Barcelona v inter would be an example but after that none of those would figure.
Liverpool v Chelsea in 2014 was iconic.
Liverpool beating Chelsea in the 2005 Champions League semi-final was a massive ambush. Chelsea had finished 37 points above them in the league.
Tottenham going to Man City in 2019 and getting it done was another classic.
Jesus thereâs been some fantastic oneâs over the years when you think back.
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Limericks first All-Ireland semi-final since Tipp had obliterated them in the 2009 semi-final. Clare beating them was absolutely not an ambushđ Fair enough if it was the current Limerick team.
It absolutely was.
Who played who in what?
Donegal v Dublin will be remembered forever.
You canât be mentioned these games in the same breadth.
Kilkenny v Limerick 2019 was closer to being an ambush even though that wasnât one either.
I think thereâs a difference between an ambush and a straight up shock.
Ambush implies that the team that wins is an inferior one to the team they beat, but on that one day, they lay a trap for the superior team which the superior team falls into, and come out on top both tactics wise and score wise. Ambush implies that the superior but defeated team was at the top of their game. Itâs a triumph of ideology for the inferior but victorious team.
I would differentiate this from a straight up shock, where a superior team is on poor form and an inferior opponent takes advantage, or the Hail Mary shock, where a team scores late and the fancied team has no time to recover. There can be elements of an ambush about a Hail Mary shock in that youâve got to be in position to take your chance if it comes, but the classic ambush unfolds earlier in games, you can see it coming from a long way out.
What makes that Donegal ambush the absolute prototype of the genre is that Dublin team was the greatest of all time and were playing as well as they had ever done, but tactically, Donegal sussed them and undid them in spectacular manner. They executed the plan to perfection.
Iâd broadly agree with the Mourinho/Simeone examples, but at the same time, all of those particular games you mentioned did have very obvious elements of luck involved - with Mourinho, he was incredibly lucky in that Tim Howard did Bonner/Schillaci job, Barcelona were affected by the ash cloud and were extremely unfortunate with a disallowed goal which would have won the tie, and the Gerrard slip.
Simeone got lucky against Bayern in 2016 - Bayern battered them and missed a penalty which would surely have won the tie, and against Liverpool in 2020 who had a sausage in goal. But to be fair, in all those examples the team that won had to be in position to get the benefit of luck.
Atletico Madrid v Barcelona three times in 2014 and 2016 I think are classics of the genre because they werenât really down to luck but because Barcelona genuinely couldnât deal with Atleticoâs tactical system. In all these games, Barcelona could have been there for another hour and wouldnât have scored. Barcelona were broke mentally by Atleti Woof.
Ireland v Wales in 2017 when McClean scored was an ambush. Wales could have been there until midnight and they wouldnât have scored.
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Aughrim â86.
Rathnew v St. Vincentâs 2017
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Throw up a poll there and see if anyone agrees with you. Limerick had surprised many by just winning Munster. That Clare team had just flexed their muscles when cruising past Galway in the quarter-finals.
Laois v Tyrone O Moore Park 2006.
Mugged. Off.
Rathnew v Na Fianna 2001 as well.
Stradbally beating Portlaoise in 2016 would be a classic of the genre.
Defo an ambush. Liverpool broke Chelsea in that tie.
Liverpool v Manchester City in the 2018 Champions League quarter-final was a prototype ambush, one of the very best examples.
The final in 2005 wasnât an ambush, it was an act of the supernatural that canât be explained.
GAA examples are comparatively hard to find. Galway v Kilkenny 2001 is definitely one. Sligo v Tyrone 2002 I think is one. Mayo v Tyrone 2004 I think is one. Limerick v Waterford 2007. Kilkenny v Limerick 2019. Tyrone v Kerry 2021.
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Thatâs a fair assessment.
Very true. All the talk was about a Kilkenny v Waterford final. Bearing in mind that Waterford had beaten them in the league final in Thurles that year too. It was a classic ambush, dripping with a mixture of panic and madness.
So Iâm going here with five separate types of shock.
i) The classic ambush. The one where the unfancied team has a fiendish plan to lure an unsuspecting , high flying favourite into its trap, and executes that plan to perfection. The unfancied team mentally breaks the favourite.
Examples: Donegal v Dublin 2014, Liverpool v Manchester City 2018, Liverpool v Chelsea 2005, Carlton v Essendon 1999 AFL Preliminary Final, Greece v Portugal Euro 2004 final, Portugal v France Euro 2016 final.
ii) The Hail Mary shock. The one where a late goal rocks a fancied team and they have no time to reply.
Examples: Offaly v Kerry 1982, Cork v Kerry 1983, Arsenal v Liverpool 1989, Bulgaria v France 1993, Wexford v Kilkenny 2004.
iii) The taking advantage shock. Where the fancied team isnât at the races, and the unfancied team grows in confidence as a result, smells blood and drives it home.
Examples: Southampton v Manchester United 1976 FA Cup Final, Clare v Kerry 1992, Clare v Limerick 1995, Fermanagh v Armagh 2004, Laois v Tyrone 2006, Dublin v Kilkenny 2013.
iv) The emotional, supernatural shock. Where one team finds strength within them they never knew they had, a bit like Stephen Roche on La Plagne.
Examples: Armagh v Kerry 2002, Deportivo La Coruna v AC Milan 2004, Liverpool v AC Milan 2005, Down v Kerry 2010, Liverpool v Barcelona 2019.
v) The Sliding Doors shock or the âEvents, dear boy, eventsâ shock - where a particular unlikely event influences the outcome in a massive way, ie. the Gerrard slip, Andy Dibbleâs save from Nigel Winterburnâs penalty in the 1988 Littlewoods Cup final.
Of course the reality is most contain elements of multiple categories - ie. France v New Zealand 1999 contains elements of three of these categories, Offaly v Kerry 1982 might contain elements of all five.
But it would be boring to say that for the purposes of this post.
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Youâd think the one thing theyâd know about in those parts would be an auld ambush.
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Drugs cheats donât count.