What does that even mean?
padjo’s back on the pills. A sorry sight.
you were jealous of macs “bessier” friendship with fooley- in the summer of 2008 you gave mac a choice- either ditch fooley as a friend or you’ll stop organising your weekly poker night- mac refused to ditch fooley - its well documented
That’s strange, I assumed it must have been that time of the month for him.
Not everyone’s on the diet pills Pondage
pondage?
touche
I hate you Padjo. I hate you.
Fight
Back of the stand, Wexford v London
A bizarre day at Croke Park. I’d love to be able to say I put a tenner on a treble draw today but good things don’t come in threes in Dublin, well maybe Rory O’Carroll. To put that tenner into the extra admission fee to the stand would have been a wise investment on a day like this but the Hill it was, and a very sparsely populated Hill for the opening match before our resident scumdogs arrived to break down the gate on the concourse of the terrace.
While there was some value to be had for anybody who paid the 15 quid to stand from 2:00 until after 6:00, it probably would have lost from the cost of the Lemsip or Uniflu needed to alleviate the effects of the soaking that the frequent monsoon conditions would have caused. During the extra time there was the threat of adding sunburn to the misery mix as summer briefly arrived.
Dublin fans certainly can’t afford to belittle the first match considering what was to come. A frankly abominable first half performance. In fact I might as well leave out the “first half” bit. A really poor performance overall.
Dublin had 12 men n their own half for most of the first 50 minutes and yet there was very little support play. Players weren’t making themselves available for a handpass and the man in possession would invariably kick the ball to a Wexford man. Players simply looked lost and without any idea of how to move the ball forward. The marking was poor, the tackling was poor, the shape was poor. Wexford constantly found space down Barry Cahill’s wing.
The idea of isolating a two man forward line (not full forwards, all forwards) is lovely in theory but awful in practice. Any system that leaves out Alan Brogan in favour of Niall Corkery is deeply flawed. A spare defender can easily be moved back. Dublin are also easy to press against high up the pitch as Gman mentioned in his review. We struggled to get out of our own half at times.
Midfield at the moment is a disaster zone. Fennell is a talented footballer but he simply is way off the standard of fitness required. I had about six or seven cigarettes during the two matches today and I’d probably be fitter than him. Ross McConnell has done nothing in the last three years to suggest he’s up to the standard. He’s not a full back. He’s not a midfielder. What exactly is he then? Corkery looks a workhorse and nothing more. McAuley made a good impact but hard to know if he’ll cut it from the start. Not sure what the story with Darren Magee was today but in my opinion he should have an important role to play as an impact sub. Denis Bastick’s time in blue is over.
Dublin have excellent footballers available to them, not the best in Ireland but certainly Top 4. Indeed most of the players out there today are good if not excellent footballers. Gilroy has done some good things and the league campaign wasn’t a total waste. The new full back line is evidence of that. But there’s no way this is the best 15 in Dublin. If you’re relying on an athlete like Eoghan O’Gara to win you matches the signs aren’t good. In fairness I don’t want to be picking on him because he did well enough – but I just can’t see it.
There was a Shane Ryan shaped hole in the midfield today, and unfortunately it’s still all too obvious and it isn’t the first time I’ve said it, that Ryan and Ciaran Whelan are still the two best midfielders in Dublin. Along with Jason Sherlock’s absence, it has contributed to a leadership void in the squad which only Bernard Brogan at the moment seems willing to fill.
Anybody who watched Dublin in the league campaign won’t have been especially surprised by what happened in the first 50 minutes. Dublin in retrospect can probably put the first four wins in a row down to superior fitness and motivation allied to a bit of luck. The second half against Cork and the last 50 minutes or so against Galway at Parnell Park rang real warning bells as to the weakness of this tactical game and unfortunately it doesn’t look like they’ve been heeded.
In both of those matches Dublin struggled to get out of their own half and this now looks to have been a much truer barometer of our league form. The win over Tyrone in Omagh was in many ways a bad result for Dublin football. It completely papered over the cracks in the game plan and lulled this management into thinking the tactics could work on a bigger pitch. If it doesn’t work against Wexford well it sure ain’t gonna work against Galway or Monaghan, never mind Kerry or Cork.
Pat Gilroy and Mickey Whelan have in their own minds invented a caricature of what they think the Tyrone style of play is and have totally missed the point. This is not the way Tyrone play. Tyrone are fluid. They are adaptable, composed and comfortable in possession. And above all they play as a unit. Dublin on the other hand are rigid, uncertain in possession and all playing off different hymn sheets to each other.
Tyrone have been playing their type of game for years, going back to the minor teams under Mickey Harte and now down through the grades. Gilroy and Whelan have imposed a completely alien yellow pack version of the Tyrone game plan that would confuse even Tyrone themselves. The individual talents are now slaves to this system and if they flourish, as Bernard Brogan continues to do, it is in spite of it rather than because of it. It’s clear to me that the players do not buy into this system.
Year on year, we moan about how the emphasis is on strength and fitness, on athletes over footballers. Unfortunately this management team have taken this emphasis to a new level. This isn’t football and it isn’t going to get us anywhere. In this championship the emphasis so far has been very much on football. Down, Sligo, Louth and Monaghan have all had great success with real, honest attacking football. I’d nearly prefer to see us lose playing like that than to win playing in the horrible style we’ve played this year. And believe me, that isn’t going to happen.
There are times when it’s best to stick to your guns, but sometimes there are times when it’s best to write something off as a bad debt and to cut your losses. Now is that time for the Dublin management team.
decent summary sid. the one thing the Wexford management brought to this game was they knew the half back line doesnt attack, and they are more likely to drop back the half forwards rather then push on the half backs, so Wexford countered this by having a proper half forward line that can score instead of the usual work horses who track back and do lots of work, but wouldnt score in a whore house. The dublin half forward line to me, looked like an extension of their backs. its as if Dublin are trying this defensive route first, as they see how Tyroone and other teams defend from the half forward line. the only problem there is those other counties have half forwards who can score as well as work hard to track back.
I’m sure there was a serious element of complacency in the dublin set up, no matter how much they tried say it wouldnt be easy, their attitude in team selection and application on the field showed they really didnt rate Wexford. but whther or not they were complacent, or if they had an off day skill wise, the main thing was their tactics didnt work. they got out of jail through superior fitness, and a much better panel to come in for extra time. boccy and collie coming on for us is as good as saying the game is over. brosnan should have come on towards the end of the game itself and livened up the forward line. there were scores there for the taking, and as good as a lot of our lads did, there was still a lot of room for improvement.
Gman you were very critical of Laois and Meath yesterday in a rather incoherent post, wouldnt argue with much of it, but just curious, would you believe Wexford to be the better of both sides on show in the first game? Felt Laois started incredibly poorly, and looked clueless but once Kingston went out on the 40 it gave them a little bit more structure. Thought Quigley was the outstanding midfielder on show in Croke Park yesterday, and considering where Laois were last year I was relatively happy with the progress made. Meath had a game under their belts and you could see it stood to them and their team layout. Think the game will have ironed out a few kinks in Laois’s set up, few of the subs who came on will not start, and it should make for a good evening in Tullamore next Saturday.
incoherent but not arguing with any points? 
Laois I thought had no gameplan. their distribution into their forwards was woeful. when clancy came on, it was just high balls in on top of him, but the main flaw with that, was there was rarely if ever, a supporting player under him for the break. at one stage in the second half, clancy went up for a high ball on the 14 near the hogan stand side, and there was 5 Meath players in his vicinity and no one from Laois. he needed to able to win clean posession to cause damage, and in fariness, its never easy to get clean posession like that. he got no support from the inside players, and Munnelly was probably the worst culprit. Maybe he was on an off day, but I thought he was very poor, and should have made way sooner than he did. Kingston played very well, and took some serious scores off either boot. The full back was immense as well, and Quigley made bits of the Meath midfield. Clancy was effective, but left on his own too much, but other than that, there was very liitle spark in the Laois side. Begley was great with the ball, but his man scored 1-4 from play. that in itself is pretty worrying.
Meaths tactics were horrendous. leaving 2 men in the forward half, and trying to hoof the ball down from inside their 45. Everything went through Sheridan, and they rely on him a lot for any creativity. Too many times a Meath man had an oppertunity to score, but laid it off, or didnt go for the shot. for all their dominance in their half forward line, they missed some awful chances. they should have had the game wrapped up, but sat back far too much. Laois deserved the draw for plucking away, but overall, I thought Meath were a better side.
as for Wexford being better than them? hard to say, they were playing in a different game. Wexfords gameplan was designed to counter act Dublin, and it nearly worked. would they beat either of the other 2? To be honest, maybe not. We have beaten both in our last meetings. but midfield for both sides have improved a lot, whereas ours hasnt. and its such a critical area. I certainly wouldnt fear either side after seeing them yesterday, but I know they wouldnt either after seeing Wexford.
Bollix to that yesterday anyway.
London v Wexford game is to be played in London too apparently.
No I’d agree with a lot of what you said, hence I didnt argue much with it, it was incoherent because I got the impression you were drunk posting it!
Game plan would have been to play ball via Rogers to Kingston and for him to feed Cahillane and Munnelly or take his own score. Cahillane was always a worrying starter for me, I think he has something, but has so little football kicked that he’s still raw at this level and would have been better to come in as a sub. Munnelly is still coming back from injury and its likely neither Cahillane or Munnelly would have started had Donoher and Tierney been fit.
Rogers Cahillane and Munnelly had poor games so it was left up to Quigley and Kingston to do it on their own in the first half. Sheehan was rubbish, Strong isnt a forward and Rogers, while getting on ball, just didnt fire but I would hold out hope for him still. Clancy’s introduction at least allowed Kingston move out to the 40 where he got on more ball and sent in some nice ones to Clancy, but again it wasn’t until Tierney came on that he had someone up beside him. I think the team that finished was far better than the one that started, and its very likely you’ll see Clancy, O Loughlin and Tierney start the next day. I’d have Ryan the no 6 out of there as well for that matter, dont rate him at this level and he got took to school a few times yesterday. Begley was far too loose, but I’d fancy him to sort that out for the next day as he’s too good a footballer not to.
Meath changed their tactics with the rain, ordinarily they like to fire balls to the corners for outward runners, but on the wet ground they had to go long and direct. Mark Ward is a donkey, their centre back cant kick a ball, and Kennys job is just to drift back everytime they lose the ball. They’re functional though and have forwards who can kick good scores, and they’re big hardy cunts, but they’re decidedly average still and I honestly think that game will bring Laois on more than Meath. Saying that if Crawford makes it back, it will give them a huge boost.
It’s a pity ye ran Kev off the board because I would be keen to get his views on Cork bottling it yet again against Kerry.
As soon as Kerry started to edge close to them they shit the pants again and just abandoned the game plan.
Only got to see the highlights of this game, and I cant believe Cork didnt put Kerry away in the first half, what a bottling shower of fuckers those lads are when it comes to that famous green and gold jersey. Turenne has gone quiet too, although I’ve noticed him trying to stir it up in Kerry circles of late.
yeah Tierney added a lot to them when he came on, and it didnt suprise me to see Laois get the 3 points to level it as they looked better carrying the ball with him and Kingston getting it around the 45. Tierney acted as an extra man out around the 45/midfield in extra time, and has some class about him (altho less said about his crossfield pass the better!) spot on about their team finishing being better. taking off the whole half forward line, and also the 2 corner forwards does tell a lot tho too. Laois may well have found a better line up in their forwards, but until the give them better ball, there’s fook all they can do. Meath have a lot of big hard physical men, but do have some class too, and they did deliver some decent passes inside and forwards were making good runs. should be a good even replay, but I’d still fancy Meath.
I don’t know that I’d call the selection complacent. The performance probably was but the selection was the effort to mimic Tyrone etc and it failed miserably.
The riskier selection calls were the full back line and I thought they stood up well. Probably the best line Dublin had.
The problems were from half back to half forward and I don’t see them being easily resolved. Dublin picked 3 forwards to do the role of Paul Galvin and hoover up possession. Between the three of them they had less impact than Galvin did yesterday and none look comfortable at kicking points. You can get away with dropping one forward back and maybe even have a second runner type in there but three guys who can’t score points in your forward line is too many.
Midfield was a disaster again. McConnell isn’t good enough and Fennell wasn’t much of a saviour.
As for Denis Bastick - what a moron. He lined up an early 45 and myself and Bandage were thinking it mightn’t go that well and he hit it low, short and wide. It’s hard to believe there aren’t better options for half back than him in the county. In fact two high profile alternatives (Brennan and Cullen) were on the bench.
Bastick’s folks are from Camross in Laois (Camross I ask you!). He trialled under Micko back in the day but Micko wouldn’t have anything to with him because of his short fuse and basic lack of ability. Its unreal that he even gets a look in with Dublin. Anyone hear Ian Dempsey going on about him last Friday btw? I wouldnt have liked that if I was Bastick to be honest.