Well now, bad day at the office for those raised on songs and stories.

Well not entirely so great day for Crokes getting to the All Ireland family congrats to all out Stilorgan way. Rory looked to moving as well as ive seen since the start of the last decade, while Cian O Connor looks like hes fulfilling his potential. All the more impressive without Mannion. Be a tough final Kilcoo are no slouches but should be a cracking game.

Real feel good factor around Drumcondra, pints, full pubs and a party atmosphere after the two semis. All looked good heading up to the home of the six in a row. But unfortunately back down to earth with a bang. Congrats to Armagh fully deserved the win and looking very competitive and hungry at this level, very well organised and i was surprised by that given i dont always think McGeeney teams are that well organised. But they were great value for their win.

Where to start with Dublin. Most disappointing thing for me was - doenst seem to be any lessons learned from last year. Looked to me as if Dessie looked at it after Mayo and said to himself, we won one, lost one - it was just bad luck.

It was the same thing possession based game, running down blind alleys, trying to break down the blanket and getting nailed on the break every time.

Its official, its how you beat Dublin, just put 14 men behind the ball and pick them off. Dublin dont have a plan B.

Two things have happened we dont have the players anymore who can break a line - Jack, Macker, Dermo, Mannion, etc. and we dont have a manager who was as cute as Gavin in making space for gaps to appear - Gavin was great at it.

So in my opinion and im keen not to knee jerk we're in for a tough year based on last night and waht i saw. We need a change in approach. In my opinion we need to get back to a bit of what Giller did, sit back, be solid draw teams out and naturally the space appears going forward. We cant always just run into a blanket and for it to breakdown and get picked off. Time for a change Dessie.

Else wise i was concerned about how solid we were through the middle, teams transitioned through the central Chanel too easy and i thought we were very poor at the back, Byrne just isnt a reliable no 3 - though hes a good player - hes a corner back all day. But there is to much space and it was to easy to score against us last night.

Not all doom and gloom i am very impressed with Lee Gannon, every inch a Dublin senior footballer. Was very impressed with young McGarry when he came on and i thought Seanie Bugler had an excellent game.


But where i am at, is we seriously need to look at changing how we approach games and trying to take teams on with the possession based game and the blanket - its not working and teams have cottoned on to us and how you beat Dublin. All our rivals have 4-5 top quality players - who on any day can enable their county to win an All Irealdn, we have as many in Con, Kilkenny, Fenton, Jamsie etc. We should be compeititve for an Ireland in theback - yet i cant see it if we continue to approach games the way we are and we will be relying on old war horses like Cooper, Fitzy and Jamsie once again this year to enable creaking lines. Might be a long year.

But next up is a jaunt down to Tralee which we have to relish and be motivated to take on Kerry on in their own back yard, always good craic of a trip and looking forward to it already.

As always, Up The Dubs - Its great to be back!

TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 30/01/2022 12:25:36    2397142

Missed a paragraph there, stunning stuff by the Hurlers. Hope they enjoyed last night and bodes well for the year.

TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 30/01/2022 12:48:35    2397149

!00% agree about the lack of lessons learned from the Mayo defeat and still no sign of a plan B. So risk averse it's not funny - at 6 or 7 points down late in the 2nd, a shooting chance opened up for Dean on the Cusack side, a difficult shot no doubt but a shot that I've seen him make in AI semis and finals before, and he decided to check back and recycle the ball as they had been doing all game.

The goal came from a frustrated hoof into the square (looked like a square ball to me, haven't seen it back) but that went against the grain of what it appears they're drilled to do.

It's not pretty to watch, even when it's effective, like in the first half v Mayo. But it al looks so rigid that they still cannot respond fluidly when a game turns against them.

It isn't all doom and gloom, no - the wides count was terrible, turn some of those into scores and knock out some errors and that 5 pt loss is turned around. But that wasn't Kerry last night, and the ease which Armagh were able to work scores was deflating.

The jury is out.

Gavvygavgav (Dublin) - Posts: 382 - 30/01/2022 14:52:02    2397168

Firstly - well done to the hurlers on a very business-like and efficient performance. Signs of a promising year ahead if they can stay on this upward trajectory.

Very frustrating night at the office for the footballers. Agreed entirely with usernames assessment above. We have no plan B whatsoever and I think the most frustrating thing for me is seeing some of our typical go to men playing within themselves as they are shackled by the type of game they are being asked to play. We used to make opposition teams endure death by a thousand cuts with a calculated and methodical build up before tiring them out and picking off scores. Teams are wise to that approach now so as the game is evolving our game plan also has to evolve. And currently it most definitely isn't. I think when we get our strongest 15 back on the pitch we will still match most teams in the country but when you have a core of players with multiple all Irelands and bucket loads of skill and creativity then does the time come when you just have to let them go and play? This sort of turgid football can't be enjoyable to play and training week on week on the same tactical basis has to be stale at this stage too. We have the nucleus of an All-Ireland final team in us - Cooper, Fitzy, Jimmy Mc, Small, Fenton, Howard, Scully, KK, Con, Rock and then you'd hope one or two of the new lads burst onto the scene come championship. Gannon for me is the only one at present who is making any sort of a claim. I think Dessie is probably too stubborn to change anything but maybe another couple of defeats might make him see sense cos at this rate it'll be his last year in charge.

TrueBlue35 (Dublin) - Posts: 206 - 31/01/2022 10:28:54    2397382

Don't want to get all hurling snob here, but some of the football supporters and others might learn to have a bit of manners as regards the lesser code. If you don't want to watch the hurling fair enough but let them enjoy the few minutes of the presentation.

Anyway, some of them will have a few years now to savour the joys of not winning every day - or even most days. It is character building :-)

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 2554 - 31/01/2022 10:53:40    2397396

TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 31/01/2022 11:37:07    2397420

Well, there was at least one member of the sideline who looked fit to be tied when all this was going on. Insulting really. Would have been nice for them even to go down to the Hill if so minded which was reasonably full for most of the hurling.

Only the Walsh Cup and whatever, but as someone said in 2011 regarding beating the Cats in league final, sure it's only the league : "Where the *bleep* have you been for the last 70 years"!!

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 2554 - 31/01/2022 12:53:26    2397457

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4896 - 31/01/2022 18:51:51    2397590

We're in transition for sure, we'll be down for a couple of years at least so we'll need to be patient.
We'll never be as good again, nor will any side. But we're at least contenders so we'll always be worth a watch!
Lets hope the hurlers can bring it up a level and keep their present mindset.

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8589 - 31/01/2022 19:27:45    2397595

Well. there's another game decided by that Cork lad, Didn't even black card the right man!

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 2554 - 05/02/2022 19:29:01    2398469

Yes ref has made a few strange decisions but again it's his officials who are giving him info..scully was 20 yards away..watching it I know the dubs were down to 14 but surely they should have a man in front of Clifford..I have to admit that Dessie looks completely out of his depth..

CTGAA10 (Limerick) - Posts: 2214 - 05/02/2022 19:58:01    2398474

Dublin as bad as they've been in a generation and still outplayed them in second half. Had the goal stood, might have been different.

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 2554 - 05/02/2022 20:36:30    2398481

It's bad news when your opponents score 1 point in the entire 2nd half and you still lose by 7!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8589 - 05/02/2022 20:42:13    2398483

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 05/02/2022 20:51:24    2398485

Down behind enemy lines, drowned. Not to worried about the result, better performance than Armagh, some hopeful signs if we can pull it together, luck aka Lane went against tonight, need to get forwards fit and firing - must have a few pints down here, wish me luck! ;)

TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 05/02/2022 21:22:34    2398491

It's such a pity to see comerford delaying the kick outs in the first half that really motivated kerrru and unfortunately I don't think you'd ever see the mighty Cluxton doing that, that to me is the difference between a good and a great GAA man, the game is there to be played not delayed

Dubs to pick up wins against Mayo and Donegal and possibly Tyrone, they'll do enough to stay up but this is the problem with gavins model, he didn't breed enough in his time bar con and ciaran he didn't really introduce new blood and now the team is in transition, like Man Utd I feel it'll take years.

Where is the other small? That bugler seems more interested in pushing than playing, the full back line was very poor, Clifford is a big man and Dublin don't have anyone to match him

Sportsfanatic90 (Westmeath) - Posts: 213 - 06/02/2022 07:18:51    2398497

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 2554 - 06/02/2022 09:05:19    2398502

Cat and mouse. Very hard to judge teams this time of year. Fact is if you have me 1000 EUR right now I'd still back Dublin over Kerry. If anything happens David Clifford god forbid they are goosed.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11230 - 06/02/2022 09:21:05    2398507

dubarra (Wicklow) - Posts: 541 - 06/02/2022 09:50:48    2398514

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4700 - 06/02/2022 10:25:09    2398517