This is correct but cork could have folded against Louth then. What Mayo have and Cork don’t is a much better spread of potential scorers
What would worry me for Mayo is it took Tommy Conroy coming off the bench to terrorise Cork. You wouldn’t bank on that against those battle hardened Kerry backs
Mayo are probably still improving game on game and Kerry have not come close to their best yet. The one thing Moran will need to figure out is how to not concede a goal or two in the first ten minutes which has been a Mayo affliction over and over in finals
Ah here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more obvious square ball and whether the Kerry lad interfered with Evan or not is irrelevant. Umpires at fault here not Cawley. Maybe they couldn’t see when the ball was kicked because there was 2 big Kerry men standing right in front of them.
Realistically, Mayo have beaten three division 2 sides to get to the final. Cork and Louth are decent sides but limited. Meath was a good win but they relied on Meath missing a clatter of goal chances and then receiving a very harsh red card early in the second half of that game. Kerry are on an another level entirely. Albeit they are not really firing like they can. If they can produce something close to their best in the final it could get ugly for Mayo. If they remain a bit off it then Mayo maybe have a punchers chance.
The score will be 2-4 to 0-1 after eight minutes in the final. Massive build up and will be over early like all other previous finals between the two. I’d have given Mayo a shake against Dublin, not Kerry
I fear this could happen also. Mayo’s gegenpress crushed Louth who lost their line breaker Craig Lennon. Kerry with Gavin White, Breen, Paudi etc, will break the lines - and then there will be acres of room inside in front of Clifford.
You can also expect Kerry to dominate their own kick-out and claim enough of Mayo’s.
Mayo will need goals and lots of them.
Will be interesting who Kerry match up with who. Put Foley on Kobe and he will be pulled out.
I’ve been to a fair number over the years but for Dublin games, I probably do need to come at the ground from the opposite side alright and experience the real heartland of Dublin Football up by Kavanagh’s of Marino/Gaffney’s of Fairview etc.
Kerry will always dominate the city centre on days like these.
@MogwaiC86 could surely do a POWER RANKINGS of Dublin pubs to be in pre/post Dublin Football games.
I’ve seen the slowed-down footage & the screenshot and even in that, it’s not absolutely conclusive that it’s over the line. It looks like it probably is but the angle makes it difficult.
That’s after watching it 5 or 6 times. The umpire has a split-second; I can absolutely see how, in the moment, he could make the call that it hadn’t crossed the line entirely.
You are making it sound a lot easier than it is; again, with the benefit of a lot of replays.
Agreed. On those three big calls, I think that’s a really difficult one & umpires should really be absolutely certain if a ball is over the line rather than having a guess. Very hard to be certain there at that speed & given how tight the call was.
The penalty was in the “harsh but seen them given” category for me depending on the angle the referee viewed the tackle/collision.
The square ball one though is the rank bad decision & was a real momentum shifter.
It looks clearly over to me. I think you’re overlooking that the umpire is standing right on top of it and in line with the goal line has a view that’s miles better than any of the camera angles or replays. Perhaps they had a good view of it and clearly decided it wasn’t over.
In any event, this is what’s they’re there for. There’s a handful of bits of the game that are hard for a ref to spot what may have happened - like square ball or a goalmouth scramble - that umpires are ideally and specifically placed to view. It’s an AI semi final in croke park. IIts their job on the day, there’s two of them there. I don’t accept that “it was difficult to see” is an excuse. Whatever about the goal missing the the square ball was so bad.
I think you’re being too easy on Cawley over yesterday. They’re a team and he picks them. Given that he knows them, all it needed was a quick “Was that all right for a square ball?” or " Was he behind the line blocking that?" but, barring some audio that might exist, there’s no sense that the possibilities here were even a consideration for any of the team.
I’d veer towards incompetence as the likely explanation.
This isn’t cricket - where even a clean bowled isn’t a dismissal unless appealed for by the team fielding. You’d expect at least one of the umpires, linesmen and ref to have some view on what went on yesterday and being competent to do their jobs. If, as per Tomás, these were too difficult to call/see then we need better officials and better assistance for them.
On the match result, I think Kerry would have adapted to any of the circumstances that might have arisen if the 3 big decisions were different and won it out in anyways. I accepted the possibility of a double-digit defeat in advance and was delighted to see some semblance of coherence, fight and committment in our display. Not our sorest defeat to them.
The umpire watching for the ball going over the line had his view blocked by Paul Murphy. The other umpire was correctly positioned a few yards behind the goal watching for a point attempt so he had no good view either. The Spaniards don’t have goal line technology in La Liga as it’s too expensive and now fellas want it at every county ground in Ireland for a situation which might happen once a season, and that umpires are probably calling correctly anyway.
Controversial Refereeing decisions aside the game yesterday was decided by the goalkeepers. The kerry one made crucial saves at important junctures that were key momentum shifts. The Dublin one didn’t. Could he have done better for the penalty. It was low along the ground. He went the right way and there was little pace on it. Could blame slow reactions of the Dublin decenders too. The 2nd goal he needs to be more commanding of the situation. Really weak wrists to allow the ball cross the line. His short kickouts allowed Kerry runs on goal a couple of times that could have been punished with more green flags. His long ones dont go particulary long either and allowed Kerry press high. Dublin. Won so many AIs because Cluxton was able to find Brian Howard time and again to get Dublin rolling on short and intermediate ones and Fenton with long ones. Comerford hasnt been able to develop a connection with any Dublin outfield player. Mayo Goalkeeper is probably in All Star conversation. If he can avoid the Mayo GOALKEEPER AI hoodoo it may give Mayo a glimmer of hope.
Now the new rules with the big arc would’ve been a different prospect for Clukko too. He never had to deal with that thankfully for him. Doesn’t change him obviously as the GOAT but he’s probably happy enough at home thinking that wasn’t part of the game he played.
Agree with all of that. The thing for us to concentrate on is our shooting and long range shooting. It’s fucked us since the new rules came in and makes us much easier to defend against. Kerry stretch you so much by having 4/5lads who can all take 2 pointers with confidence. And the have the likes of White and O Connor who run very direct to break lines. Dublin did excellently on Kerry kickouts in the second half and defended incredibly well for me.
Persuading the likes of Kilkenny, Byrne, costello and Scully to stay on while bringing on the new lads will be absolutely key for Brennan. No harm either in them knowing they got close but they can step it up again next year.