DUBLIN TEAM JOKES!

[The Hill is Blue]

I just love these threads.

Come on you Boys in Blue.

[tonto1888]

The last 2 tiki taka minutes of the All Ireland final were a joke as was wrestling 3 Mayo players to the ground

lot of nonsense in the last few mins alright, Lee Keegan being the biggest culprit

[From the Bunker]

I just love these threads.

Come on you Boys in Blue.

So ''Hill is Blue'' what is your take on financial doping and home advantage? It's a disgrace! Isn't it?

[Lar Naparka]

Home form has been the backbone of Dublin's league success these past five years and for myriad reasons, the rest of the league hasn't been able to keep pace. Most obviously and tellingly, Dublin's playing resources are clearly deeper than everyone else's and competition for places is fiercer....

It's obviously foolish to blithely declare that counties can learn a thing or two from the Dubs. That said, neither is everything is a vast galaxy away in the distance. Dublin's move to Croke Park in 2011 coincided with the flourishing of a brilliant crop of players under two inspirational management teams and that's the main reason they are who they are today. But having a home patch to defend and be proud of was a part of it too.

You don't necessarily need to have a Croke Park to achieve that.


From the same article.

Selective quoting is not factual. Nor is looking at the record of home league wins and extrapolating that playing in Croke Park was the key factor (having better players and managers then in the Parnell Park days, or in the two previous Croke Park league fixtures during the noughties, which the Dubs lost, surely counts for more). Also, Dublin played league fixtures in Croke Park during the eighties, not regularly, but not once in a blue moon either. There was no correlation between venue and success.

Let's look at the facts - the groundswell of support for Dublin which crested in the noughties/ early 2010s made a move to a bigger stadium for league matches necessary. In the first year of League games in 2011 there were crowds of 35 to 40k. Now you are more likely to see crowds of 24 - 26k, even on double header meetings. Undoubtedly, Dublin should be developing a multipurpose, 40k capacity stadium but have probably missed their chance again - until that happens, Croke Park is the only logical place to have them, unless you think it is really feasible for Dublin GAA to turn away 15 thousand people a week? Why would you want to do that?

Secondly, a lot of the criticism of Dublin's "home" advantage is coming from counties who have consistently voted to keep Dublin in Croke Park for the Leinster championship. The credibility of those counties on this subject is pretty much nil - especially since the redevelopment of Croke Park meant that the other Leinster counties were also getting outings at HQ throughout the Leinster championship, albeit in double headers. The retreat back to provincial grounds for Leinster championships were at the behest of these counties, a symptom of lack of success and faltering support. You could be guaranteed that a Meath team on a level with the 2007 or 2010 crop would be playing a lot of their championship games in Croker. That doesn't make sense now, which is a function of Meath's decline rather than Dublin dominance. Same for Kildare and Offaly.

Thirdly, Dublin have won five all Ireland finals (six games) by an average differential of 1.16 points. That is a fact and doesn't come anywhere close to the dominance that the Kerry team of 78-81 exerted or Kilkenny 2005-2010 did. If you want to talk about Kerry, Mayo, Dublin, and to a lesser extent, Donegal and Tyrone, opening up a gap over all the others, feel free. But do it in that context.

Lastly, when Stephen Cluxton retires, all those who scoff at the notion of a special group of players, will have their answer. If Dublin had anyone near his quality in that position, you'd see them being blooded - but it doesn't happen. You think Jim Gavin hasn't thought about succession planning? Dublin won't see the like of these players again. They won't ever go back to the shambles that they were, through 96-2001, or 08-10 (hopefully),  .

Maybe I am one who don't  but I am also one who keeps an eye on what's happening on the socio economic scene and I know that while unless major radical change comes about, Dublin will be the dominant force in GAA for the foreseeable future- mind you the "For Sale any bid considered " signs could well be seen in the vicinity of Croke Park.
According to the 2016 census, 40% of the republic's population live in the Greater Dublin Area. Government projections assume that the figure will have reached 50% by 2040. Right down 50% of national resources are located here as well.
Dublin is a very compact county, situated in the centre of this area and houses 28% of the national population. Anyone suggesting that if only other counties followed Dublin's example and came up with Blur Flag initiatives of their own, is being deliberately disingenuous or is talking to the fairies.

If it were possible to shoehorn the population of 21 other counties  into a compact area, where players could live, work and train without having to travel more than ten miles, they might meet Dublin on equal terms.
To be fair, Dublin GAA is doing what any other county would do under the same circumstances. They enjoy massive advantages over every other county in the land. But the cute hoorism of their followers who try to downplay this disparity is hard to take.
Dublin has been blessed with a succession of quality players right through this most successful period in their history but to put this success to the innate quality of the players isn't backed by fact. One might think that all the money spent on team preparation hasn't played a major part in the team's success.
But there's a bunch of culchies straight outa the bog, that has given this extraordinarily talented, once in a lifetime, Dublin team an almighty run for its money and but for a bizarre run of bad luck could have bloodies their opponents' noses on more than one occasion.
I think the main reason for Dublin having had the edge over Mayo in recent can be put down to the quality of Dublin's subs' bench. No team can or will ever match Dublin's strength in reserve.
A stream of talented youngsters striving to break through and a coterie of older players desperately trying to hang on to their places is what every manager dreams of.
Now, I enjoy an argument with anybody about anything  but I don't take anything I wrote or read too much to heart because the outcome here is inevitable.
Referring to the statistics mentioned earlier, Dublin can be expected to have 50% of the nation's population by 2050. I doubt if that will be enough to satisfy the more ardent of the Dubs' supporters but if things deteriorate to this stage the sight of For Sale signs along Jones' Road and Clonliffe Road  will be there to be seen by all.