 2012 All Ireland Winners against 2013 winners. 15 against 15.It was always going to be a tough match. Donegal battled harder and the loss of last year to Mayo was a huge motivator ,this is why back to backs are so hard to win. I hope it will be the same for us next year. These are amatuer players who are only human and every team can play poorly on a given day. Again Well done Donegal your tactics were spot on today .

AthCliath in fairness you constantly urged caution and remained totally grounded in your comments when the rest of us were upping the ante.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 31/08/2014 20:50:05    1645573

kerryluck
County: Kerry
Posts: 2233

1645539
did the dublin players believe in the hype around them? how many times have dublin been over hyped?

The only people that over hyped them were those that don't formulate their own opinion and listen to the media. There is absolutely no way that the Dublin players bought into their own hype. I refuse to believe that - I do suggest that Donegal were the more hungry team though, as to be expected, the holders by nature, cannot be as hungry as the challenger which is why it is so hard to retain an AI.

GetOverTheBar (Tyrone) - Posts: 1388 - 31/08/2014 21:02:17    1645593

I know Joe Brolly can be annoying and infuriating but his newspaper column today was bang on the money; to be fair he called it exactly as it panned out. He likened the match to the Ali-Foreman fight in 1974. EVERY boxing pundit had Foreman the clear favourite and for 7 rounds he battered Ali, took everything he had and then when he tired in the 8th BINGO Ali floored him and won.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9706 - 31/08/2014 21:09:10    1645601

I put 20 euro on Donegal to win about 2 weeks ago (the only decent odds you could get). I still said on here Dublin would win without breaking a sweat (they actually lost without breaking a sweat). But the way Donegal played in second half, they humbled most of us so that surely is the sweetest way to win!

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4898 - 31/08/2014 21:15:47    1645611

I put 20 euro on Donegal to win about 2 weeks ago (the only decent odds you could get). I still said on here Dublin would win without breaking a sweat (they actually lost without breaking a sweat). But the way Donegal played in second half, they humbled most of us so that surely is the sweetest way to win!

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4898 - 31/08/2014 21:15:49    1645612

kerryluck
County: Kerry
Posts: 2233

1645539 did the dublin players believe in the hype around them? how many times have dublin been over hyped?

The Dublin players are always over hyped by the media as im sure you and everyone else knows,but you insinuating that the Dublin players believed in the hype is insulting to the Dublin players and indeed the Donegal players who were outstanding,stuck to there game plan and were immense and totally deserved there victory,maybe you should be more concerned about how Kerry will perform against an excellent Donegal team than asking questions about Dublins perceived belief in hype

superbluedub (Dublin) - Posts: 2837 - 31/08/2014 21:17:17    1645615

One of the greatest performances from an Ulster team at Croke Park congratulations to Donegal. Dublin lost nothing in defeat good winners in two of the last three years and they will be major contenders in the years ahead.

Byanthon (Tyrone) - Posts: 1780 - 31/08/2014 21:18:42    1645618

Dublin's one in a row comed to an end. They were well beaten but Donegal were savage. Dublin defending for goals was terrible.

pdempsey (Mayo) - Posts: 1313 - 31/08/2014 21:46:26    1645646

And mayos search for one a row in living memory continues. :) Who'd have thought our teams would have been out of it this weekend. The beauty of sport!!! Good luck to kerry and donegal in the final! A fascinating contest awaits us i hope!

Jackeen (Dublin) - Posts: 4097 - 31/08/2014 21:52:00    1645653

To be honest,Dubs may laugh at hammering Meath etc,but if the likes of Meath were better,it would prepare them better for games like today

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 31/08/2014 21:55:20    1645658

Dublin tried to win the All Ireland playing fast attacking football and they simply forgot to defend sufficiently. Perhaps them beating Cork in that league semi when their defense was at sea in the first half was the worst thing that could of happened to them. Donegal were excellent yesterday and played to a level that surpassed 2012. Also, gutted to here Alan Brogan has retired, such a footballer down through the years especially before Dublin won All Irelands.

222 (UK) - Posts: 695 - 01/09/2014 09:33:35    1645703

From my experience most of the people saying Dublin would walk it were from outside and most Dubs were fairly weary even though they were confident. That was the same yesterday, most Donegal folk I talked to said they'd be happy once they weren't hammered (probably being cute) and the Dubs thought they were in for a tight game.

Dublin were never unbeatable. Playing them at their own game I'd say they're as close to unbeatable as possible, but that's not how sport works. There's a variety of styles and matchups. No team with big weaknesses are unbeatable and we have weaknesses. I said it last year that I wanted midfield, #6 and the Full back line improved on. Arguably all 3 improved despite minimal change (just Nicky Dev) but all 3 were also badly exploited yesterday.

CaisleanCnucha (Dublin) - Posts: 1379 - 01/09/2014 09:42:54    1645714

Ah look it, I don't think anybody is really claiming 'best team ever', when this Dublin team have won 3 or 4 in a row or 3 or 4 of the next 5 then it can certainly be talked about but it's early days yet, not much to discuss here.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 01/09/2014 09:43:21    1645715

county man
County: Limerick
Posts: 747

1645444 Shows what's wrong with the championship, Dublin have one bad day and are gone. They were beat fair and square today but have no chance to recover. That is why the championship should be played on a proper league basis, not on a cup knockout system.

You want them given a second chance after losing the semi final? Therefore Mayo should get a second chance?
And if Kerry and Donegal win the semis again, the loser of the final should get a second chance and then if the losers win the second day, they get a second chacne???

Joe_Bloggs (Tipperary) - Posts: 186 - 01/09/2014 09:44:34    1645716