Dublin vs Kerry - Sunday September 1st

[INDIANA]

I think we have this outpouring of relief that a so called non defensive minded team have made it to the final and that's why so many are now overstating how good this game was.
The fact there was so many scores, especially goals and loads of incidents from start to finish is a breath of fresh air to many neutrals.

If you look at Donegal for example and I am just picking them as they are a recent example of what I mean. Pre-McGuinness Donegal did play a nice brand of open attacking football and many people liked to see them do well. Their fans would get the odd day out in Croke park but usually lacked that bit of quality and know how to get over the line against the bigger guns.
McGuinness changed that mindset and played to a strict defensive based system. They had 2 great forwards(now 3) and showed what can be achieved if everyone buys into such a system. Their fans (quite similar to my own county) soon saw the benefits of this and they too stood behind the new system. The Tyrone v Donegal games over the past 3 years have been total wars of attrition and in most people's eyes NOT a very nice spectacle. Yes it's interesting to see the tactical battles but we rarely see good passes or great scores. Yet the fans know it can work and so we all defend it to the hilt. Tyrone played most of their games this year with only 2 or 3 forwards and focused mainly on turnovers and then running the ball up the pitch. Slow and very laborious attacks. It proved quite successful as it got it to the AI semifinal but pretty it is not. With the exception of some great runs and scores from Sean Cavanagh, we didn't have much to cheer about all year.

This is why I think there is such an over reaction to the game yesterday as most fans are fed up watching these intense defensive games over the past number of years and want to see football return to being much more open and off the cuff. Even Dublin's win in 2011 wasn't great football but it had been a long time since they won it and Gilroy had to fight fire with fire to get them over the line.

I think the problem is that too many people have trouble separating sport and art. Sport - any sport - has its primary aim of determining victors and ranks based on a common set of rules and/or objectives. The entertainment value is simply a by product of how this is carried out. Nearly all sporting battles don't provide a high level of entertainment on their own can can provide individual moments. See the likes of soccer where on the EPL most games are forgettable almost instantly. High amounts of scores naturally occurring doesn't necessarily make it better, otherwise basketball would be a world game. Tyrone in the 80's and 90's were too worried about art and not as concerned about being competitive and this was learned harshly in 95 & 96. To me that was the turning point in the county as to how to approach football. Yesterday's game reminded me quite a lot of the Tyrone vs. Down Ulster SFC final in 2003 (the first drawn game) which was hugely entertaining, high scoring, fairly open and had the pre-match underdogs not reading the script, but it was not without some sloppy play and shooting or some controversial incidents. Call me cynical or call me biased but had yesterday's game in Croke Park been between two sides that were not called Galway, Dublin or Kerry, it would not be getting anywhere near the post-match hype. That's why IMHO anyone coming out with the cliche "as it's meant to be played" is less concerned about the nature of sport and wants more to be entertained, or is trying to be cute/playing a psychological card. Perhaps a by product itself of an Irish mentality of being event junkies rather than committed supporters resulting in Gaelic games holding more importance to knockout or semi-knockout competitions as opposed to leagues elsewhere. Ignoring that more televisual coverage is more extensive than in the 80's and 90's, and there are more championship games in football thanks to the back door system, is the entertainment value of gaelic games as a whole now worse than what it was in decades gone by? In my opinion the answer is no. If sporting bodies feel that their competitions need to have a more entertaining value placed on them, then it is up to respective rule makers to make that so - but it may come at a cost elsewhere.

There is no cost to making Gaelic Football more entertaining. None.

Simply because we are starting from such a low base. The quality of football in recent years has been very poor and quite frankly boring to watch.

I thought 2011 was good. Dublin played a decent mix of attack and defence broadly similar to Tyrone in 2005.

Tyrone were enthralling to watch in 2005 I thought.  But bloody awful in 2003 if I'm honest. Unfortunately Tyrone reverted to the 2003 model with inferior talent this year and got nowhere.

And that's the crux for me. The belief that a blanket defence will win you something has become the excuse for every bad club team in Ireland to try it. To ignore attacking play and how to play Gaelic Football. Instead revert to hand passing and dragging men behind the ball.

I've no problem with defence. But I've a major problem with the direction Gaelic Football has gone in recent years.

[dublin7]

What was great about yesterday ist hat  you had both teams playing attacking football & both teams were actually willing to kick the football.

The main reason more teams don't play this way is because the players are not good enough to do it. Teams like Donegal/Tyrone are full of athletes who can run up and down the pitch all day hand passing the ball to each other.

Football over the last few years has morphed into a game more like rugby/basketball. Players only kick the ball as a last resort. All about hand passing the ball & not giving it away by taking a risk & kicking it.

Jim Gavin criticized & called naive for such attacking tactics. I say fair play to him. Have been a joy to watch all season compared to negative tactics employed both the majority of other count sides, especially the cynical stuff from Tyrone

[yellowcard]

I would have no doubt in saying that on a football level that Dublin are the best team to watch in this years championship and in terms of pure talent they have the best footballers in the country by some distance. Their training matches alone must be highly competitive. In saying that I genuinely hope Mayo win the AI final, they have suffered enough final heartache and they need and deserve an AI far more than Dublin. It's a hard game to call ATM.

However, put yourself in the shoes of a manager who knows that he clearly has inferior footballers than his main competitors and you might appreciate that they have to find another way to try and win. The best example is the McGuinness model in Donegal which was a victory for systems and coaching players to play in a pre programmed manner. It's not the way I like to see the game played but I can totally understand his rationale for doing it. Until the rule makers adjust the rules to make the game more attractive with more kicking involved there is always the possibility that a defensive possession based approach can triumph again.

[Johnnybegood]

that last photo looks like a sure suspension for me, hard to say it looks accidental even though ross is not looking at him

self contradiction at its finest

[Wildweasel74]

Not at all, he not looking directly at him but  he knows where his hand is, and the finger seems to be in goochs eye, did the same thing not occur in a rugby game this yr when the guy was cited even though he didnt look were his hand was?

[Nally Stand]

What was great about yesterday ist hat  you had both teams playing attacking football & both teams were actually willing to kick the football.

The main reason more teams don't play this way is because the players are not good enough to do it. Teams like Donegal/Tyrone are full of athletes who can run up and down the pitch all day hand passing the ball to each other.

Football over the last few years has morphed into a game more like rugby/basketball. Players only kick the ball as a last resort. All about hand passing the ball & not giving it away by taking a risk & kicking it.

Jim Gavin criticized & called naive for such attacking tactics. I say fair play to him. Have been a joy to watch all season compared to negative tactics employed both the majority of other count sides, especially the cynical stuff from Tyrone

Take off the blinkers and stop repeating what you hear on the Sunday Game. There are enough sheep in the country doing that already. As alluded to previously, Tyrone were the only quarter finalists to have been fouled more than committed fouls through their games this year. Sundays game had as much cynicism and more as any other game. Eye gouging, wrestling, hauling down, tripping, mouthing, late tackles...the game was abundant with cynicism. I posted the pictures to prove it. I also posted the pictures to show that this notion that the game was played on a rigidly man to man basis is another fallacy. Dublin in particular repeatedly swarmed the man on the ball. I don't know which is more pathetic, the refusal to admit the cynicism etc or the sanctimonious attitude oozing from some dublin posters all of a sudden. Ye have won one All Ireland in 18 years and won it playing defensively. One highly cynical but high scoring game against Kerry in a semi final and ye are patting yourselves on the back as being the guardians of all that is good about Gaelic football.

[TY14ED]

Always great to see Kerry bate.  Killarney still haunts me...On a scale of hatefulness, the Dubs are only mildly hateful compared to them Kerry ones.   

Have to agree. I still wake at night scared from the growls of a Kerryman in the row in front of me that day. But then there's Maurice Fitz. The beauty, the ease, the style, the scores. And off I go to sleep again, content. And sure what about the 2 passes yesterday, the Gooch at his best, thee best, possibly?

[Syferus]

Always seem to get on well with Kerrymen at matches. Must be our counties' shared understanding of beautiful football.

[Johnnybegood]

Not at all, he not looking directly at him but  he knows where his hand is, and the finger seems to be in goochs eye, did the same thing not occur in a rugby game this yr when the guy was cited even though he didnt look were his hand was?

I don't know, I don't follow rugby! Was he cited on the strength of a still picture/snapshot or a video. ?

[haveaharp]

Always seem to get on well with Kerrymen at matches. Must be our counties' shared understanding of beautiful football.

Agree, like my chats with albert enstein and shared understanding of time travel.

[J OGorman]

Always great to see Kerry bate.  Killarney still haunts me...On a scale of hatefulness, the Dubs are only mildly hateful compared to them Kerry ones.   

Have to agree. I still wake at night scared from the growls of a Kerryman in the row in front of me that day. But then there's Maurice Fitz. The beauty, the ease, the style, the scores. And off I go to sleep again, content. And sure what about the 2 passes yesterday, the Gooch at his best, thee best, possibly?

I think so sir, best I've seen in my lifetime. An absolute joy to watch

[Dinny Breen]

Always great to see Kerry bate.  Killarney still haunts me...On a scale of hatefulness, the Dubs are only mildly hateful compared to them Kerry ones.   

Have to agree. I still wake at night scared from the growls of a Kerryman in the row in front of me that day. But then there's Maurice Fitz. The beauty, the ease, the style, the scores. And off I go to sleep again, content. And sure what about the 2 passes yesterday, the Gooch at his best, thee best, possibly?

I think so sir, best I've seen in my lifetime. An absolute joy to watch

A much better player now than he was 10 years ago, a maturing artist. Would have always named Maurice Fitzgerald but in 10 years time Gooch will be the known as the greatest.

[BartSimpson]

What a game. Unbeleveeble. open attacking football. About time. Well done lads. taught we were done 5 times at least. 3 cheers for Kev Mc #KerryKiller

[Flutehook]

Always seem to get on well with Kerrymen at matches. Must be our counties' shared understanding of beautiful football.

Ah yes - the 1980 AI Final. I gather they speak of little else during the long winter nights in Templenoe but that particular classic.

[Fuzzman]

I am surprised at some of the games Colm Keys has chosen in his top 10 games.
Certainly wouldn't have thought he'd have picked an Armagh v Tyrone game.

I see Wooly (Colm Parkinson) is also speaking out about pundits telling managers how to play the game.