All Ireland senior football final 2012 Donegal v Mayo

[camanchero]

Thought the ref was trying to keep Mayo in it, some poor decisions/decisions not given and so on.

I think that comment is horse manure and it was frustrating to listen to 2 ex-Donegal players coming out with the same bull when interviewed last night on the Sunday Game along with Jim McG alluding to it.
If i was from Donegal i'd spend far more being thankful for the free out that was given when Cillian O'Connor was fouled ultimately leading to the 2nd goal and a 4 point turn-around than moaning about what they perceive as a couple of hard calls against them.

Christ, if they had lost there would have been some moaning if they're moaning about it when the won.

in your opinion (and possibly other people's opinions) perhaps, but in my own opinion and more or less everyone else in the corporate box where we sat (with the benefit of looking at the tv screen in the box behind us for replays) the opinion was that the ref was good to mayo. a few soft frees either way, ref should have booked some more and not yellow carded a couple he did.
I thought Donegal had to endure a lot worse in order to get a free in comparison to mayo.
I'm a qualified ref by the way - but having seen a good few top refs perform porly this season inc deegan, that counts for feck all too.
I dont want to get into a slagging match and offend the poor mayo lads as they are a great footballing people, but its only my opinion - and one shared by a lot of people (a lot of neutrals included).

even though it didnt affect the match, I still think we need to improve on refs, consistency and accuracy. hawkeye and instant tv replays etc etc.

[Bingo]

Just remembered one other funny moment yesterday during the celebrations shortly after the match ended, as the Hills of donegal was been blasted out over the PA, it was stopped and the voice came on to remind "the stweards to remain facing the crowd and not to be looking towards the field, repeat can all stewards remain facing the crowd", he stopped and the Hills of Donegal continued. Brillant I thought.

[ToWinJustOnce_Mayo4Sam]

"Personally I thought Deegan was pretty soft on Mayo. I was right beside the McGee O'Connor foul and it wasn't a free in. Yes possibly for Donegals goal O'Connor could possibly have gotten a foul but it was marginal and it wasn't helped by the fact he took a dive at that time! In the first half and parts of the 2nd Mayo hit anything that moved and numerous times that was the man who had just layed the ball off. Lacey got a bad one and that time for McFaddens long free there were 2 Donegal men who got nailed when the ball was gone."

I was behind the  canal goal and it was a blatant free not only once but twice ..... Marginal you're having a laugh

Why not deal with McFaddden dive in the 2nd half to earn a free .... Never a free.


The long range free taking from Donegal was brilliant (6 from 6)... probably this won the game for Donegal coupled with mayo poor return from frees (6 from 9)

Well done to Donegal.

[ToWinJustOnce_Mayo4Sam]

Thought the ref was trying to keep Mayo in it, some poor decisions/decisions not given and so on.

I think that comment is horse manure and it was frustrating to listen to 2 ex-Donegal players coming out with the same bull when interviewed last night on the Sunday Game along with Jim McG alluding to it.
If i was from Donegal i'd spend far more being thankful for the free out that was given when Cillian O'Connor was fouled ultimately leading to the 2nd goal and a 4 point turn-around than moaning about what they perceive as a couple of hard calls against them.

Christ, if they had lost there would have been some moaning if they're moaning about it when the won.

in your opinion (and possibly other people's opinions) perhaps, but in my own opinion and more or less everyone else in the corporate box where we sat (with the benefit of looking at the tv screen in the box behind us for replays) the opinion was that the ref was good to mayo. a few soft frees either way, ref should have booked some more and not yellow carded a couple he did.
I thought Donegal had to endure a lot worse in order to get a free in comparison to mayo.
I'm a qualified ref by the way - but having seen a good few top refs perform porly this season inc deegan, that counts for feck all too.
I dont want to get into a slagging match and offend the poor mayo lads as they are a great footballing people, but its only my opinion - and one shared by a lot of people (a lot of neutrals included).

even though it didnt affect the match, I still think we need to improve on refs, consistency and accuracy. hawkeye and instant tv replays etc etc.

Were the corporate brigade all donegal supporters !!!

"....the opinion was that the ref was good to mayo."
Some examples would help.


Can you comment on some of the scoreable frees that donegal were given in the 2nd half ...(since you say you are qualified) and the non awarding of a free to o'connor preceding donegal 2nd goal.

Also any comment (given that you are a referee) about donegal tactic of interfering with many mayo free takers out the field and their theatrics near the end on the game following fouls?

[cadence]

another cute baby sam pic....

http://www.irishtimes.com/homepage/images/1224324351719.jpg?ts=1348509371

[bucko]

A day later and feel pretty much the same, disappointed simply down to the fact that it's another one lost in a year that was probably the best chance we've had since 96 to win it. We needed to get things right from the word go and get little bit of luck and we got neither. My own opinions on the game don't differ a whole lot from a lot of what's been said here already but something that hasn't really been mentioned that I've been thinking about has been our first quarter in every match this year. Looking at our performances overall this year its been obvious in every game this year that we've played our best football in the 2nd and third quarters. Against Leitrim, Down, Dublin and Donegal those periods were our strong spells, some of those matches we were utterly dominant. However, when you look back at the first periods of all those games, Leitrim stayed with us for the first 20 mins, any threat Down posed was in the first quarter, Dublin got the first 2 points and rattled the crossbar in the first 10 and we all know what Donegal did yesterday in the first 15. Why was it taking those periods for us to get to the level of performance we were producing in the middle two quarters?  It just looks like our performance in each match was starting off from too low a level and I'd wager McGuinness spotted it as something to exploit and land a sucker punch early in the game. Going forward there are things to look at, I think we need 2-3 more options in the forward line, unfortunately there's no sign of a marquee forward in the county that seems to be the vital piece to win an All Ireland. Think of Murphy for Donegal, Bernard Brogan for Dublin last year, Goulding for Cork year before, Gooch for Kerry, Canavan for Tyrone and so on. Mobility in midfield and as Moysider said earlier getting Higgins further up the field to have more influence on the game are the other aspects. Horan doesn't have to tear down and start again, its more a case of evolving but his challenge now is to keep the progress of the last 2 years going which could be harder than when he started.

PS Suprised that there was no comment on the whole Cillian O'Connor non free leading to Donegal's second goal was almost a carbon copy of Cork's second goal in the league final, another match Deegan reffed!!!

[An Gaeilgoir]

Watched game again this morning ..... I have no idea why these donegal posters are going on about the referee being soft on Mayo...
(the supporter at the game the very same ... wanted a yellow card for every foul committed by a mayo player!!!)

There were three fouls called on mayo (all pointed) which were marginal.
i)  Last free before half-time was harsh.
ii) Foul called on mayo player when Murphy met with a fair shoulder and
iii) finally McFadden dived to earn his free into the 2nd half.

Not to mention deegan's worst decision In not awarding a free to O'Connor which led to Donegal 2nd Goal.


Final Note, the whistling, cat calling & booing a disgrace by a sizable portion of the Donegal crowd.


I wonder will Brolly (or anybody else) mention the time wasting and feigning injury late into the 2nd Half. Each time there was a foul, the donegal players were holding there faces even though contact was being made to their face.

Cat calling,  no mention this of when we were kicking frees and 45's into the hill three weeks ago,
As for your second point, do you not remember our last 5 minutes against the Dubs also.

This goes on all the time, neither of those two issues cost us the game, nothing learned from pervious finals i.e. 7 points down with in the first 20 is what bet us!!

[seafoid]

Watched game again this morning ..... I have no idea why these donegal posters are going on about the referee being soft on Mayo...
(the supporter at the game the very same ... wanted a yellow card for every foul committed by a mayo player!!!)

There were three fouls called on mayo (all pointed) which were marginal.
i)  Last free before half-time was harsh.
ii) Foul called on mayo player when Murphy met with a fair shoulder and
iii) finally McFadden dived to earn his free into the 2nd half.

Not to mention deegan's worst decision In not awarding a free to O'Connor which led to Donegal 2nd Goal.


Final Note, the whistling, cat calling & booing a disgrace by a sizable portion of the Donegal crowd.


I wonder will Brolly (or anybody else) mention the time wasting and feigning injury late into the 2nd Half. Each time there was a foul, the donegal players were holding there faces even though contact was being made to their face.

Cat calling, why did we not mention this when we were kicking frees into the hill three months ago,
As for your second point, do you not remember our last 5 minutes agianst the Dubs also.

This goes on all the time, neither of those two issues cost us the game, nothing learned from pervious finals i.e. 7 points down with in the first 20 is what bet us!!

Ta an ceart agat but what matters now is how Mayo respond. What did Lendl say to Andy Murray about losing? There are losses you learn from.
Those players can come back again. They weren't that far off yesterday. There is nothing like all Ireland final experience. And they can build on it.

[Sam2011]

O Shea and O'Connor are 20 & 21 and can play better than they showed yesterday. There is at least half a dozen more years at the top for them. Their minors have been pretty good for the last few years without winning an all Ireland of course. Mayos minors should have been in the all Ireland this year too giving the Dubs a much better challenge than that mediocre Meath outfit.

Of course they also have players like Moran and Mortimer that could return. Horan seems to be the man to get them to take the final step in the next year or two but knowing Mayo they will probably find a way to mess it up.

Kerry and Tyrone seem to be gone and the main contenders in the next 3 or 4 years seem to be Cork, Dublin, Donegal and Mayo.

Mortimer's inter county days are over Andy Moran will be 29 next year while Alan Dillon will be 30 how many years has those two key players left? if Mayo keep the same team their average age next year will be 25 young enough to challenge for at least 5 years but it's still more scoring forwards that they need the most.

The best forward of their 2006 AI winning team was Aidan Kilcoyne i'm not sure if he's available to return? having watched Mayo's underage scene closely they have some good footballers coming through good defenders,midfielders though i didn't see any stand out forwards tbh.

It's hard to know what will happen next year remember Down got to 2010 final only losing by a point many thought they would return & would be foolish to rule out Tyrone or Kerry for example Kerry won the 2008 U21 AI. Finally a lot teams are doing good work at underage level it would be to great to see a break through from one of those teams especially our own crop.

1) Dillon is 28
2) Average age is actually 23
3) We have the likes of Conor O'Shea, Evan Regan, Michael Forde, Darren Coen, Danny Kirby who are all 19,20,21 who have been training at some stage this year with with the team but have yet to feature in championship so they will have a year of training with an inter - county team under their belt.
4) We've been getting up to Croke Park quite frequently at minor level in the past few years including this year so we're not dong to bad there either.
5) Aidan Kilcoyne is in London working so it is unlikely he will be back for us.

[ross4life]

O Shea and O'Connor are 20 & 21 and can play better than they showed yesterday. There is at least half a dozen more years at the top for them. Their minors have been pretty good for the last few years without winning an all Ireland of course. Mayos minors should have been in the all Ireland this year too giving the Dubs a much better challenge than that mediocre Meath outfit.

Of course they also have players like Moran and Mortimer that could return. Horan seems to be the man to get them to take the final step in the next year or two but knowing Mayo they will probably find a way to mess it up.

Kerry and Tyrone seem to be gone and the main contenders in the next 3 or 4 years seem to be Cork, Dublin, Donegal and Mayo.

Mortimer's inter county days are over Andy Moran will be 29 next year while Alan Dillon will be 30 how many years has those two key players left? if Mayo keep the same team their average age next year will be 25 young enough to challenge for at least 5 years but it's still more scoring forwards that they need the most.

The best forward of their 2006 AI winning team was Aidan Kilcoyne i'm not sure if he's available to return? having watched Mayo's underage scene closely they have some good footballers coming through good defenders,midfielders though i didn't see any stand out forwards tbh.

It's hard to know what will happen next year remember Down got to 2010 final only losing by a point many thought they would return & would be foolish to rule out Tyrone or Kerry for example Kerry won the 2008 U21 AI. Finally a lot teams are doing good work at underage level it would be to great to see a break through from one of those teams especially our own crop.

1) Dillon is 28
2) Average age is actually 23
3) We have the likes of Conor O'Shea, Evan Regan, Michael Forde, Darren Coen, Danny Kirby who are all 19,20,21 who have been training at some stage this year with with the team but have yet to feature in championship so they will have a year of training with an inter - county team under their belt.
4) We've been getting up to Croke Park quite frequently at minor level in the past few years including this year so we're not dong to bad there either.
5) Aidan Kilcoyne is in London working so it is unlikely he will be back for us.

Andy Moran said on the radio last night that Dillon will be 30 in a few weeks. Average age is currently 24 next year believe it or not they will be older & returning Andy Moran will also up the average and did i say Mayo weren't doing well at underage level?

[Sam2011]

O Shea and O'Connor are 20 & 21 and can play better than they showed yesterday. There is at least half a dozen more years at the top for them. Their minors have been pretty good for the last few years without winning an all Ireland of course. Mayo's minors should have been in the all Ireland this year too giving the Dubs a much better challenge than that mediocre Meath outfit.

Of course they also have players like Moran and Mortimer that could return. Horan seems to be the man to get them to take the final step in the next year or two but knowing Mayo they will probably find a way to mess it up.

Kerry and Tyrone seem to be gone and the main contenders in the next 3 or 4 years seem to be Cork, Dublin, Donegal and Mayo.

Mortimer's inter county days are over Andy Moran will be 29 next year while Alan Dillon will be 30 how many years has those two key players left? if Mayo keep the same team their average age next year will be 25 young enough to challenge for at least 5 years but it's still more scoring forwards that they need the most.

The best forward of their 2006 AI winning team was Aidan Kilcoyne i'm not sure if he's available to return? having watched Mayo's underage scene closely they have some good footballers coming through good defenders,midfielders though i didn't see any stand out forwards tbh.

It's hard to know what will happen next year remember Down got to 2010 final only losing by a point many thought they would return & would be foolish to rule out Tyrone or Kerry for example Kerry won the 2008 U21 AI. Finally a lot teams are doing good work at underage level it would be to great to see a break through from one of those teams especially our own crop.

1) Dillon is 28
2) Average age is actually 23
3) We have the likes of Conor O'Shea, Evan Regan, Michael Forde, Darren Coen, Danny Kirby who are all 19,20,21 who have been training at some stage this year with with the team but have yet to feature in championship so they will have a year of training with an inter - county team under their belt.
4) We've been getting up to Croke Park quite frequently at minor level in the past few years including this year so we're not dong to bad there either.
5) Aidan Kilcoyne is in London working so it is unlikely he will be back for us.

Andy Moran said on the radio last night that Dillon will be 30 in a few weeks. Average age is currently 24 next year believe it or not they will be older & returning Andy Moran will also up the average and did i say Mayo weren't doing well at underage level?

You could be right about Dillon I was just going by what the programme said yesterday won't be surprised if they got it wrong as they has David Clarke down as David Burke. But still just 'cause one player turns 30 doesn't it's the end of this team.
I'm nearly positive Andy said at the banquet last night the average age was 23, maybe he was on about the entire squad, I don't know.
No you didn't and did I say you did? No. You just said I don't know how Mayo are doing at underage and I told you simple as. I'm wasn't having a go just answering a question.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Congrats to Donegal. Can't argue that it wasn't deserved. They beat a host of top sides this Summer. Undoubtably the best team in the land at the moment. I wonder how long they will be able to stay at the top as their style of play is very intense and energy-sapping. It must be seriously demanding both physically and mentally so they may not be built for the long road but I doubt they care too much right now.

Hard luck to our neighbours. Unfortunately the long wait must go on. A relatively young side so you imagine Mayo will be be there or thereabouts for a few more years but getting to a final is tough and winning one even harder so there are no guarantees. With finals you have the take your chance when you're there and often your best chance is the first time you get to one. I remember the Galway hurlers reaching the All-Ireland final in 2005 with a young side and all the pundits saying they would be back in the next few finals. In fact it took them 7 years to get back to one. You just don't know.

[Jinxy]

I'm not stirring here but why do Mayo always try and throw their weight around in All Ireland finals?
It doesn't suit them.
Cian O'Connor was lucky he wasn't put off in the first half.

[camanchero]

Thought the ref was trying to keep Mayo in it, some poor decisions/decisions not given and so on.

I think that comment is horse manure and it was frustrating to listen to 2 ex-Donegal players coming out with the same bull when interviewed last night on the Sunday Game along with Jim McG alluding to it.
If i was from Donegal i'd spend far more being thankful for the free out that was given when Cillian O'Connor was fouled ultimately leading to the 2nd goal and a 4 point turn-around than moaning about what they perceive as a couple of hard calls against them.

Christ, if they had lost there would have been some moaning if they're moaning about it when the won.

in your opinion (and possibly other people's opinions) perhaps, but in my own opinion and more or less everyone else in the corporate box where we sat (with the benefit of looking at the tv screen in the box behind us for replays) the opinion was that the ref was good to mayo. a few soft frees either way, ref should have booked some more and not yellow carded a couple he did.
I thought Donegal had to endure a lot worse in order to get a free in comparison to mayo.
I'm a qualified ref by the way - but having seen a good few top refs perform porly this season inc deegan, that counts for feck all too.
I dont want to get into a slagging match and offend the poor mayo lads as they are a great footballing people, but its only my opinion - and one shared by a lot of people (a lot of neutrals included).

even though it didnt affect the match, I still think we need to improve on refs, consistency and accuracy. hawkeye and instant tv replays etc etc.

Were the corporate brigade all donegal supporters !!!

"....the opinion was that the ref was good to mayo."
Some examples would help.


Can you comment on some of the scoreable frees that donegal were given in the 2nd half ...(since you say you are qualified) and the non awarding of a free to o'connor preceding donegal 2nd goal.

Also any comment (given that you are a referee) about donegal tactic of interfering with many mayo free takers out the field and their theatrics near the end on the game following fouls?

I'm not from Donegal ! I just expected them to win by 5 points.
Should I get the opportunity to watch the game again on tv Im sure id have no problem noting down various transgressions that the referee missed or gave that I felt was not within the letter of the law or inconsistent.

While I believe both Donegal and Mayo tend to dive a bit all this season, yesterday I reckoned that Mayo were the bigger culprits.

while still licking your wounds at a loss I suspect this opnion isnt nice to hear, but the denizens of the corporate box around me were Dubs with a couple of Donegal folk and one Rossie (supporting mayo). All the people in the box seemd to feel that the ref while not brilliant was a tad inconsistent and that mayo were the benefactors of such generosity in his awards for free kicks.

my opinion at half time wat that the ref had gained mayo three points.

as for this much whinged at free that oconor should have been awarded prior to the donegal second goal - if that was a free, then I wish that I had been given frees for situations like that as a forward when I played.
however, croke park have metted out rules that can construe contact almost this to be a free in modern day football (but not in this case) - but if deegan had given that, then donegal would surely have merited a dozen or more 21 yard frees in the first half alone.
the second half was a non event.
best of luck next year, but too many neutrals are voicng the same opinions regarding the ref yesterday - they cant all be wrong. 

[ToWinJustOnce_Mayo4Sam]

I'm not stirring here but why do Mayo always try and throw their weight around in All Ireland finals?
It doesn't suit them.
Cian O'Connor was lucky he wasn't put off in the first half.

Look at the recording .... Cillian O'Connor was clearly fouled prior to this incident and antagonized by the two defenders.