O'Byrne Cup Final 2008

[donelli]

Seen the second half of this on tv last night.
Great entertainment. Longford played the better football, but when you concede 2 goals like that at the end..well thats what they 'deserve'.
when the defensive marking is like this, it makes for more scores. i dont expect as much loose defending come the height of summer..

[magickingdom]

must say i really enjoyed the game last night, longford will have nightmares about losing that game. the only time they were down was in the last second! what about jayo tho, two great goals even if only one was legal...

[The Real Laoislad]

I honestly dont think the refs favoured the Dubs, although I should know by now that every game the Dubs ever play brings cries of "the ref was for the Dubs" after the game.

I enjoy these arguments, as the other 31 counties all want to see Dublin lose, yet for some weird reason, all refs are an exception to this rule 
Gives me a laugh anyway.

Once your happy thats all that matters 

[LaurelEye]

Great entertainment - not only for the neutrals, but for the rest of us as well. The ref had a mixed game, I thought, with some poor calls , but some very good ones. But I'm coming to the view that the game is becoming impossible to referee properly and it's not helped by how easy it is to fool the ref. I felt that last night, most of his errors were due to being conned by lads going down as soon as they felt the hand and, if he appeared to favour Dublin, it was because they were doing more of it.

On the other hand, I was shouting at the telly when he gave one free to Dublin only to see he was right when they replayed it and showed the Longford forward executing the old pulling-down-the-tackler trick perfectly. Not many refs ever get that right.

I'd have to say it's a great sign of a team to pull off a win in this fashion and Dublin can now install themselves as odds-on unbeatable favourites to steamroll Leinster and the rest of the country this year. Get yizzer money on now.

The game will have been great for Longford too and can do no harm to their confidence. And if you have to learn a harsh lesson like this, it's better to learn it in the O'Byrne Cup than in the Chamionship. I hope when they review the video they'll notice the difference in outcome between the long ball from midfield and trying to walk it in. They were great to watch when they were tearing the Dublin defence apart with good supply from midfield.

I agree about Kavanagh - I hope we see more of him this Summer. And if we had a transfer system I'd be recommending we put in a bid for Paddy Dowd. The injured midfielder must be something else if Dowd wasn't in the selected team. 

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Hardy

[parkoncrokie]

must say i really enjoyed the game last night, longford will have nightmares about losing that game. the only time they were down was in the last second! what about jayo tho, two great goals even if only one was legal...

Watched  the final I could'nt believe  longford let it slip they were far & away the better team as you say one of  jayos majors was illegal
but it matters little now, Hopefilly longford will learn to defend to the death in future

[Shamrock Shore]

As Hardy said best to be learning dem lessons in February rather than in May or June.

Amazing the number of people who watched the game and who texted me during and after. Anyone I knew seemed to be tuned in. Setanta have hit a gold mine here. Fair play to them. 

[North Longford]

Jesus Jayo has a lot to answer for.....took me 10 minutes after the final whistle to stop a 5 year from sobbing his heart out. Terrible thing to do to the young fella!!!
Anyway thought it was  good game and Longford played well although I actually think they could still play better. Paul Bardenn and Declan Reilly were still a bit rusty as they're only over ops. Reilly's first game in about 4 months and there is a lot more in him. Barden kicked 3 or 4 very uncharacteristic wides. He'd often have 100% days. As well with David Barden, Padraig Berry and Kevin Mulligan all only playing their first games there is definitely improvement to come plus with Keenan to come into midfield. So its all positive really. Disappointed Jayo got so much space for the second goal although it looked like a super finish from where we were. Again from where we were oculdn't make out what the complaints over the first goal were.
As for the ref, the last decision against David Barden which led to the goal made no sense to me, haven't seen replays so can't be sure but nobody in our vicinity inclduding Dubs could make out why he gave a free. Other than that the 7 scorable frees to 2 tells a lot for me. Invariably if a Dublin player got surrounded by 2 or 3 Longford lads it s was free for pushing or pulling while if the opposite occurred it was free for overcarrying or the Longford lad had to release the ball anywhere to avoid the overcayrrying.
Anyway after the Wexford performance wasn't sure how things stood but a good bit happier now.

[Shamrock Shore]

The free agin Barden was, allegedly, for palming the ball - i.e. he had the ball in his right hand and then 'hopped' it on the hand over to Farrell. I think. The TV is not conclusive but the Dub I was sitting beside claimed that's what it was for. I certainly missed it.

I should have got you over to comfort me NL.......I was crying for 10!

[Croí na hÉireann]

Super game, great O'Byrne Cup when u add in the Carlow game. Daylight robbery by the Dubs. It was a typical Dempsey team, threatened to blow away the opposition completely and then got sucker punched at the end. This was a statement of intent from the Slashers, I hope O'Flaherta was watching and taking notes, porous backline but excellent forward play once quick ball went in. Can't for the life of me figure out why Caffery took O'Shaughnessy off Kavanagh as he's a great man to get his hand in. Thought the ref had a decent game, as good as can be expected what with all the off the ball blocking of runs, pulling and dragging, surrounding the player, etc. that is all too prevelant in the modern game. He did get one call unbelievably wrong, Sherlock should have walked for the elbow.

[Hound]

I'd have to say it's a great sign of a team to pull off a win in this fashion and Dublin can now install themselves as odds-on unbeatable favourites to steamroll Leinster

Sure, we already were Hardy!

Hard luck Longford. We certainly "stole it" in the end. Great winning goal from a Dublin point of view, superb ball by Fennell and great finish by Jayo.

Not many positive individual performances to highlight from a Dublin perspective. None of the new boys look good enough to me to start championship matches - but could say that about a few of the existing boys too!!