The powder pissers win again. Galway should have been further up in the first half. Kilkenny made them pay. TJ Reid hurler of the year IMHO... Not a hard decision.
Well done the Cats. Too much for Gaillimh and as usual upped it another gear when required. Savage in around the breaking ball, they alway's seem to come away with the ball. Another year another title, nothing to see here people, move along. Mayo once more showed their frailties when well In command again the Dubs, naive defensively at such a crucial stage in the game but there ya go. The decision to allow Connolly to play was a joke of the highest order and will set a precedent for future cards to be overturned in such a way. Basically, if you get provoked it's now okay to start boxing. Brown envelope job I reckon. Kerry will beat Dublin anyway, much like KK they will alway's do what is required to beat them and the Dubs won't get it as soft against the Kingdom.
I think the Dubs will win. They are a better team.... The only thing that makes me doubt it is Fitzmaurice who is brilliant at setting teams up and makes consistently good calls from the line. I don't think Kilkenny upped it. I think Galway couldn't keep it up. KK just kept coming and coming. Gwlay needed to do it for the full 70 to live with them and they couldn't. What they did change was flooding the defence. They won't be criticised for it nor should they. It's not pretty but by Christ it works. I don't think Eoin Larkin will win MOTM but I thought his contribution today was massive. He just kept things going. He was involved in everything. It wasn't the eye catching stuff but the real donkey work.... It was magnificent.
The precedent was set when two Mayo players( Lee Keegan and Kevin Keane) in the last 12 months have had red cards for striking overturned in the exact same manner. Funnily enough, nobody was outraged then. I wonder why that is?
I'm not really enraged by it as it doesn't affect me, but to have it overturned at 2.30 a.m the day of an All Ireland Semi-Final is a bit bizarre, this after already being upheld by 2 disciplinary hearings. Unless it is a very harsh sending off, which was incorrectly called at the time, the bans should be upheld. Makes a mockery of the game. I'd be saying the same if it was a player from any where, this instance just happens to surround the Connolly case.
I don't mind who wins the title as long as it is a brilliant game. Both sides have the ability to play excellent attacking football and I'd love to see a good display. As it is an All Ireland final, I can't blame whatever tactic is chosen to win as that's that teams perogative but it would be good to watch the 2 best teams show their array of skills on the biggest stage.
I agree with you, it is bizzare. The problem for me is the DRA use the law of the land when looking at incidents that happened on a football pitch and that will make it very hard to uphold a red card like the one Connolly got. Hopefully this saga will be the incentive for the GAA to do something about it now.
Dublin or Kerry then folks, that is the question? I will side with Kerry to avoid fence sitting but it will be very close and I have no personal attachment to either side, so may the best team on the day bring Sam home.
Im usually a pessimist but I think if Dublin play near their best they will win. For me the game will be decided on what happens with the Dublin kick outs, if Kerry can win that battle they will win the game and I really cant see them letting Dublin have easy possession from the kick outs like Mayo did. If they can force Cluxton to kick long then they will have the advantage.
Very valid point there Rubadub Kerry should definitely have an advantage fielding around the middle so this could be the decisive factor in the game. Fitzmaurice has rung the changes too, must have been a tough call but only after the game will we know were they the right decisions.
I think it's a shrewd bit of management by Fitzmaurice leaving Donaghy out, he seen what the Dublin defence did to O'Shea in the semi - final and Geaney although similar enough, has a bit more mobility and can pick the ball up in the channels as well as taking a high direct ball in, I think we will see Kerry play direct passes into the side of the full back line of Dublin for Geaney to get and try release the Gooch and Donoghue of them then. Interesting to see that play out.
Dubs surprised me,kept the head and picked off their points.Kerry never in the match and could have been worse for the culchies but usual Dubs get no credit and ploughing championship on next week so hate the fact that Dublin won,just saying
The Dubs were by far the better team today. Fitzmaurice has never missed so badly before with his calls from the line. Massive credit to the Dubs.
Sunday Game team of the year. Kealy- Kerry Enright- Kerry O'Carroll- Dublin McMahon-Dublin Keegan- Mayo O'Sullivan- Dublin McCaffrey-Dublin Maher-Kerry Fenton- Dublin Mattie Donnelly- Tyrone Kilkenny- Dublin Donnchadh Walsh- Kerry Conor McManus- Monaghan Aidan O'Shea- Mayo Bernard Brogan- Dublin
TSG Footballer of the year. Dessie Dolan- Jack Mc Caffrey Tomas O'Se- Jack McCaffrey Colm O'Rourke- Jack McCaffrey Ciaran Whelan- Rory O'Carroll Pat Spillane- Jack McCaffrey Kevin Mc Stay- Ciaran Kilkenny Joe Brolly- Aidan O'Shea
Saw that jersey earlier. Fair play. TSG Motm Nominees Rory O'Carroll Brian Fenton Philly McMahon And the winner is......... Brian Fenton
Bit of a crap game because of the rain but the best team won. Kerry were seriously over hyped going into this game and probably have been for a long time now, they have some bang average players in key positions and they got exposed yesterday. Dublin should have won by 10 points and if it was a dry day I think it would have been a very embarrassing scoreline for Kerry.
I'm inclined to agree. They faced absolutely nothing on the way. The one day any team put it up to them they were gifted their usual frees and penalties from the referee. A bang average team with a few exceptional players... Yet they are still the third best team in the country. They were haunted to get such a handy run to the final.