St. Brigid's vs. Crossmaglen Rangers - All-Ireland Senior Club Semi-final 2013

[Syferus]

No questions have been answered on St Brigids since last year. Last year they were Connacht champions and then got beat. This year they are connacht champions as they were last year. They've done exactly the same so no-one will know any answers on them until after the cross match.

There is nothing, yet, to suggest they have moved upwards.

Lol

[brokencrossbar1]

Shure we may as well give them th Cup now!  I will not be involved in much on here in th build up to the game so I will let others fight the battle of the net. The reality is that nothing is decided at this stage and I won't comment on St Brigids as I habe seen very little of them. If you say they are stronger and better than when they played last time then I will take your word for it.

[Syferus]

Shure we may as well give them th Cup now!  I will not be involved in much on here in th build up to the game so I will let others fight the battle of the net. The reality is that nothing is decided at this stage and I won't comment on St Brigids as I habe seen very little of them. If you say they are stronger and better than when they played last time then I will take your word for it.

I don't think I ever said they were definitely or even likely to win. I personally fancy them but it is almost sure to be an almighty battle if they do win.

Anyone that likes football has to like the look of this game.

[ballinaman]

No questions have been answered on St Brigids since last year. Last year they were Connacht champions and then got beat. This year they are connacht champions as they were last year. They've done exactly the same so no-one will know any answers on them until after the cross match.

There is nothing, yet, to suggest they have moved upwards.

Lol

What so funny there that it made you laugh out loud?

[GalwayBayBoy]

Brigids are an exceptional team, though.

They are an exceptional team within Roscommon and Connacht but that doesn't always translate into an exceptional team in national terms. Although they are obviously a very fine side. There is no dominant club within Galway or Mayo at present which probably helps them a little inside Connacht. They would want to try and make next year their year though because most teams (apart from Cross seemingly) have a limited shelf life at the top. Not easy to keep having to go back to the well each year.

Corofin would have been 'dominant' if they'd scored two more points last November. It's not as if Brigids had been steamrolling the Mayo and Galway champions, indeed 'Tubber were fancying themselves for a Mayo three-in-a-row and that would have been hard to argue as being anything other than 'dominant'. I don't think the standard has played much of a role in Brigids success.

Brigids were a very good team in 2006, 2010 and 2011. They have went up a level this year, though, and now can look at the gold standard of club football (Cross) as something they overcomr.

The difference between Brigids in February and in November this year has been like night and day, the two Mc's have done a very impressive job at keeping a well-travelled Brigids panel fresh, making everyone comfortable on the ball and creating a pressure game that can unhinge any club in the country, Cross included.

The dangerous thing for Cross is that Brigids don't just want this, they believe they can do it. I think plenty of teams get obsessed with Cross being Cross rather than playing their own game, too many teams seem to over-gameplan and try to change the habits of their lifetimes to suit what they feel is their inescapable inferiority.

Brigids have the confidence in their own ability to not get so wrapped up in stopping Cross that they forget to make Cross try to stop them. That's what makes this such an exciting prospect.

Are you trying to suggest that they didn't believe in themselves in the AI Final or the AI semi final when we beat them?   They are an excellent side and have every right to be confident but don't fill me with the Python-esque bullshit that "they really believe in themselves this year!".  Either they die dog or shite the licence and we won't know f**k all about that from either side till about 3.30pm on the 16th February.

This season they dispatched Galway and Mayo away with ease,

Jesus I know we're not great but we're not quite so bad yet that we're losing to club sides.

And Syferus all this talk sounds suspiciously like a lot of what I heard prior to the Roscommon v Galway game a few months back. Sometimes less talk is good. Just saying.

[ross4life]

No questions have been answered on St Brigids since last year. Last year they were Connacht champions and then got beat. This year they are connacht champions as they were last year. They've done exactly the same so no-one will know any answers on them until after the cross match.

There is nothing, yet, to suggest they have moved upwards.

Last year in Connacht Tourlestrane gave Brigids a tough game then in the Connacht final Brigids needed the rub of the green vs Corofin. Brigids weren't overly impressive v Fulham Irish & TBH before they faced their neighbours/cousins they didn't look like a team that could go on to win the All Ireland.

In Connacht this year no team has got within 7-8pts of Brigids & to win big games in Castlebar,Salthill comfortably was even more impressive. It's clear Brigids has improved from last year IMO Brigids in current form would beat Ballymun or Crokes but maybe that improvement isn't enough to beat Cross especially if the Armagh men have improved from last year?

[Syferus]

Brigids are an exceptional team, though.

They are an exceptional team within Roscommon and Connacht but that doesn't always translate into an exceptional team in national terms. Although they are obviously a very fine side. There is no dominant club within Galway or Mayo at present which probably helps them a little inside Connacht. They would want to try and make next year their year though because most teams (apart from Cross seemingly) have a limited shelf life at the top. Not easy to keep having to go back to the well each year.

Corofin would have been 'dominant' if they'd scored two more points last November. It's not as if Brigids had been steamrolling the Mayo and Galway champions, indeed 'Tubber were fancying themselves for a Mayo three-in-a-row and that would have been hard to argue as being anything other than 'dominant'. I don't think the standard has played much of a role in Brigids success.

Brigids were a very good team in 2006, 2010 and 2011. They have went up a level this year, though, and now can look at the gold standard of club football (Cross) as something they overcomr.

The difference between Brigids in February and in November this year has been like night and day, the two Mc's have done a very impressive job at keeping a well-travelled Brigids panel fresh, making everyone comfortable on the ball and creating a pressure game that can unhinge any club in the country, Cross included.

The dangerous thing for Cross is that Brigids don't just want this, they believe they can do it. I think plenty of teams get obsessed with Cross being Cross rather than playing their own game, too many teams seem to over-gameplan and try to change the habits of their lifetimes to suit what they feel is their inescapable inferiority.

Brigids have the confidence in their own ability to not get so wrapped up in stopping Cross that they forget to make Cross try to stop them. That's what makes this such an exciting prospect.

Are you trying to suggest that they didn't believe in themselves in the AI Final or the AI semi final when we beat them?   They are an excellent side and have every right to be confident but don't fill me with the Python-esque bullshit that "they really believe in themselves this year!".  Either they die dog or shite the licence and we won't know f**k all about that from either side till about 3.30pm on the 16th February.

This season they dispatched Galway and Mayo away with ease,

Jesus I know we're not great but we're not quite so bad yet that we're losing to club sides.

And Syferus all this talk sounds suspiciously like a lot of what I heard prior to the Roscommon v Galway game a few months back. Sometimes less talk is good. Just saying.

I think I was proven right that Galway were incredibly average, I just expected us to be better than incredibly terrible. The great irony of the season was our win over Armagh was probably the best win of either team.

I don't think that fancying our chances was a particularly out-there call on the back of a Connacht title and two consecutive Connacht finals, not even the most bullish Galway supporter was tipping a hammering.

Brigids are an entirely different situation, though, and have already earnt their place in the top three teams in the country. Saying they'll be confident facing the champions isn't much of a stretch to make.

[imtommygunn]

3?

[GalwayBayBoy]

3?

Donegal, Roscommon & St Brigid's.

[Rossfan]

Syferingus,
will you please do us all a favour and stop posting on this thread?
Then ask your mammy/Santa to get you some nice toys for Christmas.

[Syferus]

Syferingus,
will you please do us all a favour and stop posting on this thread?
Then ask your mammy/Santa to get you some nice toys for Christmas.

I think I'll just lock the topic every time I see you're online, actually.

[Farrandeelin]

Not sure about Galway, but the standard in Mayo has never been so low. (Club football) so instead of talking up Brigids after beating Ballagh' Rossies may do well to take this into consideration.

[Syferus]

Not sure about Galway, but the standard in Mayo has never been so low. (Club football) so instead of talking up Brigids after beating Ballagh' Rossies may do well to take this into consideration.

Mayo had a team in Ballintubber that wee being touted as potential Brigids killers only a couple months ago, only to be roundly beat by Ballagh. It's very easy to sit back after a failed season and explain it away by saying the standard in the county was poor, indeed the idea that standard in any county is that easy to judge is a simplification in the first place.

The sheer difference in performance  between Brigids last year against Tourlestrane and Corofin and this year against Salthill and Ballagh was very noticeable. Salthill won a very competitive Galway championship and have to be considered on Corofin's level from last year, while even the most downwards facing Mayo man can hardly say Tourlestrane are a level above Ballagh.

Brigids beat Tourlestrane in an ugly and hard fought 0-16 to 0-10 win while they staged one of the greatest escapes in Connacht final history against Corofin, just barely deserving a single point win.

Brigids went to Salthill and became the first Roscommon team of any hue to record a victory in the re-developed stadium's history, walking through the 2006 All-Ireland champions with a deserved score-line of 0-15 to 0-08, pressurising Salthill into coughing up a ridiculous amount of possession. I don't think I need to go over the Connacht final as I'm sure you were either there or watched it on TV but needless to say it wasn't a squeaker.

If Brigids had only tacked on a few points more, maybe over-scored compared to their performances, then the idea of the opposition being weaker being a factor would perhaps be valid but the drop off was hardly as cliff-like as it'd need to be to explain how effectively Brigids dealt with teams in their own backyards this year.

Oh, and the irony of Ballina barely clinging onto their senior status and the club's two favourite sons the getting Brigids humming so well was one of the starkest juxtapositions of the year

[nrico2006]

I have never read as many excuses regarding one teams failures over the years as I have just read here about St Brigids.  By the sounds of it the All Ireland is theirs this year, no point in anyone else turning up.  We know what usually happens teams that are built up without any real logic - they fall flat on their faces.

[Rossfan]

Only one individual building them up ad nauseam i.e the 11 year old Syferus.
The rest of us Rossies feel they have improved and that the new management has helped.
We hoe they have improved enough to win the AI semi and then the final.
We don't know if they have or haven't and we'll find out in February and hopefully in March too.
Meantime all us non Brigids Ros folk ( apart from the young gasúnín Syfín) are more concerned with how John Evans and Nigel Dineen will do with the Senior and U21 County teams who are the main focus of county wide interest.
We wish Brigids well and hope they win the AI but won't lose any slepp over it if they don't.