It's all Ulster football's fault

[Jinxy]

Martin McHugh: 'Ulster coaches have destroyed Gaelic football'

"I think Ulster coaches have destroyed the game. They took it to a level where it's going on in schools in Ulster and it's going on all over coaching. It's coached to get your defence right first and try to break. When teams copped on to that, they sit and allow that.

"Dublin are very good at it now and they know how to play against it. The game is definitely not as good a spectacle to watch.
"I'm an Ulster man myself and it's Ulster that did start it and are doing it. It's not attractive and it's going on at club level and everything else."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/martin-mchugh-ulster-coaches-have-destroyed-gaelic-football-857422.html

[BennyHarp]

Another thread on the ruination of the game. Brilliant!

[Rossfan]

Maybe the penny is beginning to drop?

[yellowcard]

Martin McHugh: 'Ulster coaches have destroyed Gaelic football'

"I think Ulster coaches have destroyed the game. They took it to a level where it's going on in schools in Ulster and it's going on all over coaching. It's coached to get your defence right first and try to break. When teams copped on to that, they sit and allow that.

"Dublin are very good at it now and they know how to play against it. The game is definitely not as good a spectacle to watch.
"I'm an Ulster man myself and it's Ulster that did start it and are doing it. It's not attractive and it's going on at club level and everything else."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/martin-mchugh-ulster-coaches-have-destroyed-gaelic-football-857422.html

I think Martin need only look inside his own county to find the origin of ultra defensive possession based football rather than blame the whole of Ulster.

Jimmy McGuinness was the source of the type of modern gaelic football that we see quite often now. Or just cheap imitation's of it with a little bit more finesse in many instances. 

[J70]

Martin McHugh: 'Ulster coaches have destroyed Gaelic football'

"I think Ulster coaches have destroyed the game. They took it to a level where it's going on in schools in Ulster and it's going on all over coaching. It's coached to get your defence right first and try to break. When teams copped on to that, they sit and allow that.

"Dublin are very good at it now and they know how to play against it. The game is definitely not as good a spectacle to watch.
"I'm an Ulster man myself and it's Ulster that did start it and are doing it. It's not attractive and it's going on at club level and everything else."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/martin-mchugh-ulster-coaches-have-destroyed-gaelic-football-857422.html

I think Martin need only look inside his own county to find the origin of ultra defensive possession based football rather than blame the whole of Ulster.

Jimmy McGuinness was the source of the type of modern gaelic football that we see quite often now. Or just cheap imitation's of it with a little bit more finesse in many instances.

Sure why stop with McGuinness. He didn't invent the blanket defense. He merely took what Tyrone did before him and developed a more extreme, organized version. Donegal used a blanket defense against a superior, but also defensive, Armagh team in the 2003 AI semi and very nearly beat them

But that's kind of beside McHugh's point anyway. Whatever its source, it has pervaded all levels of the game, especially in Ulster, and we now have to reckon with that.

[Jinxy]

Another thread on the ruination of the game. Brilliant!

This isn't about the ruination of the game.
It's about who to blame for it.

[mrdeeds]

Martin McHugh: 'Ulster coaches have destroyed Gaelic football'

"I think Ulster coaches have destroyed the game. They took it to a level where it's going on in schools in Ulster and it's going on all over coaching. It's coached to get your defence right first and try to break. When teams copped on to that, they sit and allow that.

"Dublin are very good at it now and they know how to play against it. The game is definitely not as good a spectacle to watch.
"I'm an Ulster man myself and it's Ulster that did start it and are doing it. It's not attractive and it's going on at club level and everything else."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/martin-mchugh-ulster-coaches-have-destroyed-gaelic-football-857422.html

I think Martin need only look inside his own county to find the origin of ultra defensive possession based football rather than blame the whole of Ulster.

Jimmy McGuinness was the source of the type of modern gaelic football that we see quite often now. Or just cheap imitation's of it with a little bit more finesse in many instances.

Sure why stop with McGuinness. He didn't invent the blanket defense. He merely took what Tyrone did before him and developed a more extreme, organized version. Donegal used a blanket defense against a superior, but also defensive, Armagh team in the 2003 AI semi and very nearly beat them

But that's kind of beside McHugh's point anyway. Whatever its source, it has pervaded all levels of the game, especially in Ulster, and we now have to reckon with that.

Tyrone did not use a blanket defence. A blanket defence is dropping every player back. What Tyrone did was swarm around the man in possession and was aggressive tackling often high up the pitch. Tyrone All Ireland finals were cracking games with the 2008 final the best I've ever seen.

[BennyHarp]

Another thread on the ruination of the game. Brilliant!

This isn't about the ruination of the game.
It's about who to blame for it.

Obviously. My mistake. Clearly worthy of a thread on its own.

[Farrandeelin]

Martin McHugh: 'Ulster coaches have destroyed Gaelic football'

"I think Ulster coaches have destroyed the game. They took it to a level where it's going on in schools in Ulster and it's going on all over coaching. It's coached to get your defence right first and try to break. When teams copped on to that, they sit and allow that.

"Dublin are very good at it now and they know how to play against it. The game is definitely not as good a spectacle to watch.
"I'm an Ulster man myself and it's Ulster that did start it and are doing it. It's not attractive and it's going on at club level and everything else."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/martin-mchugh-ulster-coaches-have-destroyed-gaelic-football-857422.html

I think Martin need only look inside his own county to find the origin of ultra defensive possession based football rather than blame the whole of Ulster.

Jimmy McGuinness was the source of the type of modern gaelic football that we see quite often now. Or just cheap imitation's of it with a little bit more finesse in many instances.

Sure why stop with McGuinness. He didn't invent the blanket defense. He merely took what Tyrone did before him and developed a more extreme, organized version. Donegal used a blanket defense against a superior, but also defensive, Armagh team in the 2003 AI semi and very nearly beat them

But that's kind of beside McHugh's point anyway. Whatever its source, it has pervaded all levels of the game, especially in Ulster, and we now have to reckon with that.

Tyrone did not use a blanket defence. A blanket defence is dropping every player back. What Tyrone did was swarm around the man in possession and was aggressive tackling often high up the pitch. Tyrone All Ireland finals were cracking games with the 2008 final the best I've ever seen.

I'd argue that last year's one was better. But the 08 All Ireland final would be a close second.

[ONeill]

I thought 05 was better than 08.

[trileacman]

I thought 05 was better than 08.

Same

[ONeill]

Even better on the wireless: http://www.terracetalk.com/downloads/Commentaries/37/2005-All-Ireland-Football-Final--Kerry-Vs-Tyrone

[J70]

Martin McHugh: 'Ulster coaches have destroyed Gaelic football'

"I think Ulster coaches have destroyed the game. They took it to a level where it's going on in schools in Ulster and it's going on all over coaching. It's coached to get your defence right first and try to break. When teams copped on to that, they sit and allow that.

"Dublin are very good at it now and they know how to play against it. The game is definitely not as good a spectacle to watch.
"I'm an Ulster man myself and it's Ulster that did start it and are doing it. It's not attractive and it's going on at club level and everything else."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/martin-mchugh-ulster-coaches-have-destroyed-gaelic-football-857422.html

I think Martin need only look inside his own county to find the origin of ultra defensive possession based football rather than blame the whole of Ulster.

Jimmy McGuinness was the source of the type of modern gaelic football that we see quite often now. Or just cheap imitation's of it with a little bit more finesse in many instances.

Sure why stop with McGuinness. He didn't invent the blanket defense. He merely took what Tyrone did before him and developed a more extreme, organized version. Donegal used a blanket defense against a superior, but also defensive, Armagh team in the 2003 AI semi and very nearly beat them

But that's kind of beside McHugh's point anyway. Whatever its source, it has pervaded all levels of the game, especially in Ulster, and we now have to reckon with that.

Tyrone did not use a blanket defence. A blanket defence is dropping every player back. What Tyrone did was swarm around the man in possession and was aggressive tackling often high up the pitch. Tyrone All Ireland finals were cracking games with the 2008 final the best I've ever seen.

The term " blanket defense" precedes McGuinness by nearly a  decade. Tyrone may have harried players UP the field at times, but the predominant image was of surrounding players, turning the ball over and playing fast on the break. McGuinness didn't invent it from first principles. Tyrone were the inspiration. I don't know why you Tyrone boys are so sensitive about this that you have to hide behind semantics, especially as you've more recently, in turn, taken what McGuinness did and ran with that, in turn. No one is saying that 2000s Tyrone went to the extremes McGuinness did.

And on entertainment, Donegal under McGuinness played some very exciting games. Dublin 2014 and Cork 2012 spring to mind. When everyone copied it, it became, for the most part, very poor to watch.

[lenny]

Martin McHugh: 'Ulster coaches have destroyed Gaelic football'

"I think Ulster coaches have destroyed the game. They took it to a level where it's going on in schools in Ulster and it's going on all over coaching. It's coached to get your defence right first and try to break. When teams copped on to that, they sit and allow that.

"Dublin are very good at it now and they know how to play against it. The game is definitely not as good a spectacle to watch.
"I'm an Ulster man myself and it's Ulster that did start it and are doing it. It's not attractive and it's going on at club level and everything else."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/martin-mchugh-ulster-coaches-have-destroyed-gaelic-football-857422.html

I think Martin need only look inside his own county to find the origin of ultra defensive possession based football rather than blame the whole of Ulster.

Jimmy McGuinness was the source of the type of modern gaelic football that we see quite often now. Or just cheap imitation's of it with a little bit more finesse in many instances.

Sure why stop with McGuinness. He didn't invent the blanket defense. He merely took what Tyrone did before him and developed a more extreme, organized version. Donegal used a blanket defense against a superior, but also defensive, Armagh team in the 2003 AI semi and very nearly beat them

But that's kind of beside McHugh's point anyway. Whatever its source, it has pervaded all levels of the game, especially in Ulster, and we now have to reckon with that.

Tyrone did not use a blanket defence. A blanket defence is dropping every player back. What Tyrone did was swarm around the man in possession and was aggressive tackling often high up the pitch. Tyrone All Ireland finals were cracking games with the 2008 final the best I've ever seen.

The term " blanket defense" precedes McGuinness by nearly a  decade. Tyrone may have harried players UP the field at times, but the predominant image was of surrounding players, turning the ball over and playing fast on the break. McGuinness didn't invent it from first principles. Tyrone were the inspiration. I don't know why you Tyrone boys are so sensitive about this that you have to hide behind semantics, especially as you've more recently, in turn, taken what McGuinness did and ran with that, in turn. No one is saying that 2000s Tyrone went to the extremes McGuinness did.

And on entertainment, Donegal under McGuinness played some very exciting games. Dublin 2014 and Cork 2012 spring to mind. When everyone copied it, it became, for the most part, very poor to watch.

Micky harte was the first to bring in a real structured defence with several forwards dropping back and playing on the counter attack. Tyrone people don't like to admit it but that was the template for a number of other managers. When both teams play in this style it's terrible to watch. It's very effective and can be great to watch of the other team are naive enough to throw men forward leaving space for the counter attacking team to exploit. It's basically becoming like soccer and it's generally making the game horrible to watch. Some people like it but the majority despise it and crowds are definitely falling. It's even worse at club level where some games are ridiculously defensive and counter attacking is ineffective.

[trailer]

The famous clip from the 03 SF against Kerry took place inside Kerry's half. Shows how stupid pundits were then calling it a blanket defence. Those same pundits are still being listened to (and paid) today. Change who you listen to and you change what you see.