Dublin vs Meath - Leinster Final

[Jinxy]

Do you need a hug Dinny?

[Dinny Breen]

Do you need a hug Dinny?

I think so..

[Jinxy]

Stay out of my Leinster final thread!

[Dinny Breen]

You bastard!!!

[Jinxy]

Leave this one to the aristocrats.

[Hardy]

Sheridan has to start

Even if it's to spook the Hill.

Meath need to 'horse' into Dublin early on to let the Dubs know they are there. Kildare showed Dubs too much respect. Now I am not advocating wanton violence.....well, maybe I am.

But ye know what I mean.

Otherwise it will be a complete and utter rout

He was useless against Wexford, no movement, no pace and failed to win one ball in the air. In fact Meath have no full-forward line, Stephen is not the Bray of old, Newland is a free taker and offers nothing else and Wallace will run down alleys all day and shows no footballing intelligence. Harsh words I know but it's probably Meaths weakest line.

Joe got two balls - not passes, but balls he had to contest. Nobody has a 100% success rate in winning possession contests, but it's a bit harsh to view losing two out of two as a 100% failure rate, even if it's technically correct. As for movement, he had moved enough to be free for scoring passes on two occasions that he didn't get.

Bray may not be the player of five years ago, but I'm not sure about that yet. I actually think he's coming into form and if he can get his body to respond consistently to his football brain, he could be as good as ever. A few more outings in Croke Park this Summer is all he needs!

Newman is far from just a free taker. That's all you saw yesterday, but he's a forward of real class and a great find this year.

Wallace suffers from the curse of all fast players. Every time they make a mistake, they're dismissed as just speedsters with no skill and every time an attack breaks down with them, they're accused of running down blind alleys. When a normally paced player does the same things they seem to be accepted as the percentages at work - win some, lose some.

Apart from that, I agree with you Dinny!

[Jinxy]

That point in the 2nd half where Bray cut in from the Hogan side and stuck it over off his left was reminiscent of 07.
He needs to do this more.
One thing I've noticed though, he doesn't strike the ball very hard when he shoots.
A lot of them just scrape over the bar.
It's like he tenses up too much when he's kicking.

[Zulu]

Mick O'Dowd should read this,

interesting analysis from Tony McEntee on Dublin..

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/tony-mcentee/tony-mcentee-hold-fire-on-the-applause-its-early-yet-for-dubs-235673.html

Good article again and Tony McEntee is clearly a great thinker and strategist. Some of his observations are those made by someone who would have to be at the match to comment. It would be a real contrast in styles were Dublin to meet Donegal in the AI final and I would love to have been a fly inside the car of McGuinness and Rory Gallagher on the way home from Croke Park yesterday.

Excellent article and refreshing to see another thoughtful, informative and insightful opinion on football. I would disagree with him on Connolly's work rate which is in fact very impressive IMO. I'll be making it my business to read his future pieces that's for sure.

[Dinny Breen]

Sheridan has to start

Even if it's to spook the Hill.

Meath need to 'horse' into Dublin early on to let the Dubs know they are there. Kildare showed Dubs too much respect. Now I am not advocating wanton violence.....well, maybe I am.

But ye know what I mean.

Otherwise it will be a complete and utter rout

He was useless against Wexford, no movement, no pace and failed to win one ball in the air. In fact Meath have no full-forward line, Stephen is not the Bray of old, Newland is a free taker and offers nothing else and Wallace will run down alleys all day and shows no footballing intelligence. Harsh words I know but it's probably Meaths weakest line.

Joe got two balls - not passes, but balls he had to contest. Nobody has a 100% success rate in winning possession contests, but it's a bit harsh to view losing two out of two as a 100% failure rate, even if it's technically correct. As for movement, he had moved enough to be free for scoring passes on two occasions that he didn't get.

Bray may not be the player of five years ago, but I'm not sure about that yet. I actually think he's coming into form and if he can get his body to respond consistently to his football brain, he could be as good as ever. A few more outings in Croke Park this Summer is all he needs!

Newman is far from just a free taker. That's all you saw yesterday, but he's a forward of real class and a great find this year.

Wallace suffers from the curse of all fast players. Every time they make a mistake, they're dismissed as just speedsters with no skill and every time an attack breaks down with them, they're accused of running down blind alleys. When a normally paced player does the same things they seem to be accepted as the percentages at work - win some, lose some.

Apart from that, I agree with you Dinny!

I can only take your word for it Hardy on Newman but I was in Davin Stand and was able to watch all 3 in the second half from above, impressed I was not even in the contrast to the Wexford front 3 they were poor.   They will struggle against Dublin and Dublin won't give away the kind of frees Wexford were guilty of.

[screenexile]

Mick O'Dowd should read this,

interesting analysis from Tony McEntee on Dublin..

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/tony-mcentee/tony-mcentee-hold-fire-on-the-applause-its-early-yet-for-dubs-235673.html

Good article again and Tony McEntee is clearly a great thinker and strategist. Some of his observations are those made by someone who would have to be at the match to comment. It would be a real contrast in styles were Dublin to meet Donegal in the AI final and I would love to have been a fly inside the car of McGuinness and Rory Gallagher on the way home from Croke Park yesterday.

Excellent article and refreshing to see another thoughtful, informative and insightful opinion on football. I would disagree with him on Connolly's work rate which is in fact very impressive IMO. I'll be making it my business to read his future pieces that's for sure.

How are RTE not breaking their backs to get people of that calibre on board? The man has been there and done it both on and off the field and the way he broke the Dubs v Kildare game down well there aren't many men in the country would have seen the game like that. Excellent piece.

[Syferus]

Mick O'Dowd should read this,

interesting analysis from Tony McEntee on Dublin..

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/tony-mcentee/tony-mcentee-hold-fire-on-the-applause-its-early-yet-for-dubs-235673.html

Good article again and Tony McEntee is clearly a great thinker and strategist. Some of his observations are those made by someone who would have to be at the match to comment. It would be a real contrast in styles were Dublin to meet Donegal in the AI final and I would love to have been a fly inside the car of McGuinness and Rory Gallagher on the way home from Croke Park yesterday.

Excellent article and refreshing to see another thoughtful, informative and insightful opinion on football. I would disagree with him on Connolly's work rate which is in fact very impressive IMO. I'll be making it my business to read his future pieces that's for sure.

How are RTE not breaking their backs to get people of that calibre on board? The man has been there and done it both on and off the field and the way he broke the Dubs v Kildare game down well there aren't many men in the country would have seen the game like that. Excellent piece.

Sure they had Jason Ryan on for one game and he was making Pat look silly so they couldn't have him back on. Only makes sense, really.

Tony MacEntee isn't a patch on K-Mac on or off the field, though

[muppet]

This is the team I'd like to see line out.
1. P. O'Rourke
2. D. Keoghan
3. K. Reilly
4. B. Menton
5. P. Harnan
6. S. Kenny
7. C. Lenihan
8. B. Meade
9. G. Reilly
10. P. Byrne
11. S. Bray
12. P. Gilsenan
13. E. Wallace
14. J. Sheridan
15. M. Newman

Play Menton as a sweeper in front of FB line.
Drop Harnan back into the corner.
Drop Peadar back into the HB line.
Bring Wallace out around the HF line where he is facing the goals every time he gets the ball.
Leave Joe and Mickey inside, with Wallace and Bray pushing in to pick up breaks & lay-offs.
There's going to be a lot of space in the Dublin half as we'll have extra men defending.
We need to put Wallace and Reilly into open country and we need to get goals.
At least 2.
If we start with Gillespie and Meade at midfield we are not serious about even trying to win the game.

I think this is the team ye need

1. Jesus Christ (Jesus Saves!)
2. The Holy Spirit
3. The Lord God
4. Buddha
5. Allah
6. Mohammed
7. Ghandi
8. Mary Magdalene
9. Joseph
10. Saint Jude
11. Saint Peter
12. Graham Reilly
13. Mother Teresa
14. Rah
15. Archangel Gabriel

Apparently they are interested in being selected.

But in a statement, on behalf of the 15 named above, The Lord God said They would only play if the manager was Larry Reilly.

[INDIANA]

To be fair Meath were the last team to beat Dublin in Leinster.

Some good young players and got promoted.

Could go either way

[Syferus]

To be fair Meath were the last team to beat Dublin in Leinster.

Some good young players and got promoted.

Could go either way

The poor mouth fits you like a hijab, Indiana.

[INDIANA]

To be fair Meath were the last team to beat Dublin in Leinster.

Some good young players and got promoted.

Could go either way

The poor mouth fits you like a hijab, Indiana.

we've never beaten meath by much. they are unlikely to be as tactically naive as kildare were