You are bang on as usual. He made mistakes, he may have a nasty streak but not everyone is b&w either. He also seems to talk thru the games alot, he seems to have a very deep understanding of where to be and whats needed.
When commenting on a game of football you have to look at tge quality of the play and the player, not somethibg that happened 5 years ago.
He benefitted from Keegan going off, and they are the breaks that win All Irelands. But its a battle we will remember for a very long time. 2 edgy bastards going full on head-to-head, its great. Just a pity the rules fucked it this time.
Perfect in the first minute but an absolutely awful free given the circumstances. If he was a few metres further back the pressure wouldn’t have been as great.
I’m interested in other opinions, I kicked frees for years, put a few high pressure ones over in championship football, nothing like what COC had to cope eith yesterday though. think putting it down would have made a big difference.
Oh no doubt about it, if practiced that is. To change in the 76th minute would be silly though.
The sheer fact you drop the ball from your hand onto foot means the amount of things that can go wrong increases.
I would have 4-6 guys practising frees on any team. Condituons and angles matter alot. Practising frees from the hand is actually very good for shooting from open play as well.
Well then i agree 100%, i cannot really recall his off the ground free taking for whatever reason. It was a time to slow everything down and get in the zone. I think he failed there big time.
A bit of chat from Mayo muldoons yesterday that his ankle problem meant he couldn’t kick frees off the ground.
I wonder if 2013 was on his mind with the last free. They were 2 down in injury time back then and he took around 45 seconds lining up a straightforward free only for the referee to blow the full time whistle on Cluxton’s subsequent kick out. But he took the injury time free relatively quickly yesterday alright.
That goes a long way to explaining it.
He was obviously still the only man to kick it but I feel even worse for him now. Anybody who thinks that was an easy free in those circumstances is either an idiot or is looking to act the cunt. He would have made it from the ground as it’s a more mechanical thing, dropping it onto the foot brings too many things into the equation.
Not unless they find a few forwards who aren’t afraid to shoot from 25 yards out. The amount of fuckacting they did when there was easy enough points on in both games was ridiculous. Counted at least 4 points yesterday they should have had but chose to recycle it back across the pitch and let Dublin reorganise. Seemed they lacked confidence in themselves.
Mayo made them look as good as they were. They were far from poor, its just the advantages they have over others is diminished against Mayo so the perception is they are poor. They actually olayed alot of serious football, yesterday in particular.
I’ll give you the circumstances of the free being difficult, but that’s all. In all honesty, for a right footed kicker it was a pretty routine shot. Plenty have missed similar, Ray Cosgrave famously missed one from nearly the same spot against Armagh. Dessie Dolan also against Meath with an even easier one. Its a mentality thing, not a mechanical thing.
To say he’d have made it if off the ground is speculation considering he rarely kicks off the ground. He hit a 45 two weeks ago that barely went 30m. He has kicked frees off the ground, but his obvious preference is from the hands and is how he feels more comfortable. My own preference is for free takers to kick off the ground as you point out.
@Bandage point about the timing factoring into what happened 3 years ago could be a factor, but the only thing back then there was 2 in it, yesterday there was one, so he should have had the composure to reset if his routine had been lost and start again and leave it be the last kick of the game.
I don’t remember any to be honest. Its not as easy as you think to create space and Mayos tactics were obvious. Hold onto the ball in tight areas and force Dublin to one side to eventually create space. The goal came from this which was a fantastic move. But Dublin make this look easy and kick alot of scores standing free. But i think they have learned to creat this with the basketball screening and have refined it over past 2 seasons.
Kerry don’t seem to practice it that way but the best forwards bluntly make their way thru their system so what people believe is “natural” ability is just a matter of footballing culture. And i think that holds them back in ways as was exposed in the semi final along with fitness.
You cannot just pick up “scoring forwards”. Most players can learn to kick the ball over the ball from 30M. Its about finding space. They actually need to be even more patient and find an even better style for themselves. I think they have the management to do that.
There is alot of talk about Dublins ability, and no doubt it exists, but its the work they put in thats more impressive. They work on the specific asoects of the game. Mayo clearly work on the tackling side but you would have to wonder about their attacking practice. And also a few of their players need to become more team players or better at “game management”. Jargony words i know, but they are the best titles for what Mayo lack.
Other than Connolly the odd time a huge amount of the Dublins scores are really well manufactured scores created to leave a lad kicking over unchallenged.
I think there was less of that yesterday. Mayo seem to be able to stop that Dublin tactic of running from deep and popping passes. Mayo held Dublin up for large parts of the game. McManamon ran very strongly in first half and drew fouls but Dublin struggled to pop holes in Mayo defence
Mayo defend around the arc which is clever. Dublin do similar. It is quite basketball in how it looks too. Donegal set up in more of A line across the 40. Dublin found it much easier to run through rigid line.
Dublin definitely recycled ball better yesterday than first day and seemed more composed. Two very good teams and the rules let them down. For an amateur player to miss a final based on Cooper or Keegan fouls is silly and slightly offensive.
It’s all about the circumstances. The point about the 45 is an interesting one but when you force a kick like you have to with a 45 it’s likely to come off your foot wrong. He would have had a comfortable chip shot from where he was yesterday.
I’m on the phone here so can’t be bothered to check but I’d be surprised if Cosgraves wasn’t a lot closer to goal?
Not true. Colm Parkinson did similar but worse (kicking a stranger in the head) and got away with it. You can say both of them should be in prison but our justice system sees fit to give fellas like that a second chance. But at least it proves that footballers from Dublin and backwater shitholes are treated the same by the law.
