LSFC 2015 Semi Final - Dublin v Kildare, June 28th 4pm.

[Dinny Breen]

Well done Dublin. Time to go back to the drawing board in Kildare.

Ye must have run out of pages on it by now!

Ha! Irony alert!

[Shamrock Shore]

Dublin beat Longford (population 40k) by 27 points: Sky falling

Dublin beat Kildare by 19 points (population 210k) : Nothing to see here....move on.

Hmmmmmmm 

[easytiger95]

McStay reckons that neither Kilkenny or Connolly deserved a yellow card despite the evidence on camera!

I'd side with McStay. Both were dragged into a yellow card. Neither were the aggressor. It's one thing I hate about the game!

Neither had they to get involved. The Dubs were winning by a bucketful, they should be able to laugh in the aggressors face and point at the scoreboard. Connolly blocked a quick free then got involved in afters. Kilkenny could have walked away without a card as well, but he decided to grab the lilywhite by the scruff of the jersey/neck. I understand why it happens in a close, tight and intense match, but not in a training session like that.

Can i just savour the irony here - it was exactly those actions, ignoring the invitation to a fight and pointing at the scoreboard in the Leinster final in 2007 against Laois, that got Dublin their completely undeserved reputation as sledgers - see Colm O'Rourke's Sindo column from 3 weeks ago. I'm all for a team not getting physical when the match is won, but the crap Dublin had to listen to after that incident no doubt hardened the conviction that teams could have it whichever way they liked against us - ie as Geezer famously said "You wanna play football, we'll play football. You wanna box...."

[AZOffaly]

easytiger, that Dublin team did talk shite. Ask Bryan Cullen what he was saying to Declan O'Sullivan in that game years ago, until O'Sullivan scored about 1-4 and shut him up, without pointing at the scoreboard once.

In fairness the current Dubs don't seem to have that, and they are all the better for it. Maybe Johnny Cooper

[squire_in_navy_slacks]

easytiger, that Dublin team did talk shite. Ask Bryan Cullen what he was saying to Declan O'Sullivan in that game years ago, until O'Sullivan scored about 1-4 and shut him up, without pointing at the scoreboard once.

In fairness the current Dubs don't seem to have that, and they are all the better for it. Maybe Johnny Cooper

ffs will you just go off and do a bit off fist pumping with David Brady

[heffo]

easytiger, that Dublin team did talk shite. Ask Bryan Cullen what he was saying to Declan O'Sullivan in that game years ago, until O'Sullivan scored about 1-4 and shut him up, without pointing at the scoreboard once.

They did to their shame at a time when it was the northern hordes had introduced it and they tried to catch up

[AZOffaly]

easytiger, that Dublin team did talk shite. Ask Bryan Cullen what he was saying to Declan O'Sullivan in that game years ago, until O'Sullivan scored about 1-4 and shut him up, without pointing at the scoreboard once.

In fairness the current Dubs don't seem to have that, and they are all the better for it. Maybe Johnny Cooper

ffs will you just go off and do a bit off fist pumping with David Brady

Not sure what that means, but I think even Dublin lads would acknowledge they sort of lost their way there a bit under Pillar with regard to discipline and real focus.

[Main Street]

Dublin have a basketball coach now. Do they have other coaches aswell? I wonder is he working for free.

Did Micko work for free?

Had to laugh this evening when Marty on his radio show thanked Can O'Sullivan for coming on and also thanked his Communications Manager for making him available
Just how many people have Dublin employed?

They have peope to tell them what to eat and when to eat, what to say and when to say it, what to think, when to go to bed, when to get up, when and what to drink, what time they train, when they train, what type of training, they have people to get them clothes, to give thme cars, to get them time off work, to teach them how to live the life of a world champion, I think they're getting a personal tissue attendant next.

It's a disgrace.
That's not football, it's communism.
Except for the clothes & cars.

There's a bit of truth in the extent of the backroom staff.
There was some clash near the end of the game,  and while the ref was just beginning the process of sorting it out,  the dub player looked emotional and out of control, as quick as a flash, 2 minders came on to the pitch, one to smear a bit of blood on his face and the other to give him emergency counselling  on anger control.

btw do the Dubs have a special dispensation from the 4 step rule? Connolly must have taken about 8 for the Dub's 3rd and  whilst the RTE panel were highlighting some good defence work by the Dubs, on the screen  Cooper was on the ball all on his own, took 5 steps forward 6 steps backward.
Not only do the Dubs have a dispensation but no one notices it.

[Chimley]

Well done Dublin. Time to go back to the drawing board in Kildare.

Ye must have run out of pages on it by now!

Our own drawing board has seen plenty of scribbling down the years in fairness.

Dublin are really ruthless when they get on top of the opposition. It remains to be seen if they have learned to grind out a win when things are not going to plan at the business end of the championship. They really need a tough test or two before facing Kerry or Donegal later on but I'm not sure where it's going to come from.
I felt sorry for Kildare yesterday. They started brightly enough but the goals killed them. The problem is that Dublin know that and go for them more than any other team. The team that scores more goals than Dublin will most likely beat them this year but I'm not sure that team is out there

[Dinny Breen]

Meh!!!! Tell a team enough times that that are going to be hammered and it just then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Dublin are just a mental behemoth over every side in Leinster, add in their tactical edge and depth (what a bench yesterday) and the Leinster championship games featuring Dublin become predictable and boring. Everyone keeps saying this is cyclical but this cycle is going on 10 years and I struggle to see any signs of it abating, although since 2009 we have played Dublin at minor level 7 times with 3 wins apiece and a draw so perhaps some hope there.

You had your chances 2009-2011 to beat us . That's when you should have clipped us.The current Dublin team is an exceptional crew and you just have to accept that. But the tide is turning at underage football and the tide will turn at senior level. It's dublins current forwards that are the difference.

Yea that's fair comment, but could off not should off, closely matched sides and we never got a real rub of green in that period. You can be philosophical and say the tide will turn but Dublin have won 30 of the last 60 Leinster titles with 10 of then coming in the last 13 years, so the philosophy doesn't really match the facts especially when Meath and Offaly winner of 24 titles in that period have become impotent. In fact Offaly will never return to the top table, dual status is killing them, population is too small to sustain two codes. Which probably leaves Meath and Kildare, Meath have the culture and history but underage is not producing (no Leinster minor since 2008 and no u21 since 2001) , Kildare have decent underage structures but 3 Leinster senior titles in that 60 year period tells it's own story about our culture and history.

Maybe the solution is to put Kildare footballers into Meath jerseys <shudder>.

[AZOffaly]

I disagree about Offaly not returning to at least competitiveness in Leinster. Dual status isn't that much of a factor for us, because of the way the county is split. The issue with Offaly has been the assumption that these things look after themselves, and another crop will come around eventually. That message seems to have sunk in, maybe 10 years too late, and with the right work, I think Offaly can, and will, challenge in Leinster again, at least challenge teams like Meath, Kildare, Laois and Westmeath. Dublin is a bit of an exception at the moment, but if the investment put in there continues to pay off, we are all goosed.

I think the GAA perceived a problem in Dublin about 15 years ago, and wanted to take action to ensure that the Capital would remain a GAA hotspot. Unfortunately in doing so, they have created another problem which is that the investment in Dublin has been brilliantly spent, and therefore the other counties are being left a mile behind. At some point people will stop going to games between Dublin and anyone else in Leinster, and at that stage it will be too late.

Maybe the GAA assumed the Dubs would squander a pile of money, like a lot of other county boards have!

[Dinny Breen]

I'll stick up an Kildare Offaly thread to discuss Offaly.

[INDIANA]

Dublin have a basketball coach now. Do they have other coaches aswell? I wonder is he working for free.

Did Micko work for free?

Had to laugh this evening when Marty on his radio show thanked Can O'Sullivan for coming on and also thanked his Communications Manager for making him available
Just how many people have Dublin employed?

They have peope to tell them what to eat and when to eat, what to say and when to say it, what to think, when to go to bed, when to get up, when and what to drink, what time they train, when they train, what type of training, they have people to get them clothes, to give thme cars, to get them time off work, to teach them how to live the life of a world champion, I think they're getting a personal tissue attendant next.

It's a disgrace.
That's not football, it's communism.
Except for the clothes & cars.

There's a bit of truth in the extent of the backroom staff.
There was some clash near the end of the game,  and while the ref was just beginning the process of sorting it out,  the dub player looked emotional and out of control, as quick as a flash, 2 minders came on to the pitch, one to smear a bit of blood on his face and the other to give him emergency counselling  on anger control.

btw do the Dubs have a special dispensation from the 4 step rule? Connolly must have taken about 8 for the Dub's 3rd and  whilst the RTE panel were highlighting some good defence work by the Dubs, on the screen  Cooper was on the ball all on his own, took 5 steps forward 6 steps backward.
Not only do the Dubs have a dispensation but no one notices it.

You really are a bitter man.

[AZOffaly]

I'll stick up an Kildare Offaly thread to discuss Offaly.

Was just going to say that

[imtommygunn]

On the dub conspiracy agenda Cooper was deemed to have done a great bit of defending when the Kildare fella(15 I think) had a goal chance in the first half and ended up with a fresh air shot. The commentators kept going on and on about how great a bit of defending it was. He had hold of the Kildare guy's right arm!

That aside I don't think there's much conspiracy...