Messages

Like Tourlestrane in the semi (also against Brigids), Corofin came out with all guns blazing in the first half and imo drained their tanks more than they should have with the second half to come. They got lots of men behind the ball in defence & attacked with a quicksilver Hussein Bolt type speed that had Brigids floundering at times. They had obviously studied the video of the Brigids v Tourlestarane game closely. Brigids gameplan played into their hands in the first half though. Instead of going fast and direct, Brigids dilly-dallied around the middle third giving the Corofin cavalry time to arrive and flood the sector, swarming the man with the ball. Then when the Brigids midfield lost competitiveness towards the end of the first half, Corofin took a strong hold on possession and pressed home their advantage with late points. They really should have been 6 - 7 points more ahead at that stage, some bad wides and of course the contentious dis-allowed goal cost them big time.

The ref seemed to take the approach that he wasn't going to let any messing develop from the start, imo. There's history between these two sides & when Corofin started with some tough tackling from the off, he took action early. Corofin looked to me like a team who had decided beforehand that this was a way to get at Brigids and put them off their more natural footballing game, and with Brigids on occasion retaliating, it inevitably descended into a card fest. While Corofin have some reasons to be sore I don't think the reffing was as biased as some here are trying to make out, tbh. Definitely some of the frees given were baffling and \ or soft, but having said that they went for and against both teams over the course of the game. As such, there's no justification for saying the ref went out to be a 'homer' or biased towards Brigids imho. Corofin's early tough tackling approach might have contributed towards setting the tone for his handling of the game though, i reckon.

When the game was there to be won, Brigids got stuck in and had more in the tank for the second half than Corofin, outscoring the Galway champions by 0.7 - 0.3 over the final half hour. Hard Luck to Corofin, it's never easy to lose a close final like that, especially with some contentious calls going against you. Congrats to Brigids, they showed fantastic grit and courage to dig out that second half performance after getting the run-around at times during the first half.

Whatever about the rights and wrongs of the ref's decisions, nothing can justify the treatment he was subjected to at the final whistle lads.

About right. The referee had a real impact, no doubt, but in the second half Brigids started playing and the Corofin backs had no answers. Senan soloing the ball with two Corofin players hanging off him and finishing it up with a point was beautiful. Likewise was Frankie's 45 from the edge and his winning point was one that can rest easily beside those famous sideline cuts for Roscommon in 2003.

The most bizarre thing for me on the day was that Brigids remain muddled in how they play in attack, half the time they'll drag Senan out to take frees that by any right sense should be took by frankie and aimed at him. Before Frankie's 45 there was an easier free closer to the middle of the 45 that Senan took. If Brigids just play route one to Senan with Frankie taking almost all the frees then they will beat anyone, even Crossmaglen, a team I believe Brigids would have beat last season if they'd utilized Senan more efficiently.

Well done to Brigids and Corofin, even despite the referee it was a match with plenty of passion and skill.

Good and, relatively speaking, warm weather around the area today and the prospects are good for tommorow. There's something sadly ironic about the fact mid-November club Connacht final will have significantly better conditions than the July Connacht final.

aye, I'll more than likely be going to the Notre Dame game and who knows I could be going to the All-Ireland's too please God.  So I'm glad its happening as I want to watch all 3 games.

Well, since college football is a Saturday sport it'd have been better for punters for them to overlap weekends.

http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/092110aac.html


The GAA can confirm that the later scheduling of next year's All-Ireland football and hurling finals and those for 2013 is down to the fact that the month of September has five Sundays as opposed to four.

The Association's Official Guide states that the football final will be played on the penultimate Sunday of September and the hurling final two weeks earlier.

Next year's finals will be played on September 9 and 23 respectively. No other factors other than rule were considered in the scheduling of these fixtures.

The fixtures' masterplan for 2012 will be released in the coming days.

Yeah. Another silly rumour that got started that would just end up being an excuse to bash the GAA for something or the other. I don't think any sporting would effect the timing of the All-Ireland at this point, it's entrenched and a marketing tool for the GAA.

They'd probably want to get the regulations altered to give themselves more lee-way in the future, though.

JO'M would never have took the Roscommon job while he was a TD for Mayo - for one the demands on his time while Mayo manager was huge and it's hardly going to do his political career much good if he starts kicking around his electorate on the football field with their local rivals.

Hopefully Newton has a vision for the team that extends towards winning big games in Croke Park, something that this team in the years to come should be very capable of achieving. I think the skills are already there - we can play football that'll rip through any defence in the country - so the biggest things are to keep getting the players fitter and stronger and develop the sort of swagger you need if you're going to be more than also-rans.

And on Dineen, he was involved with this year's minor team (you'd have spotted his running up and down the touchline at any given match), so it makes sense that he'd take the u-21 job. He has the tools to honour or hang himself with the u-21s coming through.

GalwayBayBoy
Hero Member

Posts: 4778



Ja's the man!

   
   
Re: Connacht Senior club championship 2011
« Reply #68 on: Today at 02:57:16 PM »

Is it not a bit odd to have a provincial final literally on the home field of one of the finalists? I presumed the final would have been in one of the provincial county grounds.


Provincial club games can now only be played in a nominated/designated county ground, Kiltoom is the second Roscommon county ground that's why the game can be played there. In days gone by provincial club games could be played at the home club, but due to health and safety I guess that is no longer the case.

Yeah, that makes sense! What's the exact capacity of Kiltoom anyways?

Yeah they will be favourites defending connacht champions,all ireland finalists but for me it's a hard game to call corofin's record in connacht is just as impressive as the rossies. From what i understand the final will be played in kiltoom.

I heard it'd be Kiltoom too, and I'd have expected it to be in the Hyde. As long as Kiltoom has enough capacity to cope with the demands of a provincial final it would make for an even better atmosphere and, weather permitting, a great game.

I understand Ian Kilbride would be available for selection if they make the Connacht final. St Brigid's are good enough to win another Connacht title but i don't buy this 2nd gear business they came up against defensive teams & had to grind out results in Roscommon & If they make the Connacht final it's likely to v another defensive team.

Without a doubt the best Roscommon club side since the Clann na nGael sides of the 80s/90s.

It's hard for me to say they've overly exerted themselves in any of the it county championship matches this year, the two most indicative games for me were the group and semi-final matches against Western Gaels, for my money the second best team in the county by a noticeable margin, and they beat them by ten points on both occasions.

Brigids have no reason to fear any team, be it Gleencar-Manorhamilton or Crossmaglen. It'll take alot of work (and a bit of luck) to actually get there, but I fully believe this team is capable of winning an All-Ireland.

Brigid's are a better team this year than last.

In my humble opinion Brigid's are easily among the the top three or four club teams in the country at their moment, their set-up is first class and the sheer depth of players they have is the envy of most of the country.

They swept aside the best of the rest in Roscommon this year without ever really needing to get out of second gear. If anything that's an ominous sign for the rest of Connacht rather than one that they're slipping. With all due respects to Tourlestrane and Glencar-Manorhamilton, Brigid's have to be looking at the draw as a golden opportunity to put back-to-back Connacht titles together.

Adding to that Ian Kilbride, who was a huge part of last year's run, came on as a sub in the county final on Sunday after returning from his tour of duty in Lebanon so Brigid's will only be an even more complete proposition the next time they play.

EDIT: It turns out he timed his leave to coincide with the county final. I don't when his tour of duty actually ends.

I was In New York City last week, just left on Wednesday last. Given Roscommon were playing New York this year too I'm ruing my luck at not having gotten to experience the novelty of an inter-county game in NYC.

The coverage in the states is already available on an individual game or season pass basis. I paid $200 for a season pass on Premier Sports, which is broadcast over Ustream. As a Donegal man, I certainly got my money's worth this year!

Sounds interesting. Do you have a link, and will they be showing the minor and senior finals on Sunday?

Sorry for the double post, but a secondary thought I had is that the GAA should adopt the policy the NFL in America has - providing streaming of all their games themselves, at a season-pass level and a PPV for individual games, at a price that makes real sense. They could easily just simulicast RTE's and TV3's coverage and not have all that much to do besides buy some servers.

It's laziness on the GAA's part because it's supposeded aim is the promotion the games yet they allow Setanta to price everyone but fanatical supporters out of watching them. Not smart, and for likely a pittance of a return.

but I'd prefer not to have to pay the $29.99 PPV price Setanta are attempting to charge

Don't be such a tightwad. Sit down with a decent connection and enjoy the game rather than fiddling about with dodgy streams. How can the GAA make any money from TV rights if everyone robs their broadcasts?

Ah cop on.

I pay into every Roscommon game I can possibly get to and pay my tv license, the same license that pays for the vast majority of the GAA's media coverage. Why would I, or anyone else, want to pay for anything twice at that price? If international rights mattered all that much in monetary terms to the GAA they wouldn't have given a defacto global monopoly to Setanta outside the island of Ireland.

Not only that, but Setanta only seem to show GAA in SD, whereas if I wasn't out of the country at the weekend I'd be able to watch the finals in HD on Saorview - a good stream is going to be a step beyond anything Setanta can offer, in terms of analysis, commentary and picture quality.

People are going to stream it either way and $29.99 for a bad presentation of something that's free to the vast majority of people watching it doesn't set anyone's pulse racing.

Ways to watch the football finals aboard?

If it's a cruise liner then head up on deck if the weather is fine. If you're on the boat to Toraigh you'll be lucky to get radio reception.

Fixed!

I'd just like to appeal to people who will be watching on streams to share good streams they find here - I'm going on holiday tomorrow and there's zero chance I'm going to miss the two finals on Sunday but I'd prefer not to have to pay the $29.99 PPV price Setanta are attempting to charge - as there's plenty of people here that want to see the All-Ireland and it'll be easier for everyone if we make an effort to share information.

I know there'll be a bar in some corner of most cities showing the games, but I'm sure there's plenty like me that'll be in America or elsewhere where the program for the day starts at a time that going anywhere but your nearest armchair isn't all that appealing.