All Ireland Final - Assertiveness v. wisdom

D

Dan Murray

Guest
Great example towards the end of the match today.

Connolly, unbelievably insisted on taking the side-line ball - over-ruling the much younger Kilkenny.

Massive error. Massive, massive error - and no, not the pocket talking! (Financially, happy days.....I went short on total points!)

The inconsistency of the referee is a continuing problem. Otherwise, superb contest.
 
Hard to see Dublin play as badly again.
There was no flow to their game, they lost the battle in mid field and their kick-out's were dreadful.
 
Not a GAA expert by any stretch of the imagination - I typically watch the 2 finals each year and that's it. However, what I did notice was that each time Mayo drew level they seemed to freeze, nearly afraid of going ahead. Dublin in comparison pulled ahead each time by someone grabbing the ball and running at Mayo.
 
Looking forward to the replay. Silence from the Dublin camp while some Mayo players gave media interviews. The replay is not a foregone conclusion. The weather will play an important part. The psychology battles await too. Even good football and refereeing might happen. Could be a hugely entertaining day "with all that's great about our games" and the "more hungry" side will win. I wonder how many times we will hear the words "hungry" - "hopefully" - "amazing" throughout the next week.
 
There's a few ways of looking at it: 1) Dublin will never be as bad again 2) Mayo scored 2 first half own goals, were three(?) points down going into injury time and still didn't lose.

I think you can definitely say that people are giving Mayo a better chance now than they were before. A few other points of note:

  1. It's not hard for Cluxton to look like a hero when most of the teams were stupidly not pushing up on the kick out. If you let the "better" team have the ball in a comfortable position then surprise surprise they launch a structured attack, whereas if they're fighting for it 30 yards from their own goal then its game on.
  2. Discipline is a bit of an issue for Dubs - Connolly and MDMA should have their cards marked early on. Ok Connolly gets some "attention" but he's no innocent. MDMA is just a mullocker, always into his late tackles, body checks and general attempted bullying.
  3. Aidan O'Shea needs to play for 70 minutes, I think he enjoys his 'tragic hero' tag - how about having some cojones late in a game and doing something like Cillian O'Connor did. O'Shea's late ballooned wide (did it even go wide..) doesnt count, he needs to take it on, get into a credible scoring position and then go for it. Any of us could 'throw a leg at it' from 55 yards and God direct it.
  4. Cillian O'Connor needs to be in it more, he's class but seemed hardly in until his heroics at the end.
  5. I agree that Mayo need to not be afraid to win - that's a real phonomenon btw - if you dont believe you're good enough you're just waiting for the hammer to fall and world order to be restored.
  6. I'd be slow to take Andy Moran off, some man to win a ball consider he's not huge, but God help us if you bring Barry Moran on at full forward will you at least kick an odd decent high ball into him, otherwise what's the point??
  7. Were Dublin off form or did Mayo not allow them to play?
Smart money still on the Dubs but my heart is with Mayo, I had a sneaking suspicion it mightnt be one way traffic last time, I now really believe they can win, but its still up to them to go out at do it against what will surely be a better Dublin performance.
 
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