The State Of Gaelic Football

[Syferus]

Absolutely but the infamous Dublin Donegal semi final was brutal, the All Ireland final was poor, Donegal v Antrim was brutal. All games where the opposition kept players back against a mass defence. Yesterday's colleges A final was a poor spectacle as well and again when had a massed defence team playing a team set up for them. There's two clear trends there, shite games but the better football team still wins.

Maybe
But I doubt that CBS team would have got near that Hogan Cup final without being very defensive.
You have to admire teams who have a gameplan that is formulated on the players available and they execute it very well

At senior level you can say it's all about the results but when managers at underage level start employing it, they should be sacked.  At that level it should about the skills of the game.  It's not like the teachers are under pressure to get results from the school principal.  Depressing to see school teams play like that yesterday.  No skill in parking 13 players in front of goal.

Idealism and reality rarely mix well.

[Rossfan]

If results don't count at schools and children's game why do they keep a score then?

[Captain Obvious]

Absolutely but the infamous Dublin Donegal semi final was brutal, the All Ireland final was poor, Donegal v Antrim was brutal. All games where the opposition kept players back against a mass defence. Yesterday's colleges A final was a poor spectacle as well and again when had a massed defence team playing a team set up for them. There's two clear trends there, shite games but the better football team still wins.

In fairness when Donegal won the 2012 All Ireland they had the right balance between defence and attack. Their games against Cork,Kerry,Mayo where all good games to watch and last year against Dublin was also a good game however the final was poor because Kerry chose to go more defensive after the shoot out they had against Mayo.

[Zulu]

But that's my point, every team will do as Kerry did when they come up against Donegal from now on. If they do the game will almost certainly be poor.

[mrdeeds]

Absolutely but the infamous Dublin Donegal semi final was brutal, the All Ireland final was poor, Donegal v Antrim was brutal. All games where the opposition kept players back against a mass defence. Yesterday's colleges A final was a poor spectacle as well and again when had a massed defence team playing a team set up for them. There's two clear trends there, shite games but the better football team still wins.

So by naming every poor game you can think of that's football poor? If I name games that were exciting are you proved wrong? And Jesus wept, Donegal Antrim??? How would that ever be a good game.

[rodney trotter]

It will show who is good enough to kick under pressure from 45 yards.. Dublin didn't manage that to well in the second half against Donegal last year..

Ciaran McDonald on Second Captains said he no problem with how the game is.

[Zulu]

Why couldn't have been, any other pairings you can guarantee will be poor so we can warn people? If you think I listed out every poor game I could think then I don't know what to tell you. The point I was making was that mass defensive teams will now face more and more teams who leave their defenders in place and this will invariably produce poor games.

[Zulu]

It will show who is good enough to kick under pressure from 45 yards.. Dublin didn't manage that to well in the second half against Donegal last year..

Ciaran McDonald on Second Captains said he no problem with how the game is.

He didn't quite say that but even if he did that doesn't make it so.

[rodney trotter]

Yeah because you want everyone to play like Dublin. ffs

[Zulu]

What does that even mean?? ffs

[manfromdelmonte]

At senior level you can say it's all about the results but when managers at underage level start employing it, they should be sacked.  At that level it should about the skills of the game.  It's not like the teachers are under pressure to get results from the school principal.  Depressing to see school teams play like that yesterday.  No skill in parking 13 players in front of goal.

It is a knockout competition where the players are representing their school that most of them will be finished with in 3 months time.
It is not a GoGames blitz.
You cannot improve skills if you are beaten in the first round.

Should schools rugby, soccer etc not be about winning too?
In fact, for most school rugby players it would be the highlight of their sporting lives.
Teenagers like to win stuff. Go figure.

[BennyHarp]

I think today's games showed that you can play defensively and at the same time rack up a healthy score. Zulu, you talk about Kerry's game plan to counteract and I agree and posted as much on more than one occasion but not everyone has the personnel that Kerry have to carry that off.

[Zulu]

They were league games today Benny and the Cork Donegal game in particular had little intensity. In championship with teams fitter and working harder and attackers with more pressure we won't see those types of scores. Teams have figured out the mass defence and will be more successful against it but at the expense of the spectacle. The best part of today was McManus who had the space to run into and gather kicked ball to score. The massed defence is designed to take that away and football will be all the poorer for it. Looking at todays game I was struck by how few scoring attempts full forwards were getting compared to midfielders and half backs. If I was managing an IC team now you'd have to seriously consider playing the likes of McManus or O'Neill in the half back line and defenders in your full forward line who will come out deep. That isn't a good thought or a positive direction for football.

[BennyHarp]

They were league games today Benny and the Cork Donegal game in particular had little intensity. In championship with teams fitter and working harder and attackers with more pressure we won't see those types of scores. Teams have figured out the mass defence and will be more successful against it but at the expense of the spectacle. The best part of today was McManus who had the space to run into and gather kicked ball to score. The massed defence is designed to take that away and football will be all the poorer for it. Looking at todays game I was struck by how few scoring attempts full forwards were getting compared to midfielders and half backs. If I was managing an IC team now you'd have to seriously consider playing the likes of McManus or O'Neill in the half back line and defenders in your full forward line who will come out deep. That isn't a good thought or a positive direction for football.

Ah come on, Dublin v Derry was a league game and people were describing it as the death of football. Goalposts just can't be moved to suit the argument.

[Syferus]

They were league games today Benny and the Cork Donegal game in particular had little intensity. In championship with teams fitter and working harder and attackers with more pressure we won't see those types of scores. Teams have figured out the mass defence and will be more successful against it but at the expense of the spectacle. The best part of today was McManus who had the space to run into and gather kicked ball to score. The massed defence is designed to take that away and football will be all the poorer for it. Looking at todays game I was struck by how few scoring attempts full forwards were getting compared to midfielders and half backs. If I was managing an IC team now you'd have to seriously consider playing the likes of McManus or O'Neill in the half back line and defenders in your full forward line who will come out deep. That isn't a good thought or a positive direction for football.

Do we need to put wheels on the goalposts or will you stop moving them now, Zu?