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Sixty thousand empty seats in Croke Park for a Dublin Meath championship match.  What a sad state of affairs.

Sad indeed

A number of obvious reasons for it , but one thing I have to say  from watching  a numbers of games this weekend, is that  the quality of football right now is  absolutely dire

As a spectacle it really has become a poor game to watch. Ruined by over coaching and stats, the level of crowd engagement at a match has never been lower.

Yes and no.  The league final was a fantastic game. The latter stages of the AI last year were pretty compelling.  Lots of mismatches in the early stages, like every year, but that's not uncommon in sport. Look at the top 5 or 6 European soccer leagues this year, and the top teams are pretty much scunnering everyone else.

The League final was great but it was a rarity. I don't think we should be measuring it against soccer but it's almost become possession orientated in the way that soccer is. The difference is that the level of technical skill required in soccer is much higher to retain possession.

Gaelic football was not designed to be a possession sport. It should be a game of duels, collisions and end to end action played at fast pace. It has become anything but that due mostly to data analytics and professional coaches exploiting the rules.

Watched it on the replay and it didn't even register on the Sunday Game highlights which tells you all you need to know. A yellow card was the correct decision, no force in the challenge.

Paul Flynn talking about KPIs, pockets of space and horseshoes tonight. New age punditry.

Sixty thousand empty seats in Croke Park for a Dublin Meath championship match.  What a sad state of affairs.

Sad indeed

A number of obvious reasons for it , but one thing I have to say  from watching  a numbers of games this weekend, is that  the quality of football right now is  absolutely dire

As a spectacle it really has become a poor game to watch. Ruined by over coaching and stats, the level of crowd engagement at a match has never been lower.

Your money at the turnstile is effectively funding a host of professional coaches and over inflated backroom teams.

Awful game.
Fermanagh had their chances of goals but either miskicked, took the wrong option or just messed it up.
Armagh deserved winners - but goals aside, they didn't look overly impressive.
Missed a lot of frees. Didnt look fluid, should have scored more points from play given the way Fermanagh just kind of stopped. If I was from Armagh I'd be worried enough.

Jarly Og lucky to stay on the pitch imo.

Jarly Og is one of the least aggressive players on the Armagh squad so I'd be very surprised if there was any intent there. A yellow card was fair in that instance.

Sorry but I hate that "he's not that type of player"


It was high and dangerous what's his personality got to do with it? It was a red all day!

It's only relevant in so far as being useful when trying to gauge whether there was intent to hurt the opponent. I would doubt if there was. In real time it didn't look like a red card to me but I'd have to see it again.

In the bigger scheme it was irrelevant though as Fermanagh were already a beaten docket at that point.

Who, where and when has anyone "bigged up" Down?

I've seen plenty of comments on these threads and in the media. They were shoe ins for last years Tailteann Cup and the division 3 title and tipped by lots of pundits to win both of those finals.

They've definitely improved alright under Laverty but from what I've seen of them they lack players who can kick the ball, it's basically the Kilcoo blueprint being employed at county level. 

Awful game.
Fermanagh had their chances of goals but either miskicked, took the wrong option or just messed it up.
Armagh deserved winners - but goals aside, they didn't look overly impressive.
Missed a lot of frees. Didnt look fluid, should have scored more points from play given the way Fermanagh just kind of stopped. If I was from Armagh I'd be worried enough.

Jarly Og lucky to stay on the pitch imo.

Jarly Og is one of the least aggressive players on the Armagh squad so I'd be very surprised if there was any intent there. A yellow card was fair in that instance.

A fairly underwhelming performance from Armagh. Good for some players to get a bit of match fitness under the belts but for others you really have to wonder what it is they have on McGeeney. Fermanagh threw the towel in fairly early on and with no plan B were bullied into half time at which stage Armagh could see the game out without breaking a sweat. Down will be a much sterner test you'd imagine irrespective of their showing yesterday evening. A similar performance from Armagh won't do.

Armagh done what they needed to, were very clinical before putting the game to bed early once the second goal went in. We got good success early out of pressurising the Fermanagh defence high up the pitch and breaking at speed. After that it was a bit more subdued as we basically just seen the game out since the second half was a non event.

I don't get all of this bigging up of Down, they are about the same level as Fermanagh so that performance today absolutely would be enough. Derry on the other hand would be a different matter.

Very impressive half from Armagh, makes such a difference when we push up and put the opposition defence under pressure and the off the ball running has been excellent. 

Strong Armagh team named, glad to see Rian back starting where he belongs.

Geezer changing all the numbers around does my head in as if Fermanagh will think jarly og burns is going play corner forward and turbitt is going play wing forward.I would like see Rian get a run at midfield as think this a weak area for us, but burns, crealey or mackin could all play middle of the field.

Numbers mean nothing. Basically we will play with one or two men up the pitch (probably Murnin and Turbitt/Conaty), one or two men as designated markers at the back (Burns and McKay) with everybody else moving up and down the pitch. Same as nearly every team nowadays so this thing of lining out teams in 1-6-2-6 simply pre-dates the Jimmy McGuinness tactical revolution. It still bemuses me to see a half back get extra credit for picking off scores when they are often the best placed players on the team to kick points. 

Use of the word 'humble' or 'humbled' is a particular bugbear.

 

Every post match GAA interview must begin with 'sure lookit'.

For GAA pundits, it's deemed essential to insert terms such as pockets of space, backdoor cut, game time, transition in order to appear more sophisticated.   

And for the administrators the use of the term stakeholder is an absolute must.   

Beggan is the best kicking goalkeeper but at the fundamentals he is just average. Even with his forays up the pitch, while he has the ability to kick long range points with that right foot piston, he is quite slow and cumbersome in possession and got caught out yesterday not for the first time. You would have to question the judgement of a pundit who gave him MOTM yesterday after conceding 3 goals. That must be a first for a goalkeeper. I thought Paddy Lynch deserved it but Faulkner was very good too. 

Well dunno where that came from but up Cavan. Beggan mom, what are they smoking in BBC?

Ridiculous decision, they were dying to give it to Beggan simply due to the fact that he got an NFL trial.

Some mental gymnastics being employed on this thread when it comes to 'peaking'. It seems that whenever a team wins a few games that it was down to them specifically targeting those games above all others. And when they lose it was down to them timing their 'peak'. All done with the benefit of hindsight or no inside knowledge of their training programmes.

These top county teams are so meticulously prepared now that I don't believe any side has any significant advantage over each other in terms of fitness or S & C programmes. Most of these lads now maintain a very good general level of conditioning all year round. If there are smaller advantages they will be found tactically or in other areas. But the primary advantage will still remain the quality of player available, nothing to do with peaks.       

Yep.
When Dublin beat Derry in celtic park Derry and Mickey Harte had bottled it, and feared Dublin. When they  trounced Tyrone, they were the real deal.
Everything they done was calculated and fluid. They were the masters of the game and everyone else were to be also rans.
They didn't beat Derry and suddenly it was all about the players that were not playing, but nobody will  identify   the players to be replaced.
Dublin will only improve and Derry were playing at their limit.
As in all matters the narrative must suit the bias.

I see Colm Boyle saying that today as well. Derry couldn't beat the dubs at 70%. The week before he tipped the dubs to win comfortably and now he's quoting the players missing. Dublin's biggest fans in the media are often the former Mayo players. I think by bigging up the Dubs it helps build up their team who could never beat them

Found his article.
He didnt name the players to be replaced on this team of titans operating at 70% that Derry couldn't beat at 100%.

Probably all the better for Mickey Harte.

'My only worry for Derry is that they were at their absolute peak and Dublin were maybe at 70%. And Dublin will raise the bar again come the Championship, I'm sure of that.'

How can he know that Derry were at their absolute peak, has he the inside track to their preparations? I'd say practically every county will improve come championship time. Derry haven't even gone on their foreign training camp yet, will they not learn things and improve their preparation there.   

And if Dublin were operating at only 70% as he suggests then they may as well just hand them Sam now.