Dublin Vs Meath

[Hound]

Well the schmozzle was certainly 3 or 4 minutes of mayhem. Fay cleaning out McKeigue was by far and away the highlight!! Certainly more punches thrown than in the so called Battle of Omagh, but thankfully none landed well and still it was mostly jersey grabbing and posturing. Anyone who says one team was more to blame than the other is just an idiot.

I think one red card each would have sufficed, but hard to blame Russell. Brogan can have no complaints as he was throwing plenty of shapes, but Andrews did absolutely nothing!

Thankfully the game was played in pretty good spirits after that, with only two small exceptions. Whelan raised his hands, so can have no complaints with the red card, but it wasn't a bad incident. I thought a yellow card would have sufficed – he wasn't helped by Seamus Kenny's playacting, and it was certainly no worse than Byrne clocking Cullen in the 2nd half. If Russell had seen that he would have given red, though in fairness to Byrne while the challenge was high and therefore dangerous, and he did catch Cullen in the face, it wasn't malicious.

As for the action, well the Dubs played far the better football. Henry was absolutely immense in the full back line, and McConnell won every 50/50 v Sheridan. Cullen and Moran had their best displays in a long time. Brennan was alright, but IMO hasn't done enough yet to justify a championship start.

Fennell was very good in midfield. I've had reservations about him from day 1, despite his good press, mainly because he looks like the type of midfielder the culchies usually have, but now I'm realising that's no harm at all!

Flynn was quiet enough in the first half, but came good in the second. In the critical last few minutes, he became the best player on the pitch. As usual when the going gets tough it's the north county men who stand up! Though Shane was pretty brutal when he came on, couldn't get to the pace of the game.

Jason didn't do a whole lot in the first half, but was very effective in the second. McMenamin worked really hard, notched a lovely point, and I was disappointed to see him subbed. Mossy mixed the good with the bad, from play and from frees, he was a bit silly to react to Kenny's goading. His total inability to win 50/50 balls and Vaughan's reliability from frees, means Mossy is defo behind Marco in the pecking order.

For a guy with no pace and no great aerial ability, Connolly is some player. His style is really reminiscent of Maurice Fitzgerald. If he gets to be half as good as Mo, he'll be doing alright. Connolly took Fay to the cleaners, didn't always take the right option when in possession, hit a couple of bad wides, but scored 3 lovely points and was Dublin's key forward.

It has to be said that Meath were poor. Though if you can conjure up two great goals like they did, you'll always be dangerous. Geraghty cut a very frustrated figure. There was countless times when a colleague wasted possession or hit a bad wide, with him open for a pass.  It was good to see GG take the slagging he was getting from the "hill" in good spirits, and at the end he was very generous in defeat.

[orangeman]

So, gnevin - the daz challenge is now handbags. Make up your mind.

As I stated, the GAA must act on Dublin if they're serious about discipline. Throw them out of the championship.

You must have forgot to mention you think the GAA should throw out Meath too, right? 

Or was it only Dublin players you saw involved today?

I only saw Dublin players involved today. I didn't see Meath getting involved at all - anything Meath did was in self defence.

Dublin are a disgrace and their manager should be chased along with the backroom team - can you imagine how enraged that man was in order to throw away his good cup of tea on that Whelan fella - what a waste of a good cup of tea on a cold day !!!!

[IolarCoisCuain]

Connolly is some player. His style is really reminiscent of Maurice Fitzgerald.

Maurcie Fitzgerald? Are you sure you don't you mean Barry? 

[orangeman]

Connolly is some player. His style is really reminiscent of Maurice Fitzgerald.

Maurcie Fitzgerald? Are you sure you don't you mean Barry? 

There was only one Mo !

[heffo]

What about Tyrone V Armagh battles during 03,04,05 they wouldn't pass the a Daz challenge .

State one example.

McMenamin sly knees onto McEntee's throat.

Canavan & McKeever red cards in '05 'brawl'

[Bensars]

There have been too many incidents like this from Dublin over the last few years, and I really think that the Manager has to bear responsibility for this. It seems that Pillar has them wound up too tightly without the smarts to teach them how to control their agression - fine line between controlled agression, toughness etc. and all out brawls. Their disciplinary record over the last 3-4 years would not be a pretty read (don't have the stats to hand)

Dublin have some fine footballers and I think with a different manager most of these players would have at least one All Ireland medal by now - but they appear to wilt under sustained pressure in games that they should be winning, especially in the championship, the word has been out these last number of years on how to beat Dublin, get them even more wound up than Pillar has them and they'll lose the head.

Agree 100% with what you have said.

It is also refreshing to see a Dublin supporter with a rational balanced view of the events.

[INDIANA]

orangeman watch a rerun you feckin eejit- take a good look at the meath keeper he wasn't acting in self defence- both teams were equally culpable.
Hound -relax on the maurice comparisons it's one good game. i know him better than most and he's gifted but its the  top two inches that's his problem.
Have factor in how shite meath were - i mean they were embarrasingly bad.
still a few issues though like falling asleep again, poor discipline and still some key players bang out of form.

[heffo]

So, gnevin - the daz challenge is now handbags. Make up your mind.

As I stated, the GAA must act on Dublin if they're serious about discipline. Throw them out of the championship.

You must have forgot to mention you think the GAA should throw out Meath too, right? 

Or was it only Dublin players you saw involved today?

I only saw Dublin players involved today. I didn't see Meath getting involved at all - anything Meath did was in self defence.

Whereabouts in the ground did you watch the game from?

[thejuice]

Have yet to see the game or highlights as I had a game myself. The score and performance bothers me more than the fighting, dont see the point in discussing it or calling one team or the other instigators. I do believe that all the players involved are adults and in control of their own actions and therefore anyone who gets suspended has to accept it. We'll probably have a handful of suspensions for the start of the championship, which is really going to hamper us. The "fan" who threw the tea should get a life ban. Dont want that shite around GAA matches.

It'll be hard to take much good from this years NFL. Hard to really say how good we are, or if any good at all. On another note if Brendan Murphy gets suspended then it'll be nice to see Ricky Nolan step into the breach, an old school mate of mine.

[Jinxy]

I think this game was a damning indictment of Coyles tactical know how. I think if Dudley was there he would have figured out pretty quickly what the way forward was. Coyle figured it out with about 5 minutes to go. Or maybe the players just decided "f*ck this lets just have a go instead of ballooning balls aimlessly into the Dublin half." Either way, it doesn't reflect very well on Coyle.

[heffo]

I think this game was a damning indictment of Coyles tactical know how. I think if Dudley was there he would have figured out pretty quickly what the way forward was. Coyle figured it out with about 5 minutes to go. Or maybe the players just decided "f*ck this lets just have a go instead of ballooning balls aimlessly into the Dublin half." Either way, it doesn't reflect very well on Coyle.

Rather than any tactical enlightenment on Coyle's part, I would have said it was more down to a 12 man Dublin being out on their feet and switching off for the two late goals.

[INDIANA]

yeah but heffo we brought on 3 regulars and one of them was the cause of the kenny goal because he didn't track him. why in god's name did coyle not make changes up front - i couldn't understand why.

[passedit]

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=NnOCndqPTMo

[heffo]

yeah but heffo we brought on 3 regulars and one of them was the cause of the kenny goal because he didn't track him

Not for the 1st time either..

[Jinxy]

We had very little forward cover on the bench due to the amount of injuries we have. The game was crying out for someone like Farrell who can actually win a ball in front of his man (pay attention Joe Sheridan) and take a simple score or someone like Moyles who is actually prepared to work hard to break up attacks and drive forward when he gets possession. We have too many big, slow players and this simply has to be addressed for the championship. Even on a relatively small pitch like PP, when it comes down to 12 v 13 there is going to be lots of space. Dublin made far better use of this space than we did.