Dublin v Tyrone quarter final 6.8.11 SFC 2011

[Rois]

Still gutted this morning so can't begin to imagine now the squad is feeling.
But this year has been about "what you can do for your county" rather than the other way around, and we could ask no more from the twenty players yesterday who were beaten by a fantastic performance from Dublin.
I enjoyed the noise and colour yesterday, and had the pleasure of talking to a few Dublin fans on the way home who were gracious in victory. Great ambassadors for their county.

Well done Dublin, and it is my sincere hope that you lift Sam this year - you are certainly capable of it.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

The cold light of day... it burns, it burns!

Really impressed with that display of Dublin's yesterday, the best I've seen from a Dublin team in a long, long time; the dirty ball was all theirs and most of the cleaner ball too, with none of the (now) customary failings

Our lads owe us nothing, nada.; we've dined out on their brilliance for long enough... time to have another look at that Chippy's menu.

[loughshore lad]

Obviously, im gutted that Tyrone were well beaten today, however, I still enjoyed watching the skill and accuracy of the dubs - they made it look so easy. I stayed to the very end to applaud the Dublin team on their outstanding performance and victory but also to applaud the Tyrone team that have gave us so much in this last decade.

I could go on about Mickey Hartes decisions today, but its pointless and unfair. I only have to look at what he has achieved for Tyrone, through the years of nuturing those players and the successes they brought. Its an end of era for alot of players on the team and hope that they dont get too annoyed at their performance today as they wont be judged on that, but will only be judged on the years of great performances and achievements, the youth they have inspired throughout the country and the excitement and joy they have brought to their fans.

They may have lost today, but overall their County endeavours were a total success.

Excellent summation.

+1

[Orangemac]

Incredible performance form Dublin yesterday. Foot passing, ball handling, blocking, off the ball running, as good a performance from any team in the last few years. It is probably a good thing for them that they didn't score 2 or 3 goals as the hype machine would be in complete overdrive.

As good as Connolly was, though Alan Brogan was unbelievable yesterday. Never thought he would hit the heights of around 2005 again but along with Karl Lacey and Darren O'Sullivan has probaly been player of the year so far.

His link up play and off the ball running was a joy to watch and the point he hit in the 1st half was a thing of beauty.

Dublin seem to have upped their performance from last year when they should have beat Cork, they are tackling and hassling with the same intensity but crucially are not relying on Bernard Brogan to carry the team.

Donegal will give them more problems than Tyrone but yesterdays level of performance would beat Donegal and either Kerry/Mayo.

[ApresMatch]

Shame on any tyrone fan that left early yesterday.Some of the finest and most dedicated players anyone has seen didnt deserve to be deserted like that after the journey theyve had.Despite yesterday they deserved a standing ovation espeically as a good few of them wont be back. Their All-Irelands will mean little to them today unfortunately. They still gave their all yday esp Dooher,Oneill and Gormley.

[Club Rossa]

I have an immense feeling of pride in the Tyrone team,we were hockeyed yesterday but they never gave up and chased a lost cause til the very end.There will be retirements now and i can only thank them for their great efforts over the last 10 years.

[tyroneman]

Congratulations to Dublin. We can have no complaints and they simply outplayed us all over the park. How we kept it to 7 points is a mystery but I'm glad we kelt at it till the end.

Where to from here? I can see a lot of fellas retiring and hopefully we start trying to build from the minor and u21 set up.

McNabb, Coney, Harte, Harry Og, Grugan, Mattie Donnelly, McNeice, McKenna,O'Neill...... If these fellas can come on with Sean Cav, Cassidey, Red Sean etc all staying on we should be in a good place a few years down the line.

Funny thing is SoN was by far our most dangerous forward when he came on so should he stay another year? Gormley still has something to offer.  Should he stay?

A lot of how we progress will depend on how easy some of the golden generation make it on MH. They could give him the easy option by retiring or place him in the position of making hard calls.

Either way we have a rebuilding job to to.

That all said I am immensely proud if that group of players. They owe us nothing and have given the county unbelievable joy over the past decade +

[ONeill]

There were a good few who stayed to the end to clap off our players. You could see an affinity between the two sets of players as well. I found it almost misty-eyed seeing Gormley slowly trudge off at the end. He was one of the players who kept at it in the last 10 minutes, driving the side on to avoid an embarrassing scoreline.

[Orangemac]

/quote]
Would agree with this. The determination burned out of Stephen O'Neills eyes when he came on yesterday, he still believed they could turn it around and Gormley just would not let it go. Intercepting a certain goal, throwing himself at everything, even where he went down after getting an innocuos clip, he would do anything not to lose.

It is one thing Tyrone having talented players coming through but can the intensity and desire that men like Dooher, McMenamin,O'Neill and Gormlley had be replaced as easily?
 

[GTB]

Have to say I feel strangely proud of the guys as well thanks to those who decide to retire we will always be proud of you.

Well done Dublin thought you were excellent yesterday but for Gods sake do not make that your All Ireland go on and win it!

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

There were a good few who stayed to the end to clap off our players. You could see an affinity between the two sets of players as well. I found it almost misty-eyed seeing Gormley slowly trudge off at the end. He was one of the players who kept at it in the last 10 minutes, driving the side on to avoid an embarrassing scoreline.

I heard you skanked a couple of Hogan Premium tickets?

Agreed, our lads emptied it. In a strange way, it was almost uplifting.

[Captain Scarlet]

lads as a kildare man id actually like to see the Dubs do it. i know the indo and herald will be filling the entire sports sectiosn with the boys in blue over the next few weeks but i reckon gilroy will keep them grounded.
to be fair it's hard to dislike his current set-up. they work hard and kill themselves. the likes of MD McCauley personifies this. i admire gilroy a lot. even stopping that soccer style clapping the hill before matches is gone.
i like the current crop. yesterday the marquee forwards will get the plaudits but the likes of barry cahill was very efficient as was flynn.
at the back i was amazed how well cian o'sullivan did. to come in from the cold and do so well was class. and then rory o'carroll just gets better and better.
donegal will try to strangle them so im really looking forward to seeing how the dubs attack the game.

[Main Street]

Wonderful to see Dublin play like that and as free as you can get from cynical tactics these days. They made an ailing but decentTyrone team look very rusty.
Probably the end of the county careers of 2 players who would be great in any generation, Dooher and O'Neill. New faces may come but they better bring their own boots.

[ONeill]

There were a good few who stayed to the end to clap off our players. You could see an affinity between the two sets of players as well. I found it almost misty-eyed seeing Gormley slowly trudge off at the end. He was one of the players who kept at it in the last 10 minutes, driving the side on to avoid an embarrassing scoreline.

I heard you skanked a couple of Hogan Premium tickets?

Agreed, our lads emptied it. In a strange way, it was almost uplifting.

Loose tongues around Gortin?

If the young lads can see and learn from that burning desire Gormley, Jordan and O'Neill showed then we'll no more lie down.

[Hardy]

despite how poor tyrone were, that must be the best dublin have played since the heffernan days. dont forget they could/should have had 4 goals as well. in my lifetime i cant recall tyrone ever conceding 20+ points.

however, the big problem for dublin now is that they are going to have to reproduce that performance 2 more times to win all ireland. believe it or not, jim mcguinness may be a happy man tonite instead of a worried one.

I genuinely don't think so.
Look at their form line vs. Donegals.
Donegal narrowly beat Tyrone and Kildare (aided by some dodgy reffing).
Dublin annihilated Tyrone and beat Kildare with 14 men.
I think they can play well within themselves and still beat Donegal by 4 or 5 points.
That would set them up nicely for the final which either way (waves at Mayo friends) they will be massively motivated for.

Aye, but it's a totally different game when Donegal are playing. They are not going to stuff anyone. It's not in their game. Donegal would be happy to score 2 points, in the knowledge that they could stop their opponents scoring more than 2 points.
The Dubs thrived playing Tyrone as they were able to take scores, due to the space they were given.
It's hard to see them getting an inch of space against Donegal and it will be interesting how they deal with it.

The Dubs counter attack at a ridiculous speed though.
It's usually 2/3 quick handpasses to a runner coming out, kick pass to the wing, maybe another quick offload then another kick pass into the FF line.
They won't just run it up to the Donegal half back line like Kildare did.
The reason there was so much space for the Dubs today is they have support runners coming from everywhere at pace.
Kildare were very fit, but they didn't have the pace this Dublin team have.
They also didn't have the range of scoring options Dublin have.
Dublin are now, where Donegal might be in a year or two, i.e. they have figured out the optimum system of play for the players at their disposal which balances defence and attack without sacrificing one for the other.
I'd put the house on Dublin coming out on top.

Where's your house, Jinxy? I fancy a change of scenery. Do you fancy living in Cork? Sorry – silly question.

I like Dublin's style of play. You sum it up well and there's a lot to admire about it. Also, while I genuinely don't care who wins it, I would wish this Dublin group well. They have a great attitude and anything they achieve will have been hard earned.

However, I'm letting my bet on Donegal to win outright ride until after the semi. Where I disagree with your analysis of how it will go is that kicking it in to the FF line from distance won't do any good when there's not just a sweeper, unlike last night, but five to eight Donegal players in there, who won't have left the area no matter what's been happening up the other end.

What do Dublin do then? I think they will struggle for scores. Connolly will not get a square inch of space and Bernard Brogan likewise. Dublin will not run through the Donegal tackles as they did against Tyrone, especially when it's not coming onto the ball at speed but working from a static start as they handpass around the maze that will be the Donegal 45-metre area.

The question for me is whether Donegal can get the scores. The fact that an utterly overrun Tyrone managed fifteen points last night – enough to win most championship matches - suggests to me that if they can get near parity at midfield they have every chance.