MEATH VS DUBLIN: 3RD JUNE

[INDIANA]

Although an enjoyable game, the Donegal v Armagh game was of higher quality..."

don't agree i've watched a re-run of that last week - and i got the same impression watching it live. Suffocating football punctured by poor shooting and more than 75% of the players in the middle third- both team largely put 12 men behind the ball. I may be a traditionalist but that isn't the way Gaelic Football was designed.
Neither team yesterday may win the All-Ireland but it was  cracking game of football as two teams went toe to toe making a genuine effort to play football rather than simply stopping the opposition from playing. reminding us all of a what a great game Gaelic Football is .There was nothing soft yesterday- but it was tough hard manly football aside from one idiot. It probably won't please jarlath (only ulster teams can be good footballers) burns but for the majority of the rest of us it was a cracking game.

[Dinny Breen]

Lads, for starters I would always exclude frees and 45s from exceptional scores, the only allowance there being Maurice Fitzgearlds side line ball against Dublin with Tommy the muppet Carr screaming in his ear, I mean just look at Mossy Quinns efforts towards the end truely abysmal...

The Armagh game was a much higher quality defensively than yesterdays fair, I agree it was a good enjoyable game but the scores you mention generally came from forwards under no pressure imho with the exception of Keaneys last point....

I like watching Leinster football but generally it's football lite and although yesterday was a start we need harder games, is it any surprise that yesterday's ref was from Armagh..

Just as yesterday was a good game of football  so was Armagh v Donegal  but for different reasons. Neither in my mind are classics just honest football as it should be played (minus GG and Ray Cosgrove)...

[mannix]

Darbyo,  it was a sending off offense.I will leave it at that and we will agree to differ.I understand football is intense but striking a player that hard and unfairly is a bad job, still I suppose Mortimer the blonde got it right when he said they got their comeuppance,ryan tried hard to get him booked once he was on yellow. :-\This championship is going to be great.

[darbyo]

This championship is going to be great.

Well mannix we can certainly agree on that.

Dinny I think you're being very harsh, all of Bray's scores were top drawer,at least two of Keaneys were and Brogan's was absolutely brilliant. They may not have been actually challenged as they kicked but that was because all 3 won the ball and pulled the trigger instantly. Not sure where the game will stand in the list of great games in the years to come but if we see 5 more games of equal quality then it will be a fine, fine championship. By the way is the game on Setanta tonight?   

[Jinxy]

We'll agree to disagree Dinny. I thought there were excellent scores and also some excellent defending and tackling, particularly by Meath backs AND forwards in the second half of the second half.
Think the game is on Setanta at 10:30 tonight.

[INDIANA]

Stephen on the other hand is not a good footballer. If you had have checked before you posted you would have realised that Stephen doesnt start for his club first team, and this is the player who mans the centre half forward birth for his county. Now tell me, would you not feel the need to complain if someone who doesn't start for Na Fianna was playing centre half forward for Dublin?"

I'm sorry but some of the things written about him are beyond the pale - that's my opinion. there are a million ways of saying someone shouldn't be there without resorting to the sort of abuse he gets. The reality is martin o rourke any better (probably not from what i've seen.) but i;ll bow to your superior knowledge.

If you call that a full force punch to the head, lets just say, i would love to fight you. Geraghty jabbed him with his fist"

Direct me to the part of the rule book where that is allowable. It was a premediated blow based on nothing other than that henry had beaten him to the ball -in keeping with GG's reputation over the years. i saw them doing  a recovery session today Sporting  a black eye for his troubles and  afair bit of swelling. -little more than a jab i'd say.

think you will find that your post is a bit on the embarressing side"
i think that's open to debate.

[The Real Laoislad]

INDIANA  learn how to quote will ya it's hard making out which you posted and which is a quote

[Jinxy]

What Geraghty did was nasty, but if we go down the road of analysing every contentious incident in detail where will we end up? I can only speak for myself but I've often got a smack on the side of the head when trying to regain my feet after winning possession on the ground and all it does is make you grit your teeth and drive out harder. GG could very well be suspended and we'll just have to accept it and move on, but there is a context to these incidents (not counting Cosgraves dying swan routine). Every major decision had gone against Graham, he had to listen to despicable personal abuse as usual from the Hill and it was a very tight, tense game. So he gave Henry a couple of cheap, sly digs. Henry, being the man he is, got up and got on with the game and I'm sure they shook hands afterwards. God knows what would have happened after the first game in '91 if we went through the video with a fine tooth comb looking to hand out suspensions. By the way, I'd be saying the same thing if it was a Dublin player under the microscope. While I thought it was a bit of a joke that Whelo wasn't sent off in 2005 at the throw-in, I was glad he stayed on, as it would have destroyed the game which was subsequently played in an excellent spirit, just like it was yesterday.

[rolloutking]

Direct me to the part of the rule book where that is allowable.

It was not a punch. He tackled the ball and lad just ducked at the last minute and walked onto it.

It was a premediated blow based on nothing other than that henry had beaten him to the ball

And did Graham tell you this?

in keeping with GG's reputation over the years

The only time Gramham was sent off for striking was against Kildare in the Leinster semi final 2nd replay 1997 2nd half for kicking one of the Kildare players, Dermot Early i think and from where i was sitting it was retaliation, but none the less he did stike so had to go. He was sent off in a drawn League final against Derry in 2000 for a late tackle. At the time it seemed like nothing to me and there had been a lot of specualtion at the time of Paddy Russell and him having history.

So only one incident of striking in a career that started as in 1994. Based on that logic, Ray Cosgrove has a reputation as a diver? I could call Ciaran Whelan a few things but whats the point, he only does those things when he is outplayed and outclassed.

[Jinxy]

Look, we all know that if it wasn't Geraghty, we wouldn't be talking about this issue today.

[INDIANA]

"Look, we all know that if it wasn't Geraghty, we wouldn't be talking about this issue today. "

No but if was a dublin player we would and that's the difference Jinxy- one rule for the Dubs another rule for everyone else on this website. The Gaa have dug themsleves a hole on this one over the hurling last week. They can't pick 8 guys out and suspend them and then the following week decide that if somebody else trangresses in football they get off scot free. Brian Farrell got suspended for little or nothing in my view- yet his abscence probably cost meath the game.There is no consistency in any of this

[Jinxy]

I disagree slightly. If it was Whelo, we would definitely be talking about it, but not if it was Paul Griffin for example or Bryan Cullen. The fact is that the likes of Whelo and GG for better or worse have a tag that will follow them around until they hang up their boots. If they are involved in an incident it only confirms what people reckon they always knew about them anyway.

[agorm]

I think that a line in the sand should be drawn in this thread on the Geraghty issue. He should have received two yellow cards, he only received one yellow. The ref dealt with it (probably incorrectly as in many decisions made yesterday). Graham should probably have seen the line though he may have been more careful after receiving the first yellow.

I see that there is another thread opened on video evidence, perhaps it can be beaten to death on that thread.

I would like to see some more discussion regarding what supporters of the two teams believe that their managers should do for the replay. In our case, the concentration everywhere has been mainly what to do in the full forward line to accomodate Farrell's return and the display of Cian Ward which ordinarily should have secured him a place in the team for the replay. Hwoever, our achilles heel in this game in my opinion was our weak half forward line and our inability to deal with Alan Brogan who did enormous damage early on. I wouldnt count myself a good expert on all of the the Meath defenders but we need to put someone on a man to man job on Brogan. Even if it means sacrificing a half forward to cover for that defender then so be it. The best man marker in the squad should be put on him.
Regarding the forwards, I dont think that Sheridan should be dropped as has been mentioned by a lot of supporters. I think that Graham should make way and be kept as sub. I would play sheridan as a half forward, I know that he is not very fast but he gets good possession and works his socks off and may help stop the hgh percentage of possession that the Dub half back line got.
So my team is
Murphy, Harrington, Fay, McKeigue, Kenny, Moyles, King, Crawford, Ward, Sheridan, Reilly, Byrne, Bray, Farrell, Ward with a man marker assigned to Brogan.

[Jinxy]

Joe would be no use on the wing. He has zero, and I mean zero, speed. He would spend so much time chasing down the field after his marker that he would be no use to anyone. Bray is the man for wing forward now that we have our main scorer back. Bray would do a good job in any position in the forward line and he's very consistent. I'm undecided as to whether to start Cian or not. If he doesn't start, we have no one on the field capable of scoring a 45. Thats what it could come down to in the end. I'd keep Joe as an impact sub and provided GG is available, go with this:

Bray, Reilly, Byrne
Ward, GG, Farrell

2 excellent freetakers. 2 fast, strong wing forwards. Ball-winning full forward. I think that forward line would do a lot of damage. If GG is out, slot Joe in at FF and tell him not to budge from the edge of the square.

[joemamas]

dont be surprised what happens, considering the clowns running the show. look at the time and date of the replay,not exactly what I would call promoting the games.

Didn't trevor mortimer from mayo get suspended on video evidence two years ago.