Fermanagh v Dublin AIQ/Final

[haranguerer]

Look at the Dublin match in isolation, and fair enough. But it isn't in isolation - it was the sign off on a very good season. The way the game finished also contributed massively - the players would have been clapped off regardless, but the cheering was a result of the last ten min where they scored two goals, and some great points. Those last ten minutes were great craic! And it was in a tongue in cheek way, not 'we're great'. Why not have a good time if you can? I don't think Pete McGrath will settle for 8 point defeats, and I'm sure he'll have made that pretty clear to the players too.

BC, of course the 2004 fermanagh team were better. They had been great since the qualifiers, and took some notable scalps, esp meath who they seemed to knock out every year, and who were good then...But in 2003 they got to the qf and were hammered by Tyrone. We expected better, and it was not a good day, yet in 2004 we had our best year ever, beating Meath, hammering Cork, beating Donegal and Armagh. That teams last hurrah was 2008, and we all said to ourselves, it'll be a long time before we see the like of '04 again, but here is a very young team who perhaps could be as good. It would be great to win an AI, (or anything for that matter), but if we ever were to achieve those giddy heights, I would hope that in doing so our expectations wouldn't become so skewed that we could never again take joy in anything less, as it seems to have done with nearly everyone else.

[The Hill is Blue]

I haven't saw the game on TV yet, but going on what I saw at the match, and my take on it...

Dublin won comfortably, but they weren't comfortable in their performance. And I don't know about complacency going in to the game, but it wasn't a 'foot off the gas' scenario. Fermanagh, particularly in the first half, dominated midfield and the break area, they had the lions share of possession in that first half too (ht stats showed they had 60% of possession), and were largely able to work possession into scoreable positions. Where the difference was was in terms of efficiency; Fermanagh had four opportunities for scores before Dublin had one - Dublin scored theirs however, Fermanagh put three wide and one short. Perhaps in the highlights, it looked like a game whereby Dublin pulled ahead easily enough and took their foot of the pedal, but while Dublin continued to be much more efficient than Fermanagh, they were getting their fill of it out the field. The corrigans and quigley were all able to win ball, and the corrigans and mccusker took players on and more often than not got by them.

For all that, Dublin continued to pull away; Bernard Brogan, although there was slack enough marking at times, was a joy to watch, and the match seemed to be going very much to script. The +14 the bookies had offered seemed to be a benchmark of what would be a decent result for Fermanagh, and 10 down at ht it didn't look that achievable, especially given Dublins propensity for really pulling away in the last 15 min.

It continued in much the same vein in the second half - I didn't see the second half stats; Dublin won more possession round the middle than they had the first, but there were large periods where it was tit for tat, some good scores from Fermanagh being responded to by simple scores by Dublin. The goal shouldn't have counted obviously - the scenario, whereby he hadn't awarded a free straight off, put him a quandary when it was called back and the umpire told him it had crossed the line. He should have cleared his head and taken longer to think about the situation, but what was surprising was that it did seem to rattle Dublin.

That goal was celebrated raucously, and the atmosphere from there til the end was the best prolonged atmosphere I've ever experienced at a gaelic match. It was just having the craic at the scenario, an underdog (altho under no illusions they were going to get beaten) taking the p*ss out of a great team; the hill were booing quigley, who was loving it, Fermanagh were hitting some great scores and also got another goal from a mix up: it was just sheer pantomime, and great craic altogether.

A lot has been made of the contrasting free count, having  not seen the game on tv I'd say Fermanagh got one or two that you were thinking were soft enough, but not many more, and I don't remember an incident where Dublin were denied a clear cut free - perhaps watching a replay will clear that up for me though. The reality for me was that we were often too far off in defence, and seemed perhaps overly concerned with preventing goals; the low free count for Dublin an indictment of not being near enough the shooter to put good pressure on them, rather than an indicator of a heavily biased referee. Referees in gaa do have way too much influence on the game though, it is something that needs to be looked at, and I'd definitely be in favour of their matches being reviewed with an assessor after the game so their decisions would have to be explained.

I note a few have been critical of the fermanagh team being cheered off the field, and the players reacting accordingly, and I can see that an argument could be made that if defeat is celebrated, then perhaps there is a danger it would be settled for...but this fails to take into account the evolution of a team. With each good campaign, the bar is raised. A lot has been learnt from that campaign, and if we were to get through to the QF next year, we'd be expecting more than an honourable defeat no matter who we were up against. We were celebratnig the start of a new era for Fermanagh, and I'd like to think the support gives them a greater incentive to push on.

In relation to Dublin, this hasn't been a bad game for them at all imo. They won easily, but frailties were exposed; Fermanagh were through on goal at least 4 times, and they dominated midfield and breaks for significant periods. These frailties were there, better for them to be exposed now in a win than against Kerry or someone when its too late to recover. They were also probably exaggerated a bit (esp mf) with the changes that were made; perhaps Gavin was trying not to show his hand, either way, I'd much rather have had Dublins game than Kerrys, and I don't think I'd make much distinction as to who actually is in the better position. One thing I would say though it that it seems to me in modern football, despite the defensive systems [and actually because of them] there are goals there for the taking if a bit of nous is used, and the gooch is unmatched for that sort of nous.

+1

Very well written summary of the game.

(However, I'll have to disagree with you on the performance of the referee. Having seen the game again on television later I thought that up to 50% of Fermanagh's frees were soft  )

[general_lee]

Monaghan has a bigger population than Fermanagh, but only just. Population means feck all really though in grand scheme of things, if you're a rural county with only 20 clubs you'll always have a far smaller pick (Not to mention a load of steel rods)

Honestly though you'd think some people didn't watch the game, Fermanagh took the absolute piss out of Dublin, how could they not laugh going off the pitch? Quigley was winding the dubs up all through the second half. When's the last time you saw an inter county footballer show such enjoyment during a game?

I'm sure they have since had serious reflection on their season and what they plan on next year. McGrath has instilled a bit of belief and I reckon they'll target an Ulster final next year.

[Rossfan]

McGuinness makes some very good observations in that article and it's part of an overall GAA problem, the growing gulf in standards.

He did.... but... he fell for the oul myth that the black card was brought in because of the Cavanagh tackle v Monaghan.
As we on this Board all know of course  it had been passed by Congress a few moths earlier but wasn't to come into operation till 1/1/2014.

[haranguerer]

To put things in perspective,  Monaghan has a smaller population than Fermanagh,  8 more clubs.  I know there is a fair Protestant community in Fermanagh but there's a few in Monaghan too, they just play the games!!!    Fermanagh will do well this year, push to a final in Ulster in the next 2 years if the draw is kind but ultimately they will fall back to the nearly men category.  This is the way of things and unless there is a significant change in the club structures and the schools football then there will be no building on this current 'success'.  People are saying how they kept Dublin within 10 points.  If the first 'goal' had not been given I reckon Dublin would have coasted on to a 15 point win.  Let's not fool ourselves any further.

Just to note; Monaghan were Ulster champions in 2013. They played Dublin last year after another final, and the margin of defeat was 17 points. I was at the game and it was utterly over, after 9 minutes. That was Ulster finalists who had just been dethroned as Ulster champions.

[Rossfan]

Monaghan has a bigger population than Fermanagh,

They have double the "GAA minded" population of Fermanagh.
Fermanagh have to be quite pleased with their 2015 achievements overall, (yet have no shiny cup or cupeen to show for it all) and were enjoying a rare big Championship day out in Croker so good luck to them.
However will they ever ( or Leitrim, Longford or Carlow ) ever have a big day out with a chance of winning there?

[deiseach]

I think it's too early to talk of a crisis, that the top 4-6 are racing away from everyone else. There are a few counties in Leinster in particular who really need to pull their socks instead of cowering behind the population excuse that definitely does not apply to them. The problem is I don't know at what point it is acceptable to talk of a crisis . . .

[Jinxy]

A large proportion of the free were classic examples of penalising the stronger man.
Some of the Fermanagh forwards are very small & light.
That's not Dublin's problem.
If I tackle someone fairly, and he falls over in the process, that's not a free.

[Jinxy]

I think it's  too early to talk of a crisis, that the top 4-6 are racing away from everyone else. There are a few counties in Leinster in particular who really need to pull their socks instead of cowering behind the population excuse that definitely does not apply to them. The problem is I don't know at what point it is acceptable to talk of a crisis . . .

This is the GAA.
It's never too early to talk of a crisis.

[deiseach]

I think it's  too early to talk of a crisis, that the top 4-6 are racing away from everyone else. There are a few counties in Leinster in particular who really need to pull their socks instead of cowering behind the population excuse that definitely does not apply to them. The problem is I don't know at what point it is acceptable to talk of a crisis . . .

This is the GAA.
It's never too early to talk of a crisis.

[JoG2]

Monaghan has a bigger population than Fermanagh,

They have double the "GAA minded" population of Fermanagh.
Fermanagh have to be quite pleased with their 2015 achievements overall, (yet have no shiny cup or cupeen to show for it all) and were enjoying a rare big Championship day out in Croker so good luck to them.
However will they ever ( or Leitrim, Longford or Carlow ) ever have a big day out with a chance of winning there?

You're a Roscommon man correct? You tell them !

[imtommygunn]

Monaghan has a bigger population than Fermanagh,

They have double the "GAA minded" population of Fermanagh.
Fermanagh have to be quite pleased with their 2015 achievements overall, (yet have no shiny cup or cupeen to show for it all) and were enjoying a rare big Championship day out in Croker so good luck to them.
However will they ever ( or Leitrim, Longford or Carlow ) ever have a big day out with a chance of winning there?

I don't know why you pick those 4. You could apply the same to about 20-25 other counties including your own.

The gap between the top 3 or 4 is large and getting bigger. The smaller teams just can't do the preparation the bigger teams can. That leavs them miles behind in fitness and conditioning stakes never mind the football side of it.

[JoG2]

A large proportion of the free were classic examples of penalising the stronger man.
Some of the Fermanagh forwards are very small & light.
That's not Dublin's problem.
If I tackle someone fairly, and he falls over in the process, that's not a free.

this for me though is probably my biggest bugbear in football in general. A man gets touched (not fouled), goes to ground, what percentage of the time does he get a free? I'd say its a pretty high percentage

The McHughs now &  Dooher, Canavan were the absolute best at 'creating' a foul....a real gear grinder

[Jinxy]

Yeah, it was Tyrone that started it off.

[Boycey]

A large proportion of the free were classic examples of penalising the stronger man.
Some of the Fermanagh forwards are very small & light.
That's not Dublin's problem.
If I tackle someone fairly, and he falls over in the process, that's not a free.

this for me though is probably my biggest bugbear in football in general. A man gets touched (not fouled), goes to ground, what percentage of the time does he get a free? I'd say its a pretty high percentage

The McHughs now &  Dooher, Canavan were the absolute best at 'creating' a foul....a real gear grinder

Is the biggest bugbear not that its virtually impossible to tackle someone "fairly"