Another handy win for Dublin. Game benefited in the first half from Laois’ early goal which meant Dublin had something to chase but once they rattled in the two goals there was no recovery from Laois. Closest they got were the two points at the start of the second half (but Whelan had already knocked one over by then).
Hard to read too much into the whole game because once again the game only lasted 45 or 50 minutes as a contest. I thought Cullen, Bernard Brogan and Vaughan were the stand-outs for Dublin today. BBrogan was excellent in scavanging for possession and he used the ball quite well unlike most of the other forwards. Sherlock was particularly disappointing in that respect because his distribution is usually his strong point.
We were ages copping onto the fact that their extra man at the back was killing us at the start of the game. That guy McCormack at the back was running 40 yards with the ball unchallenged before Caffrey finally decided to move Cullen up and all of a sudden Cullen created the goal and they lost all their attacking impetus.
Other than that the main worries were McConnell’s failure for the first goal and he hasn’t been really convincing at full back yet. Really helped by Henry and Griffin though who are both having super seasons. Thought Barry Cahill did quite well also. The midfield was fine - Ryan was quieter than usual and Whelan did very well and lifted his performance at a crucial stage in the first half and the start of the second. Up front ABrogan had another off day, Sherlock was disappointing. Keaney can frustrate sometimes but he contributes a lot as well.
It will take a decent team to beat Dublin. Gobshite from Laois behind me in the stand was shouting at us that Tyrone will be a different story altogether. He started this crap with about 20 minutes to go - absolute fool. Just wanted to see Dublin get their comeuppance at some stage.
Funny moments at the end with the ring of stewards failing to halt the pitch invasion then the announcements and big screen saying “Switch to Plan B.” I think one of the first guys to break the ring of stewards was a bloke in an electric wheelchair who zoomed across the pitch and I presume they felt bad about stopping him and then it was a free for all.
Brogan, Cullen and Bonner were all acting the cooont in the final minutes. Cullen holding up three fingers and saying “three in a row” to the Laois players. Brogan and Bonner engaging in childish triumphalism by pointing to the score board with big grins on their faces. All the remaining teams will have seen these pictures and will be even more determined than usual to take Dublin down a peg or two. Who do these lads think they are? You’d swear they’d won a rake of All Irelands or something. These things are never forgotten.
And no comments about McCormack (I think) kicking Collie Moran in the back while he was on the ground. Was it on tv? Looked pretty bad from where I was sitting.
Brogan was doing that celebrating off the ball because the Laois lads were squaring up to him. I thought it was class. Some crap defender who has been outclassed decides he’s going to have a go at Brogan in the last couple of minutes. So Brogan just puts his hands in the air and starts celebrating.
I may have been affected by the gobshite behind me who hated Dublin with a passion way more intense than any love for Laois, but some of those lads really annoyed me yesterday. They’ve never been a dirty team but they tried to outfight Dublin and got done.
Didn’t see the kick in the back incident. Why didn’t Bonner and Brogan just square back up to them? Why didn’t they just act like a couple of men? why didn’t they put them back in their place with some cutting Dublin wit? I am telling you this will come back to haunt them.
It may do Humbug but when it was right in front of the Umpires with everyone already looking that way because the crowd had seen the initial jostling then it would have been foolish to strike back. Some of this is a result of the over-analysis of flare-ups in the media. You’d be silly to get involved in a tv game now because you know you’ll get punished. The media won’t have it any other way.
That’s why I think Brogan did the right thing but I concede I was influenced by the annoying lad behind me screaming “Trone will get ye” for the last 20 minutes - not at any controversial times, just when we scored or blocked a ball or something. The only way to deal with fools like that is to remind them how crap they are themselves.
What was the consensus on Whelan yesterday? Didn’t see the Sunday Game and haven’t had a chance to read anything yet but I thought he’d a smashing game.
I’m not saying they should have struck out. Merely stand their ground was all that was required.
Whelan was immense yesterday and deserved man of the match. He usually only scores one trademark point from the right hand side into the canal end but he managed two yesterday. I would love to see Whelan and Cavanagh take each other on this championship season.
There’s a huge minority/small majority of them acting the complete cooont this season.
Vaughan running up to Rooney and giving him the fingers when he scored.
Keaney running in and screaming into Byron’s face after the 3rd goal, just like he was doing in both Meath games. I previously had a lot of time for him but now I really hope he gets absolutely stretched out by someone this season.
Bryan Cullen’s going around doing it too for some reason. He was at it with Munnelly near the end when he gave away a tap over free when there was 6 or 7 points in it and as Munnelly got up off the ground Cullen was in his face screaming at him. Basically being an absolute cock.
The stuff at the end was pretty embarrassing too.
I thought Whelan was excellent yesterday as was Bernard Brogan.
Paul Casey got cleaned out again - this time by Parkinson who kicked 3 points and generally embarrassed him. Surely Ger Brennan, after his impressive league campaign, would be a better option there.
The game was incredibly open and Dublin defended poorly at times. They’ll need to keep their focus throughout and maintain their workrate for the full 70 minutes against more steely teams later on.
Leinster Council Chairman Liam ONeill has stressed that Dublins triumphant antics which marred their Leinster Final success must be wiped out by new GAA legislation.
There were numerous incidents during the encounter where such unsportsmanship occurred with Mark Vaughan, Alan Brogan and Kevin Bonner being the main culprits and ONeill believes that efforts should be made to ensure similar antics do not occur in the future.
We have to find a way to stamp this out, its not gentlemanly conduct, its not sporting, its against all the principles of our games and I feel very strongly about it.
Theres the quiet word in the ear and then theres the loud, in-your-face response, but what we have seen from players from several counties, and not just this season, is more than that and it is time for us to take some action on it.
This is something that would never be tolerated by the games great players because they always let their game and their skill speak for them.
The first line of defence is the team managers. They should not accept this type of behaviour from their players. They should tell them cut it out and, if necessary, show their disapproval by not selecting them.
I know there is a rule governing ungentlemanly conduct which would come under the heading of discrediting the Association but I dont know what action they will take, or even if they will take any.
But I dont think that any player who acts like that on the field of play is benefiting his county or the game, ONeill said.
No problem with that statement and I’d be happy enough if everyone stopped it but it must be across the board. Donaghy was the same against Armagh last year and it’s impossible to police what is celebrating and what is triumphalism - we’d need some sort of parades commission to study the conduct.
I do think the kick in the back in the first half was much worse and when you consider how Forde was villified last year it’s apparent that the media pick and choose their enfants terribles for the year and there’s precious little you can do about it.
No problem with that statement and I’d be happy enough if everyone stopped it but it must be across the board. Donaghy was the same against Armagh last year and it’s impossible to police what is celebrating and what is triumphalism - we’d need some sort of parades commission to study the conduct.
I do think the kick in the back in the first half was much worse and when you consider how Forde was villified last year it’s apparent that the media pick and choose their enfants terribles for the year and there’s precious little you can do about it.
I didn’t see the incident you’re referring to.
Describe it in detail please.
There was one incident in the first half when a Laois defender leaned on Moran with his knee after the ref called for a ‘throw ball’ but I didn’t see any kick.
No it was off the ball so you’d either have seen it on a replay or not at all. Basically Moran was running past off the ball, some Laois lad went to stop him (they were centre-right of Dublin’s attack and the ball was on the left flank). For some reason the Laois defender thought Moran might be a dangerous attacker so he grabbed him as he went by. The two of them stopped and shoved eachother. Moran fell to the ground (he’s not terribly strong) and the Laois fellow gave him a good hard kick in the back and then ran away back to defend nearer the goal.
Ball was in play for this so I’m sure it’s not the incident you’re referring to. Directly in line with me though and it was a filthy thing to do - not at all hard or anything, just thuggish.
I was being a touch disingenuous when I’m bringing it up because I know most people didn’t see it. The point I was trying to make is that the triumphalism and celebrating is all worthy of condemnation and all if you’re going to get high and mighty about Moran getting kicked, McGuigan getting a career-threatening injury etc. That’s the stuff that needs stamping out, not the squaring up to eachother and the mild boxing matches where it’s one on one.
Also after seeing some of the incidents on Sunday I think it’s time we introduced a 3rd man in rule like they have in Aussie rules. Third men are what causes all the problems and if you double their punishment then it stops escalating.
It wasn’t picked up live and I didn’t see The Sunday Game.
Of course serious foul play is far, far more serious than goading but when lads like Keaney are doing it repeatedly then it’s pretty frustrating to watch and, quite ironically given how I started this sentence, I hope he gets a right good hiding next time he does it.
Yeah I know you didn’t see it so it’s impossible to debate further. The point I’m trying to get you to agree with (by offering the Mattie Forde carrot) is that the media decide what to highlight and what’s deemed acceptable. Dublin’s actions on Sunday may have been on a larger scale than previous goadings but Mulligan goaded the Hill before, Donaghy had a go at Bellew last summer when he scored off him. It’s not new.
Last year they decided Forde was the ruination of summer.
We were driving back towards town on the Clontarf Road last night on our way back from the astro game in Raheny and were wondering who won the Leinster U-21 Hurling Final - Dublin vs Offaly which was on in Parnell Park. We had Newstalk on and were waiting for them to give us the result when I realised the reason for the heavy traffic was because of folk coming in along the road from the game. Anyway, a car pulled up at the traffic lights in the lane beside us and I noted there was 2 Dublin flags hanging from the driver and front passenger seat windows. The lad in the car had his window down so I decided to shout across and ask him how the game went:
Me: ‘Did Dublin win?’
Lad: ‘Win what?’
Me: ‘The match in Parnell Park.’
Lad: ‘What match?’
Me: ‘The hurling final.’
Lad: ‘I don’t know. I don’t like hurling.’
Me: ‘Oh, alright then.’
I thought it was funny but I suppose he has the right to follow football without having an interest in football.