Dublin v Meath Sunday 27th June

[lynchbhoy]

during the All Ireland intercounty championship you mean?
You used to only see the players the odd training session and for championship matches, rarely played the league games. Not sure if that has changed.
Intensity in meath football used to be savage with or without the intercounty panelists ! Rough as feck in over 50% of matches.

yeah i meant intercounty all ireland.some teams have a 2-3 week break between games,and there are usually club games thrown in,but no intercounty players tog,maybe i'm old school,but league games in dublin used to be packed,even during national leagues and the all ireland,because you had the likes of,curran,redmond,stynes,barr,going hell for leather and not being wrapped in cotton wool,playing for their clubs.its no suprise thats when dublin last reached all irelands year in year out,ok they only got one at the time,but they were contesting all ireland finals.
[/quote]
I'd have played in dublin (Div 2) at that stage and dont really rem too many of the county panelists playing for their clubs during most of the league games....

[ricky-bobby]

i'd be doing well to name them all and when i seen them,but i can safely say,it was much better than the shambles it is now,i know,i'm still playing div 1.
lynchboy,as a dub fan,whats your take on playing senior club games would it benefit or not benefit the team?ie sharpness,intensity,hunger,CONFIDENCE,which is really lacking now.

[ricky-bobby]

sorry lynchboy if your not a dub man.

[lynchbhoy]

am not a Dub, but have a big interest in them for various reasons , esp as I live here for closing in on 20 years.
A level playing field would suit all clubs and players. By this i mean that there should be some kind of generic fixtures list in the GAA .
A template that has intercounty dates set out - including qualifiers and replays etc.
Then this could allow a club template for each county and its clubs.
This way a club would know when its games are , when its players are available etc. The players know what days they are playing games , what dates they can take holidays etc.
Right now its too disorganised and I cannot see a way to get players play with clubs and counties without causing some grief and hassle for someone.
Ideally players shoul dplay all games for club and county. A sub for intercounty will only get rusty by sitting on the bench esp if he misses club games.
The entire country - intercounty and clubs-  need this organisation and template creation to happen. imo.

[ricky-bobby]

thats a fair point,but as we all know,county boards are stubborn over fixtures as it is,and there is always someone unhappy along the way.
i know myself as a club player,i'd rather play against a intercounty lad,than against a senior clubs 2nd or in some cases 3rd string,mainly because a)it improves the normal club player and with it the all round standard b)a normal club player gets fired up to pit himself against a intercounty lad,bringing out the best in both players and c)there is no substitute for what can be gained from senior league games as in lads will be in match tempo and intensity and still get their few days rest before the all ireland games.Thus not getting rusty.
Lynchboy,with your knowledge of the dublin scene,you know that league aint worth the same it once was.its a shame really.Last successful era,early 90's was also the last time the league was big.Pat O'Neill allowed them play league.And look what was achieved.

[put-it-up]

Dublin are in a bad, bad way at the minute. In fairness to Gilroy, it took balls to make the decision to start from scratch but he is looking like a right tool now. Bringing Henry on with ten minutes to go? Did anybody else think that was bizzare.

I think we all agree that the Dublin camp needed a shake-up but I dont think the fact that they had 7 or 8 lads in their first championship season was the problem. The fact was nobody had a clue what they were meant to be at.

You can look to the u21's for hope but only one of them started yesterday and I honestly don't think too many of them are even good enough for senior IC level in the next two years. The Dublin u21 midfield was brutal and I think you would be doing well to get 4 of that team settled into the senior set-up in the next two years.

I would question all the training goin on at 7am and all that jazz. You can train in the gym all you like but I just dont understand why coaches don't grasp the notion that a donkey will never win the grand-national. Yes, you have to be fit and being strong helps but it is also important to possess the fundamental skills to play Gaelic football.

Dublin yesterday were spineless, leaderless, had no shape and had no idea what they were meant to be doing in the second half. At times it was like watching an underage team because they had no shape at all.

Can't believe they have gotten a home draw against Tipp which is going to be played in Croke Park. A trip down the country might have brought them lads back down to earth and realised they have a long road to recovery.

with all respect 4/5 players off an u21 team would be an excellent return in my view. Mots of what you've said is true though.

Howevcer our lads may be leaderless but I doubt they spent 4 days straight on the piss in a boozer in Cavan after being beaten by Fermanagh

You saw the affect of a bit of team-bonding at the weekend horse. A good oul session, is worth ten trainings sometimes. Get everything off the chest, have a laugh. At least our boys rolled up the sleeves when everything was going against us at the weekend - maybe them pints brought them togethrr a bit more. You're boy's were like startled earwigs again. Maybe if they got out of the gym once in a while, and remembered they were amateur footballers and not weightlifters then they might be able to enjoy themselves and play a bit of football instead trying to play like robots to a pre-designed system.

[Overthebar!]

anyone got any links for highlights of the game?

[Hardy]

anyone got any links for highlights of the game?

The Sunday Game (Ireland only):
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1075689

[Main Street]

A snippet of info in the IT today

'TV3 have revealed that 528,000 watched Meath beat Dublin at Croke Park. By comparison, 400,000 watched the England versus Germany match on RTÉ'.

Not too bad, I'd say most of the TV3 viewers were well amused by what they saw, at least equalling the amusement on RTE.

[Redhand Santa]

I commented else where that thats very suprising given the hype around the world cup and media obsession with it. Shows the gaa is still very popular.

[Zapatista]

Hector is really going to town on this one. Class

[Jinxy]

Hector is really going to town on this one. Class

Huh?

[Zapatista]

Hector is really going to town on this one. Class

Huh?

Hector and Tommy on 2fm.

[Jinxy]

What time were they on?
Might track it down.

[Celt_Man]

What time were they on?
Might track it down.

Think they are repeated sometime around now on 2fm... podcast might be available too