an honest assesment. was hoping the dubs would beat the most cynical team in ireland. for the last four years dublin have been pumping weights whereas most other teams only started three years ago or maybe two. dublin are bigger and stronger than any other team in leinster,(exception of meath maybe). but there problem was and still is that its all well and good running through and fist passing the ball over the bar from 21yards. dublin have only two creative players in cullan and sherlock,and sherlock doesnt always see the best pass.look at tyrones second goal,mcCullagh picked out mcmahon where no dublin player would be able to that. all there strength and stamina work has been done so they must have had time to concentrate on things like 40 yard kick passing,movement from full forward line,soloing and point kicking. goalkeeper: best distributer of the ball in the game for a goalie,thats what marks him ahead of the rest. defence:poor,cahill and griffin are good but colie brings nothing,cullen gets pulled all over the place and david henry is not an answer. remember that henry was marking bannon in the league final.bannon scored 5points that day and only 5 in the league altogether. midfield:good but nearly finished.once again though,they dont bring great passing to the team. forwards: seem to be going in all different directions and dont play square.an awful lot of needless handpassing.they have no-one who when the ball comes in quick,first time to grap the ball,turn and kick over the ball.
now- anything i've said wasn't just to pull the boot on the dubs but thats the way i have seen things over the last four years.
Keane16 from Kerry has posted the best response so far-in the fact that it is so detailed. I agree with most of what you say though your honesty is a bit blunt at times.
Regarding the half forward line, I would not say Dermot Connolly is a passenger. In fact, if anything he has got greater potential than Bernard Brogan. He was outstsnding for St vincents earlier in the year, roasted Aaron kernan in the Cross game in the semi finals. He appears to me to be a bit sluggish, he might be one of those players that needs to have a hurley broken off him in the dressing room before he goes on to the field.
Tomas Quinn actually had a very good first half against Tyrone, gave Ciaran Gourley a bit of a run around. I was surprised to see him taken off.
This is only talk but if Keaney, Brogan x2, Quinn and Connolly were on form then Dublin would have five scoring forwards which is more than anyone else bar Kerry. They must be leaders though, it can not just be Alan Brogan and some one else. If Brogan has a bad day or gets inhjured the others must step up to the plate.
Someone suggested that Paul Casey should have started the last day?? You would be better off bringing Keith Barr, Eamon Heery et al back from retirement than play him. His day is finished.
dublin need a fresh start, they still have the talent but not the mental strength. they will come the 95 team lost a lot of semis and finals before getting over the line. it would be a poor championship without a dublin team every year and there supporters are gas men, even some of the nuts on here. so it was one of those days 12 points not a true reflection of either team.
its nice to see a few postives after focasing on all our negatives the past week, agree with holymoly, dont think we're as bad as people might think, all we need is a new manager who give them all a boot up the backside. and a new manager might sort out our line out better, dont know how casey got so many games, nearly cried when i seen him come on as a sub on sat, as if he was gonna save the day! ah no, im being a bit hard on him, he means well, but he couldnt be one of the best 25 in the county, maybe this new boss might sort out some of the slight favourtism that had been going on. go in a start putting some on the bench, rattle some cages, put the frightners on 'em, show them there place on the squad might not be guarnteed. also someone wrote there a while ago re dave henry , although dont think hes the best corner back in ireland i do however feel he doesnt get enough credit, was surprised he wasnt further up your list. heres my list for this champo.
i'd go with 1. alan brogan 2.shane ryan 3.c whelan 4. b cullan 5. s cluxton 6.d connelly 7.d henry 8. jayo 9 b cahill 10 bernard brogan , hasnt played much champo , but i know he's too good ta leave out the top ten