Meath Vs Dublin, 7th June 2009

[paddypastit]

If Dublin had finished the chances they made the hype here about their credentials foir an AI would be unbearable.

I'm not from either county so no agenda.  Meath were 'disorganised' and easily dis spirited but realistically unless they got some sort of a lucky break they never really looked like they could win once Dublin weathered that 4 pts flurry at the beginning of the second half.

Dublin's MF went out of the game for two spells and there was bvery little 'connection' through the HFs to the FF line so when the supply dried up in MF, they were starved... against a better team, that might have been an issue but not yesterday. I would agree with the two contrasting points made about Sherlock - he is the 'joiner-uper' in the forward line but I think he is definitely off the pace, and was last year. That said he can still play that role and has a place in the panel to do the cameo piece in certain games.

There were two big iussues apart from the shooting that I think need to be addressed - winning MF ball - the low flying as well as the high fielding... that has to be one and then a bit of width in attack.. For all his b/s the arse boxer had the forward line moving very slickly on and off the ball. Yesterday there was no with on them at all and therfore no space to penetrate. MAeath quickly copped funnelling back in front of Dublin, drawing them up blind alleys with lots of green jerseys at the end... defenders heaven

I think this was a gamble by Gilroy to 'temper' a few players in the real scene.  Having been involved in co. football as a player and a coach, the pressure and intensity of championship is completely different to League.  Add in that being in Croke Pk in front of 70,000 odd against the oldest rivals with all the hype, but with a second chance that wouldn't be that unattractive a route if you had to go there and I think that Gilroy took the view that the experience of the panel would benefit from those new leads getting an experience they would never get from the bench - Cullen, Whelan, Casey (assume he's still around), Sherlock, Ryan, Vaughan, Bonner, Quinn and Connolly have all smelt that grass before so if ye have them as options along with the 15 that started and they all think thay both have a chance or could be cut... bet there is some edge to the training games... that's waht wil improve them as they undoubtedly will over 10 weeks.

Remember as I said, a few kicks and a few punchballs over the bar and the talk would be of 'new Dublin'... nothing's even won in June.  The real stuff is a long way to come

[whitey]

Dubs still on course, hype dead as a door nail, expectations ratcheted down-hmmmmm. Methinks Gilroy may be onto something. 

When Mayo "almost" won the AI in 1996, they were nearly beat by London in the first round!

http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/Mayo/News/ConnTel/96Jun/96Jun05/GAA.htm

[agorm]

Pretty disappointed with the reaction of O'Brien and Curtis on the radio and the papers. Curtis was making out that holding the Dubs to 3 points in the second half was some sort of a positive.

O Brien was disappointed but didnt come across as particularly devastated - he said that Dublin are a good team which the are - the issue is that they were poor last Sunday and should have been beaten.

O'Brien didnt admit any mistakes, e.g. in playing King at FF which is worrying. He intimated that King did well there. Earlier in the year O'Brien also said that it wouldnt be a disaster if Meath were relegated from Div 2 in the league.

I think that if there is not some surgery made to that team and the players back playing in their natural positions especially in the key positions up the middle then the support in the qualifiers will be significantly reduced.

[meathie]

Yea me too agorm. Not liking his attitude too much! Also  I read Moyles saying that Bray was injured from the onset, could hardly walk at halk time and STILL was left on for that long. explains alot to me. Why didnt he bring Sherridan on earlier, who again accoriding to Moyles was flying in training.i dont fall for that 'we had four subs used already' he should have been one of the first on.  Changes needed for qualifiers or it'll be a really short summer for us. I mean shorter than usual!

[agorm]

He also "explained" not bringing Joe on earlier by saying that he had only one sub left to bring on and had to be careful in the event of injuries etc.

Ridiculous statement- he could have brought him on ahead of some of the other subs and, if needed, brought King back to the half back line. To my mind he didnt even answer the question.

[thejuice]

I agree, I find myself questioning him alright. McKeigue was clearly having a torrid time, yet he did nothing till the 45th minute. The midfielders were trying to win kick outs on their own among 5 Dublin players, why weren't players moved to contest the breaks. He could have switched McKeige for Moyles, King for Bray and then it might have made more sense in terms of winning breaks and players might have been better utilised.