Lads can I say first of all lets take all the slagging and harsh comments on the chin because quite frankly our team deserves everything that is said about it, we were total rubbish and other than cluxton (who has let us down before) not a single Dublin player had the balls to front up today. So where do we go from here? answer quite frankly is nowhere with the current setup and that includes the management. Is Mickey Whelan or Pat Gilroy capable of taking Dublin forward? NO!! Lets assess their decisions here now..... Paul Griffin as Captain???........no doubt Griffin ia a fine player and in Leinster champ he usually does ok but can any real Dub tell me on this site that they would find him inspiring or follow him to hell and back for the cause...... I WOULDN'T.......Magee and McConnell as a midfield partnership!!, I'm sure they look good in Dublin league games but are they really the men suitable for the trenches in an All Ireland Q/Final, Whelan and Ryan may have question marks over them but they are clearly better than those pair...... Are their St Vincents Club Men the best we have for Centre Back or Centre Forward, I think not and it was a case of keeping the Vinnies in there. Bernard Brogan, Cluxton, McConnell and Sherlock can live together all the want but until everyone of them gets out there and realises what it means to the man on the street they will not get within an arses roar of an All Ireland.........Don't ever recall Bernard Snr living with Jimmy Keaveny or Paddy Cullen.........These Guys have let the County down, they have set Dublin back years and if they think as GPA members they should be paid then they should check out the scorboard in croke park today..............To justify the support we give them they could at least put up a fight.........Tonight I'm ashamed to be associated with them...........Am I alone or am I over reacting

bluejay (Dublin) - Posts: 47 - 03/08/2009 20:21:10    375528

I agree with Bluejay. Im devastated today.Not because we lost to Kerry but the manner in which we died again,2 years in a row, no guts, no glory no respect. Thats the first time ever I was embarrassed to be a Dub.Im 35 years of age and that today has to be the wake up call we need to rebuild and come back when we have a team with BALLS. Shame on Pat Gilroy and the Dublin players today.You let the whoile county down and I for one will not support this bunch of losers. When I think of what happened Tommy Lyons a few years ago I felt that this was the response this lot should have got today. I would respect if nobody came on and told me to cop on and be loyal and blah blah,,,this performance was a disgrace today,,not a bad day at the office as this squad has been full of them as well bit a heartless, gutless, passionless and talentless display by a squad who have learnt how to be losers together. Bye Bye Gilroy.

Amo (Dublin) - Posts: 21 - 03/08/2009 21:08:04    375654

Perhaps you are over reacting........just a tad.
First things first, this is Pat Gilroy, Mickey Whelan & Co. are still on their first year, so it's extremely unlikely that they're going to be replaced until their term is up. Secondly, even if they were to leave, it's extremely unlikey that an outsider would ever be appointed as manager of the Dublin team. In truth, the DCB will always want someone they can control as manager, which is why we won't have Brian Mullins managing the side any time soon. Thirdly, the present management need to take a serious look at the present side. Our side needs a real full back, a proper midfield and a good free taker in the Barney Rock/Charlie Redmond mode. In my opinion that free taker is Mossy Quinn. During the O'Byrne and Nat League games, he should be given the sole responsibility for taking frees. This will build up his confidence, and eventually, we'll have the free taker we need. Remember when Charlie Redmond was playing, he got us out of many scrapes in many games we should have actually lost. (that said, nothing would have saved us today!)
Once Mark Davoren returns, we'll have a full-forward target man we can rely on, but we'll have some job replacing Jayo, Wheelo and possibly Shane Ryan.
Lastly, we have quite a young team, average age just 22 at present. We also have players coming through from U-21 and minor level, though they're not ready yet. We are down right now.....very down, but we will rise again, though maybe not for two years or more. Keep the faith!!

PatdeVerse (Dublin) - Posts: 107 - 03/08/2009 21:18:05    375682

Lads, I'm gutted as anyone, but we lost today because we believed we would. You could see by the way the players heads went down after 40 seconds it was game over. The pace slowed, the leadership and organisation was gone. We don't need better players. They played out of their skins 3 weeks ago. We have the quality. A good team played bad today. It's management.

kkdub (Kilkenny) - Posts: 19 - 03/08/2009 21:18:28    375684

Good point KKDub.

theblindassasin (Meath) - Posts: 915 - 03/08/2009 21:43:26    375760

To all Dublin posters Mick ODwyer was offered the position a couple of years ago to manage the team
the reason he declined he wasnt welcome by a lot of former Dublin players
Had he taken the position ye would have won the AI by now The County Board should go after him
ye need a Kerryman at the helm to win an AI

wfkerry (USA) - Posts: 933 - 03/08/2009 21:50:44    375781

Heartbroken for ye lads. Never expected this. The C'ship will be a quieter affair without ye.

festinog (Galway) - Posts: 3150 - 03/08/2009 22:08:56    375834

even if we won today it was only going to be a matter of time before we were found out. we have a corner back that plays half back/half forward for raheny, a full back that plays midfield for synger, another corner back that plays corner forward for his club, then if we replace one of them its for a ballymun half forward. griffin couldnt lead a horse to water let alone men into battle, cullen couldnt mark an average club player and AGAIN was destroyed. our all star midfielder is only put on with 9 mins to go. will i go on? maybe one last comment for conal, the pigeon chest hard man act is useless without sum scores and bernard's 2-08 against the might of westmeath is not worth a thing when he is absolutley roasted all day by a proper team i think barry cahill, cluxton and alan brogan did their best they could but three dont make a team.

Dublinlilly (Dublin) - Posts: 166 - 03/08/2009 22:23:33    375886

Blujay your overreacting, your not the first team to be destroyed in HQ. As an outsider the way i see it, dublin lost today because they were not prepared for the kerry ambush. But neither were 95% of the gaa followers & tv panelists. Disappointment is okay but the team must learn from it. RM

royalmeath (Meath) - Posts: 1 - 03/08/2009 23:09:28    376079

Most of the top teams including Kerry, Meath, Mayo have been on the receiving end of these beatings in Headquarters so it does happen. It's all about how you react to things the counts and when Dublin lost that goal in the first minute I believe some Dublin players gave up there and then. Look at Tyrone yesterday, they went 5 points behind at one stage but still battled back because they believed in themselves. Dublin just tend to fold instead of digging in and trying to find a solution. It's as much a mental battle with the Dublin camp as anything.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9818 - 03/08/2009 23:23:33    376124

Ulsterman... Mayo and Meath "top teams" !? The top teams are, well there are only 2, kerry and tyrone. Nobody else. At a push galway and armagh as they are the only other 2 counties to have won sam in last 10 years. But dont make me laugh with mayo and meath. Mayo wont get near sam, and meath are improving this year but thats not hard after what happened to them last year!

d3ccy (Galway) - Posts: 75 - 04/08/2009 01:39:52    376280

I think Bluejay and posters who agree with him may be overreacting a little bit. Yes it was a poor display and yes it followed one from last year but Gilroy and Co have had only one year at the helm, and there have been improvements. I agree that the issue seems to be the mental side of their game. The guts don't seem to be there when the chips are down and indiscipline sets in quite quickly. Gilroy made his changes quite quickly and at this point Dublin were still in the game. However the desire and drive and willingness to work were not there and the buck has to stop with the players. No they haven't become a bad team overnight, but maybe, just maybe these players may learn that, talented as they may be, and talent Dublin has in abundance if you do not put in the hard yards and attack every ball then the real top teams will simply overun you. Kildare at one point on Sunday looked in danger of being over-run just after half time, but they dug deep continued to work hard and were more than unlucky to come out on the wrong side. I feel that some of the Dublin players are prepared to work when they are beating inferior teams which is not difficult yet when they play Kerry etc that they are not prepared to put the effort in when they are under pressure. Whether the fact that they are quite young, ave age 22 or so I believe is a factor in this I do not know. One issue Gilroy has to address though is playing people out of position. Surely to god in the whole of Dublin there is a top corner back and full back. It is simply not good enough to expect people who play all their club football in one position to suddenly change for a county game, revert back to club mode and so on. However, if the last two years experince is harnessed correctly and learnt from then Dublin will be back in the near future and some of these lads will have learnt the hard way that workrate is 80-90% of winning an All Ireland. Keep the heads up and stay faithful

omaghredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 3656 - 04/08/2009 03:25:54    376315

Im still in shock as well. Dublin have the players, they need the manager from outside Dublin.

sponger (Wicklow) - Posts: 2931 - 04/08/2009 07:25:44    376328

Spot on Bluejay!

Laughing.Gravy (Dublin) - Posts: 404 - 04/08/2009 08:28:13    376342

lads dublin wer just ***** the game was over after 10 min the heads went down and kerry steamrolled ahead they gave gooch all the space he needed i think its time the county board brought in an outsider to manage the team maybe micko might cos its clear a dublin man cant do it so this rubbish of only picking dublin men for the dublin job has to stop

delboydub (Dublin) - Posts: 665 - 04/08/2009 09:04:33    376357

the facts are that ye are not good enough leinster is not good enough jayo gave 2 man of the match performances in leinster scored 5 points against westmeath even in his prime he couldn't score 5 points in a match this should have been a clue as to the standard in leinster also ye were cleaned by earley at midfield now earley is good but about 3 years past his best whelan is past it cullen is not a centre back bastic poor midfield poor griffen is not a captain

pateen (Galway) - Posts: 61 - 04/08/2009 09:33:41    376379

Sorry to say Bluejay. Dublin are as bad as Laois now. We think we have a great team of players when infact they go around living on past glories of minor titles. As least with Dublin they can win a Leinster. The Dublin players ALL think they are better players than they really are.

I think the back of this team is broken now. Its a few years on the trot that you have taken a hammering in Corker in the knockout stages. The only year you did'nt you threw away a great lead to Mayo who went out and got a hammering in the final after. I dont see any way past whats going on in Dublin at the moment. They problem is as bad down here. Its not going to change now. If McGeeny stays with Kildare now it looks like he will, they are going to be the new force in a leinster that cant put it together ouside the provence.

Just look at the facts... Dublin (overated) Westmeath.. (Terrible) Meath.. (Middle of the Road) Laois (Terrible) Wexford(off the face of the map at the moment) At least in Munster and Ulster there really is only 1 or 2 teams but they are always there at the business end of the Championship

Ballyruined (Laois) - Posts: 81 - 04/08/2009 10:03:49    376435

Why would Micko want to go to manage a spineless crowd like Dublin when he has a team of players with real character who would die for their County in Wicklow.

pistelero (Wicklow) - Posts: 1719 - 04/08/2009 10:43:45    376504

Guys the scene was set for the perfect ambush. I'm not being wise after the event but I knew Kerry were in the perfect place... so-called in-fighting; players disciplined for boozing; playing rubbish; players written off as past it; and then the perfect draw... Dubs in Croker in front of a full house. If all those things together couldn't rise you, nothing could.
The Kerrymen focussed on getting a good start to silence the Hill and test the mental frailities of the Dubs but even they couldn't have hoped for that start. After that... well, the Dubs were never going to recover.

mossgreen (Tyrone) - Posts: 181 - 04/08/2009 11:01:23    376526

Just look at the facts... Dublin (overated) Westmeath.. (Terrible) Meath.. (Middle of the Road) Laois (Terrible) Wexford(off the face of the map at the moment) At least in Munster and Ulster there really is only 1 or 2 teams but they are always there at the business end of the Championship

Ballyruined, I am of the opinion that Kildare and Wicklow will be stong contenders for Leinster in the next few years, I was genuinely sorry for Dublin standing in Croke Park yesterday the sense of deflation on the Hill after only a few minutes of the start was Tyrone all over again for the fans, I think psychologically this could put Dublin back a few years which is a shame
because they do bring a lot to the championship

colinp (Wicklow) - Posts: 40 - 04/08/2009 11:55:32    376637