Messages

   
       No, I haven't , please enlighten me !!

     
     Rubbish! Teams reach the bigtime  themselves when they manage to qualify. Most years Down teams aren't good enough to qualify for the final stages of the AI - this year they are. It's got nothing to do with holding teams back until they are good enough or trying to emulate the Dutch.

   Give over this elitist claptrap - it's sickening in the extreme!

   

According to Benny Coulters interview after the game (on RTE website) down will be playing in their away kit. How is this decided so early?

  I think that the last time these sides met (1994) both sides played in their 'away' colours. It might be the same this time.Maybe!

 
   Am I missing something here?  Spectators from Hill 16 can no longer come on to the pitch because of the new barriers but spectators from the Hogan and Cusack stands still can? Is this right and if it is , is it not discriminatory? Can someone help me please?

The Brogans were back in action last night in the Dublin SFC tho it seems unfair to have to play so soon after Sunday. Bernard doesn't look anything like he did, understandably enough, Alan was ok,


  Most of the Cork players were also out on Wednesday night playing championship football with their clubs  - very hard on them, in my opinion so soon after Sunday.. Luckily, they all came through uninjured. There are no more senior club games now until after the AI final. However, E. Cadogan is  playing a senior hurling club championship game next week.

[I thought the ref gave frees more esaily to Cork.]

Unforunately the game can be quite cynical now but I thought the ref gave frees more esaily to Cork.

    Cork scored  1-7 from frees
    Dublin scored 0-2 from frees (I think!)

  That say's it all really and proves your point.

  However,  Dublin used a high risk strategy in this game  - by playing the 'blanket defence' tactic Dublin invited the Cork players into Cork's own scoring zone and they weren't careful enough with their disciplne and so they conceded silly frees.

  So, a warning to all teams:  if you want to play blanket defence be  careful with regard to discipline.



 


     

Apart from that did you not think Cork got a couple of very soft frees near the end?

Of course Cork were playing for frees in the final stages. O Neill, O Leary and Miskella all went down easily as far as I remember. They tended  to throw themselves at the defender and then hit the floor during rather than as a result of the tackle. But could you blame them - they were five points down and as another  poster pointed out they weren't likely to score a goal or five points from play so the obvious thing to do was to play for frees - it's called the survival instinct - do whatever is needed to stay alive.
              I know it's not nice to see 'diving' becoming part of the game -but it's up to the powers that be to change the rules and start penalising deliberate dives, as they do in soccer.
                   

To be honest I thought Ross McConnell's strength held ONeill up and in his attempt to barge through ONeill lost his balance and the two of them went down. There was a lot worse out the field with no frees. Thought the Dubs could have had one or two towards the end but didn't get them. Would have given them an opportunity of a score or to take the sting out of Cork's play. I haven't seen a re run of the game but was there a Cork man yelling in the ref's face as the 'penalty' incident was happening?

   O.K. fair argument and sorry about the Specsavers comment - it was rude, I admit. I just thought that that the initial contact that McConnell made on O Neill was excessive and too high. The rules of tackling say that a player can only try to disposses the player in posession by using  one hand. A fair shoulder to shoulder is the only other bodily cotact allowed- but I'm from Cork so maybe I'm biased!!!

[Didn't think it was a penalty either.]

Thought the Dubs were hard done by and so many soft frees given against them the last ten or fifteen minutes. I made a point last year about a Cork hurling match that Cork seemed to find it easier to get frees and the same applied yesterday. Didn't think it was a penalty either.


                               Get yourself straight down to Specsavers right now if you didn't think it was a penalty!!

[I hadn't seen Cork in the flesh for a while, but having watched them for 70 minutes I can't understand at all what makes them All-Ireland favourites. I've never seen a team with so many players who don't look like footballers. Big, stiff, ungainly, awkward looking straight-line runners who look as comfortable on the ball as a ploughman at a gay tea party.]

        I hadn't seen Cork in the flesh for a while, but having watched them for 70 minutes I can't understand at all what makes them All-Ireland favourites. I've never seen a team with so many players who don't look like footballers. Big, stiff, ungainly, awkward looking straight-line runners who look as comfortable on the ball as a ploughman at a gay tea party.[/color][/color]

    Yeah, right! If Cork were really as bad as all that, could you please explain the following:

    How did Cork go from being a point down in the second half to go on to win by nine?

       and

   How come that Cork are now in their sixth consecutive All- Ireland semi-final  i.e. in the last four in a competition with 31 competing counties. (Is Kilkenny the only county that doesn't compete at senior level?)?

      And while you're at it, who exactly are the Cork players that don't look comfortable on the ball?