Kerry V Meath AI SF Semifinal 30th August 2009

[orangeman]

Ok - we won but a far inferior performance to the dublin game. Then again the conditions weren't great. The pitch was like a skating rink. T o Se, Seamus, Tadgh, Paul and Tommy Walsh were our outstanding performers today. Thought Darragh was quiet especially in the 1st half. The free taking issue raised its ugly head again today - a 45 at one stage was taken short by the Gooch to no avail. All in all we are where we want to be - back in the final and theres no better place to be at the end of August.

why is there so much hatred for Kerry all over the country ?
reading through a couple of threads and it's all anti-Kerry, i don't understand it.
Is is because of Pat Spillane ? I think this Kerry team is fantastic. they weren't good to watch for most of today, but in general, over the last 10 years, they have been brilliant and AI final wouldnt be the same without them

You're not alone in not understanding the anti-Kerry undercurrent on here HH. I've Kerry blood in me, so I am biased but I've nothing but admiration for this Kerry team. I can only presume it is due to the large Tyrone contingent on here.

The match today was cat but it could be the perfect way for Kerry to come into the final now. Semi-finals are for winning, it is all about the result. There's no point in playing exhibition football in a semi-final and then fail to show up at all in the AIF (remember 2001?). I got the impression at the match that Kerry had plenty left in the tank today. The final could be the last hurrah for a few of these Kerrymen (Darragh Ó Sé, Diarmuid Murphy, Tommy Griffin, Mike McCarthy). They won't want their last appearance in Croke Park to be an All-Ireland defeat to the greatest rivals.

Exactly ! - expect these boys to play like men possessed. Hope Darragh dosent get riled by O'Neill. JOC will be doing a lot of planning and scheming over the next few weeks. I can't see Donaghy starting as he's had no game time.However its great to have Tommy Walsh on song again.

I reckon Donncha won't start. Walsh will. Darren might be under pressure. Donaghy will feature at some stage if he doesn't start. Donaghy will have to really impress in the next  weeks.

[agorm]

First of all, I hear that Brolly commented that the only reason that Meath were in the semi was that Christy Cooney picked the balls favourably at the diffferent rounds!! Do we really need to be paying our licence fee for this kind of drivel?

I am not really sure how to feel after this one. Looking back on the year we did well considering our base. Looking back on this game we were poor when kerry were not at their best and could have been beaten. I am not sure if a win would have done us a huge amount of good as Cork would have beaten us in the final.

Fair play to Kerry, they did what they had to do. They played a very defensive game at times but they were far more effective at getting and using the breaking ball. The ref did us no favours with the penalty, there was contact but it was soft. O Rourke could have possibly saved it.

Not going to do a post mortem but a few points:
Moyles should have been taken out of the full back line at half time, his experience would have been better utilised out the field and he was the cause of the penalty.
I have given up on Caoimhim King, his attempt at a point at the second half is not that of a senior inter co footballer, the kickout lead to the second goal. Why did he go for a point later on when we needed a goal and it was likely he would miss?
The management need to regroup and watch the club championship games in an effort to get a better set of defenders than we have now.
Quite a few players went missing today.  It is hard when there is a tide against you but Mickey Burke and Queeney also did well when they came on.
Jury still out on O'Rourke in goals. He could well be good in the coming years but he is not up to it based on the games this year and his distribution tody was awful at times. I dont know the alternative though.

The jury is still out imo on the management team. The longer the year went on the more farcical the team selection against Dublin was. That was the most important loss of the year imo. It was always going to be nigh impossible for that panel to win the All-Ireland and Leinster should have been the goal - woeful team selection against the Dubs makes me wonder what other mistakes will they make. They will be kept on of course and hopefully the improvements will carry over till next year. Our aim for next year should be to compete well for Leinster with Kildare and Dublin. Leinster needs good competition and hopefully the big 3 of Dublin, Kildare and Meath will provide this next year. Maybe Laois will resurrect themselves as well.

As regards Kerry, they will hope that they are better than today and they will need to be.

[Hoof Hearted]

First of all, I hear that Brolly commented that the only reason that Meath were in the semi was that Christy Cooney picked the balls favourably at the diffferent rounds!! Do we really need to be paying our licence fee for this kind of drivel?

I am not really sure how to feel after this one. Looking back on the year we did well considering our base. Looking back on this game we were poor when kerry were not at their best and could have been beaten. I am not sure if a win would have done us a huge amount of good as Cork would have beaten us in the final.

Fair play to Kery, they did what they have to do. They played a very defensive game at time but they were far more effective at getting and using the breaking ball. The ref did us no favours with the penalty, there was contact but it was soft. O Rourke could have possibly saved it.

Not going to do a post mortem but a few points:
Moyles should have been taken out of the full back line at half time, his exoperience would have been better utilised out the field and he was the cause if the penalty.
I have given up on Caoimhim King, his attempt at a point at the second half is not that of a senior inter co footballer, the kickout lead to the second goal. The management need to regroup and watch the club championship games in an effort to get a better set of defenders than we have now.
Quite a few players went missing today.  It is hard when there is a tide against you but Mickey Burke and Queeney also did well when they came on.
Jury still out on O'Rourke in goals. He could well be good in the coming years but he is not up to it based on the games this year and his distribution tody was awful at times. I dont know the alternative though.

The jury is still out imo on the management team. The longer the year went on the more farcical the team selection against Dublin was. That was the most important loss of the year imo. It was always going to be nigh impossible for that panel to win the All-Ireland and Leinster should have been the goal - woeful team selection against the Dubs makes me wonder what other mistakes will they make. They will be kept on of course and hopefully the improvements will carry over till next year. Our aim for next year to to compete well for Leinster with Kildare and Dublin. Leinster needs good competition and hopefully the big 3 of Dublin, Kildare and Meath will provide this next year. Maybe Laois will resurrect themselves as well.

As regards Kerry, they will hop that they are better than today and they will need to be.

Pat McEneaney should be a sure thing for the final, so hopefully that will make for a good match

[Jinxy]

Just pray it doesn't rain.

[Logan]

We could have done without losing Stephen Bray after 2 mins as well.

Might have helped ... but wouldn't have changed the score at the end at all to be fair

[agorm]

Just pray it doesn't rain.

Serious questions need to be asked about the pitch.

I know it rained but ffs it isnt as if we are strangers in this country to the rain. A club pitch needs 18 months to bed down but Croke Park can be ready in a week 

There have been players falling for the last few weeks. Someone with time on their hands should get videos of previous games with the old pitch (before any development) and compare the amount of slippages. This could well have effected the players today and they may have been more circumspect in turning etc. It just seems that there are more players slipping recently in Croke Park than did previously or does in county grounds.

The powers that be need to investigate this and admit they were wrong to dig up the pitch the way they did if this is the case. I would hope that there isnt a head in the sand job and Croke Park becomes a pitch that is dug up every summer for some concert or other. I would far rather rugby & soccer be played there than concerts that require the pitch to be dug up irrespective of whether Croke Park say it has an effect or not.

[INDIANA]

First of all, I hear that Brolly commented that the only reason that Meath were in the semi was that Christy Cooney picked the balls favourably at the diffferent rounds!! Do we really need to be paying our licence fee for this kind of drivel?

I am not really sure how to feel after this one. Looking back on the year we did well considering our base. Looking back on this game we were poor when kerry were not at their best and could have been beaten. I am not sure if a win would have done us a huge amount of good as Cork would have beaten us in the final.

Fair play to Kerry, they did what they had to do. They played a very defensive game at times but they were far more effective at getting and using the breaking ball. The ref did us no favours with the penalty, there was contact but it was soft. O Rourke could have possibly saved it.

Not going to do a post mortem but a few points:
Moyles should have been taken out of the full back line at half time, his experience would have been better utilised out the field and he was the cause of the penalty.
I have given up on Caoimhim King, his attempt at a point at the second half is not that of a senior inter co footballer, the kickout lead to the second goal. Why did he go for a point later on when we needed a goal and it was likely he would miss?
The management need to regroup and watch the club championship games in an effort to get a better set of defenders than we have now.
Quite a few players went missing today.  It is hard when there is a tide against you but Mickey Burke and Queeney also did well when they came on.
Jury still out on O'Rourke in goals. He could well be good in the coming years but he is not up to it based on the games this year and his distribution tody was awful at times. I dont know the alternative though.

The jury is still out imo on the management team. The longer the year went on the more farcical the team selection against Dublin was. That was the most important loss of the year imo. It was always going to be nigh impossible for that panel to win the All-Ireland and Leinster should have been the goal - woeful team selection against the Dubs makes me wonder what other mistakes will they make. They will be kept on of course and hopefully the improvements will carry over till next year. Our aim for next year should be to compete well for Leinster with Kildare and Dublin. Leinster needs good competition and hopefully the big 3 of Dublin, Kildare and Meath will provide this next year. Maybe Laois will resurrect themselves as well.

As regards Kerry, they will hope that they are better than today and they will need to be.

Leinster is  a shambles mate. Dublin and Meath have proven that in the last few weeks. Kildare are the only side with any credentials to move to a higher level in the coming years.
Dublin were dreadful a few weeks ago. Meath were nearly as bad except they never gave up and they fought to the end . But in terms of class Meath have precious little of it.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

As has been stated, it's nothing short of a disgrace that the pitch was taken up slap bang in the middle of the sporting high season for fecking music (and the only reason it had to be replaced was because of a previous concert). The GAA need to remember what they're about, I'd say just about every player on both teams was affected today by that surface.

[Logan]

Leinster is  a shambles mate. Dublin and Meath have proven that in the last few weeks. Kildare are the only side with any credentials to move to a higher level in the coming years.
Dublin were dreadful a few weeks ago. Meath were nearly as bad except they never gave up and they fought to the end . But in terms of class Meath have precious little of it.

Leinster is a shambles
Kildare will not get the same level next year

[agorm]

Agreed,
Other 3 provinces represented on AIF day (again). It will now be at least 9 years since a Leinster team was in the AIF and no Leinster winer of Sam in the decade.

This will be the sixth All Ireland Final day in a row that Leinster have no representative in either game with the last minor teams from the province in the final being Laois and Dublin in 2003. And Leinster surely has the biggest population by far.

For all their travails mayo seem be going in a far more positive direction than any of the Leinster teams!

[INDIANA]

Agreed,
Other 3 provinces represented on AIF day (again). It will now be at least 9 years since a Leinster team was in the AIF and no Leinster winer of Sam in the decade.

This will be the sixth All Ireland Final day in a row that Leinster have no representative in either game with the last minor teams from the province in the final being Laois and Dublin in 2003. And Leinster surely has the biggest population by far.

For all their travails mayo seem be going in a far more positive direction than any of the Leinster teams!

Mayo are in as big a trouble in my view. They couldn't beat Meath. I think dublin, meath, mayo etc are on a par. No systems of play, precious little structure and poor execution of the skills of the game on the big day.

[Logan]

Leinster are in big trouble
Who is going to come out of Leinster and do anything? Dublin are the Mayo of the province and Kildare, Westmeath and Meath are a league below the big teams.

Mayo are just being Mayo
Promising and pretending but not going to win anything - even that minor team should have been beaten out the gate.
Armagh will eat them.

[INDIANA]

In my view Kildare with Mc Geeney there have a chance. The rest are 2/3 years behind the top teams.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Leinster are in big trouble
Who is going to come out of Leinster and do anything? Dublin are the Mayo of the province and Kildare, Westmeath and Meath are a league below the big teams.

Mayo are just being Mayo
Promising and pretending but not going to win anything - even that minor team should have been beaten out the gate.
Armagh will eat them.

How so? You say Dublin, WM, Meath and Kildare are below the big teams. This I wouldn't dispute. But, the reality is that there are only three big teams at the moment - Kerry, Cork and Tyrone. Dublin, Meath and Kildare are more than capable of beating the best of the rest as this championship season has proved. Kildare could and maybe should have beaten Tyrone as well but inexperience got the better of us.

Pundits are constantly trotting out the line that the Leinster Championship is useless but there's not much basis to that argument. Granted there's no outstanding teams but is the overall standard any worse than the other three provinces? The rest of Ulster have simply been hanging onto Tyrone's coat tails since Armagh's demise a few years ago. Wicklow put out three Ulster counties in their qualifier run. Kerry Cork is the only game in town down south. Mayo came with high expectations from Connacht but Meath got the better of them when the going got tough.

Kerry, Cork and Tyrone are a country mile ahead of the pack at the moment but none of these teams are getting any younger. Looking ahead to next year it wouldn't surprise me to see the gap beginning to close.

[Declan]

Dreadful game in poor conditions. Meath very poor but I never thought they were good enough anyway. Kerry did enough to win but I'm not sure whether they can pick it up again for the final - they'll improve no doubt but not sure if it'll be enough to beat the rebels.
Is it just me or is it ridiculous to have O'Rourke and Spillane on the panel when their own counties are playing??