Tis gas Cluxton is going back. Given the man, youād say itās just another bit of shitehawkery and heās already out the door
Fitzsimons had some career. A credit to his people.
1 Like
5 hall of famers gone in one foul swoop. Weāll try keep it kicked out to Kildare
I reckon Flanagan will get a tune out of Kildare yet.
2 Likes
He already is.
A good night in Ballybofey. Sitting behind Dessie. He spent his summers as a child in these hills. Heās one of our own.
Both sides showing the rust of winter. So many failed two-pointer attempts with very little in the way of a dink ball to a fast lad or two whoād run in behind the permanently formed defensive wall on the 40.
Mogan looked like he did his hamstring with nearly ten to go and him screaming to come off and Jim screaming at him to stay on as they used all their subs.
Donegal very noticeably putting in far more physical challenges. Jim has definitely toughened them over the winter, as they were getting bullied physically over the last few years.
Hilarious that the copped that McBrearty was the only Donegal player in the opposition half after himself and Jamie Brennan came on. They lost possession and through years of brainwashing, Brennan and Gallen raced back to the defense, without realising the new rule.
Always nice to beat the dubs in anything
5 Likes
Heās Seamus Colemanās cousin isnāt he? Dublin had an awful lot of men on the ball taking shots. It reminded me of the dubs back in the day letting Tom Parsons advance as far as the 21 knowing heād more than likely miss.
1 Like
AFAIK, yes. Colemanās a killybegs lad and I think Dessieās people are Glencolumkill/Teelin area.
Yeah, the dubs have lost too much experience this year and it definitely showed.
When Donegal played Derry during the Covid years, you could hear Rory Gallagher screaming ālet him have the ballā knowing that certain Donegal players would not or could not take on a shot. That is beginning to change under Jim last year, with a healthier spread of names on the scoreboard
Think he hurled with Dublin underage and might have played hockey for Ireland too
Dessie played minor and under 21 hurling for Dublin and was a very good hockey player. not sure if he played for Ireland though
As funny an end to a GAA match as Iāve ever seen.
Do chred-tje.
You can stick a fork in Derry for the year.
Derry v Kerry is utter vindication of the new rules. As good a league game as thereās been in decades.
1 Like
great match compared to the absolute scutter they served up last summer
Good example there with Derry plodding upfield towards a ālastā attack they were never going to get to complete.
Even the sound of the hooter is shite. Itās no MCG siren.
If the sound of silence around you on Hill 16 and the mass āaaaaeeehhhhhhhhhhhā coming from the rest of the stadium after a one point defeat for Dublin in an All-Ireland semi-final is one of the most special things to experience in the GAA, another one is when everybody starts looking at the referee at the end of a nailbiter, waiting for the outstretched arms, and the outstretched arms come at the precise moment the referee has skilfully judged appropriate.
You donāt wait for the whistle, you donāt need a whistle. The deliberate raising of the arms to the outstreched position is all that is needed. Itās like a breaststroke in swimming. Some refs didnāt bother with the little breaststroke, they just raised the arms to scarecrow position.
The best referees at this were the ones that nonchalantly did it, like that āmic dropā meme.
The outstretched arms, were, like everything else, best observed from Hill 16. The best ones were always where the referee was facing away from where you were observing, so that you could only see the refereeās back.
Some of the great judiciously timed outstretched arm manouevres that stick in the mind are:
Tommy Howard. During the SAGA he developed an unrivalled manner of stretching out those arms. Christ he got enough practice at it.
Jim Curran (Tyrone) at the end of the 1992 Ulster football final between Donegal and Derry. Two 45s in a row for Derry looking for a winning goal. Seamus Downey very nearly stuck the first one but for a flying knee on the line. Brian Murray of Donegal caught the second one and ran towards the corner flag, the outstretched arms came and he threw the ball up in the air and caught it again.
Michael Collins (Cork) at the end of the 2002 All-Ireland football semi-final between Dublin and Armagh. He waited a few moments after Ray Cosgrove had hit the post, he waited for the bounce, he waited for the next bounce, he waited for Francie Bellewās arse to do its job and allow John McEntee come away with the ball, and then he stretched out the arms at the exact moment that was appropriate.
Joe McQuillan in 2011. During the last, uncompleted Kerry attack, he knew every eye in the stadium was on him. He got the money shot. The ultimate mic drop stretched arms manoeuvre.
Conor Lane 2016. The Auld Triangle.
Tommy Sugrue (Kerry) had a very annoying way of ending the game. He was the ultimate man to slowly walk over to whoever had the ball and ask for it.
A refereeās money shot moment, the moment they could truly bathe in glory, was always when they got to stretch the arms after a last gasp equaliser, especially for the āunderdogā.
It was a charade, because everybody knew the outstretched arms were coming as soon as the equaliser went over, but this was part of what we were. You had to go through the charade of the kickout or puckout.
Conor Lane somehow fluffed his lines for what should have been the greatest example of this in the 2016 drawn final between Dublin and Mayo, but he made up for it in the replay.
In All-Ireland finals, it was always considered bad form for a referee to stretch the arms on a kickout or a puckout. All-Ireland final outretched arms needed to be unique. But that shouldnāt have applied for a draw. It only applied when there was a winner.
5 Likes
Best thing about the rules is that it seems to have taken the coaches out of the equation and just let the game breathe, the sport itself hasnāt changed in any radical way.
1 Like
As good a showcasing of classic GAA concrete benches as Iāve ever seen in Castlebar today.
It would be so good if an All-Ireland final was level and one team scored a point to win it with 10 seconds left and it was disallowed because one player had strayed one yard over the half way line and the other team got a tap over free to win the All-Ireland.
I very much hope that happens. The victims would no doubt be Mayo.
Youād go a long way to find an argument against the changes on the whole
Apart from the different ways refs used to hold out their arms when blowing the final whistle
Two right belts fired out in quick succession
Mayo boys canāt count