All Ireland senior football final 2012 Donegal v Mayo

[ToWinJustOnce_Mayo4Sam]

After you watch it can you come back with these notes regrading the referee .... I would be intertested.

Thank You.

[seafoid]

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.

That was mainly due to the emergence of Kilkenny who subsequently sucked most of the oxygen out of hurling until Tipp in 2010 and this year's Leinster final.

[Chimley]

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.

For what? Doping his horse?

[imtommygunn]

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.

That doesn't undo what he did.

[blast05]

Camanchero, I think Mayo should have been awarded about 47.5 easy scoreable frees during the game.
I once refereed an U-12 match too.
So there

[nephinman]

Tough one again and yet another damp evening-after in the west just like the last ones. Funny how the I can remember things like that but would probably be the same if we had won.

Hats off to Donegal. A great team to have won as many games on tough routes over the last two years. In my book they are up there with great teams like the meaths/corks of the late 80's and the Galways 90's and Tyrones/Armaghs of 2000's. Couldn't happen to a nicer county and its great people.(Kerry were in a different league to everyone else lest it's mentioned)

Agree with someone above in that it didn't feel great heading for the match. I know I'm getting on now but I had more confidence going to all the previous finals. Bloody hell I hope i'm not "loosing the Faith".

Anyway a bit too sad and tired to go into deep analysis. You could maybe point to a few of our players who might have grabbed the game by the scruf, a quicker reaction on the line like Richie in sooner, but its easy to talk here.

I firmly believe however now more than ever that we have been unlucky in that we have never produced an outstanding forward to build a forward unit around like Allen, O'Rourke, Linden, Fitzgerald, McConville, Canavan, Brogan, Joyce and now Murphy.

Just my two cents worth 

Anyway i'm sure we'll get back on the horse again fairly soon & enjoy your win up there in Donegal.

[Captain Obvious]

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.

[Jinxy]

It's a fair cop. 

[moysider]

Tough one again and yet another damp evening-after in the west just like the last ones. Funny how the I can remember things like that but would probably be the same if we had won.

Hats off to Donegal. A great team to have won as many games on tough routes over the last two years. In my book they are up there with great teams like the meaths/corks of the late 80's and the Galways 90's and Tyrones/Armaghs of 2000's. Couldn't happen to a nicer county and its great people.(Kerry were in a different league to everyone else lest it's mentioned)

Agree with someone above in that it didn't feel great heading for the match. I know I'm getting on now but I had more confidence going to all the previous finals. Bloody hell I hope i'm not "loosing the Faith".

Anyway a bit too sad and tired to go into deep analysis. You could maybe point to a few of our players who might have grabbed the game by the scruf, a quicker reaction on the line like Richie in sooner, but its easy to talk here.

I firmly believe however now more than ever that we have been unlucky in that we have never produced an outstanding forward to build a forward unit around like Allen, O'Rourke, Linden, Fitzgerald, McConville, Canavan, Brogan, Joyce and now Murphy.

Just my two cents worth 

Anyway i'm sure we'll get back on the horse again fairly soon & enjoy your win up there in Donegal.

http://spailpin.blogspot.ie/

The bit in bold could have been me. The blogger above appears to concur. There were thousands of us there yesterday who were hoping wheels would not come off but knowing that they would have to. Thats our story and the odessey continues.

It will take something really special to change the script. I think our current team is a bit special. They ve worked hard but have been unlucky with injuries. Donegal were always going to be a big ask - but there ll always be a Donegal, Kerry or Cork or Tyrone. Nobody is going to hand us one.

John O Keefe made the same point about the stand out forward, that you do, today in his column. I thought we were close to finding another way this year - lets face it we cant hang around for a Murphy to emerge. I thought management wrongly resorted to a 3 man ff line when the running game was developing, and was the game needed for Donegal, who were always a likely opposition late in champ.

Mind you in the past we had some top finishers like Joe McGrath and Kevin O Neill but the rest of set-up was a mess too often. Be great if we had a Tom Langan type now but we dont but we ve a lot of other qualities and I d expect 3/4 new faces next year by championship.

Tom Langan came to mind because Murphy s goal was awfully similar to Langan s effort v Meath 60 odd years ago. For those of you that don t know - there will be many - Langan was full- forward on the Millinium team. Ar dheis Dé go rabh an anam.

[Zulu]

This is a point I've made many times and it's a question I've often asked, Mayo don't have any top notch finishers but why?

For a football mad big county why aren't they producing ether forwards? Even Tipp and Wexford have produced better scoring forwards than Mayo have had inliving memory. It's something the county should be looking at as a matter of priority.

[blast05]

Re Langan, for about 3 years now they have had a plaque at the corner of the Cusack and Davin beside one of the bars ... "Tom Langan, full forward on the great Mayo team of 1951 & 1952" ..........................

Anyway - Pearce Hanley, time to answer your counties call for 1 year a la Tadgh Kenneally  !!

[Syferus]

Re Langan, for about 3 years now they have had a plaque at the corner of the Cusack and Davin beside one of the bars ... "Tom Langan, full forward on the great Mayo team of 1951 & 1952" ..........................

Anyway - Pearce Hanley, time to answer your counties call for 1 year a la Tadgh Kenneally  !!

We won't be ready next year but maybe in 2014 we'll call him home and bring Sam back to the Hyde.

[Jinxy]

Mayo never replaced Ray Dempsey.

[BarryBreensBandage]

There have been a few mentions of smilarities between Mayo and Down 2010, and that would be my fear for Mayo.
That they lose players.
Down were missing 7/8 off the panel from 2010 this year. I dare say most of them would still be about if we had won.

[moysider]

This is a point I've made many times and it's a question I've often asked, Mayo don't have any top notch finishers but why?

For a football mad big county why aren't they producing ether forwards? Even Tipp and Wexford have produced better scoring forwards than Mayo have had inliving memory. It's something the county should be looking at as a matter of priority.

I m not sure that you can 'produce' a Murphy or a Gooch. There s lot of stuff that can be coached - both teams yesterday were the product of good coaching and prep. - but one team had a stand-out close- in attacking talent.

Murphy is a gem of a player. technically brilliant, a leader and a level headed lad at 23 yrs of age.

25 yrs ago Padraig Brogan was a footballer for the ages but his temperment was different. He ll have no regrets and still had a fine career but he could have been a Murphy. He emerged. He could have a team built around him and lifted sam but it wasn t for him. He wasn t a product either.

Evan Regan is talented (probably technically better than McBrearty) but he s 5- 9 and less than 12 stone. How can we make him bigger? I doubt any of the great forward players were produced to be honest.

I don t know to be honest. I was more concerned yesterday with how we ended up without a defender to mark Murphy. I couldn t help thinking 'what would Mickey Harte do?' And 2008 and Justin McMahon moved back to mark Walsh.

Could a fit strong man like Seamie O Sé be redeployed as a once off - realistically Cafferkey was never going to mark Murphy and Keane ( first season) just was too raw, but had a good year. But could we have got more from likes of Feeney, Seamie and Gibbons yesterday. Why are we not innovators?

My problem is how we went about the last few games and about tactics and carrying 3 lads in the ff line. We needed muscle elsewhere. Donegal had 2 lads that did the business in the forwards. 1-3 and 1-4 or something apiece - largely playing inside on their own, and most scores from frees. Donegal did the business yesterday but tactics was the biggest input and Murphy and McFadden were the icing on the cake. However I believe Mayo could have won this without a recognised marquee finisher. And even without Andy if we hadnt got conservative.