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

[INDIANA]

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>.

Dinny you've had good structure at underage for about 3 years. Give it a chance man.

I know someone in your development system who's a former Kildare player and he said to me they thought they had a good structure at underage level and when they analysed it again 5 years ago they realised they were miles behind. Miles behind. Off the page was how it was described to me.

If you don't get 5 seniors off that minor team you don't deserve to be back! Just look at that Kildare team yesterday. It was a Dublin team wearing white. Superbly conditioned playing a kick passing style of football with lovely natural forwards. 100% the best Kildare minor team I've seen ever.

[haranguerer]

No conspiracy on steps anyway, the whole country gets away with ten, fifteen if a shot is coming. Its beyond a joke

[easytiger95]

The dubs "sledging" was overly exaggerated by the media and continues to be - they were always more sinned against than sinning - people seem to forget examples like McMenamin to Brogan in 2008, Rooney in 2007, and of course, the greatest example of all, Mayo 2006, when a team were told what end to go to, ignored the instructions completely, and became instant folk heroes to the rest of the country. God forbid the whining had we done anything like those examples to other counties. (don;t get me wrong, the 2006 pre match had nothing to do with our eventual defeat).

As for the current state of affairs, it just baffles me the short termism of fans of GAA - ye spent 16 years laughing at our ineffectiveness at the business end of the championship, but when we finally get our shit together, we're meant to feel guilty about it? Good jaysis.

The underage record bar a purple patch for about 2 or 3 years for us, suggests an evenly matched province. Our current set of forwards are probably the most effective in the country, but they can be neutralised, as Donegal twice proved in the past four years, as Mayo did in the All Ireland of 2013 and the semi in 2012. If Leinster counties were really serious about saving the provincial championship they'd bite the bullet and play us on the road. As it is, the cash cow that was Dublin in Leinster is in danger of dying - 7 or 8 years ago you had full houses for Leinster finals against Kildare and Meath - that will not happen again easily.

But most of all, Leinster counties need to ditch the fatalism when it comes to Dublin. We will always dominate Leinster - that is just demographics, but does not preclude brilliant smash and grab raids like Laois/Westmeath in the noughties. Until managers decide to be brave and innovate against us, they will always get the same result. Going in man for man against us is the very definition of madness - doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome. It is not surprising that it was men like Paidi and Micko who gave us great problems in Leinster, as they had great respect but zero sentiment for Dublin football.

It's not like we're coming up with different game plans every week. We're there to be knocked down, and it's about time a Magee type figure appeared to try and mastermind something like that.

[INDIANA]

No conspiracy on steps anyway, the whole country gets away with ten, fifteen if a shot is coming. Its beyond a joke

Only if you're MainStreet who is the most bitter anti Dub bar some of the Laois planks. Main Street is still investigating the JFK shooting such is his love of conspiracies. He's looking for the Dublin GAA connection.

[Teo Lurley]

The dubs "sledging" was overly exaggerated by the media and continues to be - they were always more sinned against than sinning - people seem to forget examples like McMenamin to Brogan in 2008, Rooney in 2007, and of course, the greatest example of all, Mayo 2006, when a team were told what end to go to, ignored the instructions completely, and became instant folk heroes to the rest of the country. God forbid the whining had we done anything like those examples to other counties. (don;t get me wrong, the 2006 pre match had nothing to do with our eventual defeat).

The Dubs were a nasty bunch under Pillar, always mouthing, some real nasty stuff aswell. Oh how dare Mayo take over the Dublin end, Dublin play every game at home and must have the home dressing room and their own side of the pitch to warm up on. What a joke.

As for the current state of affairs, it just baffles me the short termism of fans of GAA - ye spent 16 years laughing at our ineffectiveness at the business end of the championship, but when we finally get our shit together, we're meant to feel guilty about it? Good jaysis.

It has recently come to my attention that Dublin have been in receipt of large sums of money from numerous sources. This has been the reason for your improvements.

The underage record bar a purple patch for about 2 or 3 years for us, suggests an evenly matched province. Our current set of forwards are probably the most effective in the country, but they can be neutralised, as Donegal twice proved in the past four years, as Mayo did in the All Ireland of 2013 and the semi in 2012. If Leinster counties were really serious about saving the provincial championship they'd bite the bullet and play us on the road. As it is, the cash cow that was Dublin in Leinster is in danger of dying - 7 or 8 years ago you had full houses for Leinster finals against Kildare and Meath - that will not happen again easily.

How many times have the Dublin county board voted to have Dublin play outside Croke Park?

But most of all, Leinster counties need to ditch the fatalism when it comes to Dublin. We will always dominate Leinster - that is just demographics, but does not preclude brilliant smash and grab raids like Laois/Westmeath in the noughties. Until managers decide to be brave and innovate against us, they will always get the same result. Going in man for man against us is the very definition of madness - doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome. It is not surprising that it was men like Paidi and Micko who gave us great problems in Leinster, as they had great respect but zero sentiment for Dublin football.

It's hard to compete against a professional team.

It's not like we're coming up with different game plans every week. We're there to be knocked down, and it's about time a Magee type figure appeared to try and mastermind something like that.

You've killed Leinster, time to stop funding for Dublin and give it to the rest, that will even things up.

[The Hill is Blue]

The dubs "sledging" was overly exaggerated by the media and continues to be - they were always more sinned against than sinning - people seem to forget examples like McMenamin to Brogan in 2008, Rooney in 2007, and of course, the greatest example of all, Mayo 2006, when a team were told what end to go to, ignored the instructions completely, and became instant folk heroes to the rest of the country. God forbid the whining had we done anything like those examples to other counties. (don;t get me wrong, the 2006 pre match had nothing to do with our eventual defeat).

The Dubs were a nasty bunch under Pillar, always mouthing, some real nasty stuff aswell. Oh how dare Mayo take over the Dublin end, Dublin play every game at home and must have the home dressing room and their own side of the pitch to warm up on. What a joke.

As for the current state of affairs, it just baffles me the short termism of fans of GAA - ye spent 16 years laughing at our ineffectiveness at the business end of the championship, but when we finally get our shit together, we're meant to feel guilty about it? Good jaysis.

It has recently come to my attention that Dublin have been in receipt of large sums of money from numerous sources. This has been the reason for your improvements.

The underage record bar a purple patch for about 2 or 3 years for us, suggests an evenly matched province. Our current set of forwards are probably the most effective in the country, but they can be neutralised, as Donegal twice proved in the past four years, as Mayo did in the All Ireland of 2013 and the semi in 2012. If Leinster counties were really serious about saving the provincial championship they'd bite the bullet and play us on the road. As it is, the cash cow that was Dublin in Leinster is in danger of dying - 7 or 8 years ago you had full houses for Leinster finals against Kildare and Meath - that will not happen again easily.

How many times have the Dublin county board voted to have Dublin play outside Croke Park?

But most of all, Leinster counties need to ditch the fatalism when it comes to Dublin. We will always dominate Leinster - that is just demographics, but does not preclude brilliant smash and grab raids like Laois/Westmeath in the noughties. Until managers decide to be brave and innovate against us, they will always get the same result. Going in man for man against us is the very definition of madness - doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome. It is not surprising that it was men like Paidi and Micko who gave us great problems in Leinster, as they had great respect but zero sentiment for Dublin football.

It's hard to compete against a professional team.

It's not like we're coming up with different game plans every week. We're there to be knocked down, and it's about time a Magee type figure appeared to try and mastermind something like that.

You've killed Leinster, time to stop funding for Dublin and give it to the rest, that will even things up.

Is there a troll production line in Queens County? Maybe they should concentrate on producing footballers.

[joemamas]

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.

But we have footballers too and Laois don't.

Because you're shite.

Indiana,

You seem to be pretty reasonable. But to be honest, I also did a double take when I heard the bold Marty thanking the Dublin media manager for bringing Cian O Sullivan or whomever to the studio. It was defiantly a holy shit moment. Could you ever in your widest drunkenness imagine any other of the other counties having a media manager for an inter county team.

[AZOffaly]

Actually Joe, I can. In fact some people already have them, but they have titles like Liaison officer, or else the PRO brokers interviews as part of his/her role. I'm sure Dublin aren't the only county that ask players to approve any interviews.

[easytiger95]

Most counties have PROs, a lot of them have farmed out the function of getting players to interviews to a specific member of the backroom team.

[AZOffaly]

Yep. Usually called the Media Liaison officer, or the meeja man.

[easytiger95]

The dubs "sledging" was overly exaggerated by the media and continues to be - they were always more sinned against than sinning - people seem to forget examples like McMenamin to Brogan in 2008, Rooney in 2007, and of course, the greatest example of all, Mayo 2006, when a team were told what end to go to, ignored the instructions completely, and became instant folk heroes to the rest of the country. God forbid the whining had we done anything like those examples to other counties. (don;t get me wrong, the 2006 pre match had nothing to do with our eventual defeat).

The Dubs were a nasty bunch under Pillar, always mouthing, some real nasty stuff aswell. Oh how dare Mayo take over the Dublin end, Dublin play every game at home and must have the home dressing room and their own side of the pitch to warm up on. What a joke.

As for the current state of affairs, it just baffles me the short termism of fans of GAA - ye spent 16 years laughing at our ineffectiveness at the business end of the championship, but when we finally get our shit together, we're meant to feel guilty about it? Good jaysis.

It has recently come to my attention that Dublin have been in receipt of large sums of money from numerous sources. This has been the reason for your improvements.

The underage record bar a purple patch for about 2 or 3 years for us, suggests an evenly matched province. Our current set of forwards are probably the most effective in the country, but they can be neutralised, as Donegal twice proved in the past four years, as Mayo did in the All Ireland of 2013 and the semi in 2012. If Leinster counties were really serious about saving the provincial championship they'd bite the bullet and play us on the road. As it is, the cash cow that was Dublin in Leinster is in danger of dying - 7 or 8 years ago you had full houses for Leinster finals against Kildare and Meath - that will not happen again easily.

How many times have the Dublin county board voted to have Dublin play outside Croke Park?

But most of all, Leinster counties need to ditch the fatalism when it comes to Dublin. We will always dominate Leinster - that is just demographics, but does not preclude brilliant smash and grab raids like Laois/Westmeath in the noughties. Until managers decide to be brave and innovate against us, they will always get the same result. Going in man for man against us is the very definition of madness - doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome. It is not surprising that it was men like Paidi and Micko who gave us great problems in Leinster, as they had great respect but zero sentiment for Dublin football.

It's hard to compete against a professional team.

It's not like we're coming up with different game plans every week. We're there to be knocked down, and it's about time a Magee type figure appeared to try and mastermind something like that.

You've killed Leinster, time to stop funding for Dublin and give it to the rest, that will even things up.

Hi don't matter - back again are we?

I've given examples of sledging against us - you've given general abuse. The dubs were told by Croke Park where to warm up, as were Mayo - only one county ignored it. If they had told us to go to the Canal End and we didn't you'd have a point - but you don't.

No, it hasn't recently come to your attention - you've been beating the same drum for three years. It's not about money, it's how you spend it. Also, if we were winning All Ireland's every year, you'd have a point - but you don't.

How many times have Laois voted to have Dublin play outside Croke Park? If Dublin had a casting vote on the Leinster council, you'd have a point - but you don't.

It was always hard to compete against Dublin - didn't stop Offaly in the 70s, Meath in the 80s and 90s, Laois and Westmeath in noughties. If half the Laois players of the last ten years weren't up in Dublin playing for clubs, you'd have a point about professionalism - but you don't.

We didn't kill anything - we got better at marshalling our playing resources. If other Leinster counties were better at bringing through the huge amount of minor talent at their disposal and were still losing, you'd have a point - but you don't.

[Dinny Breen]

I see the Gardai have been called to Croke Park to investigate a murder



Full story here

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2015/06/29/wwn-gaa-gardai-identify-remains-of-kildare-team/

[Shamrock Shore]

How many times have the Dublin county board voted to have Dublin play outside Croke Park?

Point of order - how can Dublin County Board have a say in where Leinster fixtures are? They have only 1/12 of the vote.

As for the rest of the post - well I am not going there!

[Main Street]

No conspiracy on steps anyway, the whole country gets away with ten, fifteen if a shot is coming. Its beyond a joke

Except Longford when they played Dublin. There were a couple of times early on, a Longford player on the attack, bearing down on goal, would be mid stride, between 4th and 5th step, but the ref blew up for over carrying.

[Teo Lurley]

Hi don't matter - back again are we?

I've given examples of sledging against us - you've given general abuse. The dubs were told by Croke Park where to warm up, as were Mayo - only one county ignored it. If they had told us to go to the Canal End and we didn't you'd have a point - but you don't.

No, it hasn't recently come to your attention - you've been beating the same drum for three years. It's not about money, it's how you spend it. Also, if we were winning All Ireland's every year, you'd have a point - but you don't.

How many times have Laois voted to have Dublin play outside Croke Park? If Dublin had a casting vote on the Leinster council, you'd have a point - but you don't.

It was always hard to compete against Dublin - didn't stop Offaly in the 70s, Meath in the 80s and 90s, Laois and Westmeath in noughties. If half the Laois players of the last ten years weren't up in Dublin playing for clubs, you'd have a point about professionalism - but you don't.

We didn't kill anything - we got better at marshalling our playing resources. If other Leinster counties were better at bringing through the huge amount of minor talent at their disposal and were still losing, you'd have a point - but you don't.

This has been brought up a few times. I don't know who don't matter is.

It wasn't general abuse, it was personal and very nasty. If Dublin ever were asked to warm up at the Canal end you'd have a point but you don't.

It has just recently come to my attention. Over 2 million from the GAA every year plus multi millions from a long list of sponsors. With that much money it's easy to see why you can beat teams by 20+ points. How many Leinsters have Dublin won in the last decade? They only get beaten by teams in the All Ireland series because they've invested loads of money in their teams also.

Laois county board have voted to have Dublin play outside Croke Park a good few times. Dublin county board has never done this.

Teams used to have a chance against Dublin, especially when the Dubs didn't have every game at home. That chance is gone now. How can an amateur team defeat a professional one? Only a few Laois players were up in Dublin working or studying and playing for Dublin clubs.

You got better at managing the player resources when you got the money to pay people to manage the player resources.

There's not many professional teams in Ireland. The soccer league isn't professional I don't think, the majority of GAA teams are amateur, only the provinces in rugby are professional. Imagine a rugby game between Leinster and a big club team in Ireland, Shannon or one of them boys. Shannon would have no chance against Leinster. That's similar to what we seen yesterday with Dublin and Kildare.