And so the Ulster Championship bids farewell to one of its all-time greats. In 2003, Benny Coulter lit up the Ulster final by bedazzling the mighty Tyrone team with a series of sparkling runs, excellent dummies, and a fantastic individual effort to beat 3 Tyrone players and bury the ball in the net. Today he was nothing but a shadow of a past era of Gaelic football, where protein shakes were not more important than honing your skills and 'system' was not a buzzword for nullifying the talents that make Gaelic football such a great sport. No...today Benny Coulter floated around in a sea of muscle-bound athletes, crowded and surrounded, and quietly disappeared from Ulster football. There is nothing 'purist' in saying that this is sad, even disgraceful.

A player who can proudly take his place alongside any of the Down greats and a player who can take proudly his place in that select group of players whose every touch of the ball heralds an immediate expectation of something brilliant. Brilliant Benny.

MCMLX (Down) - Posts: 16 - 23/06/2013 16:46:09    1413360

clondalkindub
County: Dublin
Posts: 3648

1413314
God that was puke football at it's best, what has happened to our game lads?


It's sad pal, really sad that its come to this, we just have to hope the Dionegal way fails this year and others stop trying to copy it.

51longago (Mayo) - Posts: 2981 - 23/06/2013 16:48:07    1413363

A full fit Donegal will still beat Dublin the way Gavin has Dublin set up and their 'attacking'style very naive against the likes of Donegals system.
I think Mayo would on a good day beat Dublin and Donegal.

lilywhitemagic (Kildare) - Posts: 1693 - 23/06/2013 16:48:26    1413364

Well said MC, farewell Benny.

CaisleanCnucha (Dublin) - Posts: 1379 - 23/06/2013 16:50:42    1413366

Sorry Wayno I stand corrected it may have been Martin Carney I couldn't believe
my ears when I heard we should rejoice in this football my god!

I'd love another crack at Donegal this year, id love to see them go behind in a game
and see how they would react.

westkerry (Kerry) - Posts: 1250 - 23/06/2013 16:55:39    1413374

I don't think there is enough Kleenex in Ireland to sort out the amount of crying being done on this thread. It was a poor game, but much better entertainment than the cakewalks we've seen in the other provincial championships this year.

I'm delighted Donegal squeezed through that. It wasn't a great performance, but Down strangled the life out of the game today from the throw in. In fairness to them, their approach almost worked. I couldn't understand Down's reluctance to shoot, in the second half in particular. They were almost trying to walk it in.

We can sit back now and see who we play in the final. Hopefully there'll be no more injuries over the next few weeks, if we have a full squad, I'm confident they'll beat either Cavan or Monaghan

petejoeduff (Donegal) - Posts: 329 - 23/06/2013 16:57:20    1413377

Always loved watching Benny Coulter. One of the greatest to grace Croabh Ulaidh. He'll be missed.
Hope he goes a good distance with An Dún in the All Ireland championship this year.

AnRaibh (Donegal) - Posts: 134 - 23/06/2013 16:59:29    1413380

MCMLX, Laverty did fine and he's hardly musclebound. Coulter was just poor today. He was poor enough against Derry too. Great footballer in his day though.

MichaelO (Tyrone) - Posts: 820 - 23/06/2013 16:59:49    1413382

Hi guys,

Tactical analysis of Donegal's win over Down is up here:
http://action81.com/blog/?p=7351

Emmet

emmetryan (Dublin) - Posts: 154 - 23/06/2013 17:06:57    1413389

Michael,

Players like Laverty are fast becoming the exception to the rule. Of course Coulter was poor today, and even if he had had acres of space to run in it doesn't automatically entail that he would have played well. The point I'm making is that he didn't even have the opportunity to play well, and the Gaelic football audience is now too regularly deprived of seeing brilliant skill from players like Coulter. It is not a case where we have to expect defenders to just sit back and watch forwards dance all over the place , but there is little doubt that something is being lost in Gaelic football when a top player is surrounded by 3 men, is physically unable to do anything with the ball, and gets penalised.

MCMLX (Down) - Posts: 16 - 23/06/2013 17:19:33    1413398

Michael,

Players like Laverty are fast becoming the exception to the rule. Of course Coulter was poor today, and even if he had had acres of space to run in it doesn't automatically entail that he would have played well. The point I'm making is that he didn't even have the opportunity to play well, and the Gaelic football audience is now too regularly deprived of seeing brilliant skill from players like Coulter. It is not a case where we have to expect defenders to just sit back and watch forwards dance all over the place , but there is little doubt that something is being lost in Gaelic football when a top player is surrounded by 3 men, is physically unable to do anything with the ball, and gets penalised.

MCMLX (Down) - Posts: 16 - 23/06/2013 17:21:13    1413399

WestKerry- we beat you's last year and would do the same again. Look at your matches to date- a pathetic Munster championship in what is a hurling province. I won't even start on Connaught. How Mayo can justify beating lower rank side every year is beyond me. People give out about Ulster, at least the matches are not over inside 10 minutes

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 23/06/2013 17:35:56    1413416

Great Rugby played up there in Breffni by Donegal.

Fair play to Down....I dont know how Donegal finished with 15. Boys on Newstalk were just talking about all the Donegal off the ball stuff.

JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 23/06/2013 17:41:14    1413422

The knowledge of some people on here is amusing. Jap P - you say fair play to Down, they are more men behind the ball. It is okay lads, we got the same bull in 2011 and we know what happened a year later

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 23/06/2013 17:47:52    1413429

JayP
County: Dublin
Posts: 221

1413422
Great Rugby played up there in Breffni by Donegal.

Fair play to Down....I dont know how Donegal finished with 15. Boys on Newstalk were just talking about all the Donegal off the ball stuff.

I think that Donegal are likely to be the team most impacted by the introduction of the black card next year. It can't come quick enough.

What's disappointing is that Donegal have some of the best footballers in the country but their approach is so negative.

jimski (Kildare) - Posts: 381 - 23/06/2013 17:54:44    1413436

arock
County: Dublin
Posts: 1485

1413263
Now if Down where to score a goal it might open things up a bit, but its like two whales slamming into each other, I guess if your into that sort of thing.

I bet you didn't say the same about Dublin under Gilroy. That was the ugliest style of football in history. It's no wonder Dublin attendance levels plummeted after he took over.

waynoI
County: Dublin
Posts: 6253

1413273
Donegal are nothing special. Seriously I cant see the fuss. 15 men behind the ball at times and no players inside the Down 45m line.

Cop on will you and the rest of the posters on here. Am I the only one on here who is not biased? Yes we all want Down to win but let's not call a spade a shovel. The first part of your sentence wayne is daft. Donegal are special they are going for the Ulster 3 in a row and are current all ireland champions. After Bradly and McGlynn went off they were missing 4 of their top players.

On your 15 men behind the ball tactic that's exactly what Down did as well so why so biased? It's like people blaming Donegal for the 2011 semi when Dublin were equally as defensive.

And to the rest of the posters saying the ref was against Down. No he wasn't he was for both. Down got a lot of frees they shouldn't and didn't get a lot they should. Down were very cynical in the first half so they got what they deserved in the second.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 23/06/2013 17:55:52    1413437

Sergeant_Slash
County: Cavan
Posts: 1948

1413281
Down forwards, how close in do you have to be to shoot!!! Arrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhh!! Kick the damned thing yer only 13 meters out!!

The problem is their backs were getting the ball in scoring positions and were like headless chickens. Donegal have scorers all over the field so they can play that system. But as others have said I guess they're nothing special...

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 23/06/2013 17:57:38    1413439

waynoI
County: Dublin
Posts: 6253

1413284
That's very true Bren. But Tyrone should have beaten them first time out.. But for missed chances Tyrone would have won the game

BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT.....

what is wrong with everyone on here today?? Tyrone didn't score their chances because the Donegal defence had them under so much presure. If Kerry took their chances and kept their concentration and the ref didn't hand it to Dublin they would have won the 2011 all Ireland BUT they didn't. We can all play the but game.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 23/06/2013 18:00:23    1413442

Its easy to criticise Donegals style of football but each to there own. The wet and windy conditions made good football impossible on the day. This Donegal team can adapt to any conditions.They play attractive football when needed and negative football when needed. It will take a big performance to beat them i think myself. IF people dont like the style of football then switch off the tv.

kerry74 (Kerry) - Posts: 1354 - 23/06/2013 18:01:19    1413443

icehonesty
County: Wexford
Posts: 1287

1413296
Three things:
1. Donegal don't like it put to them the same way they play.
2. Down will beat most teams if they play like they have today.
3. This ref won't get another game this summer.

1. Considering they won and never looked like losing I'd say they don't mind. It just means it's a low scoring game but with the same end result. They were dogged by injuries before and during the game. It made no difference who they brought on.

2. True and I hope Down meet Tyrone!

3. I hope he doesn't. Terrible.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 23/06/2013 18:03:02    1413447