Lows: Galway Senior hurling and football teams......constant theme over the last few years

Highs: Our minor and under 21's in both codes doing us proud.......once again we hope we can kick on.....yet another recurring theme

Joe Joe (Galway) - Posts: 253 - 19/09/2011 21:10:56    1038341

Highs: Undoubtedly getting into the quarters of the All-Ireland for the first time, the game in Portlaoise against Wexford was magical and a fantastic game of football. Also the differing styles made for a very interesting championship. Darran O'Sullivan lit up this championship aswell with his pace and direct mentality, really came into his own this year. Kevin McLaughlin's goal against Cork was a brilliant solo effort, and of course the Tipp minors! A brilliant year which really shows the diversity in the football championship compared to hurling.

Lows: Limerick's overall performance in the championship being overshadowed by our poor displays against Kerry, and the fact that people were more interested in Anthony Masterson's rant rather than our brilliant performance in Portlaoise. The complaints against Donegal for trying something new (jealousy breeds contempt), Kildare's failure to progress on their good work for another year, Galway's no-show (only beaten London in the last 2 years of championship football) & the fall of Tyrone was hard to watch; the team of my era!

bob_dolphin (Limerick) - Posts: 694 - 19/09/2011 21:23:54    1038358

Whether you like it or not Dublin's win was a real high for the game while the castigation of Donegal was a low. A lot of this was just bigoted nonsense.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9818 - 19/09/2011 21:28:47    1038365

Highs:
>New All Ireland champions, Dubs win it at last. Now we can all go back to hating them.
>The Atmosphere in Navan for the Meath-Kildare qualifier.

Lows:
> The ultra defensive game will be more widespread. The two most defensive teams won 4 trophies this year. Make no mistake, Dublins game is only slightly less defensive than Donegal's. In a way it's the end of Gaelic football as we know it.
> more dreadful game deciding refereeing decisions. No need to elaborate.
> the amount of cruciate injuries has been awful and ruined the summer for many counties. The two Bradleys were sorely missed this year, as were Dermott Early, Ciaran Sheehan.

Daith (Kildare) - Posts: 1172 - 20/09/2011 09:28:13    1038449

Highs: Winning Sam, reaching 5 All Ireland's, mayo reaching the semi having almost lost to London

Lows: the disgraceful treatment received by Donegal.

Jackeen (Dublin) - Posts: 4097 - 20/09/2011 09:54:47    1038474

god this year has got Donegal wile publicity.. mentioned in a wile lot of these.... unfortunatly a lot of them for the "wrong reasons"

up_donegal (Donegal) - Posts: 659 - 20/09/2011 17:18:54    1039054

I think that most level headed Donegal fans couldnt give a monkeys about the lazy, inarticulate rubbish that was piped out by many in the media throughout the year. Particularly the nonsense that was spilled regularly by the overpaid, ill-informed pundits of a well known GAA programme.

Low: Pat Spillane nearly having a turkey and foaming at the mouth about Donegal in the AI Semi Final over the low scoring.

High: The laughable irony of Pat Spillane saying that 'sometimes low-scoring games are good games' after the AI Final first half which had about the same amount of scores as the first half of the Donegal V Dublin Semi Final. What a spoofer.

Donegal_abroad (Donegal) - Posts: 1417 - 21/09/2011 17:47:16    1039854

Highs: Beating Louth easily and setting the record straight - "There's your ******* replay!!" Beating Galway wasn't a high but it was great to see almost 20k meath fans in navan for a round 2 qualifier and there were less than 300 galway fans. Also the amazing come back on tyrone to save us from relegation.

Lows: Loosing to Kildare 3 times especially after they beat us in the all ire quarters last year. All the ****** refereeing decisions and the Geraghty and Farrell one's in particular. Playing in the o'byrne cup and league as if we didn't give a damn.

BettystownRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 3353 - 21/09/2011 17:58:57    1039865

dublin arent anything like donegal , all our forwards score consistantly we dont play our best forward in a withdrawn role , weve been involved in three of the summers best games , 22 points against tyrone 19 from open play enough said , we are the best

stekhli (Dublin) - Posts: 3121 - 21/09/2011 18:02:30    1039870

Highs: Dubs winning Sam after 16 yrs.
Cavan winning Ulster u21 and minor titles.Cavan ladies in Inter All Irl final on Sun.
Waterford regaining pride aginst the cats.
Tipps glorious goals in Munster final.

Lows: Packed defences in football as well as hurling (dont forget)
Bad refferees and umpires. (Really feel sorry for Kildare, Wexford and Derry)

BreffniDub (None) - Posts: 377 - 21/09/2011 18:23:44    1039885

Highs- beating our rivals Meath in the leinster quarters then beating them again in their fortress Navan. What a great feeling coming out of Navan that evening. Its was a tough ask to win the same opposition twice in the championship. Although I knew we were good enough,Winning our other rivals Laois by 15 points in their backyard also, especially after the Dublin game. The team showed great heart and spirit to get back up on the horse.

Lows- THAT FREE! was the softest free, disgrace it was given and let Dublin off the hook, Our performance wasnt up to scratch but we showed great determination to get back into it, great comeback and great goal and point by leper, had all the lillies in croker on their feet after been four down with four minutes to go..similar to Dublin on Sunday afternoon instead though the knive was stuck in.
Tomas O' Connors goal been disallowed. Goldrick was in the middle of the park, took him ages to run in without a shadow of a doubt didnt see the play and continued to disallow it anyway. Terrible decision after the chap timed his run in. Obviously then Cassidys point, a hail mary point that shattered our dreams.

lilywhitemagic (Kildare) - Posts: 1693 - 21/09/2011 18:28:56    1039894

HIGHS:definitely to be sitting in croke park to see the dubs lift sam very emotional
also kildare beating meath twice then try but fail again for the 2nd time to beat dublin with 14 men "get in there" ;-)

LOWS:so many injuries to the senior hurling dubs panel not not see them progress further very unfortunate
fantastic championship in both codes thoroughly enjoyed hurry up next year!!!!!! :-)

dubbydave. (Dublin) - Posts: 3927 - 21/09/2011 22:03:33    1040107

HIGH: Mayo producing the performance of the championship, defeating reigning champions cork. Andy moran proving himself to be the best forward in the country in 2011.

LOW: The poor quality of the all ireland final. Donegal's shameless destruction of the game of football all year.

whiterbannnas (Mayo) - Posts: 2441 - 22/09/2011 08:06:00    1040109

Donegal_abroad
County: Donegal

High: The laughable irony of Pat Spillane saying that 'sometimes low-scoring games are good games' after the AI Final first half which had about the same amount of scores as the first half of the Donegal V Dublin Semi Final. What a spoofer.

There was no comparison between those two games. Ye donegal lads are not stupid, so i know ye know that. Everyone that watched that filth in the semi final (apart from donegal people understandably) were shouting for dublin to win. I dont think anyone could bear to watch any more of that nonsense in the final. Come on, be honest donegal lads, i know ye are being loyal to your county and it's admirable. But it's not justified. Admit it, that must be the worst game of "football" witnessed for many a long day

whiterbannnas (Mayo) - Posts: 2441 - 22/09/2011 08:13:50    1040110

Think we can make two very salient points about your "high" points there Dubbydave....the Dubs while deserved All Ireland champions got huge slices of luck at pivotal times in games throughout the summer. Injury time free that everyone knows wasnt a free against Kildare to bail ye out, followed on by an inhury time free against Kerry in an All Ireland final as a result of an over elaborate dive...Just shows how much luck went yer way and fair play ye capitalised on it.

Kildare30 (Kildare) - Posts: 603 - 22/09/2011 09:20:31    1040130

Not justified my arse. Being loyal to your county is what makes us Gaels, not the team's style of play.

By the same token, we could say Mayo folk are not justified in being loyal & travelling to Croke Park because they will always screw it up at the semi final/final stage, but we don't because we're not as arrogant as that

Fair enough you don't like their style of play but that doesn't give you the right to judge or question a Donegal fan's dedication to their team, so give your arse a rest and let your head do the talking for a change

gigoer (Wexford) - Posts: 1998 - 22/09/2011 09:44:52    1040147

This stuff about Donegal is absolute tripe, I enjoy watching players giving the absolute maximum, going in hard and tackling relentless. I enjoyed their game against dublin and kildare and was rooting for them all the way. I knwo most people in tyrone would have been rooting for them too.

To Donegal fans don't listen to the tripe, hope ye's come back next year and win it all then ye can listen to the rubbish whilst drinking whiskey out of sam! we had to listen to this rubbish too but when ye have an all ireland or 3 in the back pocket ye can just grin and walk on laughin

redhanddefender (Tyrone) - Posts: 913 - 22/09/2011 10:07:55    1040158

Might I also add as a high that I meant to include in my initial post:

As a man whose better half hails from Cavan & passionately supports their footballers, it was great to see the Cavan minors & U-21s win the Ulster titles and while the final didn't go for the U21s, the future of Cavan football looks bright all of a sudden after years in the doldrums

Let's hope they can build on it, with Donegal & Derry's run to the Ulster final, perhaps the Tyrone/Armagh dominance is diminishing & Ulster football could become extremely competitive

gigoer (Wexford) - Posts: 1998 - 22/09/2011 10:54:17    1040185

Highs
Beating meath in navan, and laois in portlaoise, the discovery of the talent that is Mick Foley and Shane Connolly.
Seeing the dubs win, never seen an atmosphere like it in croke park, gives a lot of teams like Kildare hope that their day WILL come!!
London and carlow winning championship matches. Mayo beating cork,

Lows
Refereeing decisions deciding so many games this year, that free......the square ball that wasn't .
Losing to Donegal, still heartbreaking to think about.
Poor standard of some of the hurling championship games,

analysis (Kildare) - Posts: 22 - 22/09/2011 11:20:56    1040204

Highs:

Dubs winning Sam (obviously)
Dub Hulers winning the league & making the AI semis and putting up a good show against Tipp despite the injuries (obviously)
Dub minor hurlers & footballers in AI finals (obviously)
Dub U21 hurlers in an AI final (obviously)
I enjoyed watching Kildare play - nice footballers, score takers, fans
All 4 provincial champions making the AI semis
Seeing Sheff hurl in an AI final again

Lows:
Refs/umpires (enough said)
Tickets for footy final selling for hundreds/thousands to corporates
Dodging punches and kicks flying around me as Meath 'fans' decided to start taking lumps out of Kildare fans on Hill16 cos they couldnt handle losing (you dont get that carry on when the Dubs are on the Hill)
Brolly & Spillanes panto act (its just so boring now)
The Sunday Games picking and chosing of incidents in games that suits their agenda (its again just so boring now)
Sitting beside a weirdo auld wan at the hurling final who asked me "whos that on the ball" EVERY TIME someone had the ball and then screaming in my ear. "Whos that with the ball?" "Henry Shefflin" "GO HENRY GO" etc etc etc

DNS16 (Dublin) - Posts: 53 - 22/09/2011 11:40:02    1040220