Messages

Dubs are good.

But Kilkenny overcarrying is a joke. He does it nearly every time he's on the ball. His point just before HT he gets ball takes 4 steps jinks past his man takes another 4 steps and taps over the bar. Not even a hint of a bounce or solo!?

A non-fussy ref will suit Tyrone as Monaghan have 2 deadly free-takers in Beggan & McManus whereas Tyrone are much more hit-and-miss. So the less scorable frees in the game the better

Anthony Nolan - Wicklow reffing

I'm not familiar with him. Any recent Tyrone games he's reffed?

Me either, but can't be any worse than the last 2 refs Tyrone have had!

Apply them as they become certs

1. Rory Beggan
2. Johnny Cooper
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Karl O'Connell
8. Brian Fenton
9.
10.
11.
12.
13. David Clifford
14.
15. Conor McManus

But if Roscommon beat Donegal next week Tyrone should be as good as through on score difference as long as they avoided a big defeat in either of last 2 games. That was the value of pummelling Roscommon yesterday

Have Kildare not given up home advantage willingly for league games against the Dubs in recent years? They can't pick & choose when it suits them to play in Croke Park.

Hard to see the GAA rowing back now, likely tickets have been distributed & printed to 4 county boards already & need to be given out to clubs 2mro night for distribution

have to laugh at the way the game in the "old days" is viewed through such rose-tinted glasses. I flicked through and found re-run of the 1987 and 1988 AI Finals between Cork and Meath on eirSport over the last few nights. It was awful to watch. Low-scoring with lads horsing the ball as hard as they could down the other end of the pitch. The standard of free-taking was muck too off the ground - the likes of Stafford regularly not able to reach the posts with a free from the 45 off the ground. Compare that to the likes of Rock or Murphy or Beggan kicking frees off the ground currently.

Difference back then was the commentators & pundits weren't just focussed on running down the game they were watching or fixated on talking about the general "state" of the game.

Yes I wouldn't put Penrose or Mellon in the same class as Canavan/Cavlan/Dooher/SON/Mulligan.

Harte & Matty better than either Penrose or Mellon. I remember Mellon got the 1st 2 points I think in the 2005 final for Tyrone but don't think he did a pile after that

Remember the old league QF's? top 4 div 1, top 2 div 2, winner div 3 and winner div 4. I remember a Div 4 winner at least putting it up to or beating a Div 1 winner at least once.

League should be played in the summer.

Yes this is the way to go. Run provincials in between like FA Cup. If teams get to provincial final that's another route into say the last 16. Could have top 5 from Div1, 3 from Div2, 2 from Div3 & 4, rest for provincials

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991%E2%80%9392_National_Football_League_(Ireland)

What about something like this for a new championship structure? Equal ability groups & then even if you win the lower division you still get a shot at the big boys in the QF?

Mayo worth a punt for relegation at 11-4, play Dubs next so should still be stuck on 2pts after that

Good to get the win yesterday, would have been virtually down had they lost. As others have said encouraging performances from Conor Myler and McShane. Great scores in 2nd half from Matty, off either foot. He needs to be doing that more often though. He normally picks the ball up between the 21 and 45 and brings it out past midfield. He really needs to be the man picking it up in the opposition half and driving at the defence to either win a scorable free or take the shot himself. He's probably the best kicker from distance (remember his 3 from play in AI semi against Mayo).

I couldn't believe Morgan in the 1st half. He went to catch 1 Kildare shot that was miles wide, was under no pressure and he dropped it out giving away a 45 that their keeper then kicked over. He also took a short kick-out to Hampsey who wasn't outside the 21, ref threw the ball up, Kildare got a free and another handy point. 2 stupid, mindless mistakes that could have cost Tyrone the game.

The shooting is consistently woeful, maybe it's just because I'm supporting Tyrone but they always seem to kick double-figures in wides each game and kick way more than the opposition. I saw McBrearty on Saturday night and Tyrone have no-one near his calibre in terms of accuracy. The right-footed frees are a major issue - can Matty not hit these? McAliskey is not up to the task in terms of frees and it looks increasingly likely from play either. He might get the odd wonder point but you can't imagine him kicking 5 or 6 from play against any decent opposition. He has no composure on goal chances either. Great work-rate alright but not a reliable scorer.

Harte was quiet again. Thought McGeary did well in patches, won a few 1-on-1 against his direct marker. McCarron looks like he is well past his best at this stage. Also don't understand how C McCann continues to get game-time, he has been average at best in every Tyrone appearance since the Derry championship game last year - hard to think of 1 highlight in the intervening period. Is McClure injured or what?

I might be alone here but I was reasonably happy last night. The first half was very enjoyable and I was glad to see Tyrone 'mix it up' with their tactics. They were content to play the hand pass but equally as content to ping it long into Brennan and McAliskey. The latter did alright but I thought Brennan was, maybe not excellent, but at least very good. He got out in front, gathered good ball in, and worked good angles for his score. He definitely justified a starting berth and I hope he gets a run of games now.

Tyrone actually played alright in the second half. However the basic skills badly let them down in terms of retaining the ball, shooting, shot selection and the less said about the 2nd goal the better.

There is some criticism about Tyrone's tactics, but they were a bit more pleasing in the eye than previous years. Dublin on numerous occasions had the full compliment behind the ball too. However when they turned it over they were much more comfortable and efficient with it's use. Whereas Tyrone probed and poked before blazing wide, Dublin picked out 2-4 smart passes and clipped over. They made it look easy at times.

I thought the ref was harsh on Tyrone too. When they missed a few chances in the second half heads dropped, which is a sign of a team lacking in confidence. However this was not helped by some of the soft frees that Dublin got. The ref didn't influence the result but he was harsher on Tyrone I thought and expedited the towel being thrown in.

Aside from Brennan, Niall Sludden and my man McShane had a decent evening. Sludden was a 'torture' when Dublin had the ball. However he needs to learn to make contact with his hands lower. A few times he went close to the head area when pushing back on contact. If I recall he got a red for that last year v Dublin and Dublin hitting the turf anytime he did this last night. It's obviously something they are watching for, and reacting to. Cathal I thought put in a good shift. Scores aside, he fielded well and used the ball efficiently. This was his 3rd full game in less than a week but he never faded from the game all that much despite this.

I am not really expecting Tyrone to beat arguably the finest team to play the game, but I do expect to be entertained and for them to put up a fight. The did most of this last night.

Reasons for optimism. Just about.

I'd broadly agree. Was at the game & thought 1st half was good with quick accurate kick-passing into the FF line causing the Dubs problems. You can't say Tyrone don't have forwards, when the ball went in Brennan & McAliskey could win it, beat their man & score. Unfortunately Brennan missed a couple of decent chances & Tyrone should have been further ahead at HT.

But then the 2nd half tactics seemed to revert back to last years rubbish. I think 2 kick-passes went in & both were lapped up by the Dublin sweeper. It was back to the slow ponderous hand-passing & then a hail-Mary effort for a score. That's why there's so many wides.

The free-taking is still unreliable. Brennan missed 1 1st half & McAliskey 2nd half that Rock would put over in his sleep. And McAliskey is not clinical enough when he has a goal-chance on

Dublin are a class act though, have go-to men when they need a score e.g. McCarthy or McMenamen. Also their bench contributed 1-3, hard to see how they can be stopped

Someone eating an apple in the office when your bluetooth headphones are plugged in and charging, you you've no way of shielding yourself from the noise.

Agreed. And gets really annoying when they eat breakfast & lunch at their desk too, right in your earhole

Any dates set for these games yet? Surely to God they know what they're at over a week after the draw has been done.

The dates are set now. http://www.gaa.ie/mm/Document/GaaIe/GAANews/15/11/47/MasterFixturesGrid(2)_English.pdf

that's a horrific layout of a document