People have said this kind of thing the whole time but I do wonder what are the criteria here when they say "both teams were poor enough". It's an epidemic on this board at the moment.

Like say Mayo today or even Meath against us the last day. I've seen a lot of people say that they were poor. Why?

If one team runs away with it then the other team didn't give them a game. If they come out of a tight game then they should've won by more. A lot seems to be based on the opponents performance not in the actual game but the previous year's championship.

The only time you don't see it is when there's either an upset or both defences disappear and the forwards run riot which apparently is only when both teams play well.

Is this just stuff posters say here to make themselves look intelligent?

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 13/07/2014 16:19:46    1618317

couldn't have said it any better myself.

Meath and Kildare are both a top 12 football team so not poor outfits. Meath played very well against Kildare and ran out of legs in the end. Room for improvement for both but nobody is perfect this time of year.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 13/07/2014 16:34:18    1618325

Poor to me is bad wides, bad passing, no gameplan and no commitment.

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8592 - 13/07/2014 16:46:45    1618340

Kildare had two of them realdub and meath had one plus another (lacking in fitness levels). Still not two poor teams whatever way you look at it.

SOme posters remind me of Dunphy for the WC. He says pretty much every team except Germany is very average. That's just not true and it reminds me of lads on here saying only Kerry and the Dubs are decent.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 13/07/2014 16:54:30    1618351

All the experts tipped Kildare to beat Meath but when Meath bet them pulling up they just criticised Kildare without giving any credit to Meath. If Meath were to beat Dublin, they would say it was because Dublin took Meath for granted or had an off day. I guess you've to be reaching All Ireland finals to be given any credit.

Maestro (Meath) - Posts: 569 - 13/07/2014 16:54:47    1618352

No, definitely not poor teams, I personally fancied Kildare as I think they're a decent side, and showed today that they're still up for it. Meath can be very good also.

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8592 - 13/07/2014 17:04:28    1618364

Let's not confuse poor play with poor teams :D

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8592 - 13/07/2014 17:10:55    1618368

My best guess is that people are comparing all performances vs the best we've seen from Dublin/Mayo/Donegal in the last few years. Naturally that's unfair to the likes of Meath/Kildare, who are a good match for the majority of counties and are playing a relatively high standard.
Maybe it's a byproduct of the increasing professionalism of the game, with standards/expectations rising at an unrealistic level.

Dr_Doctor (Kildare) - Posts: 11 - 13/07/2014 17:23:02    1618378

teams are going to want to up there game the championship is gettin serious now.

poor play is bad wides bad passing being selfish not passing not acting like a team and lobbing the ball into no where and giving the ball away you cant afford to be doing that not even at the provinical stage of the championship

there are some teams that are very good but can play poor sometimes they jus have to work on it if they are serious about winnning Sam Maguire

clairebeardub (Dublin) - Posts: 2 - 13/07/2014 17:41:38    1618391

Well Meath beat Kildare fairly well to be fair,but all the focus was on that Kildare were a poor team.Kildare hammered Down today,are Down a poor team?!

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 13/07/2014 17:44:44    1618394

The game couldnt be easy on the eye because space is so tight. It is easy to sit back and expect marquee football for 70 minutes, but it is very unfair and shows a level of either laziness or stupidity.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 13/07/2014 17:47:38    1618398

I think some teams are more concerned with playing good football rather than winning football. We're definitely guilty of that in my opinion. Even now we'd have the old 'sure we played the better football in '96" excuse. Indeed we did, but we got schooled by Meath in what it takes to win an All Ireland. A lesson we have yet to learn, how to dog it out when holding a lead or claw our way back to level a game and then score the winner.

Kerry, The Dubs and the Galway team of Joyce and Donnelan are the teams I can remember playing great football but also winning football.

Tyrone, Armagh, Donegal and Meath could play some nice football when they liked but they could also win ugly. It didn't bother them one bit if they played well. Winners know how to win games, playing good football along the way is incidental.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7345 - 13/07/2014 17:57:33    1618410