Dublin v Mayo - AISF

[mylestheslasher]

of course there are no non-dubs shedding tears thats because the mucksavage,in-bred, clergy worshipping 31 county alliance is in full force.   f**k off out of dublin you c***ts, you're not welcome.  never forget that.

What about London and new York, they wanted ye to lose too. Otherwise an excellent post.

[Ard-Rí]

The whole thing is obviously very raw having just got home after that shambles and clise on major embarassement to dublin football!M! An awful lot of stuff not right about today!!! One thing I will say though is unless Bernard Brogan is going to commit properly to Dublin football he should go off to his bar buying, modelling, blogging, media focused career. You do one or the other. Our top top player that we couldn't live without two years ago is now a bleeding useless distraction and liability. So with all due respect Bernard choose one or the other because with the other stuff going on you're making a complete ballix of the football side!!!

And one other opinion!! Pat thanks for last year! Sincerely! But without Mickey Whelan you don't really have a clue what you're at!!

Hill 16 Blues is right! Get over it matey, it wasn't that bad. Very little to do with Gilroy either, in my estimation, though Alan Brogan was the wrong choice today, Maigh Eo were much stronger defending than Dublin were attacking. I'm sure the Dubs will be back with hunger next year, so don't throw the toys out of the pram, you can't win every year.

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

You're halfway there with your prediction anyway. Quite right too that Mayo do have something that was never there before. I don't agree with others here that we saw a second half collapse from Mayo in the traditional sense of mentally going to pieces. It was just that they were worn out physically. Far from a mental collapse, it was only mental resolve that kept them in it as well as a tremendous defensive performance and Dublin's almost complete absence of scoring potential, apart from their goalkeeper.  Superb contest, though.

It would be worrying indeed if Mayo were indeed so physically worn out after 50 minutes of the match. I don't think that was the case though, I think they did indeed panic when the finishing line was in sight, albeit the injuries did also reduce the strength of their team. The heads went and they let Dublin back in when they were pretty much dead and buried. Some of the decision making in the end was really poor also, going for goals when they had simple points on. After 50 minutes I was thinking this Mayo team could certainly beat Donegal. The manner in which they allowed the Dubs back in the closing 20 minutes however showed a soft underbelly. I cannot see how Donegal won't take advantage of that.

Despite all the doom and gloom about Gaelic Football from some I really enjoyed both semi finals. Great pairing for the final and I am looking forward to the build up and to the match itself.

[emmetryan]

I've put together a tactical analysis piece on today's game for anyone interested.

http://action81.com/blog/?p=6171

[Syferus]

It's great for Mayo but the only reservation I would have is the songs that will be coming out over the next few weeks, many on MWR.

There was great craic with the 9pm slot presenter taking seriously a text that said 'Play some Sam Maguire'. He said he didn't know of any artists called Sam Maguire..

He wouldn't relent to requests to play The Green and Red of Mayo because 'this is a traditional music show', either. They should just get that lad to read out texts for two hours a night - it was wonderful.

I even saw the Viper outside the Hogan Stand on my way in, today pretty much had everything.

[ballinaman]

What was O'Rourke talking about after the game when he said "Bernard Brogan became bigger than football and his football suffered" ?

Quitting his job and becoming an "IT" boy in Dublin might have something to do with it.

Wow. Mayo..., hard to sum it us up really. Think i nearly blacked out at the final whistle for a few seconds with relief/joy/. Every last one of the lads, heroes. Clarkey and Caff...proud man here, some game.

Congrats to Dublin, true champions. Some comeback, many a team would have thrown in the towel, very gracious the knowledgeable people i met tonight...MDM all star nailed on, MOM.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Cafferkey and Dillon were immense today. Cillian showing how important he is to us for frees. Aidan has really developed as a player, he was calm and a pure powerhouse near the end when it looked like we were losing shape. The entire team, subs and bloodsubs were so honest in their effort, cynical as f**k and knew their jobs, was great to watch as a Mayoman. What was nearly as exciting as a Mayoman to see as the first 50 minutes of lovely football was the 20+++++++ minutes of the dark arts at the end, win at all costs. Some amount of Mayo lads picking up knocks though!!! That was some save by Clarke too.

[Halfquarter]

Crikey,I'd love to give Brolly a slap,nasty little man.

[ross4life]

Cafferkey and Dillon were immense today. Cillian showing how important he is to us for frees. Aidan has really developed as a player, he was calm and a pure powerhouse near the end when it looked like we were losing shape. The entire team, subs and bloodsubs were so honest in their effort, cynical as f**k and knew their jobs, was great to watch as a Mayoman. What was nearly as exciting as a Mayoman to see as the first 50 minutes of lovely football was the 20+++++++ minutes of the dark arts at the end, win at all costs. Some amount of Mayo lads picking up knocks though!!! That was some save by Clarke too.

I think Cafferkey,Dillon have been immense all year and you can place Barry Moran along side them. O'Connor's free taking is huge to Mayo remember those games v Galway,London last year? as the saying goes never underestimate the importance of good freetaker.

[bucko]

Crikey,I'd love to give Brolly a slap,nasty little man.

If I'd have my way he'd be at the bottom of the royal canal with a few concrete blocks around his ankles.....

[cuconnacht]

Mayo by 4. Hard to be objective from 12,000 miles mind you.

Whoever wins today will win the All Ireland

wrong by the minimum,but wrong no less,and you a Stephenite

[tyroneman]

What did Brolly say??

[the Deel Rover]

What did Brolly say??

He is a wee tr**p, just watched the 1st half after i came home from the match and there he was spluttering and spitting about mayo and their mental attitutide. i'm sick to fcuk of this man spouting shite and getting paid a fortune of our money going on about our mental attitude, our lack of scoring forwards ect ect ect . There is nothing wrong with our attitude this is our 5th final since 1996(6th including the repay) we get knocked down but keep coming back for more . This please god will be the 6th Ai final buildup that i will enjoy as a supporter how many have derry fans (no offence lads) enjoyed in that period and some day we will know what it feels like to win one, hopefully this year if not we will just come back again.I was hoping i meet the wee ballax on the way to the match and have a coupla focail with him Anyway enough about that gobshite yesterdays match was unreal thought the players were emmense . Mickey conroy was brilliant in the 1st half his off the ball running was a sight to behold, cillian o'connors compousre when kicking in to the hill and them all booing him was unreal for a young lad, kevins mc loughlin workrate and distribution into the forward line, Alan dillon emmense, the whole team were excellent .Ok i know for the last 20 minutes we let the dubs come back into it but so did Kerry last year however we held out, so one again despite our great performance yesterday all the pundits and experts will look at the negatives of the last 20 minutes but sure we are used to that we will turn up for the game against donegal the atmopshere should  be unreal and we will give it a lash .Of course we haven't a chance because judge brolly says so.The atmosphere in the stadium afterwards with the green and red of mayo been sung by all the mayo fans was heart warming stuff. Forgot to mention the dublin fans after the match top class and genuine they really create a athmosphere and to see the hill in full flow is a sight to behold.

[heffo]

Well done Mayo, better and hungrier team on the day.

Enjoy the next few weeks, no better feeling than waking up and finding your county in an AI final.

[Never beat the deeler]

What did Brolly say??

He is a wee tr**p, just watched the 1st half after i came home from the match and there he was spluttering and spitting about mayo and their mental attitutide. i'm sick to fcuk of this man spouting shite and getting paid a fortune of our money going on about our mental attitude, our lack of scoring forwards ect ect ect . There is nothing wrong with our attitude this is our 5th final since 1996(6th including the repay) we get knocked down but keep coming back for more . This please god will be the 6th Ai final buildup that i will enjoy as a supporter how many have derry fans (no offence lads) enjoyed in that period and some day we will know what it feels like to win one, hopefully this year if not we will just come back again.I was hoping i meet the wee ballax on the way to the match and have a coupla focail with him Anyway enough about that gobshite yesterdays match was unreal thought the players were emmense . Mickey conroy was brilliant in the 1st half his off the ball running was a sight to behold, cillian o'connors compousre when kicking in to the hill and them all booing him was unreal for a young lad, kevins mc loughlin workrate and distribution into the forward line, Alan dillon emmense, the whole team were excellent .Ok i know for the last 20 minutes we let the dubs come back into it but so did Kerry last year however we held out, so one again despite our great performance yesterday all the pundits and experts will look at the negatives of the last 20 minutes but sure we are used to that we will turn up for the game against donegal the atmopshere should  be unreal and we will give it a lash .Of course we haven't a chance because judge brolly says so.The atmosphere in the stadium afterwards with the green and red of mayo been sung by all the mayo fans was heart warming stuff. Forgot to mention the dublin fans after the match top class and genuine they really create a athmosphere and to see the hill in full flow is a sight to behold.

Go on ya boy ya DR. Thats the kind of fight that the lads have been showing this year!

Agree on Michael Conroy. Watched on tv in the Irish Club in Perth, so couldnt see all his off the ball running, but thought 6pts in first half could be attributed directly  or indirectly to him, between 45s, frees and offloads.

Alan Dillon and Kev Mc were fantastic around the middle of the park. I thought Aidan O Shea was very good, as was Barry but they seemed to tire a wee bit in the second half (fantastic catch from Barry at a crucial time though)

A lot has been said about the period between 50 minutes to 70 when Dublin staged their comeback. I think this was an unfortunate accumulation of factors. Dublin were always going to come back. If Mayo managed to score any of the chances they had in this period it would have gone some way to quelling the comeback sooner (think Doherty's goal chance, Conroy's fist and another I cant recall but I think it was COC)
Added to that was the amount of injuries and forced changes. This really disrupted  Mayo's rhythm and they struggled to hold onto the ball until Caff came back on.
Another factor was McAuley hit a purple patch in this period and really drove Dublin on. Thought he did enough to earn MOTM but these are usually given to a winning player.
And to some extent there seemed to be heavy legs as a result of the effort expended in the first 50 minutes. This, if was the case, is a concern as by all accounts the super humans from Donegal will not get tired.

Lots of positives to be taken from the game - some fantastic point scoring, a big spread of scorers (10-odd scoring from play), more strength in depth than anyone probably realised (and hopefully these can be introduced gradually as needed instead of forced due to injuries). Also, lots to work on - decision making, positions around the centre of the field, who does what for example if McL goes off etc.

I think we are in a better position now having identified these issues and being able to work on them than if we had pushed on from 10 points up and brought on all the hype that goes with that,

Apologies for the rambling post, will try and put a bit of structure around the next one!!

PS A Ballina mate of mine has promised to 'shift' David Clarke the next time he sees him