Dublin vs Meath - Leinster Final

[Jinxy]

Todays game told us a lot about Dublin and i'm pretty sure furthermore it confirmed a lot of their weaknesses to the Fitzmaurices/Horans /Counihan/Hartes of this world.

Weaknesses ....they are open , they leave themselves open, their midfield is not at all mighty , Connolly is a t**ker( i could get him sent off everytime, easy shtuff) , Cluxtons kick outs(up ya go up ya go evry fookin time, pressure pressure,  give him no short options, cfs man mark your cbs) Windy enough bunch will be exposed by the Kingdom imho. Time will tell.

Would love to meet them in the final but i believe it will be a kerry/Mayo final.

Good one. 

[INDIANA]

Todays game told us a lot about Dublin and i'm pretty sure furthermore it confirmed a lot of their weaknesses to the Fitzmaurices/Horans /Counihan/Hartes of this world.

Weaknesses ....they are open , they leave themselves open, their midfield is not at all mighty , Connolly is a t**ker( i could get him sent off everytime, easy shtuff) , Cluxtons kick outs(up ya go up ya go evry fookin time, pressure pressure,  give him no short options, cfs man mark your cbs) Windy enough bunch will be exposed by the Kingdom imho. Time will tell.

Would love to meet them in the final but i believe it will be a kerry/Mayo final.

Kerry wouldn't beat us for the simple reason they'd let us play exactly the way we want to -where as Mayo and Cork may not.

[thejuice]

Well, I think what became apparant for me was that the benchmark for Meath in terms of strength, conditioning and fitness if we want to be competitive again. Especially our underage players. I'm not worried when it comes down to skills and talent.

I still feel our midfield is a bit outdated, Gillespie and Meade didn't do too bad today but midfield is about the dirty work winning breaks and getting the bodies in there in the right position, and we haven't done that very well for a long while now. We still have a 90's model in the engine room.

Ultimately we ran out of steam and couldn't hold midfield and we were starved up front. And we had nothing on the bench that could turn it around. You can talk about missed goal chances and all that but I don't think that's a fair reflection on the game.

[Syferus]

Todays game told us a lot about Dublin and i'm pretty sure furthermore it confirmed a lot of their weaknesses to the Fitzmaurices/Horans /Counihan/Hartes of this world.

Weaknesses ....they are open , they leave themselves open, their midfield is not at all mighty , Connolly is a t**ker( i could get him sent off everytime, easy shtuff) , Cluxtons kick outs(up ya go up ya go evry fookin time, pressure pressure,  give him no short options, cfs man mark your cbs) Windy enough bunch will be exposed by the Kingdom imho. Time will tell.

Would love to meet them in the final but i believe it will be a kerry/Mayo final.

Kerry wouldn't beat us for the simple reason they'd let us play exactly the way we want to -where as Mayo and Cork may not.

It also, y'know, kinda helps the opposition slightly when they only have 45 minutes in the tank.

No way Kerry beats Dublin. Kerry could be on rocky ground before they even reach the AISF if they draw Derry, Tyrone or Kildare.

[Wildweasel74]

Indiana you are not all that special even though the papers have you hyped to the rafters, you think you are the best team in the country, dont know what that based on. If you fall flat on your face before the years out, dont say you didnt see it coming

[Jinxy]

Dublin were comfortable in the end but the conditioning gap was always going to kick in for the lat 10 mins.
They needed a game and I'd say Jim Gavin is quite happy.
Kilkenny and Mannion are two fantastic footballers.
Proud of our lads, they just ran out of puff in the end.
Best of luck to the Dubs from here on out.

[Captain Obvious]

I think Dublin will improve from today they have too. I still fancy Dublin v Donegal All Ireland final. If things go their way Cork,Kerry the other sides that could win All Ireland. If Mayo reach the All Ireland final it will be another defeat.

[squire_in_navy_slacks]

Dublin were comfortable in the end but the conditioning gap was always going to kick in for the lat 10 mins.
They needed a game and I'd say Jim Gavin is quite happy.
Kilkenny and Mannion are two fantastic footballers.
Proud of our lads, they just ran out of puff in the end.
Best of luck to the Dubs from here on out.

Thanks Jinx a noble lad..................I thought ye were top class today and put us in our place for most of the game ......as ye said ran out of puff in the end, I hope your lads stay at it and dont go on the lash.............................We need more than a kick up the hole to win Sam, not a chance........................My money is on Donegal or  Mayo

[Hardy]

I'm delighted with where we are after just a few months of building a team to challenge for honours. I agree with juice's and Jinxy's analysis. We have a lot of young lads yet to grow into their frames whom a couple of years of physical work will bring to the required stage of development. Our overall conditioning is not yet up there with some of the others and that told in the last quatrer today, when lads started to run into tackles and make basic errors through tiredness. Our midfield (including not just Meade and Gillespie, but the lads who were successfully winning breaks in the first half) performed brilliantly until they simply tired.

We have a few weaknesses but much fewer than we have a right to expect at such an early stage of development. Most obviously, we need more midfield cover, as juice says. Nonsense about Dublin winning in third gear ignores the fact that we too had below par performances throughout from three of our six starting forwards yet totally eclipsed Dublin in the first half.

Mick, Trevor, Sean and Colm are doing everything right. And we're still in the championship and will improve more for any more tough games we get.

In 1995, we lost the Leinster final by ten points. In 1996 we won the All-Ireland. I don't expect us to win it next year, but we'll be a lot better then than we are now.

Dublin performed exactly as you'd expect from a team of their class, knew what they had to do to win and did it. Mannion is a grand player, but I can't be having his poncy socks. Kilkenny is a gem.

Oh, and thank you Boylesports for the ridiculous spread.

[larryin89]

Todays game told us a lot about Dublin and i'm pretty sure furthermore it confirmed a lot of their weaknesses to the Fitzmaurices/Horans /Counihan/Hartes of this world.

Weaknesses ....they are open , they leave themselves open, their midfield is not at all mighty , Connolly is a t**ker( i could get him sent off everytime, easy shtuff) , Cluxtons kick outs(up ya go up ya go evry fookin time, pressure pressure,  give him no short options, cfs man mark your cbs) Windy enough bunch will be exposed by the Kingdom imho. Time will tell.

Would love to meet them in the final but i believe it will be a kerry/Mayo final.

Kerry wouldn't beat us for the simple reason they'd let us play exactly the way we want to -where as Mayo and Cork may not.

It also, y'know, kinda helps the opposition slightly when they only have 45 minutes in the tank.

No way Kerry beats Dublin. Kerry could be on rocky ground before they even reach the AISF if they draw Derry, Tyrone or Kildare.

45 min in the tank? Is that just down to Corks comeback in MF?  Cian o Neill will have them ready for the croke park turf and 75 min at that. Kerry will beat Dublin.

[From the Bunker]

I think Dublin will improve from today they have too. I still fancy Dublin v Donegal All Ireland final. If things go their way Cork,Kerry the other sides that could win All Ireland. If Mayo reach the All Ireland final it will be another defeat.

You can sing that. Take it from me they won't get past the Quarter finals anyway, as i can see them losing to Derry, Armagh, Kildare or Tyrone. It's all made for a shoot out between the 2011 and 2012 AI winners in the final.

[joemamas]

Kudos to both teams for putting on a good exhibition of Gaelic football. It was great to see the ball being kicked a lot more than it was handpassed. Very enjoyable game from a neutral standpoint.

The more the game unfolded, the more I felt that Kerry will trouble Dublin. Kerry have a far superior Midfield, Maher in my mind is best midfielder in Ireland. Add in Kerry's forwards and you get quite the contest. To their credit Dublin's half backs and half forwards worked tirelessly and kept them in the game. I thought Kilkenny overplayed the ball a lot, especially when Meath were on the ropes. Meath lost games in first five Min's of second half, Dublin got three unanswered points in that time. It would have been interesting to see the reaction if Meath had got first two scores. Who Knows, maybe Dublin would still have won, but more questions would have been asked and answered. I hope Meath make it to Q/finals. (scary thought from a Mayoman, but I like my football kicked not handpassed.)

Few other points;

I hate seeing linesmen on the f**kin field, it appears that they are looking for attention.
When will Referees begin to add at least an additional 30 seconds for everytime stephen Cluckston takes a free or 50. Ball is generally dead for almost a minute from when free is given to when it is kicked. One more reason to take timekeeping away from referees.
Finally, congrats to Dublin.

[larryin89]

I think Dublin will improve from today they have too. I still fancy Dublin v Donegal All Ireland final. If things go their way Cork,Kerry the other sides that could win All Ireland. If Mayo reach the All Ireland final it will be another defeat.

You can sing that. Take it from me they won't get past the Quarter finals anyway, as i can see them losing to Derry, Armagh, Kildare or Tyrone. It's all made for a shoot out between the 2011 and 2012 AI winners in the final.

Hope you watch it on tv so.

[heffo]

Dublin were comfortable in the end but the conditioning gap was always going to kick in for the lat 10 mins.
They needed a game and I'd say Jim Gavin is quite happy.
Kilkenny and Mannion are two fantastic footballers.
Proud of our lads, they just ran out of puff in the end.
Best of luck to the Dubs from here on out.

First half Meath had their tactics spot on - make a dogfight of it in the middle third and hit the two man FF line when they get the ball.

Ciaran Kilkenny, while a class act and super talented slows the ball down far too much - we were winning ball and then making 5/6 handpasses across the field.

Happy enough to get a test - had Dublin -8 as a draw at 11/1 so was praying Cluxton hit the last one over - wasn't to be.

Bastic should've been on sooner for O'Sullivan - it was clear early on that it was a day for artisans and not artists - he caught three balls in a row when he came on

[Drummerboy]

To cause an upset I think Meath would have needed the elements to conspire against good football but its a perfect day for football. If it was a miserable wet day, think they would be in with a chance. Dublin by 6/8 points.

It was never going to be easy, like some of the ''experts'' had suggested. Dublin full back line struggled. Wonder will Jim Gavin bring in a bit more steel like Philly McMahon for the next game. Daly done well when he came on. Meath will get better, wouldn't fancy having to play them down in Navan in the Qualifiers. Dublin will have to tighten up considerably in future games.