Ireland V Austrailia International Rules Official Thread 2008

[cavanmaniac]

For Ireland

David Gallagher was outstanding.
John Keane also outstanding
Aidan O Mahony has a nighmare opening quarter and a half, but was solid after that.
Thought Kieran McKeever and Graham Canty also worked hard aswell.

Colm Begley got on a sight of ball,and worked hard
Kieran Donaghy, was very good in the air,Its a pity we couldnt afford him to play Full Forward for the whole 80 minutes.
Sean Kavanagh kicking 1 goal and 2 overs and playing a captains part.
Leighton Glynn for me was the best Irish Player on show,Terrific workrate and finishing.
Joe McMahon worked hard,gave a great ball for the goal,
Benny Coulter was also a good outlet, he set up a couple of overs with good play and Great fielding,but he missed what should have been a certain score early on.

I think Tom Parsons,Bryan Cullen , Kevin Reily,Pearse O Neil John Miskella and a seemingly overweight looking Paddy Bradley to be honest just werent up to it, Wasnt impressed by any of them.
Especially suprised to see Paddy Bradley get run down so comprehensively in the 4th quarter when in on goal.

i thought Austrailia were at least 8-10 points a better team,Only for some sloppy play by the Aussies constantly handpassing the ball over the side line for one,wed have been in trouble.
There were a few Irish Guys who just werent up to the standard,and some of them were ones who alot on here were confused about being picked.
The standard of kick passing was poor and as has been mentioned before,We handpassed lads into trouble far to much.

Very good summation old chap, agree with everything there.

[kickingmule]

two passages of class : McMahons pass to Glynn for well taken goal
                              : Donaghys pass to Cavanagh FOR SCREAMER in top corner.

other than that, what a load of rubbish, this nonsence of a game has been going for 30 years now, ...yet it still has no future for the gaa.

a nice holiday for the players .... well deserved!  ... and excuse for the top dogs and WAGS for a free holiday!!!!

[orangeman]

two passages of class : McMahons pass to Glynn for well taken goal
                              : Donaghys pass to Cavanagh FOR SCREAMER in top corner.

other than that, what a load of rubbish, this nonsence of a game has been going for 30 years now, ...yet it still has no future for the gaa.

a nice holiday for the players .... well deserved!  ... and excuse for the top dogs and WAGS for a free holiday!!!!

Now, now - you can't say that - I said it earlier and I was berated.

[BallyhaiseMan]

To be fair while our skills could and should be far better with the round ball,
Physically i think we cope quite well, id say on average
The Aussies would have nearly 5-10 KG of Mass on their irish counterpart,
and probably 4 or 5% less bodyfat.
With all the Gym work and weights work put in nowadays nowadays i think we are bit by bit  getting closer physique wise to teh Aussie's at a detriment to our Gaelic Football skills which arent getting practiced as much.
Good Coaches like Zulu  who can promote a happy medium is whats required.

[Rossfan]

other than that, what a load of rubbish, this nonsence of a game has been going for 30 years now,

Another bloody begrudger from Drearysteeple land 

Enjoyable game, nice to see us winning and hope we can win this seris.

[ExiledGael]

two passages of class : McMahons pass to Glynn for well taken goal
                              : Donaghys pass to Cavanagh FOR SCREAMER in top corner.

other than that, what a load of rubbish, this nonsence of a game has been going for 30 years now, ...yet it still has no future for the gaa.

a nice holiday for the players .... well deserved!  ... and excuse for the top dogs and WAGS for a free holiday!!!!

What WAGs are these you're on about?
There were plenty of other good moments, gallagher save and Coulter and Donaghy's marks stand out off the top of my head. How many top class passages do you see in an average inter-county game?
Never ever trying to say it's a better game than our own, but these arguments just don't stand up. It's just a hatred of the concept of compromise rules.

[kickingmule]

two passages of class : McMahons pass to Glynn for well taken goal
                              : Donaghys pass to Cavanagh FOR SCREAMER in top corner.

other than that, what a load of rubbish, this nonsence of a game has been going for 30 years now, ...yet it still has no future for the gaa.

a nice holiday for the players .... well deserved!  ... and excuse for the top dogs and WAGS for a free holiday!!!!

Now, now - you can't say that - I said it earlier and I was berated.

Sorry Orangeman ... Missed that! ...... Could ya do a Discussion debate, for you and me, to get on the next trip?

[kickingmule]

other than that, what a load of rubbish, this nonsence of a game has been going for 30 years now,

Another bloody begrudger from Drearysteeple land 

Enjoyable game, nice to see us winning and hope we can win this seris.

Sorry don't do begrudgery ....NOTE : AS STATED ... players deserve this break, now you come out of drearysteeple land:
What has this game done to promote gaelic football in 30 years???    ...

[Rossfan]

[What has this game done to promote gaelic football in 30 years???    ...

Probably a lot more than hurling (or Kilkenny) has . Yet no one wants hurling abolished.

[armaghniac]

On a side note, I think too people get wrapped up in this fairytale of promoting the GAA to unconverted masses throughout the globe.

Exactly. How many people here are familiar with Lacrosse or Bandy, do you suppose these will become big in Ireland. No, a university may have a team but thats it.

[Zulu]

On a side note, I think too people get wrapped up in this fairytale of promoting the GAA to unconverted masses throughout the globe.

Exactly. How many people here are familiar with Lacrosse or Bandy, do you suppose these will become big in Ireland. No, a university may have a team but thats it.

Well I do think football in particular would have a decent chance of growing beyond these shores but it would be a very longterm project so in the mean time IR is the best alternative. As AFS points out people need to look on this from a purely sporting context, and when i do that I can only see positives in the game. It isn't a threat to the GAA , it has little impact on GAA activity, it allows us to compare ourselves to professional athletes who play a similar game to our own, it gives the top players a well earned trip to Oz and an opportunity to play for their country. I just can't see the harm in it, if you don't like the game itself fair enough but just don't watch it and you'll be fine.

[magickingdom]

Couldn't agree more AZ, this is what I posted immediately after the game on the 'Score 1' thread..."the compromise rules game again highlighted the poor footwork, movement, thinking and worst of all shooting of our lads". I should have included foot passing and control of the ball, I also pointed this out after the last series but many on here disagreed, believing that our poor technique was a consequence of the Aussies overly physical approach, it is not. The reality is this game punishes poor technique, slow play and poor support running more than our own game. As a coach I'm fascinated by the way we play IR as opposed to the Aussies and I really believe that IR is underlining the fact that we have only scratched at the surface of what teams are capable of in football. The fact of the matter as far as I'm concerned is we don't play football particularly well and this is being shown up in the IR series.

spot on, the standard of gaelic football is not great right now. in fact one of the arguments that could be made for professionalism is that the standard would go up but lets not go there! if an afl coach ever got his hands on an inter county team it could be very interesting..

[orangeman]

[What has this game done to promote gaelic football in 30 years???    ...

Probably a lot more than hurling (or Kilkenny) has . Yet no one wants hurling abolished.

Bullshit

[cavanmaniac]

Might be a good question if the sole purpose of the game's existence was to promote the GAA. Its not, try to look at it as a purely sporting contest.

On a side note, I think too people get wrapped up in this fairytale of promoting the GAA to unconverted masses throughout the globe. There seems to be this presumption that all we need to do is tell people about it and they will instantly be a GAA convert. As blasphemous as this may be to say but maybe our game isn't as exciting and accessible as we like to think. Maybe no matter how much money and effort we pump into promoting it abroad the cold fact of the matter may be that not too many people beyond our shores actually think its any good.   

It's a good point. Perhaps an even better question would be the ask the many series' detractors just what is being done besides the International Rules series to promote the gaelic football code in any real way? Not a lot that has as much impact as the IR series I'll wager, despite the fact it admittedly achieves little in that respect. That's not belittling the various pockets of GAA around the world, I'm just saying that the IR in one fell swoop garners way more attraction and profile for the GAA than anything else. It at least exposes our top players to a large audience in Australia and keeps the game in the public eye at a dead time of the year and I think there's alot to be learned from the Aussies as well.

There's also a degree of over-thinking going on about the whole thing. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel or take over the world, it's just a bloody harmless one-off exhibition match, and a nice honour for the players at the end of the season, as long as it's played in the fashion it was today. Some people are really getting their knickers in a twist about it when all it is, is just a diversion at the end of the playing season that the vast majority enjoy watching. The thuggery two years ago almost turned me off it completely but I think it has a future if it continues to be played in the right spirit, and the second test will tell a tale in this regard as the Aussies are a win at all costs bunch normally.

[The Blegard]

two passages of class : McMahons pass to Glynn for well taken goal
                              : Donaghys pass to Cavanagh FOR SCREAMER in top corner.

other than that, what a load of rubbish, this nonsence of a game has been going for 30 years now, ...yet it still has no future for the gaa.

a nice holiday for the players .... well deserved!  ... and excuse for the top dogs and WAGS for a free holiday!!!!

Agree to a certain extent on the officials but Im all for the players having a good time and bring their WAGS or even someone elses WAGS. They play hard every year good luck to them. Compare them to some of the "professional" spolit brats in OZ in AFL and NRL going around as "role models" then selling their rehab story to womans weekly