[QUOTE=“glasagusban, post: 1009906, member: 1533”]In bold: talk about over reaction. No he won’t, he’ll have to make small changes. Even if he makes no changes Dublin will reach at least a semi again, I would consider “motoring”, and most probably, Donegal are the only team in the country that could do that to Dublin, other teams could try ape donegal’s gameplan but it won’t work for them.
So a more accurate summation would be that Gavin will have to make some tweaks, especially in the 5-9 area, to prepare for the prospect of meeting an inspired team employing such a sophisticated defence and counter attack against him in the future.[/QUOTE]
Dublin playing the way they have this year will beat anybody but Donegal. If Donegal win the All-Ireland this year, which they will, they probably won’t be able to lift themselves to the same level again next year and will be closer to their 2013 form. So Dublin will likely win the All-Ireland again next year because they won’t run into a Donegal team in yesterday’s form.
I agree with most of that but that I give Kerry a very good chance against Donegal. They are more tactically aware and advanced than Dublin and crucially adaptable, on the weekends evidence they are stronger at winning ball in midfield, they have a handful of players that can score from distance/tight angles, and they can maybe bypass the defence going straight to Donaghy. Also (GAA cliche warning), Kerry are Kerry, they have a better mentality and won’t lose the head like Dublin/Mayo did.
[QUOTE=“carryharry, post: 1009895, member: 1517”]Jim Gavin played the “Deer startled by Headlights” role perfectly yesterday. He has set Dublin up to play one way only & when
.[/QUOTE]
that’s bullshit…he was as startled yesterday as he was against Kerry last year…the difference is that the changes came good late on against Kerry… if you have ever read any interview with him he is hell bent on Dublin playing a certain way…its very open and quite naïve and it won them the AI last year… but that’s his philosophy and he expects the players to stick to it too…“Deer startled by Headlights” is ridiculous …
Is it true that Donegal spent 7 days in a hotel camp preparing for the Dublin game?
Analysis is always a narrative after the match but Dublin should have been 1-7 to 2 up after 20 minutes at which stage it is game over. Donegal shot return was 68% which ultimately is why they won it.
Kerry will learn from this game. Don’t follow Donegal forwards up the pitch. Donegal game-plan is about moving their own team up and down the pitch and is very clever and well executed. Kerry have the kick passing to go over/past a team funnelling back - I thought Dublin did it well in first half and players made space with runs but that seemed to stop as Donegal were able to hold up Dublin and they were taking ball standing still.
Be great TV to see how the managers set up to break down the other in the final
Dublin consistently ran the ball up the field looking for goals instead of taking on clear enough points when available. This was a stupidpanic stained effort & Gavin watched on for 30 minutes while this went on. I repeat, Paddy Andrews was the only player who took on score able efforts from 30 metres out & both he converted. The Dubs lost all sense of their gameplan or else there was NO plan B, either way the manager must be held responsible. My point stands whether you agree or not.
The more I think about, I reckon if replayed; Dublin would still more than likely win that game. Pretty much everything that could go right, went right for Donegal and conversely some very unusual blips for Dub players. It was an incredible achievement by McGuinness to set them up so that was possible.
[QUOTE=“carryharry, post: 1009932, member: 1517”]Listen, watch the match back again.
Dublin consistently ran the ball up the field looking for goals instead of taking on clear enough points when available. This was a stupidpanic stained effort & Gavin watched on for 30 minutes while this went on. I repeat, Paddy Andrews was the only player who took on score able efforts from 30 metres out & both he converted. The Dubs lost all sense of their gameplan or else there was NO plan B, either way the manager must be held responsible. My point stands whether you agree or not.[/QUOTE]
Flynn also scored some nice points from long range. Dublin just kept taking the ball into contact and loosing it. They should have kept taking the lo g range scores like they did at the start and keep the score board ticking over and a gap between Donegal.
Everyone is talking like it was a straightforward exercise to kick those long range points. It was anything but. Some of the scores they kicked early on were outstanding and the return they got from shooting from distance was way ahead of anything they’ve managed before now in the Championship.
I agree that they lost their way in the second half and ran into contact too much but I think that was hindered by guys thinking they could pop one over from 45 so they stopped running at the defence from those deeper areas. In the first half there were pockets of 4 or 5 Dublin players supporting the man with the ball and all breaking at angles and the inside forwards were coming out and creating lay-offs. Then O’Gara started taking it into contact every time, the support runners stopped. The defenders were obviously spooked by what was happening in the spaces they were leaving so McCarthy, McMahon and McCaffrey (off by then) weren’t overloading the defence anymore.
[QUOTE=“tallback, post: 1009942, member: 1158”]The more I think about, I reckon if replayed; Dublin would still more than likely win that game. Pretty much everything that could go right, went right for Donegal and conversely some very unusual blips for Dub players. It was an incredible achievement by McGuinness to set them up so that was possible.
Monaghan were a shambles.[/QUOTE]
Dublin would start as favourites to win
Problem is that all analysis of sport but particularly GAA is framed on the win/lose narrative with little scope for any grey area. McGuinness is hailed as a genius because two Dublin players missed goal chances they should put away. if they score then the narrative is that Donegal blanket defence doesn’t work.
That is not to take away from Donegal who played very well and were able physically and mentally to sustain a great effort and take their scores. That preparation is down to McGuinness and his backroom team.
My main criticism of GAA managers is most of them cannot change a game from the side-line or refuse to react tactically to what seems obvious (Cork did the same in the hurling against Tipp) either because they have adopted a tactic for the day or a philosophy of playing. Gavin to my mind should have reacted after the first Donegal goal. I don’t think managers see enough from the sideline - the rugby manager up in the booth is not a bad idea as you see much more from up there and GAA is becoming more and more tactics/patterns of play based.
Also managers refuse to change a style of play to protect a lead - Donegal are great at that and once they go ahead are not afraid to choke off teams. Teams could do a lot with tempo control of matches and maybe that is what makes the best players/the big game players so good is that they can think and react when it is a hundred miles an hour when other players “heads are wrecked” and they cannot think
[QUOTE=“tallback, post: 1009942, member: 1158”]The more I think about, I reckon if replayed; Dublin would still more than likely win that game. Pretty much everything that could go right, went right for Donegal and conversely some very unusual blips for Dub players. It was an incredible achievement by McGuinness to set them up so that was possible.
Monaghan were a shambles.[/QUOTE]
Monaghan had a much better opening against Dublin, they held them to 3 points in the first 25 minutes and two of those were from very soft frees awarded by Duffy. Dublin got two goal chances against Monaghan in the first half - as they did against Donegal - the difference was they took them and both goals should not have stood in any case.
