Thatâs the point , youâre trying too hard âŚ
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Typing a few words isnât an effort for most of us mate. Those âŚ.must be murder your fingers though.
The âŚâŚ really get under your skin âŚâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚ.
Youâve used it as a good mask tbf.
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Youâd never guess my other accounts âŚ
The rest of us are on the TFK scale, Ewan is on the Richter scale.
The Windy lads are on the Beaufort Scale
Tommy Lyons had them motoring very well in 2002. There was some buzz about Ray Cosgrave that year. Tommy always reminded me of a politician, kind of Bertie Ahernesque. That semi-final against Armagh was iconic.
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The Tyrone game in 2008 must have been one of the biggest bubble burstings of modern times.
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There was some hype after the Leinster final that year. They invaded the pitch in injury time of that Leinster final against Wexford.
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That match was a monumental kick in the hole for Dublin and a was a suitably ignominious end to Pillarâs reign. Dublin were flying coming into it and Tyrone were going poorly. It was a dark stormy Saturday evening in Croke Park with an eerie sort of half light adding to a surreal atmosphere . A load of the Tyrone lads grew long beards for some reason and they looked like angry H Block prisoners who had been eating the gym. They absolutely battered us physically and on the score board. We were a laughing stock.
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Thatâs certainly the way it turned out but whatâs often forgotten is that even without Alan Brogan who had to go off injured soon after throw in Dublin were well on top in the first 20 minutes of that match and should have been five or six points up. They wasted a host of chances including at least one gilt edged goal chance when Mossy Quinn made a hames of a handpass to Diarmuid Connolly with the net yawning.
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For the guts of ten years Alan Brogan carried the whole Dublin forward line. Remarkable player to watch. He pretty much missed all of 13, but 11 and 15 were exactly what he deserved, footballer of the year in one and kicking the final point off the bench as his last contribution
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Their kick-out came under pressure. It started to implode. After that, everything fell apart. You have to wonder where Stephen Cluxtonâs thoughts are this week.
Would he have been able to keep Dublin together? Would he have been able to find the open man with one of those pinging restarts to the wing to just keep Mayo at bay? And what now? He hasnât said he is retired. Will he return next year?
There was a clear discipline issue as Dublin surrendered their crown. They became very aggressive and there was a cynical nature to their play and a dangerous element also. We were behind the tackle on Eoghan McLaughlin by John Small and it was bad.
He wanted to hit the Mayo player as hard as he could and it was high. It was shoulder to head. It was shoulder to chin. It was the worst of a series of incidents. There were high tackles around the neck and hand trips and people being dragged downâŚ
That famous Dublin bench is no longer there. For me, that is not the full story. For me, the important part of the equation is that the players on the pitch know that those reserves arenât there. When you have Diarmuid Connolly or Michael Darragh MacAuley biting at your heels, it keeps you fresh and motivated and sharp.
But who was there to truly threaten those Dublin starters? That very deep level of responsibility was dilutedâŚ
I donât believe they are going to disappear. I donât. But they have reached a crossroads. It is not just about Dessie Farrell or the players: it is also about the top brass in Dublin football
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I thought youâd actually said something intelligent there, until the hyperlinks at the end gave the game away and I realised youâd just copied it from the Irish Times.
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Youâre a bit slow of a Monday
Similar happened in 2009 I believe against Kerry.
Kerry had been almost beaten by Longford and Sligo in the qualifiers and were in terrible form.
What they really needed was a high profile match against the Dubs to get them going.
And get them going it did. Declan OâSullivan into full forward seemed to completely flummox Dublinâs assigned marking system and the game was over at half time.
Was Gilroy in charge that year?
Antrim too.
Thatâs the thing about the qualifiers, itâs always a path paved with peril. I look at Tyrone during the years, they got dumped out in the qualifiers and had some big scares along the way too in years gone by. The same with Mayo in recent years, eeking past Fermanagh by AOS cheating, needing ET to get past Derry and Cork, put to the pin of their collar by Armagh, knocked out by Kildare.
Kerry have rarely ad to enter the qualifiers early doors due to the provincial system, that was one instance of it and they had some big scares along the way. Itâs great if you get through them but you donât always.
He was. That was the âStartled Earwigsâ game.
It unearthed Donaghey as a full forward iirc.
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