All-Ireland U21 Football Championship 2014

[INDIANA]

Devastated for our lads yesterday. They played the right tactics no matter what Indiana says, the Dubs had pace and quality all over the pitch and I have no doubt if it became a shoot out Dublin would have won with ease. Unfortunately a number of key things went against us. Conor Moynagh was the best player on the pitch for 15 mins before he got injured, that was a brutal blow to us. Then the key calls the referee made went against us (please save me the bullshit that he had a good game)

1 - Dillon gets fouled 30m straight in front of the posts, ref is behind the play and puts his hand in the air. There is no advantage as Cavan have no one inside but they play on as they dont know the ref has his hand in the air. 5s later, Cavan have gone nowhere and the clown puts his hand down. There was no bloody advantage, its a free in and a gimme point to Cavan. Cavan kick a wide under pressure.

2- Black card to Dillon. While he did pull the guy down I don't think this was why the rule was brought in as it was hardly cynical, the ball was loose and both men were running towards it. Dillon jumped over the defender and pulled him down. By the letter of the law, yes a black card, but if you  exercise a bit of cop on then its not. A ref with cop on seems to be banned.

3 - No Black card to McHugh. This is the foul the rule was brought in for. Player beats his man and runs with intent toward the Dublin half and is pulled down. If the ref decides its a foul to Cavan then it is a black card. If he decides Moynagh pulled the Dublin player down then it is a free to Dublin and a black card to Moynagh. Because he hasn;t the balls to make a call he decides free to Cavan and yellow card. McHugh scores the equaliser and gets man of the match.

4 - Advantage rule to Dublin for McHughs equaliser. There was no foul and he gets his advantage and then misses, the ref gives him the tap over free. Compare to No 1 above. No consistency.

5 - Winning free. Harsh free but surely given the Dublin player emerged with the ball he should have put his hand up and played advantage, allowing the Dublin player to play on like he did for No 1 above. Nope, he correctly decided a free in was a scorable chance and there could be no advantage. No consistency.

6- 2 mins of injury time called during which there are 30-40s of injury time. This bright hope of a referee cannot add on this time.

I don't mind being beaten by the better team, and Dublin were, but I am seriously pissed off where a referee has such a bearing on a game in which only a last minute free separated the teams. The GAA powers that be that selected this referee should also be ashamed. This was an All Ireland Semi final and a quick look at the refs pen picture in the program will tell you this referee was too junior. Last referred an U21 match 13 months ago, the 1/4 final in Munster! This year refereed a Few McGrath cup games, a railway cup semi and a few national league games (no doubt in lower divisions). Does that sound like a fella ready for an AI semi final. The guy in the 1st game was also abysmal.

As for the cavan fans. Yes it was not pretty at the end of the match but for f**k sake we were all pissed off with him and tempers were frayed. He had a bearing on the result he should not have had. No one was injured in the incident so lets not blow it out of proportion. I've no doubt he will be fast tracked now to referee bigger games and be just as woeful as your Marty Duffy's and Maurice Deegans.

Roscommon played a great game, have some really nice footballers but seem to have a weak defense. It was an exciting game against Cork. I think though Dublin will be a much tougher test for them if they continue to be as open defensively. Such make for a good spectacle anyway and good luck to both teams.

That's it blame everyone bar yourselves. I'm involved in the game since I was a kid and I've never seen some of the deflection after a game then from Cavan fans yesterday. The referee had nothing to do with you losing the game.

You lost it. Face facts and move on. Peter Reilly reckons Dublin have home advantage playing in Portlaoise yesterday. Well Peter do you want to ban us from all grounds in the country now? Absolute clown is all he is. Trying to take the spotlight off himself and put it on a referee.

Next time have a bit of conviction and push on when you're ahead and stop overestimating what some teams may or may not do in a shoot-out especially when they are playing well below what they are capable of.

Dublin were nowhere near the better side yesterday. All Cavan needed was another two points in the 9 minutes left and that game was theirs. But nope that was the referees fault.

[rodney trotter]

Some people in Cavan really let themselves down yesterday not least this joker

http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/gaa/cavan-boss-maybe-dublin-is-a-team-the-gaa-want-to-win-628329.html

Dubs need their shooting boots on for the next day or the mighty Ros will steamroll us

Peter Reilly is one of Cavans finest servants and is no joker. The GAA is gone money mad and milking the dubs is top of their agenda. Total joke that game was fixed for portlaoise and if u listen to the audio interview you will hear that is what Peter was referring to.

His behaviour and comments after the game were a disgrace. He might be doing fine work in Cavan but would want to cop himself on

I'll tell the next time I meet him. I'm sure he's awful concerned what the boys in Dublin think about him. Hard to take all the money and advantage Dublin get and then they get the venue and the calls from the ref too.

Dublin were the better side over all, Created more chances, had 2 goal in the first half. Good luck to them, the game being played in Portlaoise had no bearing on it

[Drummerboy]

I wasn't able to make it to Portlaoise yesterday, but I have to say both games were great for drama, action and suspense.

Roscommon were by far the better team against Cork and nearly threw it all away. They will really put it up to Dublin but will need to tighten up big time in defence.

Cavan beat themselves yesterday. If you only score one point in second half of an AI semifinal, you can't blame anyone else on the defeat.
Very disappointed to hear the small minded comments from the Cavan manager. Whatever happened to losing with dignity. Dublin were poor, but its unlikely they will be that bad the next day. Should be a great game.

[INDIANA]

I wasn't able to make it to Portlaoise yesterday, but I have to say both games were great for drama, action and suspense.

Roscommon were by far the better team against Cork and nearly threw it all away. They will really put it up to Dublin but will need to tighten up big time in defence.

Cavan beat themselves yesterday. If you only score one point in second half of an AI semifinal, you can't blame anyone else on the defeat.
Very disappointed to hear the small minded comments from the Cavan manager. Whatever happened to losing with dignity. Dublin were poor, but its unlikely they will be that bad the next day. Should be a great game.

I dunno about that. We haven't fired at this year in the 21 championship. Maybe we've too many senior lads. We're getting away with it and any sort of a sub standard performance the next day and we'll lose.

We should have lost yesterday. I feel for the Cavan players its torture to lose a game like that. And a lot of them if they train on will be top senior players.

But I've no sympathy for the Cavan management after their carry on yesterday after the game. Let themselves and their county down. i wouldn't tolerate a Dublin manager coming out with that sort of rubbish after a match or going over to remonstrate with match officials after the game.

[rodney trotter]

Thats just passion straight after the game, losing by 1pt for the second year in an All Ireland Semi would be hard to take for the Cavan players and management. Shouldn't have confronted the ref but not the first and won't be the last to do that,..

[Westside]

Another point we talked about before the game and Peter Reilly raises, why was this game in Portlaoise? It didn't suit Cavan, Roscommon or Cork (if they had any fans that would actually go in the first place) but it suited Dublin supporters and the Dublin team who had already played there.

Peter's comments are borne from frustration and heartbreak and while he might have been better advised to keep his own counsel until today when the dust had settled, there's a grain of truth there. The ref did not beat us yesterday but his performance was terrible and key decisions went against Cavan.

[beer baron]

As a Cavan fan that goes to more games than most i was very disappointed with what happened after the game yesterday,whatever about a manager or player who have put their life into this campaign for the past 6 months being disgruntled and having a word with the ref it was totally uncalled for for a "supporter" to do similar. I've a funny feeling that same lad has been to about 5 games in the past 5 years 

As for the game itself we can feel aggrieved at some of the decisions at the end but these things happen and generally go to the team with momentum and with 10 minutes to go i expected the Dubs to win, We had used up a lot of energy nullifying Dublins quality and all in all i think the best team won and i think they'll win the final,people seem to be slightly underrating just how good our defence is and i think for Dublin to create the chances they did when a few star players weren't at their best says a lot.
As for Jack Mc Caffrey holy jaysus that lad is ridiculously quick 

The game before was very enjoyable and the Roscommon goal was one of the best ive seen live,they had a strong midfield and a few nice forwards but id be worried about their backs in the final as to be honest they almost lost it for the Rossies yesterday.

[mylestheslasher]

Devastated for our lads yesterday. They played the right tactics no matter what Indiana says, the Dubs had pace and quality all over the pitch and I have no doubt if it became a shoot out Dublin would have won with ease. Unfortunately a number of key things went against us. Conor Moynagh was the best player on the pitch for 15 mins before he got injured, that was a brutal blow to us. Then the key calls the referee made went against us (please save me the bullshit that he had a good game)

1 - Dillon gets fouled 30m straight in front of the posts, ref is behind the play and puts his hand in the air. There is no advantage as Cavan have no one inside but they play on as they dont know the ref has his hand in the air. 5s later, Cavan have gone nowhere and the clown puts his hand down. There was no bloody advantage, its a free in and a gimme point to Cavan. Cavan kick a wide under pressure.

2- Black card to Dillon. While he did pull the guy down I don't think this was why the rule was brought in as it was hardly cynical, the ball was loose and both men were running towards it. Dillon jumped over the defender and pulled him down. By the letter of the law, yes a black card, but if you  exercise a bit of cop on then its not. A ref with cop on seems to be banned.

3 - No Black card to McHugh. This is the foul the rule was brought in for. Player beats his man and runs with intent toward the Dublin half and is pulled down. If the ref decides its a foul to Cavan then it is a black card. If he decides Moynagh pulled the Dublin player down then it is a free to Dublin and a black card to Moynagh. Because he hasn;t the balls to make a call he decides free to Cavan and yellow card. McHugh scores the equaliser and gets man of the match.

4 - Advantage rule to Dublin for McHughs equaliser. There was no foul and he gets his advantage and then misses, the ref gives him the tap over free. Compare to No 1 above. No consistency.

5 - Winning free. Harsh free but surely given the Dublin player emerged with the ball he should have put his hand up and played advantage, allowing the Dublin player to play on like he did for No 1 above. Nope, he correctly decided a free in was a scorable chance and there could be no advantage. No consistency.

6- 2 mins of injury time called during which there are 30-40s of injury time. This bright hope of a referee cannot add on this time.

I don't mind being beaten by the better team, and Dublin were, but I am seriously pissed off where a referee has such a bearing on a game in which only a last minute free separated the teams. The GAA powers that be that selected this referee should also be ashamed. This was an All Ireland Semi final and a quick look at the refs pen picture in the program will tell you this referee was too junior. Last referred an U21 match 13 months ago, the 1/4 final in Munster! This year refereed a Few McGrath cup games, a railway cup semi and a few national league games (no doubt in lower divisions). Does that sound like a fella ready for an AI semi final. The guy in the 1st game was also abysmal.

As for the cavan fans. Yes it was not pretty at the end of the match but for f**k sake we were all pissed off with him and tempers were frayed. He had a bearing on the result he should not have had. No one was injured in the incident so lets not blow it out of proportion. I've no doubt he will be fast tracked now to referee bigger games and be just as woeful as your Marty Duffy's and Maurice Deegans.

Roscommon played a great game, have some really nice footballers but seem to have a weak defense. It was an exciting game against Cork. I think though Dublin will be a much tougher test for them if they continue to be as open defensively. Such make for a good spectacle anyway and good luck to both teams.

That's it blame everyone bar yourselves. I'm involved in the game since I was a kid and I've never seen some of the deflection after a game then from Cavan fans yesterday. The referee had nothing to do with you losing the game.

You lost it. Face facts and move on. Peter Reilly reckons Dublin have home advantage playing in Portlaoise yesterday. Well Peter do you want to ban us from all grounds in the country now? Absolute clown is all he is. Trying to take the spotlight off himself and put it on a referee.

Next time have a bit of conviction and push on when you're ahead and stop overestimating what some teams may or may not do in a shoot-out especially when they are playing well below what they are capable of.

Dublin were nowhere near the better side yesterday. All Cavan needed was another two points in the 9 minutes left and that game was theirs. But nope that was the referees fault.

Which points do you disagree with? These were the big calls in the match, all decisions favoured Dublin. Cavan were frigged in the last 10 minutes which was obvious, they were hanging on. Nothing to do with tactics they were spent trying to hold a excellent Dublin team. That Dublin needed the ref to win  the game for them is a great compliment to the players.

[mylestheslasher]

The hill is blue - more like the hill is full of pissed scumbags. Ye have some neck criticizing Cavan fans and management. The last time I was at a Dub game in Croke park they were throwing bottles towards the pitch from the wonderous hill.

With that comment your credibility to argue anything is zero.

You got beaten yesterday in a game you could have won but didn't have the balls to go and try and win. Your manager, your mentors and your supporters disgraced yourselves after the match with 'sc**bag' behaviour. Now take your beating and back off to the backwaters with you!

My point is you have enough scumbags in your own ranks on a big game in Croke park (and everyone knows it ) to be worrying about the Cavan fans. We have some of the best supporters in Ireland. We were dragged to Armagh twice this year when the game should have been in Enniskillen and we won both and outnumbered both Monaghan and Donegal at least 2:1. We outnumbered Derry on a Wednesday night 4:1 in Celtic. We get dragged to Portlaoise where the Dub fans could only muster about 500 supporters and Cork muster 100, despite the venue being on a motorway from both (compare to driving from Cavan to castlepollard, Mullingar, tullamore, portlaoise). Our fans deserve better from the GAA than that referee. The guy who went on the pitch though deserves to be banned, that was too much no matter how annoyed he was.

[Syferus]

http://media.radiokerry.ie/upload/shannon/audio/Roscommon_Ending.mp3

When Willie H's voice has ran out you know it was a special match.

[Westside]

The hill is blue - more like the hill is full of pissed scumbags. Ye have some neck criticizing Cavan fans and management. The last time I was at a Dub game in Croke park they were throwing bottles towards the pitch from the wonderous hill.

With that comment your credibility to argue anything is zero.

You got beaten yesterday in a game you could have won but didn't have the balls to go and try and win. Your manager, your mentors and your supporters disgraced yourselves after the match with 'sc**bag' behaviour. Now take your beating and back off to the backwaters with you!

My point is you have enough scumbags in your own ranks on a big game in Croke park (and everyone knows it ) to be worrying about the Cavan fans. We have some of the best supporters in Ireland. We were dragged to Armagh twice this year when the game should have been in Enniskillen and we won both and outnumbered both Monaghan and Donegal at least 2:1. We outnumbered Derry on a Wednesday night 4:1 in Celtic. We get dragged to Portlaoise where the Dub fans could only muster about 500 supporters and Cork muster 100, despite the venue being on a motorway from both (compare to driving from Cavan to castlepollard, Mullingar, tullamore, portlaoise). Our fans deserve better from the GAA than that referee. The guy who went on the pitch though deserves to be banned, that was too much no matter how annoyed he was.

I know him. He is sometimes a steward in Breffni. I'll put it mildly by saying the chap has "learning difficulties"...

[INDIANA]

The hill is blue - more like the hill is full of pissed scumbags. Ye have some neck criticizing Cavan fans and management. The last time I was at a Dub game in Croke park they were throwing bottles towards the pitch from the wonderous hill.

With that comment your credibility to argue anything is zero.

You got beaten yesterday in a game you could have won but didn't have the balls to go and try and win. Your manager, your mentors and your supporters disgraced yourselves after the match with 'sc**bag' behaviour. Now take your beating and back off to the backwaters with you!

My point is you have enough scumbags in your own ranks on a big game in Croke park (and everyone knows it ) to be worrying about the Cavan fans. We have some of the best supporters in Ireland. We were dragged to Armagh twice this year when the game should have been in Enniskillen and we won both and outnumbered both Monaghan and Donegal at least 2:1. We outnumbered Derry on a Wednesday night 4:1 in Celtic. We get dragged to Portlaoise where the Dub fans could only muster about 500 supporters and Cork muster 100, despite the venue being on a motorway from both (compare to driving from Cavan to castlepollard, Mullingar, tullamore, portlaoise). Our fans deserve better from the GAA than that referee. The guy who went on the pitch though deserves to be banned, that was too much no matter how annoyed he was.

Lets have a little synopsis of those "fans"

- Vile verbal abuse towards officials and Dublin fans throughout
- Throwing objects at the officials as they leave the field.
- Some of them attempted to get onto the field of play to remonstrate with the ref.

Scumbags. No other words for it. No different to a section of fans that follow Dublin. I wouldn't attempt to defend them and you do yourself a dis-service defending them.

As regards the crowd. Our minors were in Pearse Park yesterday at 1.30pm. So its hard to be bi-locational. I chose to go to the 21 game and I couldn't go to the minor game. Why wasn't the minor game fixed for Portlaoise we could argue.

But we don't we just get on with it. Lend a thought to Peter there and ask him where would be like to play Dublin the next time. His back garden maybe or would be like to kick us out of the association simply because he made a balls of it yesterday?

[Wildweasel74]

Them best supporters were booing lads of 20 taking free kicks, would hardly put them in the best supporters bracket. Anyway Cork will feel harder done by than you, though Roscommon deserved the win, when the game went level, i thought the Ref would blow and go to extra time

[Dont Matter]

The Cavan manager is right in his comments. With all the advantages Dublin had in their favour, it's actually amazing that Cavan could compete with them never mind deserve to beat them.
They can't justify having all Dublin's games played in Croke Park at u21 level so they've cherrypicked a ground and it's O'Moore Park they've chosen. They'd pick Newbridge cause it's closer only it's such a kip.

The referees are told that if they want to get big games they have to have the interests of HQ as their number one objective in matches. HQ's interests involve money, Dublin mean money, hence Dublin get the calls. It's as simple as that, it happens at all levels. Joe McQuillan has made a great career out of the Dubs.

We then get to the issue that really gives Dublin a massive unfair advantage. The money. For nearly 10 years they've been getting 1.5million every year for games development. That means all the players yesterday have come through a system with full time games development officers, paid coaches, development squads all the way up in the best facilities in the country, with the best strength and conditioning coaches, all the best training and match gear available free, everything you could ask for to make a team successful right there for them. That's before they got onto the u21 panel, when they get on that there's another fund available to prepare the team for this year.

Mental isn't it? Cavan got 45,000 for games development last year and I'm sure they got similar amounts over the last 10 years. How can any team be expected to compete against Dublin when you just look at the money issue alone? That's before you add in the other advantages. Hopefully Reilly wont be just pushed aside and be labeled a bad loser, he has a point. There's no defending Dublin's huge advantages, it can't be done. Put an end to it and let teams compete fairly. Cavan have been robbed an All Ireland appearance and so have many counties. Dublin are ruining the GAA.

[INDIANA]

The Cavan manager is right in his comments. With all the advantages Dublin had in their favour, it's actually amazing that Cavan could compete with them never mind deserve to beat them.
They can't justify having all Dublin's games played in Croke Park at u21 level so they've cherrypicked a ground and it's O'Moore Park they've chosen. They'd pick Newbridge cause it's closer only it's such a kip.
The referees are told that if they want to get big games they have to have the interests of HQ as their number one objective in matches. HQ's interests involve money, Dublin mean money, hence Dublin get the calls. It's as simple as that, it happens at all levels. Joe McQuillan has made a great career out of the Dubs.
We then get to the issue that really gives Dublin a massive unfair advantage. The money. For nearly 10 years they've been getting 1.5million every year for games development. That means all the players yesterday have come through a system with full time games development officers, paid coaches, development squads all the way up in the best facilities in the country, with the best strength and conditioning coaches, all the best training and match gear available free, everything you could ask for to make a team successful right there for them. That's before they got onto the u21 panel, when they get on that there's another fund available to prepare the team for this year.
Mental isn't it? Cavan got 45,000 for games development last year and I'm sure they got similar amounts over the last 10 years. How can any team be expected to compete against Dublin when you just look at the money issue alone? That's before you add in the other advantages. Hopefully Reilly wont be just pushed aside and be labeled a bad loser, he has a point. There's no defending Dublin's huge advantages, it can't be done. Put an end to it and let teams compete fairly. Cavan have been robbed an All Ireland appearance and so have many counties. Dublin are ruining the GAA.

Do you think anyone reads your comments here? I haven't read the above but I'll print it out and use it to wipe my arse later