Hardcore Puke Football

[lynchbhoy]

  Looking down the pitch there was nowhere for Derry to play the ball, there never seemed to be less than 9 donegal men inside their own 45. 
Imo they were lucky with conditions, against that wind Derry couldn't score from long range, thus the most effective way of beating the blanket was negated, once donegal had a lead there was never going to be a way back.
They worked hard, deserved the win and were the better team, but now that they've won their title I hope to fcuk they revert to playing football again.

Surely there are 2 players Brennan could have played in both corners with a bit of place to offer an option of plating the ball over that wall? I was disappointed he didn't try something.

Aye, I don't think he covered himself in glory on sunday.  He left Gerard O'Kane on the bench for too long (he looked braven fit when he came on), he didn't throw on Declan Mullan nor Lee Moore who have a bit of pace up front, I think he, in common with the players and fans just decided that once donegal had a 4 point lead that was it.  Why else would he not bring on O'Kane for example?

GOK prob should have come on earlier but this wouldnt have made a difference.
the problem was that the Derry team were not kicking the ball into the FF line-  even in the first half with the breeze. Ya cant blame brennan for that.
Lee moore didnt make the final 26 - this I thought when I heard it before the game was a mistake by the manager. But thats football. He's been right enouhg the rest of the season apart from a few small things. (imo)

[Bogball XV]

the problem was that the Derry team were not kicking the ball into the FF line-  even in the first half with the breeze. Ya cant blame brennan for that.[/quote]
I thought they tried kicking a fair bit of ball in during the first half, but it was aimless ball that went over the endlines.  It was only when they carried the ball a bit and worked their way into scoring positions that they had any joy. 
In the second half conditions made it difficult to kick any sort of ball long, that and the difficulty our forwards had in getting any space meant that the player in possession didn't know what to do.  If they kicked long it'd be swallowed up, if they took the ball into contact, there'd be 5 men around them and they'd be blown for overcarrying.  Too often what resulted was a weak hand pass blown by the wind into a donegal man's path!!  Once the option of picking off long range points was gone, Donegal were happy to concede possession up to the 50 as nothing was going to come from it.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Fair play to Donegal I say, a win is a win, no matter how you go about it

you get that pass once.  Tyrone's was 2003 and they played a totally different brand of football thereafter. 
Westmeath tried similar tactics to Donegal back in the 07/08/09 era and it worked for wee while, but exploded in their faces then with 20 odd point defeats to Dublin thrown in - they haven't recovered from it yet either.
What's this year's semi-final pairings?

It was only 08 that we went ultra defensive Bogball and to be honest we were only cutting our cloth to measure that year as we simply didn't have the forwards. We mainly dropped the wing forwards back to mark their wing forwards and when we got the ball Ennis and Healy went bombing forward. We have been crucified by injuries/retirements to key players since, I wouldn't put it down to the style of play that year. At least we have a style of play that year, something else that has been lacking since.

[James91]

I honestly dont care what people think about the way Donegal play football because most people are just jumping on the bandwagon and calling it puke football so they something to complain about.

I still find the games as entertaining as any other game to watch (and I dont think this is because im from Donegal). Its still a game of football, which can be played whatever way a team wants. And donegal have racked up some impressive scorelines, with some of the best scores of the season so far.

These are great times for the county so nobody cares what others think! Not only have they won their first Ulster championship game in 4 years this year, but they have won ulster after playing the preliminary game which has only been done once by armagh since the 1940's i think... (dont hold me to those facts...ha). We have travelled all over the country being told we have potential, like many other counties believe they have too, only to leave matches with tears in our eyes after getting another hammering - but now we have a hard working team who has finally brought a real buzz to the county.

The only thing starting to annoy me now is that people are reading into it so much now that they are getting so narrow minded and believe their county play the "proper" way. EVERY county deploys tactics to win, Donegals has been the most effective this year though

[J70]

Hear, hear. I don't recall too many Tyrone men apologising for their "puke" football, or Armagh men apologising when their team battered and bullied (within the rules) other sides into submission and also flooded their defence. If I recall correctly, Fermanagh made an Ulster final a few years ago playing the same way we are this year as well. Don't remember a huge media-led outcry against Fermanagh.

If people don't like teams using such tactics, then change the f**king rules.

[Oraisteach]

It's only puke if you're on the receiving end, but it's very satisfying if you're dishing it out and it's working, so good luck to Donegal.

[Dinny Breen]

It's an amateur game it's not professional so entertainment is not a factor, you do what you can to maximize your chances of victory. It's not as if Derry didn't know what to expect..

Bravo Donegal!

[Armaghgeddon]

I honestly dont care what people think about the way Donegal play football because most people are just jumping on the bandwagon and calling it puke football so they something to complain about.

I still find the games as entertaining as any other game to watch (and I dont think this is because im from Donegal). Its still a game of football, which can be played whatever way a team wants. And donegal have racked up some impressive scorelines, with some of the best scores of the season so far.

These are great times for the county so nobody cares what others think! Not only have they won their first Ulster championship game in 4 years this year, but they have won ulster after playing the preliminary game which has only been done once by armagh since the 1940's i think... (dont hold me to those facts...ha). We have travelled all over the country being told we have potential, like many other counties believe they have too, only to leave matches with tears in our eyes after getting another hammering - but now we have a hard working team who has finally brought a real buzz to the county.

The only thing starting to annoy me now is that people are reading into it so much now that they are getting so narrow minded and believe their county play the "proper" way. EVERY county deploys tactics to win, Donegals has been the most effective this year though

Just to add to your GAA knowledge..

Armagh did it in 2005 where they played 6 games.
1 against Fermanagh
2 against Donegal
1 against Derry
2 against Tyrone

[boojangles]

Well Done Donegal. They play to their strengths. They have a system and everybody knows what that is. Fair play to Jim Mc Guinness.

[Fuzzman]

I've just read the last page but can't help but think how I felt back in October 2003.
Naturally I was delighted we had won the AI for the first time but there was a little bad taste in my mouth from the begrudgers. The whole term "Puke Football" had really stuck since that Kerry game and we had to listen to the RTE pundits discussing how football has changed forever and will it be to the detriment of our game.

Spillane is still harping on every week about he loves it when teams go out and just play their own attacking game and don't focus on stopping the opposition.
I have read on this board the odd poster who is man enough to admit that when Tyrone had the monkey off their back they then relaxed a bit and played a bit more of their own less negative style.
To me the main difference between Donegal and Tyrone in 2003 was, that despite our tactics, we were still racking up huge scores and played some great attacking football, as well as the swarm defence.

I think Donegal have maybe taken this a step further and they know that if they can limit teams to under 10 points they should still get enough scores to win. It will be interesting to see how they fare though if they're losing by quite a few at half time. I wonder what their plan B is?

[Mike Sheehy]

you can say what you want but it doesn't change the fact that it is horrible to watch and, unfortunately, the "Ulster" disease is spreading.

[Lar Naparka]

I've just read the last page but can't help but think how I felt back in October 2003.
Naturally I was delighted we had won the AI for the first time but there was a little bad taste in my mouth from the begrudgers. The whole term "Puke Football" had really stuck since that Kerry game and we had to listen to the RTE pundits discussing how football has changed forever and will it be to the detriment of our game.

Spillane is still harping on every week about he loves it when teams go out and just play their own attacking game and don't focus on stopping the opposition.
I have read on this board the odd poster who is man enough to admit that when Tyrone had the monkey off their back they then relaxed a bit and played a bit more of their own less negative style.
To me the main difference between Donegal and Tyrone in 2003 was, that despite our tactics, we were still racking up huge scores and played some great attacking football, as well as the swarm defence.

I think Donegal have maybe taken this a step further and they know that if they can limit teams to under 10 points they should still get enough scores to win. It will be interesting to see how they fare though if they're losing by quite a few at half time. I wonder what their plan B is?

It seems to me that Spillane is locked into a little time zone where the Kerry and Dublin teams of the late 70s remain forever young and the adrenalin coursed through the veins of players and spectators alike from start to finish. Anything before, besides and since those epic clashes don't meet Pat's benchmarks. They never did and never will.
The problem for me is that he is talking rubbish.
The Dublin and Kerry teams of his era were certainly fitter , faster and probably more gifted than most teams before or since but a modern referee would have the majority of them red-carded before half time!
Take a look at this if you don't believe me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc9VY7BKKCw

Here, Mickey Ned O'Sullivan was lucky to escape with his life.
By the standards of today at least 5 of the Dublin backs could expect yellow cards at the very least and yet Micheal O'Hehir or any of the Kerry forwards didn't seem to find anything to get upset over.
That's because Kerry could dish out the same sort of treatment to their opponents and all concerned took what happened to Mickey Ned as par for the course. 
Neither Kerry nor Dublin of Spillane's era would have a chance against the top 10 teams of our times- no matter what Auntie Pat may say.
For starters, most of them could expect a red card before the game was 10 minutes old.
Tyrone surprised Kerry in 2003 and Spillane came out with his 'puke football' phrase.
To me, he was a bad loser. There were 15 against 15 on that day and there was only one ball for them all to play with —and one referee to keep an eye on proceedings.
Since then, Kerry were to adopt their own version of puke football when it suited them and I never heard a word of protest from Spillane when they did either.
Fair dues to Donegal; they did what they thought best under the circumstances and weren't under any obligation to entertain Pat Spillane.
He also rubbished the Mayo/Roscommon match as 'joke' football.
Now, I know the display wasn't pretty but I've been watching championship matches for more than 50 years. I never saw a single game played under such awful conditions before.
The combined wides' total was 16 and most of them were close affairs. I've seen Mayo teams of the past, under far more ideal conditions, notch up that total without any bother. I feel the same could be said of Roscommon.
Yet, Pat could only dwell on the standard of football on display.
It's a pity the hoor wasn't chained to a goalpost for an hour or so; 'twould knock a biteen of sense into him. 

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

To me the main difference between Donegal and Tyrone in 2003 was, that despite our tactics, we were still racking up huge scores and played some great attacking football, as well as the swarm defence.

Indeed. Donegal won Ulster this year with a tally of 47 scores over 4 matches. In 2003 Tyone won Ulster with a tally of 88 scores over 5 matches. The comparison in styles between the current Donegal side and Tyrone in 2003 is a poor one, that Tyrone team played some fantasic attacking football and ran up huge scores. They did without doubt bring a lot of men back behind the ball in the second half against Kerry in the semi final in particular but even that followed a first half when Kerry had been ripped to pieces by the Tyrone attack.

I don't begrudge Donegal their success. They found a system which worked for them and deserved their Ulster title. I don't believe such a defensive system will take them much further or pay major dividends in the long term but they have some excellent creative players and if they find more of a balance, and I believe they will over the next year or two, it will serve them better.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

you can say what you want but it doesn't change the fact that it is horrible to watch and, unfortunately, the "Ulster" disease is spreading.

And you can say what you want; pity it's invariably a crock of shite! 

Good man Lar, nothing like a bit of cold and clinical analysis to blow away the blinkered bullshit.

[Mike Sheehy]

you can say what you want but it doesn't change the fact that it is horrible to watch and, unfortunately, the "Ulster" disease is spreading.

And you can say what you want; pity it's invariably a crock of shite! 

Good man Lar, nothing like a bit of cold and clinical analysis to blow away the blinkered bullshit.

I'm surprised you like clinical analysis......given how famously long winded you are yourself...