I was looking for a thread to post this on but almost everyone of them seems to have descended into ridicule.

Ok, few things first.
1. The game was a bit of a let down. Both teams are capable of much more. We did ok to well for 60 minutes, but we collapsed in the last 10. Its a very worrying sign. Mayo, lets be honest, apart from the last 10 were desperate. I expected so much more from them.All week i was genuinely shitting it that they would beat us and beat us well. They seemed to only have one tactic, and that was "hit the big man" (by that i mean the long ball into AOS, not actually hitting Diarmuid Connolly..)
2. Stephen Cluxton is definitely coming to the end of a glittering superb career. At times his decision making was very suspect and his cough up of possession was Armagh-esque.
3. MDMA and Paul Flynn are not at the races this year. For whatever reason, these 2 are just not justifying our faith in them. Thats ok tho, they owe us nothing, but for 2 players who back in May u would have said were "must haves" in the team, both now look disposable, and both have good subs waiting behind them
4. Philly Mac, what he did, the dive was a disgrace. I was embarrassed by it and I condemn it, utterly.
5. Connollys sending off was a scandal. A fella has him in a headlock, then his mate joins him and throws a dig, Connolly is on the ground, his head in another fellas grip and a second fella is digging at him too....what was he meant to do!! Any man in that position would panic, i suspect Connolly did just that.
5. Keegans behaviour all year, for a superb footballer, has been at times disgraceful and he will be at it again.
6. My respect for AOS has gone up ten fold. The man is a machine. His strength is incredible. What does he have to do to get a free! At times he was bursting thru 3 men and when he falls and correctly drops the ball, he is still penalised!! AOS is a mans kinda man, a proper fotballer and a no nonsense kinda fella. I have huge respect for him
7. The Mayo MF is not atall as strong as I feared and was shown up a bit.
8. Jim Gavin needs to seriously tell a few Dublin lads to cop on. Some of the carry on and the behaviour was utterly wrong and risking not only your own place on the team, but the teams very place in the competition!!

Look, all in all, it wasnt a great game, but Mayo showed great character to get back into it. But I do feel thaty the euphoria of the come back glosses over some serious faults. For 60 mins, Dublin totally outplayed Mayo. Mayo looked cluless tactically, they looked sour and bitter at times and but for a hairy penalty, they might have gotten a 5+ beating.
Dublin were never flying, but I dont think they have that extra gear this year, I think their all round game has indeed regressed and I would fear for us.

All this said, I think on the discipline side, one was as bad as the other
I think on the football side, Dublin were better over all, and I think this game will bring them on massively. This was a HUGE step up from what went before

I expect DC to get off and I expect Dublin to win the replay by 4 points or so.

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 01/09/2015 18:07:55    1780169

Fair play Liam. Great post...
The reason has returned...
Pity some other posters on here wouldn't do the same...
Boy has there been some rubbish on this forum recently

Redhandsam (Tyrone) - Posts: 93 - 01/09/2015 18:53:33    1780190

Good post .. One thing I would add is I think the loss of or Carroll for Dublin and Vaughan for mayo had a major bearing on the game both teams forced to reshuffle very early on .With no like for like replacements..mayo lost one of their main drivers into attack and mcmahon was never comfortable on o se which I think in some ways led to the general nervousness n the Dublin defence including Cluxton I think if I Carroll is fit it will greatly help the Dublin cause the next day ... Vaughan wud b a big loss for mayo

rossy15 (Roscommon) - Posts: 616 - 01/09/2015 18:56:32    1780192

Liam, your comment hit-the-big-man is a rather snide one. You seem to imply that Connolly can do no wrong even though he clearly punches Keegan whilst sitting on top of him. There was blocking going on all the game but the players impeded did not resort to punching the blocker. You find Keegans marking of Connolly unacceptable but obviously see nothing wrong with the way Dublin dealt with O Shea. Hardly balanced comment.

neverright (Roscommon) - Posts: 1648 - 01/09/2015 19:29:40    1780202

Can't argue with much of that liam..

I think Flynn is getting a little harshly criticised, his role has changed and he was tasked with a deeper role.. did have some misplaced passes granted

Outside of the dive Philly was hugely impressive and is a beast of a man

I did think AOS should have had a penalty

I dunno what to make of Dublin, we were comfortable for 60 mins and then gave away soft scores.. If there was no penalty we would have won with scores to spare

Can't see diarmo getting off though, CCCC will need to start upholding bans at some stage and he did strike him

AthCliath87 (Dublin) - Posts: 345 - 01/09/2015 19:35:47    1780208

Good post Liam.

I had all but given up on HS this week but fair play to you.

I have a slight quibble with you about Connollys sending off. He is a great player but was more at fault than you describe.

I also feel that the game was unrefereeable & that any complaints about decisions should rest with both teams who made life very difficult for the officials.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 01/09/2015 19:46:40    1780213

My two cents: Aidan O'Shea clearly connects with his left hand to Philly McMahons head, fair play to AOS he gave himself a good chance of connecting by flinging out BOTH of his arms.

Dublin haven't a chance in the replay. With all the guff in the media and online that's gone on since the final whistle Cillian O'Connor's going to be an even busier boy than he was on Sunday. Philly McMahon to see an easy red, Cian O'Sullivan to see black early on, take your pick with the rest. Lee Keegan to get a lucky yellow, unless he's really stupid.

Gavvygavgav (Dublin) - Posts: 382 - 01/09/2015 19:53:39    1780217

Before the game I thought Mayo would bring the passion and heart but that Dublin's cuteness would win out.

Mayo were brutal until the last ten mins but Dublin were fairly poor too except some for some fine individual scores the first half and that 5 min spell in the second half which yielded 1-3.


Both teams were just simply too defensive and didnt have the cohesion like Donegal had in 2012 to turn defense into proper attack.
I thought the short 13 yard kickouts to Dublin's corer backs brought unnessary pressure on Dublin, they may have had possession but then they had to constantly try and work the ball out and up the field meeting a wall of Mayo players.

But I think at the end of the day Mayo is simply mayo, they may win the next day but you have fella s who look great in the Connaught Championship and 1/4 finals falling on their arse again when the shit hits the fan. Kevin Mcloughlin gets praised out the hills but he is the current prime example of someone who wouldnt hit a barn door when the heat is on in a MUST WIN game. Mayo have had too many of these players throughout the years.

The replay is finely balanced, I think Mayo finished with a stronger team than what started. They need to take the game to Dublin.Simply Dublin have to improve too.
Kerry would not have feared anything from both those sides but then again the final will be a total different kettle of fish whoever comes through the next day.

woops (Kerry) - Posts: 2073 - 01/09/2015 19:54:10    1780218

Good post Liam, you summed UT up pretty much perfectly

flack (Dublin) - Posts: 1054 - 01/09/2015 20:05:26    1780225

Very good post, Liam, although I don't share your optimism for Connolly. I've a feeling that this one will stick.

Thomas Clarke (Tyrone) - Posts: 1002 - 01/09/2015 20:12:43    1780233

Excellent post Liam, very fair and balanced, also I'm glad to see you condemning McMahon for the dive, the Gaa really need to sort this out for next season.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 01/09/2015 20:27:21    1780242

Liam - fair play to you . No tainted glass there .

Spot on with most things there .

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 01/09/2015 20:44:00    1780253

Good fair and honest post, can't argue with much of that. Having watched it back I think Connolly will get off, much like the Keane incident a couple of weeks ago he was provoked into the reaction. The most disappointing thing for me was the spectacle as like most, I was expecting a fast, free flowing game and it just did not happen.

I want to forget about this game now as Saturday won't be long coming around. I just hope Mayo learned the lesson that if you actually put pressure on Cluxton's kickouts and not concede possession, he can be shaky. It showed a long enough shot of his face after Mayo got level and he looked completely shellshocked.

wee_yo (Mayo) - Posts: 63 - 01/09/2015 20:52:57    1780259

Very good and balanced post there Liam.

thelongridge (Offaly) - Posts: 1735 - 01/09/2015 20:53:44    1780261

Would agree with most of that

Few points

1. Thought Flynn was reasonable in context of playing against a packed defence but has been poor up to now
2. On Connolly - that treatment happens - Murphy got it v Tyrone , gooch got it v Dublin 2 years ago - agree players should be protected but you cannot cannot react
3. I thought Mayo played well except for 5 minutes after the 2nd goal - they lost their shape in the middle and winged about a few calls not given - in that period Dublin picked up 2 handy points with more space than they had in the rest of the game . With the exception of that period and 3/4 bad misses 10 mins after halftime they stuck to their plan - their plan was to deny dubli ns inside 6 possession and they pretty much did that - brogan, Connolly, rock etc not seeing much ball
4 maybe the Mayo management should have been more flexible - B Moran on earlier - push up,on kick outs earlier - another option up front to pull the sweepers away from o Shea

ruanua (Donegal) - Posts: 4966 - 01/09/2015 20:57:01    1780264

Was just wondering after reading the Dublin posters views on here, do any of ye think that the Dublin team lack real leadership especially when the pressure is on. Last year they were cruising against Donegal and again last Sunday, you would think if there had been real leadership on the field they would have closed out both matches. Some of the more experienced players like MDMC, Bastick, Cluxton for example almost became a liability when real leadership was needed. Could it be that the extreme competition for places is having a negative affect on leadership, too many Indians and not enough chiefs

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1044 - 01/09/2015 21:17:03    1780285

I think it was our worst championship performance in 5 years.
I think Dublin paid us a sideways compliment. They spent a lot of time playing defensive trying to restrict us and sacrificed a lot of their attacking game.
I thought on the final whistle it was as good a miracle as was ever seen, that we were pure blessed. But looking back on the player we started playing shitorbust football and reaped the dividends. Could even have won but no-one deserved to lose on the day.

I have no clue who'll win on Saturday but hopefully it'll be a great game.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7335 - 01/09/2015 21:19:12    1780287

The original post was well written & a good summary of the game.

The only thing I sort of disagree about is Connolly, but as Liam explained it, he probably panicked when faced with a battle like that.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 02/09/2015 08:58:56    1780353

Honestly lads, go to joe.ie and there is a clip from the stand of the entire incident. Keegan first hits him, then drags him to the ground, has him in a headlock and then another mayo man comes over and hits him a dig too. Its very clear from this angle what actually happened. Imagine you are on the ground, your neck in the grip of a powerful man like keegan, u cant move your head, then you get a dig from the side from another bloke....panic would be the very natural reaction, and when u panic, u do what u can to get out. I cant understand how anyone could dispute that? Remember when u were young and your brother or friend would put you in a sleeper hold and you cant get out...??

Just to balance this, I 100% agree Cillian O'Connor has no case to answer and what he did was also a very understandable reaction, The ball was miles away, ROC shouldnt have been interacting with Cillian atall. Dublin players need to concentrate on their football and stop this silly crp that has re-emerged at times this year that i thought we had left behind when Pillar left. I noticed Alan at a bit of it with the big lad from Fermanagh at the final whistle in the 1/4 also.

Just play bloody football lads. We are better than this Mayo team, just beat them with football.

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 02/09/2015 10:59:59    1780469

Didn't see what happened between COC and ROC but if ROC was at the same stuff he was at with Neil Gallagher + Murphy last year then he deserved a clout. Hes a good player and doesnt need to be at that craic.

benjyyy (Donegal) - Posts: 1422 - 02/09/2015 11:46:02    1780510