Dublin vs Meath - Leinster Final

[brokencrossbar1]

Ah f**k,  I didn't see that!  No place now for the old tradition of shaking with one hand and hotting him a dig in the guts with the other one anymore!!!   It  takes away from the personalised battle between 2 men.  Ah the good old days....

[seafoid]

They should go back to the good old days of catholic Ireland have get the bishop to throw the ball in . None of this soccer handshaking nonsense. Soccer should get rid of it as well.   

[orangeman]

The handshaking before the match is good for image of the game. We can't have anything to tarnish the image now can we ?. The product has to be preserved.

[meathie]

Really hate that handshake, I think its cringey to be honest....

[thejuice]

Indeed this hand shaking business is just an opportunity for controversy that need not exist. It's rather contrived and empty of any real sense of being a sporting gesture.

Anyway, it's best we assist the CCCC or whoever it is with any alleged instances of biting or punching and move on. We need to put yesterday in the back of our minds. There is really nothing the county team management can do about the gulf between us and Dublin.

Our focus should be on trying to beat Armagh s of today.

[armaghniac]

Our focus should be on trying to beat Armagh s of today.

Relax, will you, have a few beers in the sun without worrying about Armagh for now.

[Jinxy]

Well that was depressing.
Dublin are a physical and footballing machine that I genuinely can't see us competing with in the short to medium-term future.
Watching our subs coming on in the 2nd half brought this home to me.
Too small, too light, not good enough.
There is a conveyor built of two-footed, lightning fast, physically powerful young players bursting themselves to play for Dublin.
That's down to both the clubs and the county providing the right coaching and support from a very young age.
It's no accident.
As a county, we need to adapt to the new reality at ALL levels of the game or we will simply continue to die a slow death.

[Dinny Breen]

Well that was depressing.
Dublin are a physical and footballing machine that I genuinely can't see us competing with in the short to medium-term future.
Watching our subs coming on in the 2nd half brought this home to me.
Too small, too light, not good enough.
There is a conveyor built of two-footed, lightning fast, physically powerful young players bursting themselves to play for Dublin.
That's down to both the clubs and the county providing the right coaching and support from a very young age.
It's no accident.
As a county, we need to adapt to the new reality at ALL levels of the game or we will simply continue to die a slow death.

In fairness I think Jim Gavin is a visionary here and deserves a lot of credit, he has a game plan and a philosophy and he picks the players to play it and he doesn't worry about the opposition too much. Although I do believe Fitzsimons was picked purely to pick up Stephen Bray.

MDMA and O'Sullivan though are the key, they are the engines and I'd say there stats are through the roof. If they two of them were unavailable I'd be very interested could Dublin cope and how would their fluency be affected.

[Lar Naparka]

Well that was depressing.
Dublin are a physical and footballing machine that I genuinely can't see us competing with in the short to medium-term future.
Watching our subs coming on in the 2nd half brought this home to me.
Too small, too light, not good enough.
There is a conveyor built of two-footed, lightning fast, physically powerful young players bursting themselves to play for Dublin.
That's down to both the clubs and the county providing the right coaching and support from a very young age.
It's no accident.
As a county, we need to adapt to the new reality at ALL levels of the game or we will simply continue to die a slow death.

In fairness I think Jim Gavin is a visionary here and deserves a lot of credit, he has a game plan and a philosophy and he picks the players to play it and he doesn't worry about the opposition too much. Although I do believe Fitzsimons was picked purely to pick up Stephen Bray.

MDMA and O'Sullivan though are the key, they are the engines and I'd say there stats are through the roof. If they two of them were unavailable I'd be very interested could Dublin cope and how would their fluency be affected.

I think they'd still be a match for all comers...
There seems to be an endless stream of talented young players, forwards especially, coming through. I thought Kerry and Meath, back in Boylan's heyday, could find young  ready to  go replacements easier than any other county  but Jim Gavin seems able top pluck them out of thin air!

[INDIANA]

Well that was depressing.
Dublin are a physical and footballing machine that I genuinely can't see us competing with in the short to medium-term future.
Watching our subs coming on in the 2nd half brought this home to me.
Too small, too light, not good enough.
There is a conveyor built of two-footed, lightning fast, physically powerful young players bursting themselves to play for Dublin.
That's down to both the clubs and the county providing the right coaching and support from a very young age.
It's no accident.
As a county, we need to adapt to the new reality at ALL levels of the game or we will simply continue to die a slow death.

In fairness I think Jim Gavin is a visionary here and deserves a lot of credit, he has a game plan and a philosophy and he picks the players to play it and he doesn't worry about the opposition too much. Although I do believe Fitzsimons was picked purely to pick up Stephen Bray.

MDMA and O'Sullivan though are the key, they are the engines and I'd say there stats are through the roof. If they two of them were unavailable I'd be very interested could Dublin cope and how would their fluency be affected.

The visionaries are well below the senior team even though Gavin is doing a fantastic job.

The visionaries were the ones who admitted we weren't doing anything right at underage and went to counties like Tyrone and saw what was best practice

I don't know how kids are trained at underage elsewhere. But up to u13/u14 our players don't see a full size pitch. The teams are also mixed ability in a lot of clubs and the emphasis is on skill development and not winning

It's staggering to go down to watch some of the clubs underage matches on small pitches and see the amount of kids who can kick with both feet.

I played county football at all levels and I was 17 before a coach told me to practice with my weak foot. And despite hours of practice ( and I mean hours)it was never as good as other leg.
Changed times.

[Ohtoohtobe]

Well that was depressing.
Dublin are a physical and footballing machine that I genuinely can't see us competing with in the short to medium-term future.
Watching our subs coming on in the 2nd half brought this home to me.
Too small, too light, not good enough.
There is a conveyor built of two-footed, lightning fast, physically powerful young players bursting themselves to play for Dublin.
That's down to both the clubs and the county providing the right coaching and support from a very young age.
It's no accident.
As a county, we need to adapt to the new reality at ALL levels of the game or we will simply continue to die a slow death.

I feel your pain, felt the exact same way coming out of Croker last year - like yesterday, I expected a 10-point gap after a fight, like yesterday, it was 16 points in a canter, and like yesterday, it should have been 25. Absolutely mind-boggling the amount of work and money it would take Meath to catch up. Then I would have Kildare a little behind Meath. And if it's tough for Kildare and Meath, with just shy of 200,000 people each and football the dominant sport, what advice can anyone give Offaly or Laois or any of the other Leinster counties?

I've read the "blue wave" (for some reason that title sickens me) strategic plan and it brings home the reality that other Leinster counties are light years behind when you look at the figures, in terms of money and population, involved. Unless the other Leinster counties figure out how to raise the cash and volunteers and motivation it will be a fair few years before the Delaney Cup leaves Dublin.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Well that was depressing.
Dublin are a physical and footballing machine that I genuinely can't see us competing with in the short to medium-term future.
Watching our subs coming on in the 2nd half brought this home to me.
Too small, too light, not good enough.
There is a conveyor built of two-footed, lightning fast, physically powerful young players bursting themselves to play for Dublin.
That's down to both the clubs and the county providing the right coaching and support from a very young age.
It's no accident.
As a county, we need to adapt to the new reality at ALL levels of the game or we will simply continue to die a slow death.

I feel your pain, felt the exact same way coming out of Croker last year - like yesterday, I expected a 10-point gap after a fight, like yesterday, it was 16 points in a canter, and like yesterday, it should have been 25. Absolutely mind-boggling the amount of work and money it would take Meath to catch up. Then I would have Kildare a little behind Meath. And if it's tough for Kildare and Meath, with just shy of 200,000 people each and football the dominant sport, what advice can anyone give Offaly or Laois or any of the other Leinster counties?

I've read the "blue wave" (for some reason that title sickens me) strategic plan and it brings home the reality that other Leinster counties are light years behind when you look at the figures, in terms of money and population, involved. Unless the other Leinster counties figure out how to raise the cash and volunteers and motivation it will be a fair few years before the Delaney Cup leaves Dublin.

why not start at younger ages with teaching skills ie being able to kick with both feet accurately.....would make things better for them.

[Zulu]

I'm not sure money is the biggest factor though. Undoubtedly finance plays a big part but it costs very little to coach twenty 8 year olds properly, you can do a huge amount with a set of cones, bibs and 20 first touch footballs. There's also a huge amount of free and affordable information out there which can be easily accessed on the internet. As Indiana mentioned, in the past it wasn't unusual for good footballers to be unable to use their weaker foot for much of anything but that's all changed. Money isn't the reason a kid can't use both feet, both hands, step off both sides etc., that's down to coaching.

Dublin have an advantage in numbers and that is a great help but we saw in the world cup that Brazil, with huge numbers couldn't produce many top class players. Indeed, Dublin's numbers also bring challenges and I see no reason why counties like Meath and Kildare with big populations, a football tradition and passion for the game can't strongly challenge Dublin.

Focus on the kids, develop players comfortable on the ball, technically proficient in all aspects of the game with an ability to make on field decisions. All this can be done for a relatively small investment and will bear fruit.

[Canalman]

One other thing often missed imo is the fact that Dublin CB insisted at a very early stage that the GoGames concept be implemented immediately with no exceptions. Improved skill levels no end and I think we got ahead of other counties as a result.

Our juvenile secretary at the time said that there were fears that the  talented kids would go to play soccer to get competitive games but doesn't seem to have been the case and I think soccer have adopted the same concept.
Still have won only the two AIs son wouldn't be getting too upset yet.

Oh and we lost all 3 Leinster hurling finals this year comprehensively enough.

[Jinxy]

I would agree with the idea that Cluxton is Dublin's most important player.
They can replace everyone else, but he is of systemic importance to the team.
His kicking technique is fantastic.
The receiver is always moving onto the ball regardless of which direction he is moving.
Last year we pushed up and disrupted a lot of kick-outs as Cluxton kept going mid-long range.
Yesterday, it was rare enough that he had to kick any real distance as he had so many options within his own back-line for short kicks.
You have to mark space for the kick-outs, it's no good going man to man as the runs start from 20-30m away from where the ball is going to land.
Dublin empty out the target area and as the receiver is often running from the opposite side of the field it's very hard for his opponent to be close enough to challenge as the ball arrives.
Someone needs to be in that space before the receiver gets there.