Derry v Dublin All Ireland Quarter Final

[the green man]

which is unusal alot more than i can say for devlin, he did not want to no.

Either you have another agenda here, you weren't at the match, or you know f**k all about football.....tool!

I agree with DYJL, your statement their is crass and rude. I take it from the said comment, that you yourself have never played to any high level of standard. If you did, you would know that no player goes out to play '..not wanting to no' I thought Collie had a decent enough game, although it showed up that he might be a bit light for 'the heavy striking' Yes, he took a couple of wrong options, but remember this is his first full season on the team. He showed well and caused bother enough for the Dublin defence.

As for the rest of the Ballinderry boys being grate. Again at times they were. Kevin played OK, but from what I hear he had a fairly mangled finger prior to the game. Fergal didnt win midfield all on his own. Deets had a fantastic first 20, Enda came in to it in the second half, and as I have already stated Crook added more zip up front.

[the green man]

from the 30 lads on the field today who will make the alstars??

Cluxton, Whelan nailed on (although Meath's Murphy could still take keeper), after that, the likes of Brogan, Cullen, Keaney, Vaughan could all get them depending on how the Dubs fare out.
From Derry, Bradley, McCloy, Muldoon, Doherty will all get nominations but none will get an award.

If Cullen gets an All Star, it will be pure media hype and not positional ability. Murphy made him look like a small boy in the first half.

[Louper]

as a loup man its goin to be hard to write this next paragraph 

the abuse colin devlin is gettin is totally unjustified, i thought he showed well, prob more so in 1st half but in 2nd half dublin counter acted derrys tactics extremely well, just like monaghan did to quell bradley and muldoon. not their fault! overall i thought an encouragin performance but we beat ourselves. ref didnt help matters but he didnt lose us the game. just shows tho, were not far away. we wasted so many chances yet were only beat by 3 points! an unlucky day at the office. something to build on. very sorry to see murphy going he was on for another MOTM performance. congrats to mccloy for gettin it did very well but IMO fergal doc was absolutely unreal. 2nd half performance wud justify giving him MOTM. it is also very interesting that all candidates (apart from vaughan) for MOTM wre derry men, that in itself tells a tale.

ps the atmosphere today was 2nd to none, hard to beat a packed croker with the hill as blue as my dvd collection.

kerry to scrape monaghan, kerry to beat dublin, meath to beat cork well, tight final but kerry to pull away with 10-15 to go. unfortunately. my hope-meath.

fair play to the oak leaf boys did us proud. if someone had offered me an AIQF against the dubs after the monaghan match i wud have jumped at it. good to see the pride back in our county. and the less said about skinner the better.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Hmm, have to agree with Hardy in the fact the Dubs aren't getting any credit, they had a game on their hands today and responded well. Dublin deserved their win and would be my favourites for Sam, actually the animosity towards the Dubs is becoming quite painful and almost has me hoping they'll win it.

Ah sure Dinny you're from Kildare so you're practically a Dub anyway.

[the green man]

I thought Collie had a decent enough game, although it showed up that he might be a bit light for 'the heavy striking' Yes, he took a couple of wrong options, but remember this is his first full season on the team. He showed well and caused bother enough for the Dublin defence.

As for the rest of the Ballinderry boys being grate. Again at times they were. Kevin played OK, but from what I hear he had a fairly mangled finger prior to the game. Fergal didnt win midfield all on his own. Deets had a fantastic first 20, Enda came in to it in the second half, and as I have already stated Crook added more zip up front.

ure hardly a shamrock. just calm down. duke was good. mcguckin was good. no "deadly" ballintyrone players so get off ure high horse. enda was anonomynous thru no fault of his own. deets was on??? crook put a bita umph into game. james was nowhere to be seen. please dont say paul wilson is worth a plac  useless

A high horse, he says. Read my post in the context of the reply it was sent. I never said any Ballinderry players were deadly anyway. I think I'm located far enough away, to make a rational summary of how them boys played. Your green tinted glasses are obviously stuck on, when you ask was deets on. Again, as I said for the first 20 he was good.

[tyroneman]

Cluxton is a very good keeper alright but prone to some very poor errors of judgement. In particualr I'm thinking of

1. Sending off against Armagh (2002?) - no need for silly wee kick especailly man up at time

2. 2005 v Tyrone - short kick out robbed by Cavanagh = Mugsy scores in front of hill and kills stone dead the Dublin comeback (which looked on the cards after 5 points in a row at that stage)

[southdown]

I was at Croker yesterday as a neutral and I must say that I have never seen a midfield preformance like Fergal Doferty yesterday.  He was easily the best player on the pitch.  There was a period in the 2nd half when he simply caught evrything, and the catch with one hand was amazing.

Very entertaining stuff and the atmosphere was unreal.  Before the game I was curious as to why the Dubs supporters got so much negative criticism.  I came home with the opinion that they are a real asset to the GAA.  The noise they made was electric. I was sitting in the Cusack in a section of mainly Dubs (and a few Rossies!) and the craic was mighty!  The fans were chatting away to me about the match and were making good conversation.  One eejit beside me walked into the match though 15 minutes late.  He sat down and produced 4 cans of Fosters from up his jumper The match was great, I feel that midway through the 2nd hald Derry let the heads drop and started shooting from stupid distances.  I think they were a we bit suprised when it suddenly became a 3 point game near the end.  They could easily have drew level.and started drinking them in the stands, I nearly wet myself laughing!



The Dubs will hard to beat, however I still have my doubts - midway through the 2nd half they were playing like the gamewas won, and were 6 or 7 points up at one stage.  The fact is that they could easliy have lost it if it wasnt for a combination of Derrys bad shooting or Cluxtons saves.

[southderryman]

havent seen the game again yet, have the video but not sure i want to watch it.

very disappointed leaving croke park yesterday. we definitely left it behind us, but at this level you have to take your chances.

thought fergal doherty was absolutely outstanding (as he has been against armagh mayo and laois) but wont get the all star he deserves as none of the previous 3 games were shown live or played in croke park.

mc cloy was simply immense also. very proud of the way the majority of the team played.

no doubt skinner will get alot of abuse for the misses. think he showed well in the second half, scored a good point and was very unlucky with another effort. he did kick one very poor wide, no worse than one whelan kicked in the first half. as for the goal chances, he probably should have fisted the first over the bar, or else went low. for the second chance i wouldnt blame him, i think devlin would have been best advised to go himself, as soon as skinner caught the ball cluxton was on top of him.

management would need to have a look at themselves as regards skinner. surely if they were planning on using him he should have recieved some game time against laois?? he did have an 8 week lay off after all.

think diver or patsy bradley should have come on earlier as james conway was nowhere near shane ryan. paul murphy was a massive loss, i feel if he had stayed we would have won. gilligan had a good first half but faded in the second, i would have kept him inside as he hasnt the pace to play in half forward. muldoon won some decent possesion and hit a few good passes but in overall terms was disappointing. i think he should have been put into full forward in the last 10-15 mins as we had a stranglehold on midfield anyway and he would have done damage in there.

lynch was very disappointing again. im not the biggest fan of crook but was impressed with his running and he could possibly have been brought in sooner. wee micky mc goldrick was good again (the find of the championship) and i thought perhaps keenan should have been brought in as mc guckin was clearly struggling.

would agree with leaving hinphey on the bench as it just wasnt the type of game for him.

its very fine margins at this level, the 2 goal chances skinner had were particularly crucial because dublin went up the field and scored points from both of these. had he fisted both over the bar there's your 4 point swing and a different winner. anybody else think colin devlins effort in the first half was a point??? certianly seemed like it from where i was sitting.

again its little things that make the difference, very proud of the players and if everyone stays together i would be very hopeful for 2008.

any neutrals out there, i would like to hear an unbiased opinion on the ref??

i thought he was shocking. taking a hell of a lot of dublin frees forward and never once did he take a derry free forward despite the descent from dublin players. though whelan was extremely lucky yet again (apparently he's never allowed to be reprimanded by a ref) although in sayin that kevin mc guckin was also walking a tightrope and lucky to stay on. but in a 3 point game i thought he was worth at least 4-5 points to the dubs. he only really gave us any decisions when there was 6 points in it and he thought the game was over but once it was back to 3 points he dam sure wasnt gonna let it get any closer. also he blew devlin up for over carrying in the first half after one bounce, a ludicrous decision.

fair play to the dublin supporters, they get alot of bad press, but i thought they were terrific, the atmosphere was great and we had some mighty craic with them. would like to seem them go on and win the all ireland now, but to be honest i think if a derry team with a lot of under-performing players should have beat them then i cant see them goin the whole way.

[tyroneman]

Thought the ref wasn't great yesterday but was as bad to both sides overall. Brought a lot of Dub frees forward but gave a kick out to ?Derry in 1st half when it was a blatant 45 and several soft frees to bring them back inot the game.

[Jimbobjnr]

Was at the game yesterday and im extremely dissappointed at derry losing. it was a very good game between to evenly matched teams, at the end of the day dublin took more chances than derry did, i dont think there was much more to it than that. some dublin players did surprise me though, especially bernard brogan who i had never rated at all.

[INDIANA]

have to say i found the derry fans to be great crack after the game in contrast to some of the other Ulster counties i've encountered. i think if they keep that team together they'll certianly win a few Ulster championships and possibly the big one with the addition of maybe 3 players.

[ExiledGael]

As a (relative) neutral at the game I thought it was a great spectacle. Great atmosphere, the Dubs really can electrify the place.
Undoubtedly Derry left the game behind them, Murphy going off at half time was a huge loss to their attack.
Very disappointed in Lynch, again, but still think he will prove his class in the long term.
Doc immense in midfield, when he came strong Derry started to flow, and when Whelan turned it on so too did his attack, Conway and Ryan were almost bystanders.
Muldoon fairly anonymous from where I was sitting.
Though Devlin's workrate was very impressive and the outing in HQ will do him good.
No doubt Paddy B is a top drawer forward, but his missed free in front of the hill with about ten to go, on his good side, has left me with serious doubts about his nerve and character, why try to pump the ball so high and hard into the hill, embarrassing miss considering some of the gems he scored from far further out with two or three men hanging out of him.
Eoin  B is just the type of player a lot of people aren't going to like, good talent, but if his head was in the right place all year he could have had a major impact.
McCloy and Fay the two best full-backs in the country this year, no-one else close.
As for the Dubs thought Bernard Brogan was very good, Sherlock well worth his place and makes very clever use of runs and possession.
Keaney was far from impressive, but put that down to McCloy, Keaney is still a top forward.
Vaughan was unbelievable from frees, stroked the first one over from outside the 45 line with no fuss at all and never looked like missing another, great to have in the armoury.
As for the ref, definitely though he was generous to the home team, some silly decisions, esp the double hop in the corner, dunno what that was about, but then haven't seen the game on tv.
Though with that atmosphere and support from one side how any ref could be totally impartial is beyond me.
Thought he than gave Derry a few handy frees to even up the score late on, but sadly the battle was won at that stage
Great semi-final in store, Monaghan game will do Kerry more good than 6 months training, fancy them to show their real power and class and pip Dublin to the final

[tbrick18]

I'm extremelely disappointed by the result but nonetheless I am very happy with the overall performance of the team.
One thing you can say as that they gave it their all and they should have no regrets coming off the pitch as players. OK some of them didnt perform to the standards we were expecting but others by far exceeded them. Doc ruled midfield. Whelan isnt a shadow on him based on yesterdays performance and I've watched again on tv before making this comment.
Kevin McCloy - what can you say...best full back in the country without a doubt. Will he get an allstar...no chance. He's from a northern team that didnt win the provincial title and didnt get past the quarters. 12 out of the 15 allstars will be from the semi finalists.
Eoin Bradley has got a lot of stick on here and even blamed for the loss...now at the time I thought he was rubbish. But watching it again, he didnt pass the ball as the dublin defence were marking so tightly there was no-where to pass too so he had to go it alone. Had he played a match before this one could have been a different story but he jsut wasnt sharp enough for this game. I wouldnt blame him for that but instead think he was the wrong sub to bring on for the injured murphy...McGoldrick would have been the obvious choice in a like for like swap (though I rate Murphy much higher).
In my opinion it wasnt the introduction of Eoin that lost us the game, but the loss of Paul Murphy. Watching the first half, the amount of breaking ball he won and the amount of accurate timely passes he played into the ff line are what kept us going. We have no-one to replace this and him going off was always going to mean we were less potent going forward and were going to win a lot less breaks.
My main gripe is with Paddy Crozier starting Kevin McGuckian and then being too stubborn to take him off. McGuckian was roasted and cost us maybe 4 points, and was very lucky not to cost us a goal. The full back line should have been left as was...SML, McLoy and McGoldrick. If he didnt want Hinphy in then should have started Keenan. G. O'Kane played his best game to date from wing half back...perhaps kevin mcguckian could have played CHB? These are options I would have considered rather than disrupt a defence that had settled and was playing really well.
As for Dublin, the stuck at it and I thought in the second half in particular defended really well. On another day, their midfield might do much better but I'm not convinced by them. Two wing half backs were very good as was the other brogan at wing half forward. Vaughan carried them a bit with the frees and didnt do much else, but anyone who can score frees as reliably and effortlessly as him would walk onto any team. I actually hope Dublin go on to win, but I think Kerry will be a step too far for them.

Overall though I'm dissappointed but optimistic about next year. Hopefully Paddy Crozier has learnt a few lessons and hopefully we ccan have a preparation next year without suspensions and controversy to distract from the business of football. If so, I could see us winning Ulster at least.

A lot of people on here have been commenting on the dub support. They do bring a fantastic atmostphere and any sitting around us were good craic. But, we were sitting on the lower deck of the cusack around the half way line just under the premier level. Throughout the game we were spat on and had object such as sweets and empty drinks bottles thrown down at us from the premier level by dub supporters. The stewards were informed by many people and they apparantly sent the guards up as the stewards had no access (which I found very hard to believe...why would stewards not have access to the entire ground?). However, this behaviour continued throughout the game. Now I know this is a small percentage of supporters but these are the people that undoubtedly give the dubs a bad name. They are a disgrace and should have been ejected from the grounds but no-one seemed to want to know. This is the first time I have ever witnessed anything like this from supporters of any team (even the tryonnies  ).

Anyway thats one negative about an otherwise fantastic home support.
Derry support was excellent but we were just outnumbered and due to the positioning around the grounds I'm sure the players found it hard to hear us at all but not much you can do about that.

To finish, there's always next year. And at least the way we went out this year was a big improvement on last year, so lets hope we can take another couple of steps forward and hope we dont lose any of our big players in the meantime.

[Hound]

It should be noted that for Eoin Bradley's first goal chance, Paddy had a simple chance to knock the rebound over the bar and failed (albeit it was thanks to a good block by Henry).

Re the ref bringing the ball forward I counted 2 for Dublin (both Keaney frees) and 1 for Derry (when Ryan was penalised).

Typical of the appaling stewarding and policing of Croke Park that scum bads can throw things without fear of repurcussion. Very surprised to hear it happened in the premium section given the high level of neutrals always found in the premium.

Nice to see the Derry team get a generous round of applause from the Hill as they left the field (they stayed on the field for a good few minutes after the Dubs and officials had left).

Hopefully from a Dubs point of view, beating a good team will stand us in good stead for the Kerry game. Derry tested us all over the field.

[Stmalachy]

Tbrick- interested in your analysis.
Who was marking Keaney- 3pts.
who was marking Bernard Brogan who scred 3 pts from play.
who was marking Alan Brogan-3pts from play
some of those playerd weren't as good as you thought.