You are from Pallas. You know fuck all.
[quote=“Bandage, post: 811952, member: 9”]Sean Cavanagh’s response to Brolly’s comments:
https://soundcloud.com/offtheball
Basically says he knows the rules and was happy to take the yellow to avoid conceding a goal.[/quote]
At least he is honest. He is dead right, as we’re Spillane et al in regards to anyone doing it. Brolly made the mistake of using Cavanagh as a stick to beat the “game is being ruined” drum. But I have no doubt you have dickhead coaches out there with 8 man defenses at u16 and Brolly is right that these horrible tactics are being mimicked. The issue isn’t with the guys playing 8 backs really though, let anyone choose whatever tactics they want, it’s with the punishment of fouls, and hopefully that will be sorted somewhat next year.
Why they could not implement it straight away is bizarre. Must be the only sport in the world where we identify a issue, everyone agrees with a rule change, but we hol out for a year to use it.
I enjoyed Brolly losing it though and showing passion and saying what needs to be said about Tyrone.
The real story from that game was the shocking refereeing, and it’s sad tht they are so used to the dross it hardly gains mention now.
[quote=“Sidney, post: 811984, member: 183”]Jack McCaffrey is in pole position for Footballer of the Year.
Cian O’Sullivan had an outstanding game.
Dublin were far too good, are far too good and will chew Kerry up and spit them out.[/quote]
They were not “far too good”. They were definitely better and absolutely deserved their win, but I still would not be getting carried away.
It was a test though and they stood up well, it just should have been a harder test.
Ratings:
Dubs
Cluxton - KO’s not that grey, but they are almost a luxury Dublin have had for too long, go 1v1 and they are nullified. Still stood up well to goal chances and scored great scores. Those frees were absolutely vital to Dublin when Cork were the better team. 8/10
Kevin O Brien - Destroyed, simple as. 3/10
Rory O Carroll.- Same. 3/10
Cooper - Same 3/10
McCaffery - Brilliant, unstoppable. O Rourke is a speed merchant himself but was destroyed. Prayed in Corks weak right wing. 10/10
Brennan - Got the run around from Goulding, what would Kelly have done, we’ll never know. 4/10
James McCathy - pretty up and down battle with Collins, probably just lost it, but still made some timely interceptions and drive forward well. 7/10
Cian O Sullivan - Excellent, uses his talents to great effect and played a very smart game in Corks less mobile players. He’s got the hang of it although he will get tougher challenges from the likes of more mobile men like Buckley and Aidan O Se, Rory Kavanagh or Sean Cavanagh. 8.5/10
MDM - Excellent as usual, over Carrie the ball ad-nausea but sure he gets away with it. 9/10.
Flynn - Gone off the boil slightly but still pulled a few good tricks. Solid. 7/10
Killkenny - was well tagged by Loughrey for 60 mins but finished very strongly. Very intelligent player. 7/10
Connolly - Stone cold useless. If there are others good enough for the standard then he needs to go, he will let them down. Cork didn’t even antagonize him, imagine what any of the teams left will do to him. 2/10
Mannion - showed well, but well shackled by Clancy who was a loss when he went. 6/10
Cullen - provided a good out let for ball and was good cover for ailing full back line at times. 7/10
Brogan - Really trying hard to rediscover form but confidence is low. Shields did very well on him after he destroyed Cadogan. Big one around the corner you’d think. 7/10
Subs. Rock was excellent. Used he body well, took a score and worke hard. He needs to play ahead of Connolly is some sort of juggled forward line.
Dublin management - did a reasonable job in counter acting Corks long ball plan, but that was made easy by Corks one dimensional play. Still he has them playing good football THAT SUITS THE SKILLS THEY POSSESS. Cork could learn alot from him.
Cork
Quirke - Excellent. Brilliant save, great hands. 8.5/10
Cadogan - Dreadful year after giving up hurling. Get the feeling him and Walsh and a couple others may be looking enviously at the hurling, the way they are feted and pissed off about the coaching. They both are hanging aroun with sports science students and other county players and studying related subjects, think they may be seeing things being done better elsewhere and have kinda thrown the towel at it. He was destroyed last night, had no influence on the game at all. 2/10
Shields - Outstanding under constant pressure. Drive forward when he could trying drive on team and defended Brogan well. 8.5/10
Clancy - Excellent in his first big challenge. Dealt really well with Mannion with uncontested ball coming in. Was a loss when he went off 7.5/10
Canty - A legend and hero, sadly way way past this level, owes Cork nothing. Poor management to leave him there so long. 2/10
Loughrey - a good game, probably broke even with CK. is a permanent fixture now, will grow to be better. 7/10
Cahalane - has alot to learn. He didn’t put enough pressure on the passer at times. Lumped with taking long range frees is bizarre management, particularly after the idiocy he was subjected to in Killarney. He was marking nothing though. 6/10
Alan I Connor - Always tries hard and with Walsh in Dom beside him he I fine. Others with his lack of speed Di quite well at this level so no reason to dump him. He had a bad outing though. 3/10
Pierce O Neill - Tried hard. Corks midfielders jumped into each other an awful lot and he was as guilty as anyone. Win no breaks really. Well beaten. 4/10
Mark Collins - Played well, has a future but needs to get braver and bigger. Lovely player though, and smart. 7/10
Goulding - Good game. Centre forward may suit him to start as he needs to be involved in game. Him outside Sheehan is a good combo. Destroyed Brennan.Mental he wasn’t on all frees 7.5/10
John O Rourke - will be a star for Cork. Is hardworking half forward who will end up averaging 2-3 points a game. Couldn’t handle McCaffery though and also have him too much room. Still did some good stuff. 6/10
Hurley - Superb, a real star. Just as good as anything Dublin have. He has even become dramatically calm and assured within this season. He will be our leading man along with Sheehan. Destroyed his man 8/10
Sheehan - Awesome. He’s the most level headed guy in the squad and proved it by not letting his shabby treatment get to him. A fantastic athlete, footballer and leader. Didn’t get enough help, but should have got a penalty and at least one other free. Made 1-2 poor decisions arguably which stop him getting a 10. 9/10
Walsh - Not good. Didn’t tackle hard, didn’t chase, only picked up go forward ball. Stood and watched the play. For whatever reasons he is not enjoying his football and it shows, had no influence. 4/10
Subs - Kerrigan did nothing. Clancy did ok, Kissane did ok.
Management. Well documented here over the years what I think of them. Nice guys, good man managers, loyal, honorable etc. alot if very goo important values, but simply dreadful tactically. No tactics would suit this Cork team more, just let them go out and play. They need someone who understands their strengths and plays accordingly. I think this I a bunch of cavalier type players that would suit a more free game. You can have little defensive systems, but how about no systems or structure on attack. Just fucking attack.
Counihan has given Cork everything he has and delivered an All Ireland. But in all honesty has this Cork team played to their true potential or got the most out of themselves, I think the answer is no.
But Cork won’t go away. We have a plethora of good footballers and a new management will hopefully change things up. I hope they stop looking at “what’s going on in the game” and just concentrate on their own game an playing to their own strengths. A bit like the Dubs are doing.
Best of luck to Dubs, they are a nice team and it would be good for football were they to win it out now.
Absolutely brilliant interview from Sean Cavanagh.
Came on last week?
[quote=“myboyblue, post: 811938, member: 180”]“@PaORourke89: Connolly looks like he’s got something on his mind? #CourtInTheMorning”
[/quote]
who’s Pa O’ Rourke?
Cork were very very disappointing but the game went as expected really. Hard to believe that when push came to shove all we had was lump it in to the FF line.
Have thought since the start of the year that the dubs were AI winners and undoubtedly they could click some day and give someone a 20 point beating (as they might have last night) but I’d be less convinced about them today than I was before. Not the first time they have been that wasteful in front of goal and Cork were still in that game for a long long time despite playing very poorly, only think that kept us in it was natural talent of a few players. Dubs won’t get those chances against a better side.
Think it was MBB made the point that Goulding was an exceptional free taker? He’s good, not exceptional I’d say! He missed at least one 45 last week, Cahillane also kicked at least one 45 lst week and missed one so not that clear cut. Looked to me that Goulding not striking the ball, both frees and open play, as well as he was a few years back.
is there ANY chance JBM would bring Walsh and Sheehan into the hurling panel to add a bit of depth to the bench?? Fuck all hurling done either of em but if they brought no stick on the field with them they would be a better option than at least one of the subs!
[quote=“dancarter, post: 812025, member: 122”]
is there ANY chance JBM would bring Walsh and Sheehan into the hurling panel to add a bit of depth to the bench?? Fuck all hurling done either of em but if they brought no stick on the field with them they would be a better option than at least one of the subs![/quote]The Cork langhers must be really shitting themselves at the prospect of losing to Dublin in the hurling aswell with this kind of talk, Adrian Walsh in not related to an senior intercounty hurler, another mullocker of a footballer, and I use the term ~“footballer” losely. JBM knows the score there with the likes of Cadogan and Walsh, not good enough
[quote=“caoimhaoin, post: 812015, member: 273”]They were not “far too good”. They were definitely better and absolutely deserved their win, but I still would not be getting carried away.
It was a test though and they stood up well, it just should have been a harder test.
Ratings:
Dubs
Cluxton - KO’s not that grey, but they are almost a luxury Dublin have had for too long, go 1v1 and they are nullified. Still stood up well to goal chances and scored great scores. Those frees were absolutely vital to Dublin when Cork were the better team. 8/10
Kevin O Brien - Destroyed, simple as. 3/10
Rory O Carroll.- Same. 3/10
Cooper - Same 3/10
McCaffery - Brilliant, unstoppable. O Rourke is a speed merchant himself but was destroyed. Prayed in Corks weak right wing. 10/10
Brennan - Got the run around from Goulding, what would Kelly have done, we’ll never know. 4/10
James McCathy - pretty up and down battle with Collins, probably just lost it, but still made some timely interceptions and drive forward well. 7/10
Cian O Sullivan - Excellent, uses his talents to great effect and played a very smart game in Corks less mobile players. He’s got the hang of it although he will get tougher challenges from the likes of more mobile men like Buckley and Aidan O Se, Rory Kavanagh or Sean Cavanagh. 8.5/10
MDM - Excellent as usual, over Carrie the ball ad-nausea but sure he gets away with it. 9/10.
Flynn - Gone off the boil slightly but still pulled a few good tricks. Solid. 7/10
Killkenny - was well tagged by Loughrey for 60 mins but finished very strongly. Very intelligent player. 7/10
Connolly - Stone cold useless. If there are others good enough for the standard then he needs to go, he will let them down. Cork didn’t even antagonize him, imagine what any of the teams left will do to him. 2/10
Mannion - showed well, but well shackled by Clancy who was a loss when he went. 6/10
Cullen - provided a good out let for ball and was good cover for ailing full back line at times. 7/10
Brogan - Really trying hard to rediscover form but confidence is low. Shields did very well on him after he destroyed Cadogan. Big one around the corner you’d think. 7/10
Subs. Rock was excellent. Used he body well, took a score and worke hard. He needs to play ahead of Connolly is some sort of juggled forward line.
Dublin management - did a reasonable job in counter acting Corks long ball plan, but that was made easy by Corks one dimensional play. Still he has them playing good football THAT SUITS THE SKILLS THEY POSSESS. Cork could learn alot from him.
Cork
Quirke - Excellent. Brilliant save, great hands. 8.5/10
Cadogan - Dreadful year after giving up hurling. Get the feeling him and Walsh and a couple others may be looking enviously at the hurling, the way they are feted and pissed off about the coaching. They both are hanging aroun with sports science students and other county players and studying related subjects, think they may be seeing things being done better elsewhere and have kinda thrown the towel at it. He was destroyed last night, had no influence on the game at all. 2/10
Shields - Outstanding under constant pressure. Drive forward when he could trying drive on team and defended Brogan well. 8.5/10
Clancy - Excellent in his first big challenge. Dealt really well with Mannion with uncontested ball coming in. Was a loss when he went off 7.5/10
Canty - A legend and hero, sadly way way past this level, owes Cork nothing. Poor management to leave him there so long. 2/10
Loughrey - a good game, probably broke even with CK. is a permanent fixture now, will grow to be better. 7/10
Cahalane - has alot to learn. He didn’t put enough pressure on the passer at times. Lumped with taking long range frees is bizarre management, particularly after the idiocy he was subjected to in Killarney. He was marking nothing though. 6/10
Alan I Connor - Always tries hard and with Walsh in Dom beside him he I fine. Others with his lack of speed Di quite well at this level so no reason to dump him. He had a bad outing though. 3/10
Pierce O Neill - Tried hard. Corks midfielders jumped into each other an awful lot and he was as guilty as anyone. Win no breaks really. Well beaten. 4/10
Mark Collins - Played well, has a future but needs to get braver and bigger. Lovely player though, and smart. 7/10
Goulding - Good game. Centre forward may suit him to start as he needs to be involved in game. Him outside Sheehan is a good combo. Destroyed Brennan.Mental he wasn’t on all frees 7.5/10
John O Rourke - will be a star for Cork. Is hardworking half forward who will end up averaging 2-3 points a game. Couldn’t handle McCaffery though and also have him too much room. Still did some good stuff. 6/10
Hurley - Superb, a real star. Just as good as anything Dublin have. He has even become dramatically calm and assured within this season. He will be our leading man along with Sheehan. Destroyed his man 8/10
Sheehan - Awesome. He’s the most level headed guy in the squad and proved it by not letting his shabby treatment get to him. A fantastic athlete, footballer and leader. Didn’t get enough help, but should have got a penalty and at least one other free. Made 1-2 poor decisions arguably which stop him getting a 10. 9/10
Walsh - Not good. Didn’t tackle hard, didn’t chase, only picked up go forward ball. Stood and watched the play. For whatever reasons he is not enjoying his football and it shows, had no influence. 4/10
Subs - Kerrigan did nothing. Clancy did ok, Kissane did ok.
Management. Well documented here over the years what I think of them. Nice guys, good man managers, loyal, honorable etc. alot if very goo important values, but simply dreadful tactically. No tactics would suit this Cork team more, just let them go out and play. They need someone who understands their strengths and plays accordingly. I think this I a bunch of cavalier type players that would suit a more free game. You can have little defensive systems, but how about no systems or structure on attack. Just fucking attack.
Counihan has given Cork everything he has and delivered an All Ireland. But in all honesty has this Cork team played to their true potential or got the most out of themselves, I think the answer is no.
But Cork won’t go away. We have a plethora of good footballers and a new management will hopefully change things up. I hope they stop looking at “what’s going on in the game” and just concentrate on their own game an playing to their own strengths. A bit like the Dubs are doing.
Best of luck to Dubs, they are a nice team and it would be good for football were they to win it out now.[/quote]
Alan O’Connor and Aidan Walsh better than Connolly. You’re having a laugh Kev. O’Connor and Walsh were appalling. I’d probably give O’Connor minus marks.
Also I know you don’t rate O’Carroll but think you’re seeing what you want to see with him. The balls Sheehan won were nearly all against Cooper and O’Brien.
Mark Collins wasn’t better than Paul Flynn either.
I didn’t realise Cadogan was actually playing until the game was over and the analysis started. Alan O’Connor is beyond rubbish, is this kev lad on drugs or what?
I’m looking forward to today’s matches what are your predictions lads?
Mayo - Dublin final. Mayo might just get it this time if they can win midfield.
I think if mayo don’t win it this year they’re gone for the next few years. This is the best team they’ve had in years now
Lads I have O Connor 3/10. I think we should be asking ye lads can ye read.
Rocko - nothing against ROC, was a big fan of his for a long time, he was very poor last night. He is not getting to the pitch of the play, he’s winning no interceptions he’s not breaking the ball out the field, he’s never on top the 2nd ball as it breaks. He is not helped by his centre back, but still his timing and other vital part of playing full back are off.
Connolly - you are the one having a laugh. I’d swear you know him or someone who knows him cos your defending if him is bizarre. He gives away frees and gets involved in stuff at the stupidest times. His distribution was terrible last night and he failed to turn and chase a number of times. If you can’t play positively in that Dublin team then you’ll never do. When the shit hits the fan later on against a more aggressive team he’ll crumble.
I gave Flynn and Collins the same mark, hardly need for too much argument there. Flynn was good but not great.
Overall Dublin got 91.5
Cork got 84
Dublin were hammered at full back, so all things considered its pretty balanced.
Rory O’Carroll had a decent match last night. He made one mistake where he gave the ball away for the Kissane goal chance. Other than that he was decent, making two great block downs to save goals.
Cooper was nowhere near as bad as Kev is trying to make out. Hurley had the better of that clash but he’s an excellent opponent and Cooper didn’t fare any worse than Marc O’Se on him.
O’Brien was Dublin’s weak link at the back and should have been the one to be replaced. He’ll be very lucky to hold on for the semi-final and I’d say he won’t.
Connolly wasted an awful lot of ball (I counted at least six or seven times he wasted it badly) but he was still a constant threat, was involved in several scores and got on as much ball as any Dublin player bar McAuley.
Brennan gets 4 from Kev. Now Kev has obviously taken a position on Brennan as a serious weak link in the Dublin team. However he wasn’t once exposed in the whole match, granted the play bypassed him mostly. But that was Cork’s decision.
Cork had about six players who were up to the task last night. Quirke, Shields, Loughrey, Goulding, Sheehan and Hurley. After that I can’t really think of anybody else. If you look at their team it has quality throughout. But Dublin’s superiority was significant. That isn’t to say Cork couldn’t have given it a better go with better tactics - there was no variation at all in how they attacked - just long ball in every time. Cork played the long ball for I’d say 20 minutes against Kerry. They ended up with 0-16. Last night they played it for 70 minutes and only scored 0-14. But all three starters in that line get a 3 rating from Kev. Interesting.
Cork need to look at what Michael Darragh McAuley is doing for Dublin. He was immense and is the best midfielder in Ireland at the moment. But he’s not a natural footballer, he’s a made one. When he started off with Dublin he could barely solo the ball. Aidan Walsh is a much more naturally talented player and as good an athlete. They need to build their team around him and gett him to do what McAuley does, rampaging through with his pace and linking up play constantly.
Dublin’s midfield was tremendous last night. On Dublin’s kickouts Cork never got to grips with the constant movement and Dublin almost always retained possession. On Cork’s kickouts Dublin never allowed clean catching and usually picked up the breaks, and several different players were doing so - Cullen, Kilkenny, O’Sullivan, McAuley, Connolly.
A lot of people will point to four of Dublin’s six starting forwards scoring from play. I see it as a huge positive that Dublin can still comfortably score 1-16 with that happening. I also see it as a positive that that match was only won by 5. Dublin should have won by at least 10 and could have won by 15. In one of the next two matches those goal chances are going to go in, and I’d bet it will be against Kerry. I can honestly see Dublin annihilating them by 15 points or more.
Dublin don’t just have pace in the way they run. Their speed of thinking is on a different level to any other team. Every player is entirely comfortable on the ball. If you curb the influence of certain players, and Kilkenny, Brogan, Mannion and Flynn were all curbed for large parts of the match, somebody else will step up.
Sidney[/USER] has touched on it but I was also going to disagree with [USER=273]caoimhaoin regarding Ger Brennan. I think he’s a very good player and he’s having a fine season, albeit Cork’s direct aerial deliveries into their full forward line meant he wasn’t as prominent last night. Aside from his defensive duties, his medium range kick passing is excellent and he distributes the ball from the back very well. A very important player for Dublin, I believe.
Never knew Jack McCaffrey was a religious man. Himself and Ger Brennan must be leading a revival of the faith in that half backline. 
Brogan, Killkenny, Mannion and Flynn were all curbed yet you only rate 2 of their markers as “up to the task”. Brennan was opened up Sid. Yes I have taken a POV on him, it’s never changed as he’s not changing. His discipline is better, but will it be better in an even harder, closer more claustrophobic game like Mayo or Donegal will bring. For me it’s very notable how Dublin struggled with Tyrone this year.
Sid you need to start looking at it more balanced. Dublin are a very good side, but they are far far less superior than you are trying to make out.
It’s quite possible that with better tactics Cork still may not have won, but I’d suggest it would be 1-2 points either way. Even mixing it up with a bit of hard running would have made the game closer as it would stretch Dublin in different ways. Dublin struggled with Cork at times yet Cork are behind by a bit in term of set up and disciplined play of certainly 2-3 of the teams left.
When you win a game you can’t just view all the positives and ignore where you are weak.
Kevin certainly has a blind spot were Brennan and o’carroll are concerned. No way was o’carroll a 3 rating last night.
I am happy we didn’t thrash cork last night, it will keep the hype under wraps. Can you imagine what it would be like today if the dubs had of win by 15 or so points last night? Plenty for the management to work for the next day.
[quote=“caoimhaoin, post: 812072, member: 273”]Brogan, Killkenny, Mannion and Flynn were all curbed yet you only rate 2 of their markers as “up to the task”. Brennan was opened up Sid. Yes I have taken a POV on him, it’s never changed as he’s not changing. His discipline is better, but will it be better in an even harder, closer more claustrophobic game like Mayo or Donegal will bring. For me it’s very notable how Dublin struggled with Tyrone this year.
Sid you need to start looking at it more balanced. Dublin are a very good side, but they are far far less superior than you are trying to make out.
It’s quite possible that with better tactics Cork still may not have won, but I’d suggest it would be 1-2 points either way. Even mixing it up with a bit of hard running would have made the game closer as it would stretch Dublin in different ways. Dublin struggled with Cork at times yet Cork are behind by a bit in term of set up and disciplined play of certainly 2-3 of the teams left.
When you win a game you can’t just view all the positives and ignore where you are weak.[/quote]
When and where was Brennan opened up? I’ve watched the match back and it never happened.
Brogan’s average performances are probably more to do with his poor decision making and lack of confidence. He comfortably had the beating of Cadogan but Shields did well on him.
Loughrey did well on Kilkenny (particularly in the first half) but Kilkenny came much more into it after half-time and finished with two points.
Cullen effectively played as an extra midfielder and wasn’t there to score - he was effective at picking up breaks in midfield and I’m surprised he hasn’t been utilised in that kind of role more over the years.
Flynn was curbed in the second half but was very influential in the first. Kilkenny and then Rock and McManamon stepped up instead.
Clancy in fairness was decent enough for Cork in his time on the pitch and held Mannion well. But Mannion was still instrumental in the goal. That’s the problem against Dublin, you can hold players for most of the match but they’ll beat you in five seconds.
Collins was another player who had on OK game, but you need more than that. I actually didn’t think Canty was that bad and certainly didn’t deserve 2/10 but again you need much more than that.
I’d like to think I’m looking at things in an entirely balanced way when it comes to Dublin, Kev. I’ve actually tipped against them several times over the past five years - ie against Kerry in 2009, Tyrone in 2010 and '11, Cork in '10 and Mayo last year.
I know what I see with my own eyes though and saying that Dublin are well ahead of everybody else this year isn’t looking at it through blue-tinted glasses, it’s acknowledging the obvious reality.
Cork might have competed a little better with better tactics, but Dublin didn’t have to hit anywhere near top gear themselves. They can and will improve. Also Cork clearly aren’t as good man for man as Dublin, even though they’re arguably second only to Dublin in terms of quality available to them.
They’ve also faced the best that Tyrone can throw at them - Tyrone’s defensive system, particularly in the second half of the National League final, was as good a set up as they’ll face all year - Tyrone completely bottled up the centre as good much as Donegal ever have, and Dublin still managed to score 0-10 in the second half of that match.
There’s no evidence at all that any of the remaining teams have anything to challenge them.