Dublin v Monaghan - Parnell Park - 13/03/10

[INDIANA]

All the previews that i've read (Gaelic Life, Irish News, RTÉ) giving this game to Dublin.

Hard to see why though. Monaghan an established team up against a bunch of greenhorns which Dublin largely are. Surely Monaghan have to win this game by 5/6 points?

[Maguire01]

All the previews that i've read (Gaelic Life, Irish News, RTÉ) giving this game to Dublin.

Hard to see why though. Monaghan an established team up against a bunch of greenhorns which Dublin largely are. Surely Monaghan have to win this game by 5/6 points?

You've changed your tune!
You were giving out that I (supporting a county with a mere 2 points) was dismissing Dublin's 6 points.
Why the u-turn?

[INDIANA]

All the previews that i've read (Gaelic Life, Irish News, RTÉ) giving this game to Dublin.

Hard to see why though. Monaghan an established team up against a bunch of greenhorns which Dublin largely are. Surely Monaghan have to win this game by 5/6 points?

You've changed your tune!
You were giving out that I (supporting a county with a mere 2 points) was dismissing Dublin's 6 points.
Why the u-turn?

the tune where I've tipped monghan to win? read the thread. Playing a similar puke team to ourselves is a challenge we have yet to face this year.

[GrandMasterFlash]

Good to see Banty sticking with big Frank in the middle. Big Frank got roasted in the engine room last Sunday I thought but it's good to see him getting plenty of opportunity.

Your logic is baffling.

On reading that again I'll give you that.. Doesn't make a pile of sense I'll admit!!

In my defense I'd like to see a lot more height and physical presence in the middle diamond and Frank Caulfield offers that. That's maybe where it ends with Frank though I've a feeling he can step up to the grade. That's yet to be proved however!

[The Aristocrat]

Good performance from the Dubs tonight. Not going to dwell into it much but it was a good team performance.

Hard luck Monaghan. You brought a great supportm down with you to the neller tonight, very loud too, nearly as loud as your manager, nearly. Fair play to them.

[mylestheslasher]

Good performance from the Dubs tonight. Not going to dwell into it much but it was a good team performance.

Hard luck Monaghan. You brought a great supportm down with you to the neller tonight, very loud too, nearly as loud as your manager, nearly. Fair play to them.

Watched the game on TV and felt the sending of was what won the game for Dublin, thought Monaghan could have turned them over otherwise. Good hard hitting match though

[The Aristocrat]

Good performance from the Dubs tonight. Not going to dwell into it much but it was a good team performance.

Hard luck Monaghan. You brought a great supportm down with you to the neller tonight, very loud too, nearly as loud as your manager, nearly. Fair play to them.

Watched the game on TV and felt the sending of was what won the game for Dublin, thought Monaghan could have turned them over otherwise. Good hard hitting match though

Yeah you could say that about the sending off but second yellow, 50-50 i think.

Some of them Monaghan players are big big lads but have pace aswell. i think an Ulster final could be on the cards this year for them.

[INDIANA]

Good performance from the Dubs tonight. Not going to dwell into it much but it was a good team performance.

Hard luck Monaghan. You brought a great supportm down with you to the neller tonight, very loud too, nearly as loud as your manager, nearly. Fair play to them.

Watched the game on TV and felt the sending of was what won the game for Dublin, thought Monaghan could have turned them over otherwise. Good hard hitting match though

Can't agree. I was quite disappointed with Monaghan. Dublin were well on top for most and could have been out of sight at halftime. Dublin's tactics seem to have opposition teams flummoxed at the moment. Would have expected far better lateral thinking from an Ulster team tonight.
Workmanlike performance from Dublin in general. Fitzsimons and Mc Mahon went well. O Sullivan led well from the back. Bernard and Co worked hard up front.

Pluses for Dublin is the defensive system which is working. Negatives are - relied on Bernard too much and some day soon they'll play a team that will make them come out and play. Haven't played one yet. Surely Tyrone and Cork will provide that challenge in spades. because I'm very sceptical this system whether it will work in CP.

Monghan need a few underage teams from somewhere. Have some lovely players- just not enough of them. Tactically incredibly disappointing tonight. Can't believe they didn't come up with something.

[Midlands Man]

How did david henry do in the dubs forward line tonight..

[Main Street]

Good performance from the Dubs tonight. Not going to dwell into it much but it was a good team performance.

Hard luck Monaghan. You brought a great supportm down with you to the neller tonight, very loud too, nearly as loud as your manager, nearly. Fair play to them.

Watched the game on TV and felt the sending of was what won the game for Dublin, thought Monaghan could have turned them over otherwise. Good hard hitting match though

Yeah you could say that about the sending off but second yellow, 50-50 i think.

Some of them Monaghan players are big big lads but have pace aswell. i think an Ulster final could be on the cards this year for them.

There is not a lot of height in the Monaghan full and half back lines and it's a big task to adequately replace Freeman and McQuaid there.
I didn't see the game, so that's good to hear from a Monaghan perspective.
Derry in the next game will be a reasonable indicator as to where we stand re an Ulster championship challenge in the summer.

[Maguire01]

Disappointing performance from Monaghan, but the scoreline could have been a lot worse. Dublin hit quite a few wides and only for Duffy pulling off some great saves, Dublin could easily have had another 3 goals. Mone being sent off was a disaster - the numerical disadvantage became pretty evident. Apart from Duffy, it was hard to pick impressive displays from the Monaghan team. Finlay had a pretty poor game by his standards.
We'll definitely need to raise it for next week; there aren't too many more opportunities to pick up points.

[GrandMasterFlash]

  I suppose we were unfortunate with the early injuries to Dermot and Vinny but I thought tactically we were poor. It was always gonna be a struggle when Dessie got to walk the line even if the tide turned in our favour for a while.

  Our forwards were not getting any supply then when they did it was overhit or straight in on top of them. Monaghan are good up front when they play diagonal ball into Tommy/Conor but straight ball in is hard to win, especialy without Corey in there!

  I was annoyed also at the amount of times we were overturned in Dublin's half-back line. Our full-forwards perhaps should have showed more giving the advancing players something to hit but it lacked any creativity I thought. I thought Ciaran Hughes worked very hard and Dick done his usual link-box load of work and MacAdam done OK, he seemed out of position for a lot of it though.

  What's the story with Tommy Freeman being deployed way out the field in parts of the last few games?? Is he just following his man out there? I'd leave him close to the goals in fairness in a purely attacking capacity and pull McManus out if that extra man is needed round MF.

  Dublin were very fit and played a running game. Some great running and passing moves and always seem to have a man over even when the numbers were at parity. They seemed to have loads space when coming through the middle, which they done a lot!! They've a disciplined defense too and as said earlier turned the ball over without conceding frees. Monaghan tend to rely on getting them frees in the oppostion HB line for Finlay/McManus to score from. Well done Dublin, I was impressed by their pace and effort and they are deserving of their position in the table.

[heffo]

 
What's the story with Tommy Freeman being deployed way out the field in parts of the last few games?? Is he just following his man out there? I'd leave him close to the goals in fairness in a purely attacking capacity

I was wondering the same myself last night - I was quite happy to see him out there when the game was in the balance towards the end..

[charlie linkbox]

Would echo most of the above. No complaints about the result. Thought we were well in it until the sending off. Dublin overran us thereafter and we completely lost our shape in the full-forward line – just hoofing high ball in aimlessly and hoping for the best. They were fast and fit in fairness – was impressed by Hubbard at No.10. Still, there are positives to be taken from it. We can compete at this level.

Incidentally, last night is why I love gaelic football. Ideal setting, full house, cracking atmosphere, good banter, lively game, fine scores, mistakes, excitement. Saturday night games are the way forward. Well done to all involved.

[Hound]

First half was a decent game of football. Monaghan started at a cracking pace, but thereafter I thought the Dubs took control and well deserved their 4 point lead. I couldnt see a way back for Monaghan.

Don't know whethe Mone meant to clobber Hubbard, but it was a definite 2nd yelllow. It seemed to galvanise Monaghan, and but eventually the Dubs took control again. How there was only 3 points in it as they game approached 70 minutes was amazing. Dublin missed no less than 4 clearcut goal chances in the space of 7 or 8 minutes (Magee, Brogan/McMenamon, Brogan, McAuley) and I was afraid they would pay for their profligacy. Freeman and Clerkin then both missed handy point chances which would have made it a tense finale.

At the game I thought Dublin were dreadful in the 2nd half, but watching again on TV they werent too bad (despite some keystone cops moments). They defended very well and largely restricted Monghan to long range scoring efforts (effort which were generally very poor).

After his mare v Mayo, Cluxton was back on form. No mistakes under the high ball and excellent distribution. McMahon was my favourite in the full back line. Fitzsimons got turned a few times early on but improved as the game went on, O'Carroll continues to look very promising.

O'Sullivan is a class act, but often too lacksadasical. A number of silly lobbed passes which give opponents too much of a chance. McCarthy had a mare, Brennan was average. Gill did reasonably well when introduced.

We're definitely going to struggle in midfield come championship. I still like McConnell, but he needs a dominant partner. And I don't think either Fennell or Magee are good enough, certainly neither a patch on Whelan. Maybe between them we can work something out.

Flynn was a disaster in the 2nd half, but hopefully just an aberattion. McAuley decent in patches (not so good in other patches) and I still can't see the point of Hubbard. I thought Henry was doing reasonably well, albeit a couple of bad wides. McMenamon didnt get the scores, but was playing very deep for a while, and he took his goal very well. Brogan was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch IMO.

Hope Griff isnt as bad as he looked, he'd be a huge loss.

Hard luck to Monaghan, they came to play, and the injuries didnt help. Finlay will hardly play as badly again. Finlay's foul mouthed tirade at Rory Woods (picked up on Setanta) was funny, but just a moment of anger rathe than symptomatic of anything.