The 2024 All Ireland Senior Football Championship (Sam Maguire Cup)

Straight Talker

@BonnieSituation Seeing that you've brought up puke football i don't mean to sound like Pat Spillane here, but it was Tyrone in the 00's that brought negative and defensive play into Gaelic football.

Donegal in 2012 took negative and defensive play to whole new extremes though. It cost them in 2014 though. With a more positive approach they would have beaten Kerry in that final.

What i decide to watch is none of your business to be quite frank about it. I'm entitled to my opinion that gaelic football has gone downhill as a spectacle over the past decade and a bit.

theoneeyedman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122441203#Comment_122441203

Either lads here are too young to remember, or are wilfully ignoring it, but defensive, negative football wasn't invented in 2003.

I grew up through the 1980s, and believe me there were some shocking games and tactics. Pulling and dragging, and even wilful violence used as a way to control skillful players - big lumps of lads they whose main skill was boxing a lad on the back of the head, and lumping a punt kick up into the air as far as they could. You could only imagine a player scoring a point like O'Neill scored yesterday,full pace going into the corner, and it's quite commonplace now,I think it was D'Arcy did something similar for Galway too, and don't mention Conroy and his shooting from range. The fact that corner backs and even goalies are better ball players then most half forwards in the 1980s means you can't kick the ball to them willingly, and it impacts on how teams play with the ball in hand.

"The thing about the old days, they the old days'!

shockframe

Armagh wouldn't be anyone's tip for an All Ireland Title earlier in the year but I don't believe the final was any worse than what teams did in 2012-2015.

They are held up as being very dour and defensive but over the last 4-5 years they've been involved in a lot of exciting games

2021 - Extra time v Monaghan

2022 - Extra Time v Galway

2023 - Extra time v Derry and then Monaghan

2024 - Edged out by Donegal. Extra time v Donegal, the counter attack brilliance v Derry/comeback v Galway and then the epic v Kerry.

Its inevitable they will be judged on the less glamorous elements of yesterday but would not be a fair reflection of them since Covid.

They don't have many superstars but they extracted every last ounce of their talents, have been involved in some incredible battles and got a slice of luck yesterday.

Hats off to them

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122441008#Comment_122441008

You do not get the room to kick from that far out. To kick a point from thatt distance you need about 5 meters of a run up and you will ve closed down by the time you reach your kicking point so you have to check your run so as not to get turned over.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122440991#Comment_122440991

It was actually a problem with the game no player was risking carrying the ball into contact incase of getting dispossessed and turned over. Excluding the goal there was no other goal chance created by either team.If a player got within a meter of you you generally offloaded. Neither team tried too many runs along the end line to create scoring chances. When faced with a potential turn over players tried to work the ball immediately out of this zone rather than risking continuing on to create a score

I do not think that the limited amount of free was necessarily a plus. As well Armagh did hold up players a number if time late in the game as Galway tried to counter attack so they could get there defence set. None were pull downs but they are fouls to slow the game down.

drury..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122441261#Comment_122441261

That's a slightly different point about rough play

gaffer91

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122440977#Comment_122440977

I don't dispute that Armagh were very defensive also. I watched the match on tv but I'll take your word on it that Galway left lads up more often. But none of what you've said contradicts the point that Armagh attacked with more pace. You describe it as a "myth" but then also explain how they could do this. At least Armagh move the ball down the field at pace, unlike Galway. Granted it was mostly a running game rather than a kicking one, but it was still better to watch. Galway in the last few minutes in particular beggared belief with their slow, lateral handpassing. Not to mind when Galway did turn the ball over in open play generally they would also slowly move it up rather than try to capitalise on Armagh's unset defence.

I don't think if Galway set up more defensively it would have been better for them- probably they'd just have scored even less- Kerry set up very defensively vs Armagh and it got them nowhere. If Galway were able to kick easily scoreable frees yesterday they'd probably have won the game, despite everything, so inefficiency/poor finishing (as well as good efficiency by Armagh) as well as the slow buildups were the main things that cost them.