A Bad Game To End A Bad Year good riddance to Football Championship 2015

Godge

mickey1979 wrote: »

I just thought this was a dreadful year of football. Well done to Dublin for winning it but even yesterdays final summed up the year. Just dreadful. Your thoughts

You were obviously sitting at home watching on television.

If you had been there and seen the conditions, you would have marvelled at the way the skill levels were maintained at times. I have seen worse conditions in February for games.

It was a thoroughly absorbing contest with Dublin always the better team by far but unable to achieve that dominance on the scoreboard. Not a classic if you wanted open football but a real physical contest.

Godge

frostyjacks wrote: »

But you can blame Dublin for engaging in a mass brawl against Armagh that they swept under the carpet, for kicking, punching and diving against Mayo, and now gouging against Kerry. They get a free pass from RTE.

The two worst displays of gamesmanship this year came first from Aidan O'Shea falsely claiming he was headbutted when there was no contact and he clearly pulled McMahon towards him. What a despicable claim to make after a game.

The second was Donaghy. If you look at the incident where he runs up to the referee who is basically laughing at him, there is no sign of any eye damage. I can tell you this much, if you were eye-gouged by Philly McMahon you wouldn't be able to jump up and run mouthing about it to the referee afterwards with your eye looking perfectly fine.

brocbrocach

Godge wrote: »

You were obviously sitting at home watching on television.

If you had been there and seen the conditions, you would have marvelled at the way the skill levels were maintained at times. I have seen worse conditions in February for games.

It was a thoroughly absorbing contest with Dublin always the better team by far but unable to achieve that dominance on the scoreboard. Not a classic if you wanted open football but a real physical contest.

It was a terrible game. It had no rythm, little skill, low scoring, no standout performances. It wasn't even a good physical contest as possession was such a lottery.
Also Dublin were the better team but not "by far". Stats back that up.

aveytare

Godge wrote: »

The two worst displays of gamesmanship this year came first from Aidan O'Shea falsely claiming he was headbutted when there was no contact and he clearly pulled McMahon towards him. What a despicable claim to make after a game.

The second was Donaghy. If you look at the incident where he runs up to the referee who is basically laughing at him, there is no sign of any eye damage. I can tell you this much, if you were eye-gouged by Philly McMahon you wouldn't be able to jump up and run mouthing about it to the referee afterwards with your eye looking perfectly fine.

Either way McMahon clearly attempted to headbutt O'Shea and the Sunday Game footage made it equally obvious that - at the very least - he attempted to gouge Donaghy as well. So blinkered. This is to add to his record of biting, diving, sledging and all the rest. Think he and Diarmuid Connolly aren't best buds either. The guy's an incredibly dirty footballer - it is and what is and as he says himself, he doesn't give a **** so he's classless as well.

Actually it's quite comical that you're saying Donaghy was engaging in gamesmanship, jesus wept.

Christ as least stand up and admit it - I'm from Tyrone and I've never defended Ricey McMenamin, the guy was a dirty hallion and an embarrassment at times. Most county teams have a player or two like that. Feel free to love McMahon but don't pretend he's a victim in all this.

mickey1979

Godge wrote: »

You were obviously sitting at home watching on television.

If you had been there and seen the conditions, you would have marvelled at the way the skill levels were maintained at times. I have seen worse conditions in February for games.

It was a thoroughly absorbing contest with Dublin always the better team by far but unable to achieve that dominance on the scoreboard. Not a classic if you wanted open football but a real physical contest.

Sitting in lower Cusack in the pouring rain watching a brutal game. The game was poor individual snippets of skill. Game was terrible I am sure it would have better if it had not rained. It rained game was terrible, the year wasn't vintage. I was at 2008 final thought it was brilliant. I was at an u14 match before All Ireland it was great. Big Deal 2015 was poor.

doc_17

MfMan wrote: »

I must be in the absolute minority, but I thought yesterday's match wasn't all bad, and would still take it any day ahead of 2 Ulster teams banging in to one another. For sure, conditions mitigated against proper flowing football, but IMHO there was a fair bit to admire from yesterday; great disciplined defensive play by Dublin, great support play also, excellent honesty of effort by both sides, a fair percentage of well-taken scores etc. I think it was much better than last year's turgid decider.

If two Ulster teams turned up and produced that in an All Ireland you'd never hear the end of it.

breffni bogballer wrote: »

overall the whole AI series was very poor, 1 team in leinster, 1 in conn, 1 in mun,and the usual jersey pulling/assault tactics and crap in ulster. Not a decent game in the qualifiers either,no great difference on the previous year

Strange to attach Ulster like that. Is it worse than the Munster Play off? There aren't even two teams in the other provinces at the minute.

breffni bogballer wrote: »

most competitive alright, most of the games are instantly forgetable, if u enjoy poor quality football thats ur perogitive

Most games in all provincials aren't the best.


I think the timing needs to be sorted out. In the last 7 minutes the ball was in play for about 2. Refs need to cop on.

cj maxx

I think we can all agree ( going on above posts ) that the gaa NEED to try something about
Disipline ( or lack of )
Time wasting / gameman ship
I know changes were proposed but it is really , i think , absolutely imperative they try some of them to save the game. Now

TCDStudent1

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

That game was basically played like a challenge match.Kerry piddled around with Galway. As soon as Galway got the goal Kerry moved up a gear and beat them with a degree of comfort.There was very little intensity in that game and therefore it was a nice match to watch but not a serious championship match.

Its very unfair to say that was not a serious championship match or not played at championship pace. I was at that match and it was very much played at championship pace.

It has probably been over-hyped in fairness. But to suggest it was not a serious championship match really is very misleading. If you were to discount every championship match where one team pulls away towards the end of a match, then there aren't many serious championship matches out there!

Dirty Dingus McGee

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

Its very unfair to say that was not a serious championship match or not played at championship pace. I was at that match and it was very much played at championship pace.

It has probably been over-hyped in fairness. But to suggest it was not a serious championship match really is very misleading. If you were to discount every championship match where one team pulls away towards the end of a match, then there aren't many serious championship matches out there!

Kerry were in their comfort zone throughout the whole match I thought and Galway getting the goal just woke them up.

It was an enjoyable game but it wasn't anywhere near as great a match as a lot of people claim it was.That's all I'm saying.

Galway played Cork in 2013 in Croke Park in a similar type of game where it was nice and loose and some lovely football was played and it was enjoyable to watch but Cork woke up near the end and put Galway away.That is never referred to as a great game despite it being a very similar match to the Galway Kerry one in 2008.

cj maxx

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Kerry were in their comfort zone throughout the whole match I thought and Galway getting the goal just woke them up.

It was an enjoyable game but it wasn't anywhere near as great a match as a lot of people claim it was.That's all I'm saying.

Galway played Cork in 2013 in Croke Park in a similar type of game where it was nice and loose and some lovely football was played and it was enjoyable to watch but Cork woke up near the end and put Galway away.That is never referred to as a great game despite it being a very similar match to the Galway Kerry one in 2008.

I was at that kerry/galway game and as much as it was enjoyable , i never felt galway would actually win. Apart from immediately after the Galway goal kerry were comfortable then they put galway away quite easily. Nice game to watch though, no dirty tackles, players with loads of tome on the ball, good scores etc. Dont remember much more.
Saying that i remember some exits were closed because of flooding
Torrential downpours

TCDStudent1

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Kerry were in their comfort zone throughout the whole match I thought and Galway getting the goal just woke them up.

It was an enjoyable game but it wasn't anywhere near as great a match as a lot of people claim it was.That's all I'm saying.

Galway played Cork in 2013 in Croke Park in a similar type of game where it was nice and loose and some lovely football was played and it was enjoyable to watch but Cork woke up near the end and put Galway away.That is never referred to as a great game despite it being a very similar match to the Galway Kerry one in 2008.

Maybe I am not remembering that match too well. I am not sure I ever actually saw any of it on TV afterwards. I think I may have missed the sunday game that weekend, so my memory is purely based from being at the match.

But from what I remember, there was definitely a championship feel to that match - far more so than the Galway v Cork match of 2013. I felt Kerry would beat Galway that day but Galway did put it up to them at times. Joe Bergin was in full forward and caused chaos for Kerry. They had to bring on a big guy called Daniel Bohane to deal with him. Don't think Bohane did much for Kerry in subsequent games / years, but he quietened Bergin that day. To me, that was moving Kerry out of their comfort zone (pretty sure he was their last resort to deal with the Bergin threat). I also remember Tommy Walsh starting off brilliantly being marked by Bradshaw. Galway then switched him Niall Coyne. Coyne went on to have a very good game against Walsh, again forcing Kerry to look to other players that day.

I agree that it wasn't as good as people make it out to be. As time goes on, people like to hype it up even more. But I also think it is completely unfair to describe it as being like a challenge match as it was a long way from that.

Shurimgreat

BonnieSituation wrote: »

They really aren't. Tyrone v Donegal this year is a case in point as is the Ulster Final.

If a lot of people had their way we'd return to that hit and hope ****e of the 70s and 80s.
Thankfully a lot of people don't have their way.

The 70s and 80s had the perfect blend of handpassing and kickpassing and also had some of the greatest midfielders of any era - Mick O'Connell, Jack O'Shea, Brian Mullins, Willie Joe Padden, Dermot Early and many many more.

So please stop talking nonsense. The game in the 70s and 80s was far far more entertaining than it is today. Maybe a chess like dour struggle is your cup of tea, it isn't for the rest of us.

frostyjacks

http://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/philly-mcmahon-facing-prospect-of-onematch-ban-for-donaghy-clash-after-review-completed-31556438.html

Missing one league game for trying to gouge someone's eyes out of their head is a joke. Should be a year long ban at least.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Shurimgreat wrote: »

The 70s and 80s had the perfect blend of handpassing and kickpassing and also had some of the greatest midfielders of any era - Mick O'Connell, Jack O'Shea, Brian Mullins, Willie Joe Padden, Dermot Early and many many more.

So please stop talking nonsense. The game in the 70s and 80s was far far more entertaining than it is today. Maybe a chess like dour struggle is your cup of tea, it isn't for the rest of us.

There were 3 games a year on TV on TV back then and so most peoples view of football is framed by the elite teams and even then those matches weren't as great as people would lead you to believe they were.My own father who's from that era was watching an all ireland gold recently of one of the Dublin Kerry finals and even he thought it was dire stuff.

I remember being told the 1980 all ireland semi final was a great game.4-15 to 4-10 would give the impression it was a classic but apart from Matt Connors brilliance and few nice teams moves from Kerry it was atrocious stuff.Offaly aimlessly hoofed the ball away time and time again and if a Junior B team today played like Offaly did for large parts of that match you'd be disappointed with them

A large percentage of the kick passes back then weren't actually kick passes they were kicks in the general direction of a player .A kick pass is a kicked ball that the player it's directed to is almost certain to win, kicked balls that result in a 50/50 contests are not a kick passes in my opinion.

The game back then is nowhere near as good as some people would lead you top believe and the game now is nowhere near as bad as some people would lead you to believe.The truth is somewhere in the middle.

Davys Fits

Football has evolved and whether its better or worse than before will always be debated. What is for sure though is that high fielding and attempted foot passing( good or bad) is less part of the game now. The problem herein is that these are 2 core skills of the game, and what we get in return is a master class in handpassing. Lets be honest hand passing is not the most attractive because of its simplicity. Football cant afford to loose the skill of kick and catch. Hurlings evoloution means ground hurling has been lost to the possession game which is another shame but the core skills still predominate. Soccer has evolved over the years but the core skills are still there. Football is in danger of evolving into some other kind of game someplace in between basketball and rugby unless it protects its definition. The problem is too many people seem to think the new game is fine and that its problems are everything else like refs, systems, managers weather. etc etc

Dirty Dingus McGee

Davys Fits wrote: »

Football has evolved and whether its better or worse than before will always be debated. What is for sure though is that high fielding and attempted foot passing( good or bad) is less part of the game now. The problem herein is that these are 2 core skills of the game, and what we get in return is a master class in handpassing. Lets be honest hand passing is not the most attractive because of its simplicity. Football cant afford to loose the skill of kick and catch. Hurlings evoloution means ground hurling has been lost to the possession game which is another shame but the core skills still predominate. Soccer has evolved over the years but the core skills are still there. Football is in danger of evolving into some other kind of game someplace in between basketball and rugby unless it protects its definition. The problem is too many people seem to think the new game is fine and that its problems are everything else like refs, systems, managers weather. etc etc

If that is to happen you need the rules to change and unfortunately it is extremely difficult to change the rules.

I'd be pretty sure most people want more foot passing and more high fielding but under the current rules in a large amount of matches it is not sensible to play in a way that results in that type of game, unless both teams decide to play in that manner.

Also because our championship results in mismatches it means a large amount of teams have to prepare to deal with playing a a team they are nowhere near as good as and this the best way to do this is defend in numbers.If teams were playing against teams of roughly the same ability (and only teams of this level) then teams would be more confident about going out and playing football rather than trying to survive.There is nothing wrong with the game when 2 evenly matched teams play.

The game can be improved but the problem is that people think looking to the past is the way to move forward when it isn't as things weren't as great in the past as they are made out to be and we need to look at the game as it is now and analyse what can be done to improve it.Changing the championship structure and having matches between evenly matched teams and having most games played in the summer time would have an immediate indirect positive impact on the way the game is played in my opinion.

cj maxx

Davys Fits wrote: »

Football has evolved and whether its better or worse than before will always be debated. What is for sure though is that high fielding and attempted foot passing( good or bad) is less part of the game now. The problem herein is that these are 2 core skills of the game, and what we get in return is a master class in handpassing. Lets be honest hand passing is not the most attractive because of its simplicity. Football cant afford to loose the skill of kick and catch. Hurlings evoloution means ground hurling has been lost to the possession game which is another shame but the core skills still predominate. Soccer has evolved over the years but the core skills are still there. Football is in danger of evolving into some other kind of game someplace in between basketball and rugby unless it protects its definition. The problem is too many people seem to think the new game is fine and that its problems are everything else like refs, systems, managers weather. etc etc

Davys Fits wrote: »

Football has evolved and whether its better or worse than before will always be debated. What is for sure though is that high fielding and attempted foot passing( good or bad) is less part of the game now. The problem herein is that these are 2 core skills of the game, and what we get in return is a master class in handpassing. Lets be honest hand passing is not the most attractive because of its simplicity. Football cant afford to loose the skill of kick and catch. Hurlings evoloution means ground hurling has been lost to the possession game which is another shame but the core skills still predominate. Soccer has evolved over the years but the core skills are still there. Football is in danger of evolving into some other kind of game someplace in between basketball and rugby unless it protects its definition. The problem is too many people seem to think the new game is fine and that its problems are everything else like refs, systems, managers weather. etc etc

I agree that the high fielding of lore is , unfortunately , no longer a viable game plan .
And hasnt been since at least the 80's . Its too risky when you can run , handpass the ball while keeping possession .
Even with a good footpass the recipent is always the hot favorite to win the ball and it's always low or chest height so there is rarely a contest to get the ball.
The famed kerry team of the 80's used the hand pass , the brillant down team of the 90's brought men back , and when their markers followed them, could isolate linden / mccartan against a couple of denfenders .
For every system there is a way to beat it , whether long balls, quick passing , isolating players . Etc
. I thinck the root problem is players , rather than the ball, do the work because players are fitter, faster , stronger than before.
Some teams in the last few years played a game more akin to rubgy . Ie bring the ball into contact, recycle, repeat then score the free or an easy chance.
Personally i'd favor 13 a side with a defined tackle . Harsh distance penalties for gamesmanship and a sin bin .
We cant let things go on much longer.

Dirty Dingus McGee

cjmc wrote: »

Personally i'd favor 13 a side with a defined tackle . Harsh distance penalties for gamesmanship and a sin bin .
We cant let things go on much longer.

The tackle is defined in the rule book.

Unfortunately people in the GAA want to spend more time complaining about it rather than putting emphasis on the coaching of the skill or getting the referees to referee it properly.

cj maxx

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

The tackle is defined in the rule book.

Unfortunately people in the GAA want to spend more time complaining about it rather than putting emphasis on the coaching of the skill or getting the referees to referee it properly.

Maybe. Then as you say the tackle is dafined refs should enforce the rules to the letter of the law and coaches should be coaching it . As it is , its more like rugby

ProudDUB

Davys Fits wrote: »

Football has evolved and whether its better or worse than before will always be debated. What is for sure though is that high fielding and attempted foot passing( good or bad) is less part of the game now. The problem herein is that these are 2 core skills of the game, and what we get in return is a master class in handpassing. Lets be honest hand passing is not the most attractive because of its simplicity. Football cant afford to loose the skill of kick and catch. Hurlings evoloution means ground hurling has been lost to the possession game which is another shame but the core skills still predominate. Soccer has evolved over the years but the core skills are still there. Football is in danger of evolving into some other kind of game someplace in between basketball and rugby unless it protects its definition. The problem is too many people seem to think the new game is fine and that its problems are everything else like refs, systems, managers weather. etc etc

Hand passing by itself isn't the problem. An attack minded, faced paced team, building an attack from the back via series of short, sharp hand passes, with runners giving support off the shoulder, all done at blistering pace & the ball winds up in the back of the net, or over the bar about 20 seconds after the kick out.....that, is a thing of beauty to watch.

The problem is when it is non stop, slow, ponderous, lateral, hand passing around the middle of the pitch, with 13 men behind the ball. That, is when hand passing gets ugly.

dgl1992

The 70s and 80s didn't have kick passing; they had kicking only. It wasn't a pass so much as a fifty fifty hoof into the opposing half. It was scrap then and it's even worse to look at now.

Give me modern football any day over that rubbish.

Dr. Bre

The dubs Mayo replay was really enjoyable ! Especially the first half

Wacker The Attacker

Its now clear that something has to be done with the football championship.


Like with every other decision they've ever made the gaa will have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the correct decade

aidan24326

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

I remember being told the 1980 all ireland semi final was a great game.4-15 to 4-10 would give the impression it was a classic but apart from Matt Connors brilliance and few nice teams moves from Kerry it was atrocious stuff.Offaly aimlessly hoofed the ball away time and time again and if a Junior B team today played like Offaly did for large parts of that match you'd be disappointed with them

I watched footage of the Galway v Donegal semi final from 1983 recently and it was a similiar story. I couldn't believe how many times players just aimlessly hoofed the ball up the pitch, with no real sense of a plan as to what they were actually doing. The defenders' approach on winning possession seemed to be to just boot the ball as far away as possible in any direction.

Shurimgreat

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

There were 3 games a year on TV on TV back then and so most peoples view of football is framed by the elite teams and even then those matches weren't as great as people would lead you to believe they were.My own father who's from that era was watching an all ireland gold recently of one of the Dublin Kerry finals and even he thought it was dire stuff.

I remember being told the 1980 all ireland semi final was a great game.4-15 to 4-10 would give the impression it was a classic but apart from Matt Connors brilliance and few nice teams moves from Kerry it was atrocious stuff.Offaly aimlessly hoofed the ball away time and time again and if a Junior B team today played like Offaly did for large parts of that match you'd be disappointed with them

A large percentage of the kick passes back then weren't actually kick passes they were kicks in the general direction of a player .A kick pass is a kicked ball that the player it's directed to is almost certain to win, kicked balls that result in a 50/50 contests are not a kick passes in my opinion.

The game back then is nowhere near as good as some people would lead you top believe and the game now is nowhere near as bad as some people would lead you to believe.The truth is somewhere in the middle.

You can't judge eras through the eyes of subsequent eras if that makes sense. Theres no doubt Dublin and Kerry were well ahead of everyone else in that era. Theres no doubt they were interesting games for their times. And I'd rather watch many of those games than modern ones.

If someone gave you the choice between the 2014 final or 1975 final to watch which would you choose? As for people claiming players like Jack O shea or Mickie Sheehy werent skillful players, get real. Sheehy was a genius. Next they'll be saying Maurice Fitzgerald was a hit and hope merchant. Many of the skills of Fitzmaurice, free taking off either foot for example are disappearing. We're left with athletes who can run all day, handpass all day, but don't ask them to kick. We saw some appalling exhibitions of kick passing and shooting from play this year. No wonder Mick O'Connell hates the modern game.

Cue criticism of O'Connell as being a hit and hope merchant.

TCDStudent1

Shurimgreat wrote: »

You can't judge eras through the eyes of subsequent eras if that makes sense. Theres no doubt Dublin and Kerry were well ahead of everyone else in that era. Theres no doubt they were interesting games for their times. And I'd rather watch many of those games than modern ones.

If someone gave you the choice between the 2014 final or 1975 final to watch which would you choose? As for people claiming players like Jack O shea or Mickie Sheehy werent skillful players, get real. Sheehy was a genius. Next they'll be saying Maurice Fitzgerald was a hit and hope merchant. Many of the skills of Fitzmaurice, free taking off either foot for example are disappearing. We're left with athletes who can run all day, handpass all day, but don't ask them to kick. We saw some appalling exhibitions of kick passing and shooting from play this year. No wonder Mick O'Connell hates the modern game.

Cue criticism of O'Connell as being a hit and hope merchant.

100% the 2014 final. But comparing eras is futile. If the guys from the 70's played today, they would adapt and still be at the top of the game.

When people start comparing eras, I always think of Christy Ring's quote which says the greatest players do not belong in a past era:

'Let no one say the best hurlers belong to the past, they're with us now and better yet to come.'

My favourite GAA quote.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Shurimgreat wrote: »

You can't judge eras through the eyes of subsequent eras if that makes sense. Theres no doubt Dublin and Kerry were well ahead of everyone else in that era. Theres no doubt they were interesting games for their times. And I'd rather watch many of those games than modern ones.

If someone gave you the choice between the 2014 final or 1975 final to watch which would you choose? As for people claiming players like Jack O shea or Mickie Sheehy werent skillful players, get real. Sheehy was a genius. Next they'll be saying Maurice Fitzgerald was a hit and hope merchant. Many of the skills of Fitzmaurice, free taking off either foot for example are disappearing. We're left with athletes who can run all day, handpass all day, but don't ask them to kick. We saw some appalling exhibitions of kick passing and shooting from play this year. No wonder Mick O'Connell hates the modern game.

Cue criticism of O'Connell as being a hit and hope merchant.

But in you initial post you negatively compared todays football with the past.

Kickpassing is much more difficult to execute these days aswell because the players have less time on the ball than in the past and are under much more pressure also defenses are much better organised so that a slightly misplaced pass is more easly intercepted these days than it was in the past.

The kickpassing of the past wasn't as great as people think as a large percentage of kickpasses resulted in 50/50 contests which is not what a lot of people consider to be a kickpass

BonnieSituation

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

100% the 2014 final. But comparing eras is futile. If the guys from the 70's played today, they would adapt and still be at the top of the game.

The greats will always be great. The cream always rises to the top.

megadodge

Shurimgreat wrote: »

You can't judge eras through the eyes of subsequent eras if that makes sense. Theres no doubt Dublin and Kerry were well ahead of everyone else in that era. Theres no doubt they were interesting games for their times. And I'd rather watch many of those games than modern ones.

If someone gave you the choice between the 2014 final or 1975 final to watch which would you choose? As for people claiming players like Jack O shea or Mickie Sheehy werent skillful players, get real. Sheehy was a genius. Next they'll be saying Maurice Fitzgerald was a hit and hope merchant. Many of the skills of Fitzmaurice, free taking off either foot for example are disappearing. We're left with athletes who can run all day, handpass all day, but don't ask them to kick. We saw some appalling exhibitions of kick passing and shooting from play this year. No wonder Mick O'Connell hates the modern game.

Cue criticism of O'Connell as being a hit and hope merchant.

You dug a rather large hole for yourself by mentioning most probably the WORST EVER high-class game of Gaelic football I have seen - the 1975 AIF.

I am very genuine in saying if a person who never saw Gaelic football before watched that match, he'd surely be under the impression that (ahem) 'passing' the ball to fellas with the opposite coloured jersey was a scoring play, because it happened so often. Like many others, I was raised hating Brian Mullins, but in truth, he seemed to be the only player on the pitch who was able to kick the ball to members of his own team on a regular basis. In general it was just 'hoof the bloody thing away from me' from 29 other players.

I would strongly suggest you watch the next series of All-Ireland Gold when it inevitably comes around again on TG4. It's amazing how quiet the sentimentalists get whenever those old matches are seen IN FULL. When you see a few highlights from Kerry's Golden Years etc. you are only seeing the very, very best bits from an entire decade or more. But when you watch a match from that era in it's entirety, you realise how poor the skill levels were.

As for the comment on Maurice Fitzgerald's skills dying out - well that's as disingenuous as it gets. You make it sound like every player 20 years ago was kicking frees with both feet. They weren't!!

Maurice is probably unique in that regard and it was correctly highlighted at the time as being a sign of incredible skill - mainly because nobody had seen anybody doing it before - at least not as consistenly as Maurice. Can you name one other recognisable free-taker who used to do it?

I know Mike Francis Russell used to kick them out of his hands from both feet - which was also unusual - but I've seen Dermot Connolly and Bernard Brogan doing that.

And besides, I'm hardly alone in regarding Maurice as a 'modern' footballer. He's only retired a few years ffs!!

You're mixing up tactics and systems with skill. Just because players are under strict instructions to play a certain way doesn't mean they haven't the same skillset as those who went before them.

TCDStudent1

megadodge wrote: »

You dug a rather large hole for yourself by mentioning most probably the WORST EVER high-class game of Gaelic football I have seen - the 1975 AIF.

I am very genuine in saying if a person who never saw Gaelic football before watched that match, he'd surely be under the impression that (ahem) 'passing' the ball to fellas with the opposite coloured jersey was a scoring play, because it happened so often. Like many others, I was raised hating Brian Mullins, but in truth, he seemed to be the only player on the pitch who was able to kick the ball to members of his own team on a regular basis. In general it was just 'hoof the bloody thing away from me' from 29 other players.

I would strongly suggest you watch the next series of All-Ireland Gold when it inevitably comes around again on TG4. It's amazing how quiet the sentimentalists get whenever those old matches are seen IN FULL. When you see a few highlights from Kerry's Golden Years etc. you are only seeing the very, very best bits from an entire decade or more. But when you watch a match from that era in it's entirety, you realise how poor the skill levels were.

As for the comment on Maurice Fitzgerald's skills dying out - well that's as disingenuous as it gets. You make it sound like every player 20 years ago was kicking frees with both feet. They weren't!!

Maurice is probably unique in that regard and it was correctly highlighted at the time as being a sign of incredible skill - mainly because nobody had seen anybody doing it before - at least not as consistenly as Maurice. Can you name one other recognisable free-taker who used to do it?

I know Mike Francis Russell used to kick them out of his hands from both feet - which was also unusual - but I've seen Dermot Connolly and Bernard Brogan doing that.

And besides, I'm hardly alone in regarding Maurice as a 'modern' footballer. He's only retired a few years ffs!!

You're mixing up tactics and systems with skill. Just because players are under strict instructions to play a certain way doesn't mean they haven't the same skillset as those who went before them.

I do remember Neil finnegan for Galway score 5 frees from his right and 4 from play with his left in 1997 against Mayo. But he never took frees with his weaker left foot.

I don't recall brogan doing it either. But you could be right. I remember Connolly taking the free with his left against Kerry a few years ago telling Clinton to stay where he was. Serious courage to do that. It's a good point you raise - not many players have taken frees with both feet. Pretty sure cooper has taken frees with both left and right for Kerry

megadodge

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I do remember Neil finnegan for Galway score 5 frees from his right and 4 from play with his left in 1997 against Mayo. But he never took frees with his weaker left foot.

I don't recall brogan doing it either. But you could be right. I remember Connolly taking the free with his left against Kerry a few years ago telling Clinton to stay where he was. Serious courage to do that. It's a good point you raise - not many players have taken frees with both feet. Pretty sure cooper has taken frees with both left and right for Kerry

I was talking more about taking them off the ground with both feet.
Maurice Fitzgerald is the only one I recall ever doing it on a regular basis.

LeoB

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I do remember Neil finnegan for Galway score 5 frees from his right and 4 from play with his left in 1997 against Mayo. But he never took frees with his weaker left foot.

I remember Connolly taking the free with his left against Kerry a few years ago telling Clinton to stay where he was. Serious courage to do that. It's a good point you raise - not many players have taken frees with both feet. Pretty sure cooper has taken frees with both left and right for Kerry

I think players are not spending the time developing the skills in their teenage years. Lads might go the pitch with a bag of balls but they are just kicking without any pressure instead of developing a technique. Most wont have the time on match days to do fancy steps or routines. They need to be going and kicking the ball on the run this will help develop a more comfortable style. I have seen one lad in work who plays senior club football changing from kicking free out of his hands to off the ground and he has a hit rate in his range (45meters) of about 95% He has only kicked 2 wide. But he has put in huge time working on this. Not enough lads are doing this.
Development squads have brought in structures that require a serious level of athleticism, fitness and bulk. Skills like being competent with both feet are then neglected. This appears to be happening at a younger age and from what I see fewer kids are kicking with both feet. Its a shock to see kids fielding the ball also as the game evolves.

As for this years championship. It was far from all bad. The final I thought was a good battle given the conditions. Great tactical battle. Players this year however did seem very "charged up" and this led to some over hitting passes nd that is suicide in Croke park on a dry day. Looking at individual players in the final sit back and watch Cian O'Sullivan a Rolls Royce on a field. The teams are also playiong to fairly rigid systems and it appears Dublin at the moment are the only ones who have a real plan "B" which takes versatility. I don't fully blame the players either the hype they have to put up with, the scrutiny on programmes like the Sunday game, the prying media and fans and that is before a job, family or collage comes into it. This all has to take its toll on what we get to watch.

There were some great individual performances this year, Paddy Andrews, Paul Geaney, Aidan O'Shea, Keith Higgins and Lee Keegan, Sean Gallagher, Jack McCaffrey, Cian OSullivan every county can point to lads who were superb all year.

As has been pointed out the problem with the championship is the gulf between the top 8 to 10 teams and the rest. Dublin appear to be pulling ahead of the rest but the reason teams are not breaking into the top tier is in some cases they are not putting in the effort and some just are not good enough. There have been plenty of stories of unrest in several camps, player power causing ripples and the manager walks without any player actually been told to f**k off your not on the panel. Galway seem to making a stand here.

We may not have had the classics we would like but for what it is, an amateur sport every year is a good year in the G.A.A.... FOR SOMEONE

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