Entertaining final quarter, redeemed ourselves abit by pulling it back to 3pts but never pushed on after that when the game and series was there for the taking. Why wasn't Michael Murphy on earlier ?? Came on and got the come back going with two great overs. Wonderful spectacle in the eyes of the Aussies but in my opinion the game and rules are the greatest load of crap. Totally disjointed today and last week, we better off sending our 2011 All Ireland champions to Aussie next year.

rocknroyal (Meath) - Posts: 308 - 30/10/2010 20:59:00    806448

80%???

The mark, the tackle, picking the ball off the ground, fist passing sideline balls, the throw in after the tackle, the number of steps allowed, kick pots out of the hand,

there must be 35 other gaelic rules by your reckoning as well as the ones we share, it's a wonder that we had a game at all what with all these rules, did the players have to do a diploma first?

ochonlir (Cavan) - Posts: 4343 - 30/10/2010 20:59:04    806449

Cluxton was a joke at times. It was like looking at an U14 match were the keeper wasn't able to kick the ball out properly. There were periods were we couldn't get out of our own half for 5 minutes all because of Cluxton's "bringing kick-outs to a whole new level" as the RTE panel are always saying.

Briardrog (Meath) - Posts: 62 - 30/10/2010 21:01:18    806450

steven cluxton was the downfall of the irish team last nite.. kick outs left a lot to be desired, its the 1st year that the aussie keeper was better than ours!

madden (Kildare) - Posts: 293 - 31/10/2010 08:25:58    806494

I just don't get it. The Aussies are definitely better at kicking than our boys. How could this be? Seriously, to be fair it's the only thing that we should be better at.
They should be better at marking, tacklng, running, hand-passing etc.. but how are our boys so bloody bad at kicking in front of goal, it just doesn't make any sense. There were periods in the 3rd and 4th quarter when we got 1 point (each) for about 5 easy 3 pointers. Somebody please help me understand...

Nick (Wexford) - Posts: 1100 - 31/10/2010 09:17:57    806502

I was one of the 61k odd who attended last evenings event and to be frank ' pure tripe ' is how I would describe what I witnessed.

The Mexican waves in the crowd summed up for me what was the dreadful spectacle to watch.

End this nothing sport now .......Please.

BallsMcQ (USA) - Posts: 941 - 31/10/2010 09:30:56    806505

Over the two nights except for the last quarter Ireland were hopeless, a total embarrassment

toothfairy (Tyrone) - Posts: 20 - 31/10/2010 09:53:05    806507

Why was murphy given so little game time,hopeless until he came on.

jonny1951 (Mayo) - Posts: 1431 - 31/10/2010 10:44:49    806518

Cluxton, without a shadow of a doubt cost us that game. This ridiculous tapping the ball 6 foot off the ground to just past the 21 line killed us. About 5 of his kickouts went straight over the sideline, and a hell of a lot more were intercepted a few feet from the Irish goal. He didnt even look up to seek out a man, he had tommy walsh to aim for, but wasted most of the kickouts. Backs were 5 yards or so behind their man everytime, Tadgh Kenelly was afraid to catch the ball, and too many lads were punching it aimlessly instead of grabbing it in and looking for a player in white. They really looked like a badly trained un-motivated outfit.

Scruffy2Donut (Cavan) - Posts: 1112 - 31/10/2010 10:54:58    806521

I think worst player on team was Sean Cavanagh

gipo (Sligo) - Posts: 39 - 31/10/2010 11:06:48    806525

With regards to the kick outs there was sod all movement from the Irish moving into space, as opposed to the targets the Aussies gave their keeper.

Hence Cluxton was 90% of the timing kick to one on one situations and the Irish were losing out!

It was the Aussies movement off the ball into space that won them then game. Ireland were stagnent till the 4th Q.

witnof (Dublin) - Posts: 1604 - 31/10/2010 11:30:38    806532

was there last night and cant understand players of the calibre of bernard brogan and tommy walsh missing such easy scores! if they missed these chances to score points in a gaelic match they'd be slated it just didnt make sense

Louth_And_Proud (Louth) - Posts: 40 - 31/10/2010 12:20:49    806542

I was down at the game last night and there were parts of it that I thought were excellent and others that were poor and yet again highlighted the demise of some of the basic skills in gaelic football. I would very rarely find myself agreeing with Pat Spillane, however the points he made during this years All Ireland about how key skills like accurate kick passing over long distances and shooting from range are getting worse. I think this has been demonstrated over the two tests. Some of our shooting over the past two games has been abysmal and ultimately cost us the series. The Australians were far better at doing these things which is a big worry.

There is an obvious split between those who like the International Rules and those who don't. That's fair enough, that's life. But I feel that parts of last nights game not only showed why it should continue (and will continue after the series was confirmed for next year), but also why it should be stopped to those who don't like it. When you consider that over 90,000 people turned up for the two tests and over 60,000 were at last nights game, even after last weeks debacle, it shows that even in harsh economic times, when there has been a lot of criticism and when there has been little promotion, there is a strong interest and support for it. I don't feel that this series has been as good as ones in the past. The series from 2003 to 2005 were the stand out ones of recent years. But after the violence that clouded the series, the game has become sanitised and has lost much of its edge. Moreover critics see this game as veering too far from gaelic football. But to those who continually criticise it, I would say to them that they are perfectly entitled to their opinion and their view is just as valid as anyone else's. But if you don't like it, why watch it? I can't stand rugby league, so when it's on the tv I turn it off.

As for the game, I was very disappointed with the performance of Stephan Cluxton, who took an eternity with his kick outs, meaning that free men were then marked, or he kicked it right down the throats of the Australians. Our shooting let us down again with Brogan, McDonnell, McKernan, Walsh and Kennelly being guilty of some awful wides. The turning point for me was in the 4th quarter when Ireland were clearly on top and were four points up and Martin Clarke won the ball on the 45. Instead of feeding a simple pass to an unmarked Coulter who would have had an easy shot on goal, he went for a huge score that didn't come close and that killed all our momentum.

Overall I think that even though last nights game was far better, it was a disappointing series that highlighted a lot of the weaknesses in gaelic football at the moment and will do little to silence the critics of the series. I think that playing the games at night was a great idea and really added to the atmosphere. I would love to see some championship games done like this. It would be brilliant. I feel that the International Rules series is a worthwhile part of the GAA calendar, but the success of it rests on a fine line. Fans don't want too see full blown violence, nor do they want to see a timid affair like last week. There needs to be an edge to the games, like you would see in any championship game. Nobody would be bothered if there was a bit of rough stuff like you see when Tipp are playing Cork in the hurling or when Dublin are playing Meath in the football. The same goes for this. When the right balance is struck, it's a fast, exciting game. It's something different, the players value it and want to test themselves against someone else, people want to see it (as the crowds have shown) and it is a big event to fill the void between the end of the championship and the start of the new season. If there is one positive that has come out of the series that we can all agree on, is that the basic skills of gaelic football are getting worse and work needs to be done to improve them.

PatrickArmagh (Down) - Posts: 42 - 31/10/2010 12:28:59    806546

4get about cluxton 4 a minute. although his kickouts were not the best, his team-mates were hardly competing for the ball with the austrailians. were they scared? i dunno, but what i think cost us dearly was our inability to kick 3pointers. we wud have hammered the aussies had we been able to kick the ball between the posts. after all that is what our players do during each summer. the aussies seemed more efficient at kicking 3pointers even though they do not play with a round ball. it was actually horrible to see us getting beat at our own game

john.no1 (Sligo) - Posts: 471 - 31/10/2010 12:44:02    806556

jesus i tought cluxton was player of the series for ireland

longford07 (Longford) - Posts: 161 - 31/10/2010 13:01:16    806564

The skill level on show aside...

The lads lost it on the basis that they were afraid to take on the Aussies and go by them. Every time they caught the ball, they kicked it to nowheres land or hand passed it. Only in the final quarter, in the final game did they realise that although, the Aussies were professional - they are still just men.

Don't mind the B.S. that will come out about the Aussies and 'professionals' - if you were to walk up to any inter-county player on the street and tell him to his face that he is nothing but an amateur.. I wouldn't expect his reaction to be too warm.

In my opinion, they were overawed and afraid of the Aussies. At the end of the day, its still a match-up of 15 v 15. They had nothing to lose.

Not disappointed with the loss, disappointed with the effort and performance. Aussies were good value for their win. Worked hard on their game and played well. Deserved it in the end.

BigSam (Kildare) - Posts: 266 - 31/10/2010 13:26:16    806576

for the first 2 quarters on the game ireland failed to tackle,didnt have any pace whatsoever and held on to the ball for too long.... i thought colm begley was the best of the irish players along with kevin mckernan, brendan murphy and benny coulter... cannot understand how brendan murphy and tommy walsh were withdrawn from the middle at the times in which they were dominant in the air,winning a lot of possesion..its also beggars belief as to why michael murphy didnt see more game time....can anybody tell me why setanta o hailpin wasnt selected for the series? he is 1 of carltons top players!

arrows85 (Carlow) - Posts: 202 - 31/10/2010 13:48:11    806585

cluxton destroyed us woth poor kickouts, kennelly was dissappointing. thought Glynn was brilliant and P Galvin was sorely missed

wishfulthinkin (Cavan) - Posts: 1737 - 31/10/2010 14:26:50    806606

gipo
County: Sligo
Posts: 39

806525 I think worst player on team was Sean Cavanagh


Thought Cavanagh had a quiet first half but he drove Ireland on when he went to midfield and helped ignite the team.

MB1 (Tyrone) - Posts: 360 - 31/10/2010 15:49:22    806644

What was with the small pitch?? Didn't help Ireland at all, I thought

Count_Awesome (Kildare) - Posts: 736 - 31/10/2010 16:44:09    806671