They were poxed to beat Mayo in 2014 and then met a very flat Donegal in the final who had peaked weeks earlier.
2009-2011 was a weak enough era, you could go back to 2008 really as a Tyrone team on its last legs won the final with a pretty ordinary attack starting of Dooher, Penrose, Mellon, T McGuigan, S Cavanagh, McCullagh.
Donegal were outstanding in 2012, Dublin arrived in 2013 and Mayo really kicked on around then too.
A very valid point. Although they turned up in the 2016 and 2017 All-Ireland finals under Stephen Rochford they didnāt even win a Connaught title during his reign. They stumbled to the final in 2016 and were completely written off before producing a big performance once there. I think if Horan had stayed on after 2014 they would have won an AI in one of the subsequent 3 years. Even under the dual management team of Holmes and Connolly they rattled Dublin in 2015.
Horan is an excellent manager, mainly for his constant blooding of younger talent.
He arguably cost Mayo an All Ireland though in 2013 but in the heat of battle mistakes can be made in player positioning.
Cork got stage fright in 2009 final . They were outstanding that year .
Dominant alright but I think the 08-11 era had a big drop off from say the 02-07 period.
The Cork team under Counihan were massive and very athletic but didnāt have too many great footballers. Thereās nobody from that team people will talk about in 10 years time like they would with some of the Dublin/Kerry/Tyrone/Donegal/Armagh/Mayo teams. Weakest All Ireland winners in this millennium. Down would have beaten them if Ambrose Rodgers had been available.
Didnāt they beat defending champions Tyrone in the semi final?
Tyrone were finished in 2009. They were pretty much done in 2008 if truth be told, winning an All Ireland in 08 was by far Harteās biggest achievement. There was a serious drop 08-11 in terms of standard.
Eoghan Mclaughlin is a superb athlete, and Croke Park suits him brilliantly. But Iād consider Colm Boyle, who he has more or less replaced, to be a more talented footballer than him. Which of them is more effective and likely to win you an All-Ireland is debatable. Similar with Tommy Conroy and Andy Moran. I have been told that even at u15, the conditioning of Mayo sides is far ahead of anything else in Connacht.
That seems like a crazy position. The years they got closest to Dublin were 2016/17. Well after Horan left. And you think that was down to the players rather than management. No way a team improves for 3 years after a manager left without it being down to their current managers. Sure werenāt there plenty of documented squabbles between different groups within the Mayo camp?
Iād agree but football is going a different direction now. If teams donāt play with a mass defence then it becomes rugby league where teams run hard right down the middle with quick offloads and go for goals.
Fulvio Gold!
You think the Tyrone 08, Kerry 09, Cork 10 and Dublin 11 teams were superior to any team that won an AI between 02-07 and 12-20?
Serious question.
I think those respective sides 08-11 would have really struggled to win All Irelands outside of that period.
Rochfordās time was strange.
He regularly was beaten early in Connacht and could have went out of the qualifiers to Fermanagh and other smaller counties.
When his team got to Croke Park they were completely different.
Clare were winning All-Ireland under 21s to beat the band a decade ago. Then they won the senior. They scored 0-6 in a Munster minor semi-final recently and were beaten by 40 points.
Can someone remind me of their run to the All Ireland in 2017?
Extra time to beat Derry and Cork and replays needed vs Roscommon and Kerry yet produced their best ever performance in the final.
Who else did they play in the qualifiers?
Limerick probably where COC did the usual padding of his stats with 3 or 4 goals as Mayo ran riot. They played Clare one year too.
Yes, all those teams bar maybe Tyrone in 08 would beat the AI champions from 5 years before hand
Derry (won in extra-time)
Clare (won well after being 4 down at half time)
Cork (won in extra-time)
Roscommon (won easily in a replay after scraping a draw the first day, they were 7 points down in the first half)
Kerry (won in a replay)
Played Clare in Cusack park, went in 4 down at half time and won at a canter.