AI Football Final 2010: An Corcaigh vs An Dún

[Tony Baloney]

There's lads here, that if they were beside Clarke while he bought a pint of milk in the shop, they'd say to the shop keeper "Did you see the way he handed over the money there and waited patiently for his change? Like he had all the time in the world. Pure class."

You are being a WUM.  Clarke is just pure class no matter what he does.  The rest of the Down team don't measure up.  Maybe that's what happened them today?

Hasn't stamped his mark on games this year like he should. Descriptions like "classy", "skilful" etc are hollow words. I'd rather have a player with less skill and more impact.

[Zapatista]

Did anyone find it strange that a Cork player swapped shirts after the match? Not sure who it was & he had Benny Coulters( I think) top on during the lap of honour. If I had just won an All Ireland I wouldn't be swapping tops.

I wouldn't worry. Coulters jersey would be great to have.

I'd say many of those keep sakes would be given to clubs and charitys for auction later in the year anyway.

[Bogball XV]

Cork won the National League as well so the strong correlation between League & Championship continues.

aye Donegal won in 2007 and lost i the first round of Ulster and Derry won in 2008 and lost to fermanagh in ulster semi   In hurling Galway beat Cork in the final this year.

The moral of the story is that sometimes the league winners go on and do well and other times they don't.  It probably helps if they're in an uncompetitive province as that means they've a chance to recover from their exertions.

[Maguire01]

There's lads here, that if they were beside Clarke while he bought a pint of milk in the shop, they'd say to the shop keeper "Did you see the way he handed over the money there and waited patiently for his change? Like he had all the time in the world. Pure class."

You are being a WUM.  Clarke is just pure class no matter what he does.  The rest of the Down team don't measure up.  Maybe that's what happened them today?

Hasn't stamped his mark on games this year like he should. Descriptions like "classy", "skilful" etc are hollow words. I'd rather have a player with less skill and more impact.

Like he should? I'd say he's had a pretty good one for his first year playing senior.

[souljaboy]

gutted!!

Fair play to cork, with a team of no individual superstars they have a team of pure athletism and clinical finishing that capitalised on our big names not showing up.
Could have gripe about the 2 mins added time, but in fairness we rode our luck throughout the championship.
Hopefully wee James has laid the foundations for a Down revival in the next few years.
The boys in red and black are back

[Bogball XV]

gutted!!

fair play to cork, with a team of no individual superstars they have a team of pure athletism and clinical finishing that capitalised on our big names not showing up.
!could have gripe about the 2 mins added time, but n fairness we rode our luck throughout the championship.
hopefully wee  James has laid the foundations for a Down revival in the next few years.
The boys in red and black are back

he signalled 2 mins but played 3.20 odd, think he was trying to let down have the chance to get a draw, but in keeping with much of the second half, they couldn't win possession.

[boojangles]

Congrats to Cork. Really deserved their win today and despite all the knocking from some so- called GAA fans, I'm delighted that the Rebels have finally got
their hands back on Sam.
Down, as a county and a team should be proud of what your lads have achieved this year. They are a credit to a football mad county and I really hope Down go on and realise their potential now.
I can only hope that Cavan, in some small way, can replicate what Down have done this year.
Its a terror what a good manager can do.

[wavesofTORRES]

Hats off to Cork today. A superb team who thoroughly deserved their victory. We could have won it  but to be honest we would not have deserved to win it based on that second half performance. We totally lost the midfield and breakball contest and to watch Walsh in full flow was awesome, what a talent. Although some of the changes on the line baffled me, not least D Rafferty's, I feel the management team cant be faulted for the effort this year.They have given us renewed hope and blooded some good lads who will form the core for years to come- Mc Kernan, Fitzpatrick, Maginn to name but three. To the managment players and all involved this season I thank you for a wonderful summer the past month in particular has been terrific, lets hope the club championship gets a big boost as a result and we realise that the quality is better than many first believed.
As we left the Hill today I think to a man we agreed that if we had to lose then Cork was the ones we could stomach losing to, the banter on the Hill was great but the pain still hurts.
Well done to Cork you desrve it, to Down , thankyou and roll on next year. An Dun Abu.

[Archie Mitchell]

Who got RTE MOTM?

[orangeman]

Who got RTE MOTM?

not awarded yet - but easy picking - Goulding's 9 points should ensure he gets it.

[Orangemac]

Well done Cork. Although I would have liked to see Down winning you couldn't begrudge the likes of Canty and Murphy who have been at the coalface for a while without reward.

It was looking dicey for long periods of the first half though Although Cork seemed to have the upper hand at midfield they were ponderous in possession and seemed to be all over the place in defence.

The point Danny Hughes fisted over, there were 3 Cork men went to the ball leaving Hughes in acres of space.
Defenders seemed to get a lot closer to their men in the second half.

Sheer strength of Cork won out for them in the end. King got a bit of a dig early in the 2nd half and Cork were making hay round the centre. Could Gordon not have been moved out for the last 15?

Also Cork's bench made a big difference.

Marty Clarke never got going today although he was living off scraps for long periods.

It's going to be interesting to see if Down can continue where they left off next year.

[Archie Mitchell]

Who got RTE MOTM?

not awarded yet - but easy picking - Goulding's 9 points should ensure he gets it.

How many from play did he get? I thought Aidan Walsh was excellent today.

[Highlander3]

Disappointing end to what has been a great year.

I thought that Cork deserved to win, we let them be to close at HT, and the strength of their squad showed in the 2nd half. Cork cleaned us out at MF, i feared that their height would prove to be a problem for us and so it proved, also thought that the wet day really suited them much more than us.

Still that Cork team deserved a Sam, pity it had to be by beating us, i think we Will be back stronger next year, we still have a young team and i thought as the year when on some of them kept getting better, Clark ( not a great day but rem he is only back playing GAA less than a year), McKernan, Polland,P McC. There are a few other guys that will strengthen the team next year like Ambrose, Howard, A Carr.

[orangeman]

Who got RTE MOTM?

not awarded yet - but easy picking - Goulding's 9 points should ensure he gets it.

How many from play did he get? I thought Aidan Walsh was excellent today.

3 x 45s, 4 frees -

Walsh was class alright.

[Bogball XV]

Who got RTE MOTM?

not awarded yet - but easy picking - Goulding's 9 points should ensure he gets it.

don't understand that choice myself, at least lar corbett scored his 9 points in the hurling from play.  I didn't think he contributed much from play at all - i'd have given it to o'connor myself.