Messages

Best of luck to all supporters travelling to Croker today. Enjoy your day in Dublin (although most of you are probably living here already ). It will be a great day for some and devastating for others but anyway stay safe.

Jesus, I actually put the phrase "Lies, damned lies and statistics" at the end of my post. It is called IRONY. The point being that my points about spend per capita are just as dishonest as Leo Turley's charges about financial doping.

i am available for weddings and bar mizvahs.....

This time last year we had three or four threads running simultaneously each of which had been polluted by this rant. Strangely, after Dublin lost to Donegal we heard no more about it. There was no postmortem aimed at discovering why Kerry and Donegal stayed in the championship longer than Dublin.

Anything to say on the topic at hand?

Dublin have 1.2 million more people than Fermanagh, they have far more clubs yet still get 1.5 million annually while Fermanagh only get 42,500? You're having a laugh, next you'll be telling me that they play every game at home. WHAT??

They also have a multi million euro deal with AIG. Numerous other sponsors, them being: O'Neills, Bavaria, The Gibson Hotel, Toyota, Aer Lingus, Ros Nutrition, Ballygowan, Linwoods, Energise sport and Skins. They've added 2 new sponsors in recent times also. Benetti menswear and Gourmet food parlour. They have top level coaches, nutritionists, physiologists, lifestyle coaches, basketball coaches, a huge backroom team. They get to use the same dressing room for every game and pick which side of the pitch they warm up on. They're able to get their players time off work, they train in the best facilities in Ireland, they're getting a 9 million euro training centre built for them.

Stop, stop, STOP!!!! You are just making all of this up. There's no way this can be true. It's ridiculously crazy, how can this happen? Will somebody tell me there's some mistake here? Somebody? Anybody?

What's the secret of Kerry's success - or Mayo or Donegal or Cork or Kilkenny or Tipperary or Galway? Contrast that with the miserable failure of Laois - is there something in your water down there?

Anything to say on the topic at hand?

Dublin have 1.2 million more people than Fermanagh, they have far more clubs yet still get 1.5 million annually while Fermanagh only get 42,500? You're having a laugh, next you'll be telling me that they play every game at home. WHAT??

They also have a multi million euro deal with AIG. Numerous other sponsors, them being: O'Neills, Bavaria, The Gibson Hotel, Toyota, Aer Lingus, Ros Nutrition, Ballygowan, Linwoods, Energise sport and Skins. They've added 2 new sponsors in recent times also. Benetti menswear and Gourmet food parlour. They have top level coaches, nutritionists, physiologists, lifestyle coaches, basketball coaches, a huge backroom team. They get to use the same dressing room for every game and pick which side of the pitch they warm up on. They're able to get their players time off work, they train in the best facilities in Ireland, they're getting a 9 million euro training centre built for them.

Stop, stop, STOP!!!! You are just making all of this up. There's no way this can be true. It's ridiculously crazy, how can this happen? Will somebody tell me there's some mistake here? Somebody? Anybody?

What's the secret of Kerry's success - or Mayo or Donegal or Cork or Kilkenny or Tipperary or Galway? Contrast that with the miserable failure of Laois - is there something in your water down there?

Anything to say on the topic at hand?

Dublin have 1.2 million more people than Fermanagh, they have far more clubs yet still get 1.5 million annually while Fermanagh only get 42,500? You're having a laugh, next you'll be telling me that they play every game at home. WHAT??

They also have a multi million euro deal with AIG. Numerous other sponsors, them being: O'Neills, Bavaria, The Gibson Hotel, Toyota, Aer Lingus, Ros Nutrition, Ballygowan, Linwoods, Energise sport and Skins. They've added 2 new sponsors in recent times also. Benetti menswear and Gourmet food parlour. They have top level coaches, nutritionists, physiologists, lifestyle coaches, basketball coaches, a huge backroom team. They get to use the same dressing room for every game and pick which side of the pitch they warm up on. They're able to get their players time off work, they train in the best facilities in Ireland, they're getting a 9 million euro training centre built for them.

Stop, stop, STOP!!!! You are just making all of this up. There's no way this can be true. It's ridiculously crazy, how can this happen? Will somebody tell me there's some mistake here? Somebody? Anybody?

What's the secret of Kerry's success - or Mayo or Donegal or Cork or Kilkenny or Tipperary or Galway? Contrast that with the miserable failure of Laois - is there something in your water down there?

"Stick to the thread" - that's rich coming from you. The topic of this thread is the Fermanagh V Dublin game last Sunday but, of course, like every other thread that you've polluted the original topic is of little consequence to you.

I ask you again - how did Laois manage to get absolutely nothing from a most promising group of young players a decade ago?

Here we are, right back on topic:

Dublin have 1.2 million more people than Fermanagh, they have far more clubs yet still get 1.5 million annually while Fermanagh only get 42,500? You're having a laugh, next you'll be telling me that they play every game at home. WHAT??

They also have a multi million euro deal with AIG. Numerous other sponsors, them being: O'Neills, Bavaria, The Gibson Hotel, Toyota, Aer Lingus, Ros Nutrition, Ballygowan, Linwoods, Energise sport and Skins. They've added 2 new sponsors in recent times also. Benetti menswear and Gourmet food parlour. They have top level coaches, nutritionists, physiologists, lifestyle coaches, basketball coaches, a huge backroom team. They get to use the same dressing room for every game and pick which side of the pitch they warm up on. They're able to get their players time off work, they train in the best facilities in Ireland, they're getting a 9 million euro training centre built for them.

Stop, stop, STOP!!!! You are just making all of this up. There's no way this can be true. It's ridiculously crazy, how can this happen? Will somebody tell me there's some mistake here? Somebody? Anybody?

What's the secret of Kerry's success - or Mayo or Donegal or Cork or Kilkenny or Tipperary or Galway? Contrast that with the miserable failure of Laois - is there something in your water down there?

Anything to say on the topic at hand?

Dublin have 1.2 million more people than Fermanagh, they have far more clubs yet still get 1.5 million annually while Fermanagh only get 42,500? You're having a laugh, next you'll be telling me that they play every game at home. WHAT??

They also have a multi million euro deal with AIG. Numerous other sponsors, them being: O'Neills, Bavaria, The Gibson Hotel, Toyota, Aer Lingus, Ros Nutrition, Ballygowan, Linwoods, Energise sport and Skins. They've added 2 new sponsors in recent times also. Benetti menswear and Gourmet food parlour. They have top level coaches, nutritionists, physiologists, lifestyle coaches, basketball coaches, a huge backroom team. They get to use the same dressing room for every game and pick which side of the pitch they warm up on. They're able to get their players time off work, they train in the best facilities in Ireland, they're getting a 9 million euro training centre built for them.

Stop, stop, STOP!!!! You are just making all of this up. There's no way this can be true. It's ridiculously crazy, how can this happen? Will somebody tell me there's some mistake here? Somebody? Anybody?

What's the secret of Kerry's success - or Mayo or Donegal or Cork or Kilkenny or Tipperary or Galway? Contrast that with the miserable failure of Laois - is there something in your water down there?

"Stick to the thread" - that's rich coming from you. The topic of this thread is the Fermanagh V Dublin game last Sunday but, of course, like every other thread that you've polluted the original topic is of little consequence to you.

I ask you again - how did Laois manage to get absolutely nothing from a most promising group of young players a decade ago?

Here we are, right back on topic:

Dublin have 1.2 million more people than Fermanagh, they have far more clubs yet still get 1.5 million annually while Fermanagh only get 42,500? You're having a laugh, next you'll be telling me that they play every game at home. WHAT??

They also have a multi million euro deal with AIG. Numerous other sponsors, them being: O'Neills, Bavaria, The Gibson Hotel, Toyota, Aer Lingus, Ros Nutrition, Ballygowan, Linwoods, Energise sport and Skins. They've added 2 new sponsors in recent times also. Benetti menswear and Gourmet food parlour. They have top level coaches, nutritionists, physiologists, lifestyle coaches, basketball coaches, a huge backroom team. They get to use the same dressing room for every game and pick which side of the pitch they warm up on. They're able to get their players time off work, they train in the best facilities in Ireland, they're getting a 9 million euro training centre built for them.

Stop, stop, STOP!!!! You are just making all of this up. There's no way this can be true. It's ridiculously crazy, how can this happen? Will somebody tell me there's some mistake here? Somebody? Anybody?

What's the secret of Kerry's success - or Mayo or Donegal or Cork or Kilkenny or Tipperary or Galway? Contrast that with the miserable failure of Laois - is there something in your water down there?

It really "don't matter" whether or not Teo is a re-incarnation of another troll but it's very irritating that at about this time every year someone (usually from Laois) comes on polluting every thread with their anti-Dublin bile. The fact is that at the moment Dublin could be rated at best as third in the ranking of All Ireland contenders. So what does that say about the counties that might be ahead of them? Are they also being "doped" with money?

How did the GAA in Laois manage to squander the sparkling underage talent which the county produced during the last decade? What a disgraceful waste.

Where did I type anything anti-Dublin? I've just stated that they have received 1.5 million yearly to develop players with our money, this is a fact. Dubin are favorites for the All Ireland and rightly so, lets be honest here, it'd be kind of embarrassing if they don't win it with all the money they have spent on their team.
If you would like to deal with the facts I raise then that would be great, if you can't then don't make a show of yourself. Good day sir.

How do you explain the disgraceful waste of underage talent in Laois during the last decade?

Start a thread about it and I'll gladly explain it to you.

Let's get back to the topic at hand and the Dublins financial doping. What do you think should be done about it?

"Stick to the thread" - that's rich coming from you. The topic of this thread is the Fermanagh V Dublin game last Sunday but, of course, like every other thread that you've polluted the original topic is of little consequence to you.

I ask you again - how did Laois manage to get absolutely nothing from a most promising group of young players a decade ago?

It really "don't matter" whether or not Teo is a re-incarnation of another troll but it's very irritating that at about this time every year someone (usually from Laois) comes on polluting every thread with their anti-Dublin bile. The fact is that at the moment Dublin could be rated at best as third in the ranking of All Ireland contenders. So what does that say about the counties that might be ahead of them? Are they also being "doped" with money?

How did the GAA in Laois manage to squander the sparkling underage talent which the county produced during the last decade? What a disgraceful waste.

Where did I type anything anti-Dublin? I've just stated that they have received 1.5 million yearly to develop players with our money, this is a fact. Dubin are favorites for the All Ireland and rightly so, lets be honest here, it'd be kind of embarrassing if they don't win it with all the money they have spent on their team.
If you would like to deal with the facts I raise then that would be great, if you can't then don't make a show of yourself. Good day sir.

How do you explain the disgraceful waste of underage talent in Laois during the last decade?

It really "don't matter" whether or not Teo is a re-incarnation of another troll but it's very irritating that at about this time every year someone (usually from Laois) comes on polluting every thread with their anti-Dublin bile. The fact is that at the moment Dublin could be rated at best as third in the ranking of All Ireland contenders. So what does that say about the counties that might be ahead of them? Are they also being "doped" with money?

How did the GAA in Laois manage to squander the sparkling underage talent which the county produced during the last decade? What a disgraceful waste.

That was a very general bland piece from Mortimor that any ten year old could have written, I think Donegal will win on Saturday, aos wont make an impact at full forward or anywhere else for that matter, the only difference in Mayo this year and the last couple of years is that they are older and have more mileage on the clock, its the last hurragh of a very good Mayo team, time has caught up with them and no new blood to freshen up the team.

Only team bar Kerry that can beat Dublin imho. Donegal just don't look like they have that in them this year. That would mean that Mayo are the best placed team to stop the mutual wankfest that would be a Dublin-Kerry AI final.

So, no pressure or anything..

From a Dublin perspective I'd fear Mayo in the semi final but would be quite confident that we would beat Donegal.

That was a very general bland piece from Mortimor that any ten year old could have written, I think Donegal will win on Saturday, aos wont make an impact at full forward or anywhere else for that matter, the only difference in Mayo this year and the last couple of years is that they are older and have more mileage on the clock, its the last hurragh of a very good Mayo team, time has caught up with them and no new blood to freshen up the team.

I can't go along with that. I think this Mayo team still have an All Ireland in them. This is probably their last year but I believe they still have time. One way or the other, I expect them to beat Donegal.

[in any position]

Hard to see Cluxton getting another All Star after Sunday's performance. Discuss.

There are very few players in any position who contribute as much to the overall performance of their team as Stephen Cluxton does to Dublin. He is irreplaceable at the moment and well deserving of an All Star.

Ye've only made the semi-final ffs! No one deserves an All-Star yet, particularly by the standards of All-Stars, ie ignoring everything up till late August.

You have a point there 

[in any position]

Hard to see Cluxton getting another All Star after Sunday's performance. Discuss.

There are very few players in any position who contribute as much to the overall performance of their team as Stephen Cluxton does to Dublin. He is irreplaceable at the moment and well deserving of an All Star.

I haven't saw the game on TV yet, but going on what I saw at the match, and my take on it...

Dublin won comfortably, but they weren't comfortable in their performance. And I don't know about complacency going in to the game, but it wasn't a 'foot off the gas' scenario. Fermanagh, particularly in the first half, dominated midfield and the break area, they had the lions share of possession in that first half too (ht stats showed they had 60% of possession), and were largely able to work possession into scoreable positions. Where the difference was was in terms of efficiency; Fermanagh had four opportunities for scores before Dublin had one - Dublin scored theirs however, Fermanagh put three wide and one short. Perhaps in the highlights, it looked like a game whereby Dublin pulled ahead easily enough and took their foot of the pedal, but while Dublin continued to be much more efficient than Fermanagh, they were getting their fill of it out the field. The corrigans and quigley were all able to win ball, and the corrigans and mccusker took players on and more often than not got by them.

For all that, Dublin continued to pull away; Bernard Brogan, although there was slack enough marking at times, was a joy to watch, and the match seemed to be going very much to script. The +14 the bookies had offered seemed to be a benchmark of what would be a decent result for Fermanagh, and 10 down at ht it didn't look that achievable, especially given Dublins propensity for really pulling away in the last 15 min.

It continued in much the same vein in the second half - I didn't see the second half stats; Dublin won more possession round the middle than they had the first, but there were large periods where it was tit for tat, some good scores from Fermanagh being responded to by simple scores by Dublin. The goal shouldn't have counted obviously - the scenario, whereby he hadn't awarded a free straight off, put him a quandary when it was called back and the umpire told him it had crossed the line. He should have cleared his head and taken longer to think about the situation, but what was surprising was that it did seem to rattle Dublin.

That goal was celebrated raucously, and the atmosphere from there til the end was the best prolonged atmosphere I've ever experienced at a gaelic match. It was just having the craic at the scenario, an underdog (altho under no illusions they were going to get beaten) taking the p*ss out of a great team; the hill were booing quigley, who was loving it, Fermanagh were hitting some great scores and also got another goal from a mix up: it was just sheer pantomime, and great craic altogether.

A lot has been made of the contrasting free count, having  not seen the game on tv I'd say Fermanagh got one or two that you were thinking were soft enough, but not many more, and I don't remember an incident where Dublin were denied a clear cut free - perhaps watching a replay will clear that up for me though. The reality for me was that we were often too far off in defence, and seemed perhaps overly concerned with preventing goals; the low free count for Dublin an indictment of not being near enough the shooter to put good pressure on them, rather than an indicator of a heavily biased referee. Referees in gaa do have way too much influence on the game though, it is something that needs to be looked at, and I'd definitely be in favour of their matches being reviewed with an assessor after the game so their decisions would have to be explained.

I note a few have been critical of the fermanagh team being cheered off the field, and the players reacting accordingly, and I can see that an argument could be made that if defeat is celebrated, then perhaps there is a danger it would be settled for...but this fails to take into account the evolution of a team. With each good campaign, the bar is raised. A lot has been learnt from that campaign, and if we were to get through to the QF next year, we'd be expecting more than an honourable defeat no matter who we were up against. We were celebratnig the start of a new era for Fermanagh, and I'd like to think the support gives them a greater incentive to push on.

In relation to Dublin, this hasn't been a bad game for them at all imo. They won easily, but frailties were exposed; Fermanagh were through on goal at least 4 times, and they dominated midfield and breaks for significant periods. These frailties were there, better for them to be exposed now in a win than against Kerry or someone when its too late to recover. They were also probably exaggerated a bit (esp mf) with the changes that were made; perhaps Gavin was trying not to show his hand, either way, I'd much rather have had Dublins game than Kerrys, and I don't think I'd make much distinction as to who actually is in the better position. One thing I would say though it that it seems to me in modern football, despite the defensive systems [and actually because of them] there are goals there for the taking if a bit of nous is used, and the gooch is unmatched for that sort of nous.

+1

Very well written summary of the game.

(However, I'll have to disagree with you on the performance of the referee. Having seen the game again on television later I thought that up to 50% of Fermanagh's frees were soft  )