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

We could have won it and it was an easy free to give at end

I thought about going with the eldest. Not a bed to be found and even at that at a decent price. He midnight getting home and hours pass her bedtime. Even last weekend she was falling asleep in car. So didn’t fancy the long drive home. Pity it wasn’t a 5 throw in. More might have made the journey.

clearly doesn't take the league serious. I'd settle for another AI

Con's role is odd too he played very deep for alot of the match, it's feels a long time since we've seen him put in a match winning performance or a serious contribution on the scoreboard.

Fair analysis. I was looking back over some of the game again this morning. There were a couple of questionable frees that our guys got (Mayo). Aidan O'Shea got a few, but was denied some obvious fouls against him as well (the big man syndrome). There was a free for Cillian O'Connor near the end, and I don't know what it was for. There needs to be some element of contact in GAA; otherwise, it will just go like the Premiership.

But I don't get the comments about the last free.. If one player pushes another player, it is clearly a free. It's not about the force, or what part of the body he pushes him. This notion of "a soft free" was introduced into GAA lingo some time ago, indicating that there may have been some potential wrongdoing in the awarding of a free. David Clifford had what seemed to be a fair shoulder against Derry last year, but the free went against him. It was controversial. That is what I would regard as a soft free to Derry, as it went against what is written in the rule-book. If there was no contact between Ryan O'Donoghue and the defender, and Ryan O'Donoghue falls over or dives, then it is a wrongdoing and a soft free (or in that case an incorrect call by the ref). But in this case, the defender clearly pushes him over. If I was Dessie Farrell, I would be fuming at the Dublin defender. About one minute left, the ball heading towards the corner flag and if I recall correctly, O'Donoghue was fairly isolated. And then Cian Murphy tries to make contact with him whilst bending down for the ball. Very naive.

Anyway, Mayo were extremely lucky to come away with a win on this one. Yesterdays game was a bit like the Dublin Monaghan game last week - one point loss for the Dubs, last minute point. But I was at the Dublin Monaghan game, and from what I saw, Monaghan were toe to toe with Dublin. But Mayo were lucky to come away with a win.

We don't believe in that approach in Mayo. We like to settle early in the season, go all guns blazing, and then let the weeds grow in the crunch part of the season !!😥

Galway were very poor last week. Made Mayo look good. I expect Roscommon to give them a good going over today - that's if Ros put out their full-strength team.

For Dublin, it looks like they will be depending on getting a home win against Roscommon, and a win in Galway to get 4 points. And then probably looking for one win from Kerry (in Croke Park), Derry (away) and Tyrone in Croke Park. Any of those three games could go either way. I don't think they will beat Derry in Derry. For the Kerry match, the Croke Park element doesn't phase Kerry. They have played there several times, and don't get phased by it. And the Cliffords are due back then too and fresh after a nice break for themselves. So the Tyrone match will probably be the most winnable from those 3 matches. It could be a slog for Dublin. Or it could turn out they could win all of the games. That's the great thing about the league in comparison to the championship. The championship has generally become predictable, until you get to the semi-finals. THere will generally be a shock or 2 along the way, but it is more the exception than the rule.

Kerry have Clifford the whole thing revolves around him. If you took him out that team they would fall apart.

Theo Clancy had very good debut I taught .

Thought McEneaney for Dublin was good (fisted miss aside)

They are very reliant on him no doubt, but they did OK against Derry last week without him.

That is starting to look like to me, but then I didn't give Dublin much of a hope last year when drawn v Mayo in that AIQF so what do I know?

There does not seem to be a single team out on their own at the moment, so a team with smart game management could still sneak an AI.

I feel the team needs a spark a young attacking player with fearless exuberance, thinking Jayo 1995 he transformed the mood of the Dublin camp back then when it was full of auld fellas, or an Alan Brogan type from about 2003.

Something to lift the team crowd cheers when he gets the ball in anticipation that something is going to happen. Con used to do that but his role seems to have changed?, before him it was Connolly. I suppose you could even Connolly role changed at the tail end of his career going for those pinged longrange passes, sitting deep.

A flair player I suppose you would call it, the type who runs at defences and you don't know what he is going to do next.

Has the vibrancy being trained out of players? Or are they just not being produced these days? More concerned with "turnovers" and "possessions"?

Only thing that threw me about his performance was the 9 on his back.

I wonder what Dessie’s logic was naming him at 9 and then playing him in his normal spot. Did he think it would confuse the Rossies?

Happy with the two points anyway, looked like it could be another collapse at one stage.

Why the crowd so small today I wonder? Told by Steward was expecting 15k.

Must be the smallest crowd at a senior Dublin football match since a few years ago bitterly cold day/stormy/rainy etc in the league which clashed with a big Rugby game.

But this time the weather was grand, was it because it was on telly?

With no Fitzsimons, who do you think will pick up Clifford. Looking forward to a cold evening in Croker alright.