Dublin GAA Discussion Thread MOD WARNING POST #2944

TallGlass

0-6 Dub 0-4 Der

Slattsy

Rory O'Carroll best defender in the Country by a long way.
Oozes class.

TallGlass

0-7 Dub 0-4 Der

TallGlass

0-8 Dub 0-4 Der

Dan Chipowski

They may send that tape straight off to Guantanamo Bay. Couldn't see anyone lasting through that more than once.

Slattsy

A wins a win, lot of improvement to come.

Puke Ulster football will only get ye so far. Embarrassing stuff.

Slattsy

Bollox. Forgot its Monaghan next week. More Ulster shíte.

But i'll be in Munich on my stag so thankfully wont get to see it

corny

Don't understand the Ulster talk tbh Dublin were doing the exact the same thing to Derry for much of the game. Small played as a free defender, both midfielders planted themselves on the 40, Flynn played an inordinate amount of time in his own full back line and the of the forwards worked hard to funnel back. Seems the crowd booing the Derry lads didn't realise this either. Anyway, only a matter of time before every team in the country adopts the blanket defence or an intimation of it because it works. Ball carriers have no chance when surrounded by 6 or 7 disciplined defenders.

Conditions were bad. Can't believe Connolly was given MOTM. He spent half of the game either standing still or walking. His points seem to glossing over this for now. McCaffrey was my MOTM.

corny

If ever a game demonstrated why its important to be playing Div 1A hurling it was todays. Limerick were well off the pace and Dublin were far sharper.

Racking up impressive totals recently. Mark Schutte was epic. Looking forward to the semi. We'll be tough to beat at least.

Stoner

Man that was a low scoring game. I think Rock got half our scores. Both teams were very defensive.

Won't do us any harm later on in the year McCaffery was my man of the match. McGoldrick was good for them.

Thought Fenton was alright when he came on, he has the build for it.

Goes to show you all the same that rocks stock goes up in these defensive games. Even though his contribution to general play is less than average.

Costello did well when he came on. Thought Andrews was OK too.
Thought Kilkenny had a good first half.

Some win for the hurlers too. Nearly a digging match in the crowd beside me. All ended well though .

Slattsy

Am i the only one concerned with Brogans form lads?? I said it a while ago, i think he's gone to the dawgs lately, doesnt even look fit.

CurryFlavoured

Slattsy wrote: »

Am i the only one concerned with Brogans form lads?? I said it a while ago, i think he's gone to the dawgs lately, doesnt even look fit.

You're not. I brought it up a week or 2 ago.

Kavrocks

corny wrote: »

Anyway, only a matter of time before every team in the country adopts the blanket defence or an intimation of it because it works. Ball carriers have no chance when surrounded by 6 or 7 disciplined defenders.

Conditions were bad. Can't believe Connolly was given MOTM. He spent half of the game either standing still or walking. His points seem to glossing over this for now. McCaffrey was my MOTM.

McCaffrey spent most of his time running at those 6 or 7 defenders and getting nothing out of it. Connolly scored which today was a huge achievement for anybody.

I'd have given MOTM to Costello though, came on and scored a great point to level it and then won a great free for us to go a point ahead. After that Derry had to come looking for scores which opened them up and let us tap on a few more.

It wasn't a great match but it was quite interesting to watch tactically. 4 very poor misses from Dublin in the first 10 minutes allowed Derry to put up the blanket and prevent us from playing. I do think Gavin is learning how to beat the Ulster blanket and is slowly enacting a plan. It seemed to me that he has more than a few ideas of how to beat it and that could be seen today.

Kavrocks

corny wrote: »

Racking up impressive totals recently. Mark Schutte was epic. Looking forward to the semi. We'll be tough to beat at least.

Yeah I have to agree we've certainly scored well this year even when we lost to Cork and Clare we put up nice totals. In the last 2 games Mark Schutte has been immense. I'd always be the first to criticise him but credit where credit is due I thought he fully deserved MOTM.

homeofhurling

corny wrote: »

If ever a game demonstrated why its important to be playing Div 1A hurling it was todays. Limerick were well off the pace and Dublin were far sharper.

Racking up impressive totals recently. Mark Schutte was epic. Looking forward to the semi. We'll be tough to beat at least.

league is funny hard to see that cork hurl over 34 points again Dublin not so long ago, Limerick are poor enough as Offaly beat them at home 2 weeks ago.

TCDStudent1

corny wrote: »

If ever a game demonstrated why its important to be playing Div 1A hurling it was todays. Limerick were well off the pace and Dublin were far sharper.

Racking up impressive totals recently. Mark Schutte was epic. Looking forward to the semi. We'll be tough to beat at least.

Was very impressed with Dublin too, but christ Limerick were woeful. Dublin's backs were first to every ball. Schutte had a great match - I saw Conal Keaney being brought over by TG4 and I was aghast that Schutte did not get MOTM until they explained he had to get treated for a cut. But I wonder why Limerick left Richie McCarthy on him for the whole match. I know Dublin were rotating their forwards a little but Schutte did most damage when Schutte on directly on McCarthy.

ProudDUB

Whoa, not sure how to feel about that 70 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

The positives....well, we won, but.....

Am not gonna go off on a rant about dem drated nordies and their duvets. Until someone, somewhere decides to come up with a rule change about limiting hand passes, or teams having to keep x amount of players in their own halves or whatever, this is the game plan that we must face from time to time. It is up to us to figure out how to confront it head on and defeat it.

So with that in mind....the stupid wides that we kicked from stupid angles, the amt of shots dropped clean into the Derry keepers hands, the amount of balls kicked in long to of BB and PA that just sailed in over their heads, the lack of patience, Rocks unwillingness to even attempt to take his man on and win some dirty ball (where for art thou Eoghan? oh how we miss thee) MDMA trying to take on 5 men and run the ball into the back of the net on his own, yeah, like THAT was gonna work....

Can't blame the blanket defense for any of that.

realmmafan

ProudDUB wrote: »

Whoa, not sure how to feel about that 70 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

The positives....well, we won, but.....

Am not gonna go off on a rant about dem drated nordies and their duvets. Until someone, somewhere decides to come up with a rule change about limiting hand passes, or teams having to keep x amount of players in their own halves or whatever, this is the game plan that we must face from time to time. It is up to us to figure out how to confront it head on and defeat it.

So with that in mind....the stupid wides that we kicked from stupid angles, the amt of shots dropped clean into the Derry keepers hands, the amount of balls kicked in long to of BB and PA that just sailed in over their heads, the lack of patience, Rocks unwillingness to even attempt to take his man on and win some dirty ball (where for art thou Eoghan? oh how we miss thee) MDMA trying to take on 5 men and run the ball into the back of the net on his own, yeah, like THAT was gonna work....

Can't blame the blanket defense for any of that.

I like the idea of limiting the hand passes as nothing is more exciting than the long ball colm Parkinson made the same point on allianz leagues extra but Richie Hogan made a very good point last week on the warning it may Have the opposite affect on the game

ThunbergsAreGo

Just watcing the match back now (missed it last night)

Think the referees have a big role to play in this blanket defence thing. They seem alot more reluctant to give frees. After about 65 minutes there should have been three clear fouls on Costello, none given. It almost like if they arent sure who fouls, they dont give it

copacetic

ProudDUB wrote: »

Whoa, not sure how to feel about that 70 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.

The positives....well, we won, but.....

Am not gonna go off on a rant about dem drated nordies and their duvets. Until someone, somewhere decides to come up with a rule change about limiting hand passes, or teams having to keep x amount of players in their own halves or whatever, this is the game plan that we must face from time to time. It is up to us to figure out how to confront it head on and defeat it.

So with that in mind....the stupid wides that we kicked from stupid angles, the amt of shots dropped clean into the Derry keepers hands, the amount of balls kicked in long to of BB and PA that just sailed in over their heads, the lack of patience, Rocks unwillingness to even attempt to take his man on and win some dirty ball (where for art thou Eoghan? oh how we miss thee) MDMA trying to take on 5 men and run the ball into the back of the net on his own, yeah, like THAT was gonna work....

Can't blame the blanket defense for any of that.

Agreed Derry were woeful, but our lack of quality let them be. Better finishing and they would have had to come out and play a bit more instead of going backward all the time.
This was exactly the type of Game where you need an O'Gara as a different option for dirty ball and running through people like McCauley could do. The lack of men on shoulder for him was criminal. As he is left only being able to fist points.

Stoner

Have to agree with ProudDub. The game cried out for O'Gara's selfless play. Someone who is in the box. To collect high balls, bring others into the game, get on the end of kilkennys short attempts (he'd none yesterday) but Connelly, Brogan McManaman had and MDMAs point that came off the bar with nobody in the zone.

Costello came on and played in his position, Mannion offers that two.

How many times did MDMAs blistering runs end up with him swarmed by Derry players and him on his backside on the ground, we don't even get frees from it. He'll just have to learn to not do this against this type of setup it's like guys carrying the ball into the tackle against Tyrone back in the day, you just have to stop doing it.

In fairness to McCafferys, his runs took him past players and he did pass the ball and overlap, his plays did contribute to the win IMHO.

Dirty Dingus McGee

realmmafan wrote: »

I like the idea of limiting the hand passes as nothing is more exciting than the long ball colm Parkinson made the same point on allianz leagues extra but Richie Hogan made a very good point last week on the warning it may Have the opposite affect on the game

Limiting hand passes would make things worse.

The only way to beat a really good blanket defence is with hard running and short interchanges off hand passing, just like what Dublin did to Donegal in the 2011 semi final when Kevin McManamon was brought on.

the only thing in my opinion that would wok is a ban on the blanket defence with a rule that means there must be 5 players inside the 65 of the goal a team is attacking at all times.

Nidgeweasel

https://scontent-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/11081492_880369732019637_9045603432158288953_n.jpg?oh=d2b187cef66c5983d7407dc51abd5244&oe=55B95EAE

And there's me thinking only 'de nordies' pull men back behind the ball.

Slattsy

The line looks about 2 meters off.

Looks like 5 Dublin players either in line with the ball or above it.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Nidgeweasel wrote: »

https://scontent-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/11081492_880369732019637_9045603432158288953_n.jpg?oh=d2b187cef66c5983d7407dc51abd5244&oe=55B95EAE

And there's me thinking only 'de nordies' pull men back behind the ball.

The reason Dublin pulled men back is because if they don't they'll get caught out like they did last year against Donegal.

The only way to beat a really good blanket defence is to replicate it.

Dublin wouldn't choose to play that way they just reacted to their opponents tactics.

Wacker The Attacker

I'm ashamed to admit that for the first time in my life I left a Dublin game early.
As if a game of ultimate puke football wasn't bad enough getting soaked and frozen to death was.

Nidgeweasel

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

The only way to beat a really good blanket defence is to replicate it.

Derry?

corny

naughtb4 wrote: »

Just watcing the match back now (missed it last night)

Think the referees have a big role to play in this blanket defence thing. They seem alot more reluctant to give frees. After about 65 minutes there should have been three clear fouls on Costello, none given. It almost like if they arent sure who fouls, they dont give it

I didn't notice it last night tbh but i have in the past. They seem to allow far more hefty hits alright.

Of course i'm willing to concede it could be that teams playing the blanket defence are just better drilled in the tackle and know what they can get away with. I'm sure there's full training sessions devoted to it for the likes of Donegal. Sure just look at how good Dublin were at generating turnovers when Gilroy was in charge. We were best in the country at it.

Pierce_1991

I think what we saw last night was the first real snapshot of how we'd set up against these types of teams in the Championship. When Derry attacked we did pull a lot of players back. We tried to force a poor shot or win the ball and then attack with pace. There also seemed to be a real jolt in the side around the 62nd minute when we just kicked on that little bit. Whether that was a plan of Gavins, to keep things tight and push on late, or if it was simply a case of our fitness showing I don't know, but its a system that seems like it could work. We obviously still try to play good football, but when we defend we do so as a team. That said we probably do have some issues in attack. Brogan's form has been poor, he takes on so many shots that he really shouldn't be trying, however he does also get a lot of high passes into him when he would benefit a lot more from having it played out in front of him. What we really need against these sides is an almost rugby-like set up of passing the ball sideways to a man running straight through the lines of defence. MDMA did that really well a few times last night but the problem with him is he doesn't know what to do with the ball when he gets into the dangerous positions. It'll be interesting next week to see if Gavin tweaks things at all for the Monaghan game or sticks to the same plan.

As for the hurlers, good to get to the semi final but Limerick were very poor. I must say I was a little bit worried when the closed the gap to 6 points with about 12 minutes to play. We followed that up with two excellent scores but against stronger opposition we could have been caught. They certainly like to live life on the edge those lads! That said it was a good performance for the most part and with Schutte's performance in full forward in the second half I'd like to think Rushe won't be played there anymore. I'd really want to see him back and Center Back because he looked like a fish out of water on the wing yesterday. Probably be playing Cork next and that will be a real test of how far we've come.

ArielAtom

So funny to see a Donegal fan on here trying to justify the blanket defence by showing dublin seemingly deploying it. If it cannot be accepted that it Is predominantly Ulster teams doing then there is no hope of getting rid of it. Donegal, Tyrone and Derry with all 15 players in their own 45 is not nice to watch. Just saying

Dyr

The folk art that is the northern blanket is a unique part of ulsters heritage, it should be isolated within ulster so it can preserved as a cultural treasure.

Then the rest of us will have to just content ourselves with playing football

DoctaDee

Interesting to note that Dublin have the best defensive record in Div 1 ..

I don't really want to discuss the game last night - but just a couple of thoughts

Why do we have the inside forward line in and around the square when the ball is up the other end ? - would we not be better served pushing the 2 front men wide ?

Why do we persist with the short uncontested kick out against blanket defences - it seems we're just slowing the play into the opposition half allowing them to set? the odd long ball into the mix and a tussle for the breaking ball would occupy opponents more than them running back to mark space

Jack McCaffrey has become a proper defender

I was glad I got in early to see the hurling ..

Nidgeweasel

Bambi wrote: »

The folk art that is the northern blanket is a unique part of ulsters heritage, it should be isolated within ulster so it can preserved as a cultural treasure.

Then the rest of us will have to just content ourselves with playing football

Beffs

Who got man of the match?

EICVD

Beffs wrote: »

Who got man of the match?

Connolly

Tombo2001

Was at the match on Saturday.

Obviously conditions were crap and it was a dour game.

The way the Dubs played reminded me in some ways of watching rugby....

You'd have a guy like Michael Darragh McAuley get the ball in the middle of the park, and just hurtle himself forward at top speed to try to 'gain yards'. And he'd gain maybe ten yards, and be 50 yards from goal, and then the short hand passing begins to lads 8 feet away and they are running into each other until one of them is swamped up by defenders. So it was exactly like watching Gordon D'arcy lash into the Welsh defence to break the 'gainline'; but the difference is that in rugby its easier to retain the ball when you do that.

Dublin clearly had better players, but Derry clearly had a better system, or at least a more obvious one.

Several times you spot 13 of the 14 Derry outfield players behind the 45, all in a line defending.

The thing was, you'd have 5 Dublin players hanging back, 'marking' the 1 Derry forward.

If you compare it to Rugby, which is probably a closer comparison than comparing it to Gaelic football of 30 years ago....
.....in Rugby, a team defends in a line, like Derry did....
....but the team attacking attacks in a line, they don't leave a flanker, two wingers and a centre back guarding the goal.

I couldn't see any need for Dublin to hold so many players back when they were in possession, or indeed for them to bunch so tightly together in midfield.

Lombardo86

Possibly a little off topic - but why does Culligan tuck his collar IN to his jersey?

I thought he played well.. always made himself available when moving the ball out of defence but JESUS did that collar annoy me. Surely its more uncomfortable tucked that way

Slattsy

Lombardo86 wrote: »

Possibly a little off topic - but why does Culligan tuck his collar IN to his jersey?

I thought he played well.. always made himself available when moving the ball out of defence but JESUS did that collar annoy me. Surely its more uncomfortable tucked that way

Fashion and Appearance thread here :

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=464

GBXI

I actually don't think that there is any need to change the rules of Gaelic football. I only saw highlights of the Dublin game but the weather obviously effected the standard and I've seen this before. Football is messy when it's wet and windy.

Most importantly, weaker teams in any sport will always do whatever they can within the rules to compete with the stronger ones. Weaker soccer teams defend in huge numbers and just kick the ball back to the opposition. Weaker rugby teams constantly kick the ball and play for territory - it's not great to look at no doubt. I don't mind the governing bodies of these sports looking to tinker with the rules to make improvements not knee-jerk reactions because they don't like certain teams tactic over a few games. Also, the game would be a lot worse if every team played the same way.

TouchingVirus

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Raging, I've a wedding to go to. Missing the football was bad enough but missing the double header Mind you, it'd want to be a better day out that the double header on March 7th *shudders*

The sister took my ticket, looks like I made the right call :pac:

Stoner

Tombo2001 wrote:

I couldn't see any need for Dublin to hold so many players back when they were in possession, or indeed for them to bunch so tightly together in midfield.

I guess it's to defend against a counter attack.

Granted Derry operated a better blanket than Donegal have on Saturday.

But Donegal leave something to counter with, Derry had zero counter attack, they didn't want to win. Donegal want to win, Derry wanted to limit, I've never seen that before.

Maybe the dubs didn't commit everyone to attack because they never though a division one team would plan to have no attack that thought never struck them.

Oasis_Dublin

From our own point of view, as soon as Derry lost the ball they were turning around and running towards their own goal. Dublin were playing into this tactic by hand passing the ball around their half-back line. Kick the sh*gg*ng thing forward, and reduce Derry's chance of getting 15 players back on time! Dublin were far too slow in their build up.

In an ideal world, Dublin would be practicing their long range kicking (for points) for the next couple of months!

Stoner

Oasis_Dublin wrote:

In an ideal world, Dublin would be practicing their long range kicking (for points) for the next couple of months!

Rock was disappointing in this regard, for a player that constantly ignored the runner on Saturday he contributed little, you'd forgive this if he scored more distance points, something we've all seen him do, he kicks them high up over a tackle with great accuracy, he needs to do it more as it's his thing, at least when Andrews is not scoring he gets stuck in.

corny

Stoner wrote: »

I guess it's to defend against a counter attack.

Granted Derry operated a better blanket than Donegal have on Saturday.

But Donegal leave something to counter with, Derry had zero counter attack, they didn't want to win. Donegal want to win, Derry wanted to limit, I've never seen that before.

Maybe the dubs didn't commit everyone to attack because they never though a division one team would plan to have no attack that thought never struck them.

McIver said as much after the game. The big thing for them was to show they can come to Croke Park and not capitulate like they did last year. He actually felt it was a super nights work i think!

Stoner

corny wrote:

McIver said as much after the game. The big thing for them was to show they can come to Croke Park and not capitulate like they did last year. He actually felt it was a super nights work i think!

That's right he just didn't want to get hockied.

Didn't Gilroy do something similar with us in 2010.

We were all on here talking about it being hard to watch, when you get ripped apart as we did in 2008 and 2009 avoiding that becomes the priority.

I like McIver, seems very genuine.

Another thing. It was hard to watch but for such a defensive game there was very little niggle in it, compared to Donegal, Tyrone and Kerry anyway.

I enjoyed my Saturday afternoon anyway. Hopefully the team learned something.

Nidgeweasel

Stoner wrote: »

I like McIver, seems very genuine.

He is, very much so. A great man.

Ken Tucky

Hi all,
Hill 16 season ticket holder here and a little off topic but i checked my attendance today and im marked down as going to the Mayo match but didnt.

Did this happen to anybody else? Last year it was the other way round where your attendance wasnt being added!

Anybody else check theirs?

squrm

Ken Tucky wrote:

Hi all, Hill 16 season ticket holder here and a little off topic but i checked my attendance today and im marked down as going to the Mayo match but didnt.

Ken Tucky wrote:

Did this happen to anybody else? Last year it was the other way round where your attendance wasnt being added!

Ken Tucky wrote:

Anybody else check theirs?

Yes same thing happened and I've a stand ticket. Means I've a 100% attendance now so am not complaining!

Ken Tucky

nope wont be complaining either. And for the sake of an easy life i just might forsake the trip to Clones as herself is not pleased i was heading off on Easter Sunday....although i might get dragged somewhere i dont want to go.

Next stop Monaghon so hehe��

TouchingVirus

I find Clones is always a good trip no matter the result. With the Farney army looking strong it's almost guaranteed to be worth it