MEATH VS DUBLIN: 3RD JUNE

[bottlethrower7]

The precedent has been laid down by the GAA in their recommendation that 8 players be suspended following events in the Clare-Cork game last weekend. They also stated that no further action was needed in the Offaly-Laois game as the referee dealt with the situation by issuing yellow cards. Yesterday in the Dublin-Meath game we had 2 incidents, one of which was described by RTE commentator Darragh Moloney as a 'mass brawl'. Both incidents involved little more than 'handbags', but it seems that 'handbags' is now a dirty word. The scenes were as disgraceful as those last week and if I had kids I certainly wouldn't want them watching that.

My question is, will the GAA act as they did last week? My estimation is that about 8 players, 5 from Meath (including Geraghty for incidents not related to the 2 mentioned) and at least 3 from Dublin are as deserving of bans as anyone from Cork or Clare.

Will we see consistency from the GAA? The referee failed to deal with either incident yesterday and instead chose to ignore them (in fact he seemed to ignore everything that happened), so they can't get away with the clause that prevented further action from Laois and Offaly players.

Or are the rules only applicable to players with sticks, even if they don't use them?

What I want to know is, how is what happened on the field of play yesterday in the 2 incidents mentioned, any different from lads fighting in the chipper on a saturday night?

Hardy, I'd be particularly interested in your opinion? Am I right in calling for this consistency to be maintained, given the 'dangerous' precedent the GAA (and I say the GAA as it was they made the recommendation to the CCC) laid down during this past week.

I really hope they do. Then we'll see what a farce their original decision was. Of course my real opinion of yesterday is that there should be no further action (maybe with the exception of Geraghty). I'm merely making a point.

[full back]

Good tight, hard game.
Few minor points
Referee let the game go & helped make it a spectacle, but 2 mistakes in regards the goals.
Disappointed in Mossy Quinn & Joe Sheridan - was expecting big performances from both men but their shot selection & awareness on the ball was not what it should be.
GG was way OTT with the 2 punches to the head, should have walked
Ray Cosgrove diving & feigning injury was terrible and should also
Both teams will be glad to get another craic at it
Dublin have too many passengers & if Meath can get of to a decent start next day have a chance of overturning them

[INDIANA]

as im concerned i hope Dublin never win another All Ireland because their fans are not proper Gaels."

well done tar us all with the same brush -tell me how long did it take to come up with that. I'm not defending the louts on the hill for the bottle throwing because you can't defend it -it was loutish behaviour at its best. I was on the Hill and saw the Gardai ignore the incident.They were there in force yesterday on the Hill but just stood around. Louts like that won't obey the law if you don't enforce them. But to say we are all teh same says more about your intelligence then it does about anything else.

off. As far as im concerned i hope Dublin never win another All Ireland because their fans are not proper Gaels."

And other counties don't jeer other counties freetakers and don't abuse their players. Do you ever read this website you gobshite and see the sort of abuse stephen kernan gets off his own "so-called fans"Really your post is becoming embarrassing at this stage.

Its happened me plenty of times and i know it looks bad but usually there is no intent. "

A full force punch to the head with the ball gone. I'm glad you aren't a ref because your local hospital would be under siege from the amount of strectchers coming in the door. GG is a toerag - always was- always will be.

[Main Street]

I woudn't miss this game for anything.
Dublin Meath games should have form of an amnesty  just because a camera picks up a cowardly punch it should not mean a suspension.
In a game like that you need two refs.
In the end it was a draw and that was fair natural justice.  
The worst tackle that I saw on screen was the 2nd half 'tackle' on a Dub player in mid air while fielding the ball was clearly flung with force to the ground and got hurt. Nobody seemed to take a blind bit of notice even though everybody seemed to see it.
I'd grudgingly say Dublin played some great football while Meath out fought them. Dublin had the better discipline when I thought they should have been responding in kind to the Meath tactics.

Do the neutrals enjoy this spectacle more than the Meath and Dub fans?

[darbyo]

will the GAA act as they did last week? My estimation is that about 8 players, 5 from Meath (including Geraghty for incidents not related to the 2 mentioned) and at least 3 from Dublin are as deserving of bans as anyone from Cork or Clare.

Think it's a bit of an apples and oranges situation in fairness, I was at the Cork/Clare game sitting directly behind the players as they emerged from the tunnel and while I'm not in the 'won't somebody please think of the children' crowd I think some action needs to be taken against both counties. I saw Gardiner get at least one punch to the face and Sean Og dropped his hurley to grab and eventually pin a Clare player. I don't think any of the incidents outside of Geraghty's second punch is even worthy of a second mention or compareable to Thurles. The big difference though is that the Cork/Clare 'dust up' happened as they emerged from the tunnel and this makes it all the more unseemly.
                                 In saying that if I owned the GAA there wouldn't be any suspensions dished out for either game, I like that element to our games, feigning injury like Cosgrove did would be the suspendable incindent.

[full back]

Did anyone see the Meath fan on the Hill with the 1/2 bottle of vodka?
The camera man wasnt long changing the shot when he realised what it was

[Bud Wiser]

I was sitting directly in line with G.G's goal yesterday and yes he did put his hand on the Dub players back as he rose for the ball.  However, he did not push him and his action had no effect whatsoever in him scoring what I thought was a perfectly legit goal, and a good one at that.  Of course I will be told now that it is an offence to put a hand on a players back but if you want to take this to a logical debate then every game would be riddled with frees from throw in to every kick out.

Kieran Wheelan looked like he arrived in Croke Parkk from Meath having walked from Navan. He didn't make himself available and spent the day walking around with his hands on his hips looking at the ground. Only for our own clubman, Conal Keaney it was all over for the Dubs.

Cluxton took kick outs that if he wanted Meath to win he could not have done better.  A dilapidated and disorganized display by the Dubs and great encouragement for Offaly who are waiting in the long grass and who nobody is talking about.

[prewtna]

Did anyone see the Meath fan on the Hill with the 1/2 bottle of vodka?
The camera man wasnt long changing the shot when he realised what it was

indeed i did, split my sides laughing! i remember when younger being afraid to smoke in the hill or old canal in case the cameras caught it and the mammy saw it on the box!

in fairness it was a wet miserable day. maybe he needed it to warm his cockles!

[Dinny Breen]

Offaly who are waiting in the long grass and who nobody is talking about.

Except Carlow 

[Jinxy]

Did anyone see the Meath fan on the Hill with the 1/2 bottle of vodka?
The camera man wasnt long changing the shot when he realised what it was

He was only a nipper too! Can you picture the scene when he landed back home after the match? Walks through the kitchen into the living room (several wrigleys doublemint in his gob). Mammy and Daddy are just sitting there quietly staring at him as he chews, as an antique clock ticks ominously in the background. "So......................how was the match?" Mammy nonchalantly asks, as Daddy slowly and methodically begins to roll up his copy of the sunday tribune.

[INDIANA]

Cluxton took kick outs that if he wanted Meath to win he could not have done better.  A dilapidated and disorganized display by the Dubs and great encouragement for Offaly who are waiting in the long grass and who nobody is talking about."

best laugh i got all day. Offaly wouldn't beat either team.

Answer me this .IF Dublin are so bad how come meath spent the whole game chasing the game and that meath's best player after Cian Ward was arguably their goal keeper.So obviously we were doing something right.

A dilapidated and disorganized display by the Dubs "
Well we didn't see anyting on Saturday evening that meath or dublin will be quaking in their boots at.

[Bud Wiser]

Ye must have been quaking in ye'r boots at half time.  The North Finglas team were left waiting in the centre of the field for a full five minutes while Pillar tried to sort out the mess that ye were in.  There is of course hope for the Dub's for one reason, that being ye can only get better. In fairness to both teams the conditions yesterday weren't great but the tacticts from Pillar were non-existant, the Dubs were all at sea all over the park.  Look at the very last minute of the game and ye had North Finglas in possesion, on the attach on the half way line under the Hogan Stand.  There was a Meath player standing all on his own on the forty metre line with not one single player within twenty yards of him. Had the ball been kicked to him it was all over and the Dubs would be off on a tour of the counytry which is where they deserved to be after yesterdays display.

[Hardy]

I'm too delighted and still on a high to say anything sensible today. I'm just back from the game having stopped a number of times to celebrate. Celebrate? A draw? When did we start celebrating draws? Well, what I'm celebrating is the fact that no matter what happens for the rest of the championship we have a real Meath team again, Meath-Dublin is the sports occasion of the year again and we have another of these to look forward to in a fortnight. What more could anyone ask for?

And in the aftermath of such a wonderful festival of sport it's terribly saddening to see the number of ould wans here who have nothing to say about the game except to put their hankies to their faces and fret about Graham Geraghty. And they give out about the Sunday Game and negative commentary! Did you not see the football, relish the occasion, revel in the atmosphere? Get a grip. If the ref had seen Geraghty hit Henry twice he should have sent him off. If the disciplinary powers choose to use selective video evidence afterwards, he may get suspended. Just as anyone who hits anyone else intentionally, with a stick or otherwise, should be suspended, but you should probably get a longer sentence for doing it with a stick. Grand. End of story. No complaints. Provided, of course that ALL cardable fouls missed by the referee in this game and in all other games are dealt with similarly and the disciplinary agenda is not driven by Pat Spillane in singling out one player. In the true spirit of Dublin-Meath, no Dub here, except one – there's always one that lets the side down - is whinging about it. I've never met Indiana, no more than he's ever met Geraghty, but I'll now feel free to call HIM a toerag. And now I've contributed to the unreasonable emphasis on this it by saying more about that than the game. That's terrible.

As for the crucial refereeing decisions, I thought all three of them could have gone either way. Them's the breaks. I don't think the ref had any agenda and overall I thought he did very well and allowed the good honest physical clashes that too many refs are stopping the game for these days. I dread to think it might be Bannon or Collins the next day.

Bottlethrower – reasonable points. Can I respond another day – I'm just too delighted with myself today to get into any more "analysis". For now, I'll just cut and paste a sentence from above: anyone who hits anyone else intentionally, with a stick or otherwise, should be suspended, but you should probably get a longer sentence for doing it with a stick.

[Jinxy]

Quick Summary...

Great game, some good hits, some good scores, some awful wides by no means a classic...

Murphy the Meath goalie, my man of the match, some fantastic saves and an excellent all-round peformance, Cluxton's kick-outs at times yesterday were brutal..

Very well reffed, however GG scored a legitimate goal and Brogans was a square ball...

GG should have seen red but Ray Cosgraves dive was a disgrace...

Meath need an injectrion of pace into their full-forward line as I thought they were big and awkward but very slow..

This game will bring on the Dubs, drop Cluxton, Magee, Moran and leave Brogan and Keaney inside and they will win the replay...

What makes a classic? Throw out a couple of classics just to give me an idea of where you are coming from. If this was an All-Ireland final or even a semi would that make it a classic? I can't really think of anything that game yesterday didn't have. The neutral viewpoint that I've seen so far would seem to back that up.

[INDIANA]

Get a grip. If the ref had seen Geraghty hit Henry twice he should have sent him off."

you can't pontificate about the perceived ills of clare and cork and give one of your own players a carte blanche to behave like  a sc**bag. Whelan got pilliored for  a dangerous tackle against mayo last year -clare and cork got pilloried last weekend and yet people want to give GG a carte blanche. It's about consistency not the sort of hypocrisy you read here.