Dublin GAA Discussion Thread - 2013

Dublinfan

WayneMolloy wrote: »

Any word in that ehhh 'predicament' DC found himself in?

Any chance of him going on a long holiday?

he has no prior so while possible i would say unlikely

DoctaDee

WayneMolloy wrote: »

Any word in that ehhh 'predicament' DC found himself in?

Any chance of him going on a long holiday?

He's up again at the end of May for sentencing .... it appears the charge carries a year in the clink and/or a fine ... I'm guessing the latter

Qwerty Dub

Stoner wrote: »

good point actually, what do you guys think has been the best midfield combination played so far by Galvin. What's peoples opinion on Craig Dunleavy? I'm not sure about O'Sullivan at midfield. I could see Bastick being on the bench in the championship, coming on, doing well and staying in the team, but I'm possibly just being optimistic. I thought that Declan O'Mahony had some good and bad moments when he played, overall its does not look promising and it appears to me from the managements perspective that a starting position at midfield is O'Sullivans to loose now, I do think he is growing into the position though, but I don't know how far that will go.

Neither Dunleavy or O'Mahony are realistic options IMO. I would take McConnell and Fennell over both of them.

Slattsy

Qwerty Dub wrote: »

Neither Dunleavy or O'Mahony are realistic options IMO. I would take McConnell and Fennell over both of them.

**** off, just **** right off :mad:

Excuse the language but there's no way Ross Mc should get to put on a Dubs shirt again.

premierstone

Dublinfan wrote: »

exactly its hard to decide though which are the best, the younger lads are really putting there mark on the Donegal team this year

FYP

Sorry Couldn't resist!

WayneMolloy

premierstone wrote: »

FYP

Sorry Couldn't resist!

They really are chomping at the bit.

Qwerty Dub

Slattsy wrote: »

**** off, just **** right off :mad:

Excuse the language but there's no way Ross Mc should get to put on a Dubs shirt again.

I never said he should. I just said id take him and Fennell over the other two. Given what you think of him I don't need to tell you what I think of the other 2 do I?

PS - Language excused :-)

ArielAtom

Slattsy wrote: »

**** off, just **** right off :mad:

Excuse the language but there's no way Ross Mc should get to put on a Dubs shirt again.

I'm with you on that one. I saw O'Mahony destroy McConnell at club level. Fennell has not got the legs for it. I'd have MDMA, Bastick and O'Mahony ahead of Fennell and McConnell. It's MDMA and Cian for Championship.

Qwerty Dub

ArielAtom wrote: »

I'm with you on that one. I saw O'Mahony destroy McConnell at club level. Fennell has not got the legs for it. I'd have MDMA, Bastick and O'Mahony ahead of Fennell and McConnell. It's MDMA and Cian for Championship.

I wouldnt have McConnell, Dunleavy, Fennell or O'Mahony.

O'Sullivan and MDMA for Championship with Bastick as back up.

McCarthy and Flynn options if need be too.

copacetic

ArielAtom wrote: »

I'm with you on that one. I saw O'Mahony destroy McConnell at club level. Fennell has not got the legs for it. I'd have MDMA, Bastick and O'Mahony ahead of Fennell and McConnell. It's MDMA and Cian for Championship.

Fennells legs aren't great, and he gets a bad rep because of it. However he came on a couple if times last year and turned games round by just securing a lot of midfield ball and moving it on. I'd personally have had him ahead of a number of this years options, certainly deserved a chance to prove himself in a squad in my opinion.

The Rooster

Fennell is going well at the moment. Fitter and faster than I've ever seen him. But its early days in the club season yet, lets see if he can put a consistent run together.

Slattsy

The Rooster wrote: »

Fennell is going well at the moment. Fitter and faster than I've ever seen him. But its early days in the club season yet, lets see if he can put a consistent run together.

Has he finished up doing all the DJ-ing and late night shifts to concentrate on the football this year?

Dublinfan

Slattsy wrote: »

Has he finished up doing all the DJ-ing and late night shifts to concentrate on the football this year?

nope, hes done quite a few nights at club m this year

The Rooster

Slattsy wrote: »

Has he finished up doing all the DJ-ing and late night shifts to concentrate on the football this year?

You think intercounty players shouldn't be allowed to work?

He doesn't drink when on the job during the football season and there's plenty of intercounty players who have to work night shifts in their jobs.

Slattsy

I was simply wondering.

Qwerty Dub

I heard he has put a lot of one to one work in with some girl to get himself mobile. If he is moving well hes worth a look. Best hands in Dublin bar none to be fair but needs to get up and down.

Once his profession is not effecting his football its irrelevant really.

Anyway I cant see him getting a look in at all. For Gavin not to even include the likes of Fennell and McConnell in his initial panel of 50 speaks volumes as to how he rates them in my view.

ProudDUB

Slattsy wrote: »

Has he finished up doing all the DJ-ing and late night shifts to concentrate on the football this year?

Why should he give it up? There are plenty of Guards who play on GAA teams. Should they be banned from playing unless they don't do any night shifts in their jobs? Should nurses who play camogie be told that they can't work night shifts either?

EF gave an interview last year (when he was on the inter county team) where the issue of late nights and lack of sleep was brought up. He went into detail of how he doesn't do any late night djing gigs the week of, or before a big game.

Anyway, times are very different today. The days when a team was made up of teachers and sales reps and people in traditional 9-5 professions are long over. A lot of teams have players who are self employed, or who have their own businesses & have to work odd or late hours to keep the business afloat. They have a living to earn, just like us. It's not fair to penalize them for not working 9-5 jobs, especially not in this day and age.

Stoner

Qwerty Dub wrote: »

I wouldnt have McConnell, Dunleavy, Fennell or O'Mahony.

O'Sullivan and MDMA for Championship with Bastick as back up.

McCarthy and Flynn options if need be too.

I'm thinking along these lines too, although Fennell is a good sub to have as he can wrap things up and has experience, still not 100% convinced that o'Mahoney is not up to the required level, I thought that there was a lot of intelligent play in his game along with some flaws in the league this year, saw him back defending anticipating some of the play a couple of times.
I just don't see strong options if play A breaks down or if there is an injury.

Dubliner28

Hi lads,

I am unable to attend the semi final on Sunday.I have 1 free ticket (on the season ticket) available for the Lower Cusack if anyone wishes to avail of it.

Stoner

I'd love it please

Dubliner28

PM me your email address.

Good lad

diceyreilly

If we make it to the final would anyone like my 2 season tickets. . Ill be in Spain and can't make it. First PM with email addy gets em. Please dont email if you cant deffo go please..

DoctaDee

Youse lads ...what a fella will do to keep his 60% attendance :rolleyes: but fair play on the otherhand for puttin it out there to others

Stoner

Dubliner28 wrote: »

PM me your email address.

Good lad

Done

Dublinfan

looking forward to what teams announced tomorrow although knowing gavin there will be changes it will be interesting see if its true that brogan and Nolan are back sunday

Qwerty Dub

Dublinfan wrote: »

looking forward to what teams announced tomorrow although knowing gavin there will be changes it will be interesting see if its true that brogan and Nolan are back sunday

Brogan trained like everyone else this week. He is fine and available for selection. Whether he plays or not is up to Jim but hes good to go.

Dublinfan

Qwerty Dub wrote: »

Brogan trained like everyone else this week. He is fine and available for selection. Whether he plays or not is up to Jim but hes good to go.

i say jim will defiantly play him then he has had a good month off and its important game would be silly not too

Stoner

Dublinfan wrote: »

i say jim will defiantly play him then he has had a good month off and its important game would be silly not too

His value was most noticeable against Tyrone, and less since, no harm getting a draw against Donegal without him.

copacetic

Bernard back and a few other weird positional picks in the 'announced' team, interested in how it actually lines out.

http://twitter.com/DubMatchTracker/status/322818207163486211/photo/1

ProudDUB

copacetic wrote: »

Bernard back and a few other weird positional picks in the 'announced' team, interested in how it actually lines out.

http://twitter.com/DubMatchTracker/status/322818207163486211/photo/1

Glad to see Whelo get another run out. (If he does actually start that is. :rolleyes: ) Not sure if he will be a long term option for the rest of the year, but sure with AB & CK still out injured, what's the harm in giving him a run out? Although, a part of me does wants Gavin to have his Champo starting line up pretty much set out already, instead of still experimenting, but sure what do I know?

Dublinfan

ProudDUB wrote: »

Glad to see Whelo get another run out. (If he does actually start that is. :rolleyes: ) Not sure if he will be a long term option for the rest of the year, but sure with AB & CK still out injured, what's the harm in giving him a run out? Although, a part of me does wants Gavin to have his Champo starting line up pretty much set out already, instead of still experimenting, but sure what do I know?

i agree but alot of players are injured which means we wont really see a settled team till early to late june when there back

ProudDUB

To be honest, I doubt if we will ever see just one perfect, settled starting 15 that Gavin will use all summer long.

We have such a huge pool of players to pull from & they all have different things going on. We have some U-21 players that have impressed during the League, but have little "big game" experience. We have some players with lots of "big game" experience who didn't play (for a variety of reasons) in the League & have little experience gelling with the current set up. Then we have the Ballymuner's who every one feels should be given a chance to impress. We also have the likes of AB and EOG, who played a vital role in winning Sam in 2011. You'd hate to see us going into battle without them. But their fitness is a concern, and even if they are match fit, they have little to no recent game day experience to sharpen them up for the Champo.

Given all that, I can see JG chopping and changing our summer starting line ups based on who is available, who is healthy and who is the best fit for who ever we are facing on a particular day. It won't always be the same starting 15 or 5 man bench imo.

Neeson

Where can you buy tickets for tomorrow's games again?

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Neeson wrote: »

Where can you buy tickets for tomorrow's games again?

Gill's corner as usual I'm presuming.


Anyone else have a season ticket they're not using for a poor student looking to save €20?:)

Dublinfan

really strong forward line, hope gavin stays with it and starts brogan alot of speculation he wont start straight away

davegrohl48

Interesting to see if Mayo try and get some double coverage on Bernard Brogan today. Marking from the front and behind.
I think Dublin - Mayo is starting to turn into a match fans and neutrals really look forward to. Apart from that strange night in Castlebar it's generally close on the scoreboard and good football to watch.

Paracore

Will the Dublin players be provided with mussels today?

FionnK86

Anyone know if theres a way to watch todays match online and free?

ANXIOUS

Anyone want to pm me about what's going on with Alan brogan?

Frankie Lee

McQuillin in charge of yet another Dublin game, is it just me or does he ref more Dublin matches than anyone else?

Dirty Dingus McGee

Frankie Lee wrote: »

McQuillin in charge of yet another Dublin game, is it just me or does he ref more Dublin matches than anyone else?

He refs a huge amount of their matches which was raised by James Horan before he reffed the all ireland semi final last year.

Slattsy

Haven't been overly impressed yet.
Shooting is all over the shop. Far too many wides. Although it is quite windy.

Mannion playing well, I like the look of him so far.
O'Sullivan seems lost. The game is passing him by and his lack of physicality will be an issue against the better teams.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Slattsy wrote: »

Haven't been overly impressed yet.
Shooting is all over the shop. Far too many wides. Although it is quite windy.

Mannion playing well, I like the look of him so far.
O'Sullivan seems lost. The game is passing him by and his lack of physicality will be an issue against the better teams.

He's a brilliant corner back but I can't really see the point of playing him in midfield.

Jimminy Mc Fukhead

Frankie Lee wrote: »

McQuillin in charge of yet another Dublin game, is it just me or does he ref more Dublin matches than anyone else?

He won't be reffing any more league matches involving kildare this year anyway.

Frankie Lee

Jimminy Mc Fukhead wrote: »

He won't be reffing any more league matches involving kildare this year anyway.

Very observant of you McFukhead. Anyway I checked up the Stats on McQuillin and Dublin and it's not as bad as I though it would be. This game was his second Dublin game this season while last year he only covered the one Dublin game.
However 2011 was a bit of a joke with him in charge of six Dublin games throughout the year.

ThunbergsAreGo

Frankie Lee wrote: »

Very observant of you McFukhead. Anyway I checked up the Stats on McQuillin and Dublin and it's not as bad as I though it would be. This game was his second Dublin game this season while last year he only covered the one Dublin game.
However 2011 was a bit of a joke with him in charge of six Dublin games throughout the year.

The mark of a good referee is not noticing him, unfortunately with McQuillin.....

TouchingVirus

naughtb4 wrote: »

The mark of a good referee is not noticing him, unfortunately with McQuillin.....

Oh and there is a lot of truth to that. Once I saw the name on the programme I knew we were in for a treat. He has to be one of the most inconsistent referees out there; ridiculous fouls being missed, given and all sorts of shenanigans with cards. It says it all when Dublin rather comfortably beat the opposition and I'm on here complaining about the piss poor standard of refereeing of the match.

There are a few causes for raised eyebrows based on what I've seen so far in the league. In the general sense the entire midfield just seems like a weak spot, all season long there have been teams attacking us unhindered from their kickout/45 all the way to inside our own 45, it's inviting the enemy into our own back yard and we'll get punished for it in the Championship if it's not tightened up. We also need to support each other more, countless times in all the games there has been a run up the wing to nothing - a sloppy kick pass ruins it sometimes but mostly it's a lack of numbers. Slow to get back and slow to push forward is a mantra I really don't want to be repeating in July/August when it's all over.

Cian O'Sullivan had a fantastic performance in Kerry (apparently, I missed that one) but based on all the other matches he doesn't deserve a place in midfield. His kick passes are bad, his movement and hand-off is bad and to think he's keeping players like Denis Bastick out of a place is a shame. Most of the work in fielding today was done by McAuley, but he's also one who has off days and if he's having one Cian O'Sullivan doesn't appear to me to be the man who'll pick up the slack and feed the forward line.

Paul Mannion has pretty much cemented his place as a starter, he's having a great league and the loss of Bernard the last few weeks gave him the chance to really shine. Jack McCaffrey brings that air of excitement when he bursts up the wing or into the centre but needs to look around a bit more and pick the easy option if it's available - be it a short hand pass for a pointer or going himself, too often he's run himself into trouble. The return of Michael Fitzsimmons is only fantastic, right in time for summer. He looked sharp today for the time he was on and I can't wait to see if he and Johnny Cooper/Darren Daly make up the full back line for the championship. It's great to see Ger Brennan restore to the number 6 this week and last after Gavin's little experiment before that - it didn't work Jim and if Ger's not playing 6 he shouldn't be playing.

blackbelt

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Cian O'Sullivan had a fantastic performance in Kerry (apparently, I missed that one) but based on all the other matches he doesn't deserve a place in midfield. His kick passes are bad, his movement and hand-off is bad and to think he's keeping players like Denis Bastick out of a place is a shame. Most of the work in fielding today was done by McAuley, but he's also one who has off days and if he's having one Cian O'Sullivan doesn't appear to me to be the man who'll pick up the slack and feed the forward line.

I think this too.My concern with O Sullivan is that he appears too casual at times in the tackle one on one and also his kick passing is wayward in comparison to other years where his distribution was excellent.He is a great player when the swarm tackle is on but very inconsistent.

McAulays fitness for me is a bit of a concern but I am veryhappy to see his ball control seems to be a bit more natural and assured.

As for the forward line, I think the starting trio of Mannion,Brogan and Andrews will be the championship full forward line.Half forward line of Flynn,Connolly and Kilkenny/McManoman/Jason Whelan. On Whelan, he had a great game today but my fear for him would be his late introduction to the panel since the club championship.He looks to be a nice fit for the team but with Kev Mcs experience, may he lose out on that basis?

Also with Connolly performing well, what will happen with Kilkenny?Alan Brogan is going to find it very hard breaking into that team and I think Bryan Cullen will be reduced to a substitute role.Eoghan O Gara is another player I feel should be retained on the panel.His raw energy and strength in fielding the ball would cause a lot of defences to panic and I rate him higher thanwhat most people think.If he can become fit, he could be a nice option to have on the bench if one of the full forwards are injured.

Halfback line is sown up for me.Jack McCaffrey,Ger Brennan and Kevin Nolan will be there.Full back line of Cooper/Daly,Rory O Carroll and O Brien/Fitzsimons.

Stoner

It was a good win, but the lack of options at midfield is very worrying. O'Sullivan in out of position there. He accuracy is questionable, even if he had a bad day today I can't ever see him picking up 2 or 3 scores in a game, and that will become more important as defences tighten up and the ball is recycled backwards.
I think he is a fine player just not a midfielder IMHO.

copacetic

Agree midfield is still a problem, but disagree strongly with some of views on O'Sullivan. He's been asked to do a job there in lieu of a 'proper' midfielder than Galvin has time for. He has done it well enough, picking up breaking ball and being comfortable with it. Bascially just because we have more options at the back and he can do a job there. I'd expect he will try McCarthy there also when back, although I think James is a club centre fielder not inter county.

It's a worry though as back line looks solid enough considering they get forward so much so have to accept a level of openess at the back as a result. With Fitz now back, McCarthy to come and hopefully O'Carroll we seem solid for most eventualities. The Frontline looks good, even without Alan Brogan, Kilkenny and O'Gara. Mannion done very well and has a nice bit of confidence, a proper worry for defences, manning they can't double team Brogan. Along with Andrews they are very potent. Connolly also went well today with the pressure off his scoring, he could still easily knock over 4/5 any day but I don't believe he will ever be consistent enough to be reliable.

So midfield is what needs sorting and probably too much time given to what appears an experimental pairing. Otherwise the problem will be the finding off a settled team that will turn it around when things aren't going well, which will happen for sure.

Even today although we played well enough we started with a pile of wides, then stormed ahead but missed goal chance after goal chance. They did too in the end, but we could easily have been 12 up at half time with slightly better finishing.


Edit - few more posts since I started.
Re O'Gara, he definitely needs to be in panel. If anything with more scoring options found, the role of a ball winner like him could be really important. I can picture him hammering in on 50/50s and laying ball off, or breaking tackles and doing the same. He did some of that for Brogan 2 years back, but as we had fewer options it was a bit obvious.

Re half back line, it does look sewn up, but McCarthy deserves his runout now imo rather than be forced into a midfield option.