All Ireland Gaelic Football Final 2014 Kerry v Donegal

[timmyot501]

With Murphy struggling as the game wore on I think Jim left it to late to take on mcbreaety. Other than toye he was the only sub that was going to make a real impact. He really should have started. Mind games are out of control. Fair play to kerry. Did enough and got the luck with that awful kick out by durcan. Better team on the day won

[Wildweasel74]

They manager  i think restricts their football, its ok playing to a system up to a point but theirs times where player have to take on the mantle and play their own game, how often did Murphy play on the edge of the square the day? Donegal problem is they seem unable to adjust to playing 2 different types of game, there days you need to attack from the get go and days to defend, they had a better team than Kerry and today was the day to attack, Dublin have a better team than them and the last day the defensive way won out, Horses for courses and McGuinness should know that.

[Eamonnca1]

Worst AI in history IMO. Even worse then 2003 and 2004.

Just curious, did you watch on RTE?

[screenexile]

Well on the day I thought Kerry were the better team.
Donegal today made costly errors and Durcan had a bad day .McFadden Should have managed a goal in the final minute but it just never (for me anyway) looked like it was our day .
Dublin game took alot out of these lads & I'm looking forward to our game been modified in the future It may take time but it will happen (if the talented youngsters in the minors are anything to go by).

Hardly a classic final but absolutely no complaints here.

Fair play! A few Mayo lads could take a leaf out of your book!!

Fair play a few Derry lads could do with commenting on a game that doesn't involve Mayo without throwing a dig at us. You seem lately to be displaying all the attributes you hate about us in your posts Screen. Very disappointed as you never used to stoop to the bargain basement Mayo jibes until recently and were one of the more composed commentators on here.

Not necessarily yourself but a lot of lads have lost the run of themselves this last few weeks. Somebody said earlier Mayo would have hockeyed Dublin had they got through to the final... They wouldn't have.

Anyway I'm happy enough to leave it this is the AI thread and Kerry deserve the plaudits. Talk about cynicism/negativity all you want but Kerry did what was required to win. Anybody thinking it could be won any other way is kidding themselves as witnessed by what happened in the Dublin game. Fair play Kerry!!

[Wildweasel74]

I can remember all-irelands back to about 1982 and this one stunk the place out, so if any can remember worst before that they are welcome to highlight them

[TabClear]

congratulations to Kerry. The only thing that matters at the end of a final is the scoreboard.

[J OGorman]

Well done to Kerry. Another title no matter how it's won. But I found myself laughing out loud towards the end when Kerry upped the cynicism stakes to the max. I'd say it was the most cynical last five minutes of an All Ireland ever. Remember Canavan pulling down Cooper? Multiply that by 10.

It was a thing of beauty to see Kerry ratchet up the dark arts and fair play to them. It's 2014. Kerry often had the best footballers. Now they've merged that with the dirty hoorism in a more transparent way.

The country has couped and I like it.

On your own there. Worst AI in history IMO. Even worse then 2003 and 2004.

The lion share of blame is from Donegal. As mentioned earlier, Kerry adapted to some degree to beat Donegal using a system Donegal have honed for 4 years. If it was an open game Kerry would have played it as such. That's some achievement in itself.
For me the ref didn't favour any team, though Donaghey should have had a couple of frees in and around the box that he didn't. 
Fair play to the kingdom and commiserations to the hill men.
Papa Durcan will be hurting. Chin up big guy.

On the player of the year, Connolly by a country mile.

[Crete Boom]

Well on the day I thought Kerry were the better team.
Donegal today made costly errors and Durcan had a bad day .McFadden Should have managed a goal in the final minute but it just never (for me anyway) looked like it was our day .
Dublin game took alot out of these lads & I'm looking forward to our game been modified in the future It may take time but it will happen (if the talented youngsters in the minors are anything to go by).

Hardly a classic final but absolutely no complaints here.

Fair play! A few Mayo lads could take a leaf out of your book!!

Fair play a few Derry lads could do with commenting on a game that doesn't involve Mayo without throwing a dig at us. You seem lately to be displaying all the attributes you hate about us in your posts Screen. Very disappointed as you never used to stoop to the bargain basement Mayo jibes until recently and were one of the more composed commentators on here.

Not necessarily yourself but a lot of lads have lost the run of themselves this last few weeks. Somebody said earlier Mayo would have hockeyed Dublin had they got through to the final... They wouldn't have.

Anyway I'm happy enough to leave it this is the AI thread and Kerry deserve the plaudits. Talk about cynicism/negativity all you want but Kerry did what was required to win. Anybody thinking it could be won any other way is kidding themselves as witnessed by what happened in the Dublin game. Fair play Kerry!!

Don't let them get to you screen and remember it's just the twenty or so years of frustration which is very easy to vent anonymously on an internet forum without having to face ridicule or the consequences of the real world.Apologies for being overly sensitive about the Mayo comments.

On today's game , it was a hard tough grind but this can happen in finals especially when both teams are evenly matched. Throw in the fact that both mangers prefer to counter attack from a defensive game plan so it was always going to a conservative affair. I thought Kerry shaded the midfield battle but poor shot selection and lazy tackling gave Donegal a foothold which the exploited to the max.The second half was always going to be who hold their nerve better after such a close first half. I must admit I enjoyed the second half.

[Syferus]

Worst AI in history IMO. Even worse then 2003 and 2004.

Just curious, did you watch on RTE?

I was at the match and largely agree with Indy. It was better than any washout but the standard was really poor for an AI final. Dublin and Mayo will be sick as dogs after watching the level of performance that was required to win this year's final.

Kerry have learnt their Ulster lesson mentally but their execution still leaves a lot to be desired. I suppose it's something to work on for next year.

[Throw ball]

Terrible game. When teams try to mirror Donegal this can happen. Still feel if Donegal had have started McBearty and Toye they would have won. In the end the breaks went Kerry's way and they won.

As for footballer of the year. I have to go with Connolly too.

[J OGorman]

Worst AI in history IMO. Even worse then 2003 and 2004.

Just curious, did you watch on RTE?

I was at the match and largely agree with Indy. It was better than any washout but the standard was really poor for an AI final. Dublin and Mayo will be sick as dogs after watching the level of performance that was required to win this year's final.

Kerry have learnt their Ulster lesson mentally but their execution still leaves a lot to be desired. I suppose it's something to work on for next year.

So it's a given that Dublin or Mayo would have performed better? How so?
The game was sore on the eye because of the ultra defensive game plan Donegal use.
If Mayo had reached the final they would have had to either play open football and the chances are got ate up by Donegal or met fire with fire resulting in what we witnessed today.
If it was a Dublin Mayo final or a Dublin Kerry final I'm sure it could have been a classic with much more open attacking football.
Kerry done what they had to do to beat the 'monster'.

[J70]

Can we finally expel the myth that Kerry play football the right way?

Few football people ever believed the myth. Only guillible media.

We would have easily beaten Donegal - sickening

You couldn't beat Kerry. Kerry just about beat us, thanks to two errors, one of which you will probably never see again.

I do not see your logic. Fact is, your team has had three attempts at an All Ireland title now. You failed them all. "What ifs" and "would have dones" count for nothing.

[Syferus]

Worst AI in history IMO. Even worse then 2003 and 2004.

Just curious, did you watch on RTE?

I was at the match and largely agree with Indy. It was better than any washout but the standard was really poor for an AI final. Dublin and Mayo will be sick as dogs after watching the level of performance that was required to win this year's final.

Kerry have learnt their Ulster lesson mentally but their execution still leaves a lot to be desired. I suppose it's something to work on for next year.

So it's a given that Dublin or Mayo would have performed better? How so?
The game was sore on the eye because of the ultra defensive game plan Donegal use.
If Mayo had reached the final they would have had to either play open football and the chances are got ate up by Donegal or met fire with fire resulting in what we witnessed today.
If it was a Dublin Mayo final or a Dublin Kerry final I'm sure it could have been a classic with much more open attacking football.
Kerry done what they had to do to beat the 'monster'.

Kerry have been aping Donegal's system all year.  Since Fitzmaurice took over he's been remodelling Kerry as a southern Ulster team that leaves 8 or 9 men back at all times and regularly operates with a single isolated FF.

They are just as defensive as Donegal, indeed looking at their team-sheet they need that system more than Donegal do to paper over talent gaps at key positions.

Today's entertainment was caused by two very defensive teams parking a bus in front of each other and being clueless as to how to unlock the opposition. Someone had to win but we're all losers for having to watch two teams excute that poorly.

A defensive team can be very exciting to watch if they can capitalise on the counter-attack but two defensive teams rarely do as both teams have their attackers so far from goal at all times, lots of time for the other team to stroll back into positions they hardly moved out of in the first place. You have to excute attacks incredibly fast to by-pass that and neither team today did that.

Honestly it reminded me of a bad D3 league game in a lot of ways, lots of passing around between the 45s and going absolutely no where.

[Zulu]

Worst AI in history IMO. Even worse then 2003 and 2004.

Just curious, did you watch on RTE?

I was at the match and largely agree with Indy. It was better than any washout but the standard was really poor for an AI final. Dublin and Mayo will be sick as dogs after watching the level of performance that was required to win this year's final.

Kerry have learnt their Ulster lesson mentally but their execution still leaves a lot to be desired. I suppose it's something to work on for next year.

So it's a given that Dublin or Mayo would have performed better? How so?
The game was sore on the eye because of the ultra defensive game plan Donegal use.
If Mayo had reached the final they would have had to either play open football and the chances are got ate up by Donegal or met fire with fire resulting in what we witnessed today.
If it was a Dublin Mayo final or a Dublin Kerry final I'm sure it could have been a classic with much more open attacking football.
Kerry done what they had to do to beat the 'monster'.

Spot on. Donegal force other teams to ape their style of play and when other teams do we get awful games, if they don't we can get good games which Donegal win. To beat them your best chance is to ape them.

Kerry have been aping Donegal's system all year.  Since Fitzmaurice took over he's been remodelling Kerry as a southern Ulster team that leaves 8 or 9 men back at all times and regularly operates with a single isolated FF.

They are just as defensive as Donegal, indeed looking at their team-sheet they need that system more than Donegal do to paper over talent gaps at key positions.

Today's entertainment was caused by two very defensive teams parking a bus in front of each other and being clueless as to how to unlock the opposition. Someone had to win but we're all losers for having to watch two teams excute that poorly.

Nonsense. Every team is now more aware defensively and get bodies back in an organised way but nobody is as defensive as Donegal but to beat them you unfortunately have to mirror them. If Dublin or Mayo were  playing Kerry today they would have played the game very differently.

[INDIANA]

Terrible game. When teams try to mirror Donegal this can happen. Still feel if Donegal had have started McBearty and Toye they would have won. In the end the breaks went Kerry's way and they won.

As for footballer of the year. I have to go with Connolly too.

JOD has it in the bag lads- we'll be lucky to get any all-stars with the Kerry love- in in the media this week.