All Ireland Senior Football Championship 2014

Sport
1341

Sean Cavanagh is an excellent footballer. However his persistent diving is both embarrassing and disgraceful. Ok, he is fouled more often than not but every single time he charges through he looks to hit the floor, win the free and get the opponent booked/black carded. Watched as a neutral today but his antics were a joke, any contact and he was flinging himself to the ground. Every single time.

Have lost all time I had for Mickey Harte too. Huge sympathy for the man over what happened his daughter but he is just a cranky whinger these days. Always someone else to blame or some cause to champion. Can’t argue with his managerial record but I hope they get dumped out of the qualifiers ASAP.

1342

[QUOTE=“thedancingbaby, post: 962989, member: 48”]Full Time

Meath 7-13 Carlow 0-6[/QUOTE]
Lucky Carlow had Tullow Tank Sean O Brien in their back room team. Otherwise they might have got an awful hiding.

1343

Whelan calling out Cavanagh for his diving. :clap:

1344

Whelan very bitter about all the beatings Tyrone handed out to him over the years.

1345

I’m sure he is but he was very accurate in his analysis of Cavanagh and Tyrone’s cynicism.

1346

He reckons McCurry lifted his elbow so it was a deliberate trip, I wonder is he able to lift himself off the ground without lifting his elbows. No mention of the penalty incident or the soft frees for Monaghan. Sean Cavanagh continues to be vilified on RTE, disgusting.

1347

Did he call for a black card for diving? was only half paying attention there. Makes sense to me, diving is as cynical as it gets

1348

His take on the McCurry incident is absurd.

Also the Hughes black card is the wrong call but it was definitely a free. Cavanagh was cynically fouled all game long but little attention is paid to that.

1349

Think for dragging guys down like in Darren Hughes incident.

1350

[QUOTE=“Il Bomber Destro, post: 963340, member: 2533”]His take on the McCurry incident is absurd.

Also the Hughes black card is the wrong call but it was definitely a free. Cavanagh was cynically fouled all game long but little attention is paid to that.[/QUOTE]

Ooh ah, say ooh ah Paul McGrath

1351

He also said Cavanagh should have been black carded when Clerkin went to ground deliberately trying to get him black carded.

1352

Tyrone won’t talk with RTE so the national broadcaster has nothing to lose by putting the boot into them. If they relied on them for interviews the RTE pundits would be far more unlikely to be vociferious in their criticism I reckon.

1353

For good reason.

1354

Not a chance would he. He would maybe be 3rd/4th forward sub as well.

1355

[QUOTE=“caoimhaoin, post: 962797, member: 273”]Harte’s carry on at the end was embarrassing.
I’m delighted they are being shown up for what they are. Average.[/QUOTE]

We finished them off in 2009 and they haven’t been the same ever since.:smiley:

1356

I think that’s the last time anyone had any fear of them.
You just can’t replace the class of the guys they lost or who were aging that easily in any county that easily. For some reason people perennially make them one of the favs or a top 4, but for a while now they have ha little or no chance of winning an AI.
Harte is there way too long. But I’m fairness to him, you can only do so much with the talent available.

Monaghan were only ever into 4th gear and to be honest should have won by 7-8 points. They won’t do either in CO with Clerkin and the likes in the middle starting.

1357

[QUOTE=“caoimhaoin, post: 963438, member: 273”]I think that’s the last time anyone had any fear of them.
You just can’t replace the class of the guys they lost or who were aging that easily in any county that easily. For some reason people perennially make them one of the favs or a top 4, but for a while now they have ha little or no chance of winning an AI.
Harte is there way too long. But I’m fairness to him, you can only do so much with the talent available.
[/QUOTE]
It’s a demonstration again that minor success can often be deceptive. Tyrone won minor All-Irelands in 2004, 2008 and 2010 but haven’t got anywhere near the same follow through at senior from those teams compared to their 1997/98 minor team which was probably the most talented group of players of all-time at that level, and went on to form the core of one of the best senior teams of all-time. Those '04, '08 and '10 teams failed to produce at u-21 level and their graduates haven’t really done it at senior level either.

Some of the greatest minor teams in terms of senior follow through never won an All-Ireland at minor - Galway football 1994, Dublin 2011, Clare 2010 and 201.

1358

That’s not really any great surprise there Sidney

1359

[QUOTE=“The Scouse Cafu, post: 963491, member: 2660”]It’s a demonstration again that minor success can often be deceptive. Tyrone won minor All-Irelands in 2004, 2008 and 2010 but haven’t got anywhere near the same follow through at senior from those teams compared to their 1997/98 minor team which was probably the most talented group of players of all-time at that level, and went on to form the core of one of the best senior teams of all-time. Those '04, '08 and '10 teams failed to produce at u-21 level and their graduates haven’t really done it at senior level either.

Some of the greatest minor teams in terms of senior follow through never won an All-Ireland at minor - Galway football 1994, Dublin 2011, Clare 2010 and 201.[/QUOTE]

The 2010 winning minor side for Tyrone was nowhere near as talented as the 2008. I am still hopeful a lot of these lads will come good but I acknowledge time is running out. Of the 2008 side Donnelly, McKenna, Coney, McNabb, Harte and McNeice are currently on the senior panel - out of those players only Donnelly and Harte have established themselves firmly in the senior setup although a lot of discussions would revolve around where they are best utilised. Coney and McNabb have been really unlucky with injuries and I’m sure if they hadn’t been struck down by injuries then they would be much further along with their progression. Niall McKenna is the biggest disappointment of the lot, looked like he was going to be the answer to Tyrone’s midfield long term but he has really struggled to kick on, McNeice is probably just at the level he will ever be at.

Of the 2010 side you have the three Omagh boys Grugan, O’Neill and Clarke - again Grugan and O’Neill have had injury problems which has held them back while Clarke has established himself as an important player but has now also fallen foul to injury. McCurry was a substitute in 2010 for the minors and I would rate him as the best forward in the country at his age.

I think there has been a definite failing in the progress of these players but injury has played a key role with some of them. Looking at Tyrone this year so far there seems to be a clear lack of a game plan. I think we are completely relying on talent a lone, there doesn’t seem to be any structure to our game and when we do have spells in the game it’s down to individual players rather than team domination. In the first game against Down it was Sean Cavanagh who dragged us back into the game, in the replay it was the likes of Ronan O’Neill, Donnelly and Harte who got the plaudits for us and yesterday it was Donnelly, McCurry and McAliskey when he came on that were the ones delivering the goods.

Everyone seems to be playing for themselves which is a worrying thing, the forward line looked so disjointed yesterday, there was no fluidity or cohesion between them and only for the brilliance and ball winning ability of McCurry the scoreline would probably read much worse. Boxty touched on it in the other thread about us needing some at 11 who can direct the attack in the way Brian McGuigan did, we have two players in Ronan O’Neill and Shea McGuigan who can play that game. As I said on the other thread I don’t think it does these lads any good when they are subbed/dropped after every poor performance, they should be persevered with and I think it will benefit them as I fully believe the talent is there.

1360

The B Side of this year’s All Ireland is very tough and you are bound to see some big teams fall at an early stage:

The first round of the qualifiers takes place in two weeks time where you will have

Down vs Leitrim
Tyrone vs Louth
Cavan vs Westmeath
Carlow vs Waterford

I would expect the three Ulster sides and Waterford to progress.

The second round you will see

Down
Tyrone
Cavan
Waterford

They will face the losing provincial semi-finalists

Roscommon
Meath/Kildare
Armagh/Monaghan
Kerry/Clare

My predicted draw:

Tyrone vs Armagh
Meath vs Cavan
Clare vs Down
Roscommon vs Waterford

The first two games could go either way but I would expect Tyrone, Meath, Down and Roscommon to progress. These four teams will go into the third round and face off with each other:

Predicted draw:

Tyrone vs Meath
Roscommon vs Down

Tyrone and Down progressing where they will face the provincial runners up from Leinster and Ulster who I will presume are Donegal and Kildare in the fourth round.

Predicted draw:

Down vs Kildare
Tyrone vs Donegal

I would tip Down and Kildare to progress to the quarter finals where they will then play the provincial champions of Ulster and Leinster (Dublin and Monaghan).

Predicted draw:

Tyrone vs Dublin
Kildare vs Monaghan

The semi-final side of the draw will see the winners of the quarter finals play each other:

Predicted draw:

Monaghan vs Dublin

Monaghan to progress to the final.

I think that just shows how ridiculously weighted this revamping of the qualifiers has been. Teams on the B side of the draw have definitely got the wrong end of the stick, particularly with the Ulster sides who have a gigantic task to even claim their provincial glory. The real winners in this draw are Cork, Kerry and Mayo who should all easily progress to the quarter final. Mayo winning Connacht handily and Cork and Kerry guaranteed a last 12 place where the only team the loser hopes to avoid is Derry and they have a 50% chance of drawing them should Derry make it that far. So in essence Cork, Kerry and Mayo can all conceivably make it into the last 8 without any real hassle of facing a big team in a knockout game. They can conceivably make the semis without a difficult game.

Just put the Munster scenario into perspective. Cork/Kerry can make the semi-final by beating Clare/Tipperary where they will then play themselves in a game where even a defeat leaves them in the last 12. The losing side will hope to avoid Derry while the rest of teams really should not be causing much hassle (Sligo, Galway, Tipperary, Limerick, London, Fermanagh, Antrim, Longford and Wexford). I’m not sure whether the provincial final can be repeated in the quarter final but one of Cork/Kerry/Mayo is bound to make a semi-final without having to win a meaningful game against anyone of note.