Dublin GAA Discussion Thread: Mod Note - No 'Dublin Dominance' chat allowed!

Just home hard to read anything into it really Sligo were awful .Nothing new overall our full back line will ship goals against the top teams so it looks like we will have to bag a couple ourselves from here on .We left a couple of goals behind us today I know the game was done but we seem a bit Conservative in that regard .We will need better from Paul Mannion any remaining matches should be stepping up now a lot from the ones so far .Not a bad turnout from Dubs today even if it felt like a challenge game for most of it .

Yep. Gave them no chance at the start but then they were competing well enough for a time albeit Clare were off their game but then they just upped their game and left Dublin in their wake. Huge gaps at the back for Dublin, Clare waltzed through for their goals.

The worst part is I don't think Clare are any great shakes. Dublin still got two goals and had numerous chances. The Dublin defence was very poor though. Having to move Eoghan into the forwards does not say much for the forwards either.

I don't think it is as bad as it looks though, a decent centre half back and a scoring forward suddenly this Dublin team looks miles different.

I was thinking at how Tipp converted Michael Breen from midfield into a full back. Could Dublin do the same for centre back? Needs an organiser shouter at the back.

The hope I am clinging to is that defensive stuff can be learned over time, if it is drilled into them. Time and again Kelly was playing cute with his movement and Dublin had no answer. They just have to put the work in training now with the video analysis etc. Past Dublin sides had way more structure.

In the past fellas mightn't be the best hurlers but they knew where they were supposed to be on the pitch. In my head i am thinking about Dalo's team where they ALL worked like dogs. Leg work, structure covered up deficiencies. Can it be done again?

Or has hurling moved on? And I am talking through me hat?

I seem to remember the same sort of stuff happening at a game v KK in Parnell. TJ Reid working space effortlessly etc. Same craic.

The problem is lads like those are thinking three steps ahead, the Dublin lads only realise the danger when it is too late, wondering where the opponent has gone. I think it is just experience/repetition/training.

Plus when Chris Crummey comes back surely he will make a big difference? Unfortunately though Dublin are not producing many hurling 'warriors' like him, Nevermind the constant lack of scoring forwards issue.

nothing wrong with player commitment today it was on the line that cost ye ,

How many changes did michael donohue have to make between positional and subs , at one point early in the second half i turned to a mate of mine and called paddy smith the redlight district , his helmet color the fact he was getting cleaned and a target to hit , he was moved for the last 25 minutes to full back and was excellent , when eoin o donnelll moved out the field he really drove dublin on , he had a fantastic game

fergal whitley and alex considine were excellent both never started , the top scorer in the country went off after 8 minutes too paul crummy, danny sutcliffe and cian o'sullivan were excellent too

scoring 2-17 on top of all that is a good days work normally ,but why not drop an extra man back? galway in the second game dropped nilland into midfield and pauric manion back to between the 45 and 65 as extra cover from the start today , the man that played the very same tactic wining an all ireland today refused to do the same

dublin played wit 3 men up top from start to finish today , ridicules a team known for its hard work and tightness today left both the front and back doors open , dublin hurling is fine , dublin club hurling is in a good place i wont be blaming the players here

in football the saying up north is backs win matches forwards depend by how much , that may have been true in the second game today but in the first the dublin back 6 were given no chance ,given how the set up

I was thinking there that the way Dublin defended was like herding sheep through a gap. Leave the gap stand there with your sticks and let them right down the middle! (Probably the most country thing I have ever said - I wouldn't be surprised if it gets me a ban from this thread!)

What you say there makes a lot of sense, but then it begs the question if it was so obvious to you, why did O'Donoghue send Dublin out like he did? All of that is just basic structure nothing to do with the hurling level of the players.

This is gonna sound a bit dickish and I repeat it often but I don't know how it's not obvious to anyone with a brain what the problem is... Dublin are miles off in the physical stakes. Miles off. I was at the game yesterday. The Clare subs basically did a training session at the end, as a warmdown!

In the game proper? For the second goal the Clare midfielder burst through two Dublin lads, they barely slowed him up in contact, he then proceeded to outpace both of them running 40 yards with the sliothar. Conor Burke showed signs that the lactic had built up in him towards the end, the Clare lad not a bother to him. All over the pitch Dublin lads battled but were knocked off their feet by hefty challenges. We get outpaced, outmuscled and outmanoeuvred and I still have to listen to shitebags on the Tele talking about Dublin's athleticism. It's infuriating. Eoghan O'Donnell can hold his own and that's about it. He can break a tackle and keep up in a foot race. No one else in blue can do both to the level required. Clare by contrast have a bunch of lads who can do both. We're not even talking about Limerick and I shouldn't have to mention what the standards are like with those fellas.

Until Dublin address the physical disadvantages they suffer they have no chance of getting closer. 'Wristy hurling' and 'talent' is a poor second to pace, power and preparation. No one says it but it's true.

The draw for the football is it tonight or tomorrow morning?

Praying we don't get the half 3 4pm game on Sunday cause I've to go to gig in Trinity at 7 no bloody way anyone is gonna mind the kids for whole day haha.

Saturday afternoon against Cork or Monaghan be nice! **** it I'd even take Tyrone.

Its all physical for me. It starts there. What we're reading as mental is lads bearing the scars of lost battles. If Shane O'Donnell turns you inside out, runs through, around you, at his leisure, and if there's very little you can seemingly do to stop him, eventually your head will drop. You and I could take the pitch with the greatest intentions and with all of the aggression in the world (the right kind) but we'd soon get exposed against lads who are capable of exposing us. Would our approach be affected by this chastening experience? I think it would.

All of our bigger lads lack pace and all of our pacier lads lack power. Paddy Doyle for example is a talented lad but he'll never realise his potential unless his S&C is at a level that allows him to compete. That's not happening in Dublin. We need a JP McManus type and we could turn Paddy Doyle into a Kyle Hayes!

That's a fair point corny and makes a lot of sense.

Mayo!