fitz
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Red sky at night get off my land
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Post by fitz on Apr 10, 2017 14:58:51 GMT
Connolly's departure was significant, he looked "on" yesterday. Saw it back last night, unbelievable. I'd say Gavin flayed him afterwards. We struggled in first 20 mins, lots of passes going astray and passes into Dublin defenders possibly incorrectly predicting the movement of the targeted Kerry forward.
Kealy has been rock solid this year, kick-outs brilliant. He then went into meltdown in the last 5 mins. Thought he came out far too quickly to Mannion for the goal, if we had two defenders on the line, Mannion was completely blind spotted. It should have been prevented. Then kicking out over Anthony's head, not picking up a ball, slipping it out of his hand to Rock. Blessed we didn't concede a penalty, which would have been heart breaking. Then hail Mary'ing the ball out to our empty half back line. Lyne and Maher no complaints on black cards, Maher's of the Sean Cavanagh variety. Shocking really, but blatant green gold tinted glasses are on. Philly was lucky enough with only a yellow, not that he dodged a blatant red, but 3 significant personal fouls (persistent fouling) one after the other around the edge of their square. Moran, world class, player of the year by a mile thus far, but league shows will they even count for 10% of decision? We dropped a couple short, where Dublin were dropping them just over onto out net, and some bad wides too. Our young lads were great, really brave shows, for first time in Croker in front of 50K+ and against the best team in country. Mikey Geaney had an unreal 10 mins in second half.
After the blow from the goal we drove on, we had been completely on top running up to it, so to have such a positive response was a great sign. Luckily we got a very soft free from a mi* shot by Darran, where he slipped as Philly tried to tackle. This got us a score we needed. Morley was struggling in first half, but he had a whale(Cyril Farrell speak) of a second half.
One thing I loved was Donnacha, he's really come out of his shell this past 3-4 years, he was in McCarthy's face all day, I wouldn't be crying over the punch McCarthy dinted him with as Donnacha was giving plenty himself.
I was gobsmacked Andrews was removed and not Brogan as he was keeping busy.
Wilf Mannion was excellent when he came on his second last point he rode 3-4 tackles before slotting it. Maybe we needed a different man on him, he is class either way, Kilkenny was excellent in first half, faded a little in second.
Needed 15 minutes post match to unravel myself, last 6 minutes were agony. I was frozen at half time, body temperature was not an issue once the football restarted. We got a little bit of a rub yesterday at the end, long overdue. I thought after a slow start, we ground out the first half to get back to a point. Over the life of the second half imo we were 4-5 points better.
Dublin will be rejuvenated hunger, anger and determination and will come back better and harder for the summer, mind, I think we will too.
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fitz
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Red sky at night get off my land
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Post by fitz on Apr 10, 2017 15:05:45 GMT
Excellent by all involved. Homework done on Dublin threats, 100% effort by every man. But like I said before, let's not get carried away by wins, or losses, at this stage in the year. In reference to my post earlier in this thread.... I rest my case. PS nacrocaigh, any more names to throw at me, or has the cat caught your tongue? I know you might be off for the school holidays but, please leave the childish comments out.[/quote I hope you don't mind a black card case of irony, observation
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Post by Ballyfireside on Apr 10, 2017 17:25:38 GMT
Yesterday was bitter sweet for me. A great victory marred by the fact that I was in the sick bay for the weekend. It is a long time since I missed a significant Kerry/Dublin game in Croke Park but thank God for TG 4 and thank God for Brian Tyers, the best commentator there is. To compound my problems I am going to be out of the country for the rest the week, missing the minor and u21 matches. There is no end to the misery of an old man. Based on what I saw in the NFL, I gave Kerry no chance. It is amazing the number of people who contacted me after the match saying they "had a feeling that we were going to win". They kept those feelings close to their chest the week before the match! I and others have been critical of management and players all through this NFL. I have no doubt that criticism was justified. Our chief lines of criticism was 1. Giving away silly, baby frees. 2. The lack of work rate and personnel up front 3. Inability/reluctance to kick points from a reasonable distance. Looking at the TV, it appeared that these problems were addressed to a large extent and hence a platform for victory established, lucky enough at the end but overall deserved. The opening stages were frustrating from a Kerry standpoint. It appeared that a lot of ball was going in but not stacking. Was this because of poor ball or lack of movement inside? I could not make this out , perhaps the lads at it maybe able to elaborate. Eventually, this matter seemed to be rectified and the situation evened out. The third quarter of course was decisive and it was interesting that it was Dublin who resorted to fouling when the pressure was applied. Only lack of guile prevented Kevin McCarthy from goaling which would have sealed the issue at an early stage. Instead , we had to sweat to the end. Indeed, it looked as if Dublin had claims for a penalty/free at the death. I was fuming with Anthony Maher when he pulled down Michael Fitzimons for that last free. It looked as if there were two Kerry players closing in on the Dublin man. Had Dean equalised I felt the momentum was with Dublin and they were likely to win in extra time. Anthony would have had to do a lot of explaining in that case. I will go further, I feel a blatant pull down like that merits a red card. There seemed to be a little panic in the Kerry defence after the Dublin goal. In particular , Brendan had a few hairy moments. Mark Griffin had a fine game but he needlessly broke down a ball which resulted in a Dublin point. It might seem petty to point this out but he did the same against Tyrone and fortunately got a away with it. Tadgh Morley appeared to struggle early on but was tremendous as the game went on. The last time Kerry beat Dublin was in March 2015 in a sleet ridden Killarney. Significantly, David Moran was a powerhouse on that day also. I have never been a huge fan of Michael Geaney, mainly because he never seems to produce his energetic Dingle displays when he plays for kerry. Well, over the past two games he appears to be a different man. Perhaps, Michael reads this forum. Drive on Michael. The three black cards were all deserved but Diarmuid Connolly was a far bigger loss to Dublin than Jonathan to us. Two questions for the lads who were at the match: 1. Where did Gavin Crowley play when he came on? 2. Who picked up Paul Mannion when he was introduced? Take another look at the McCarthy goal opportunity, it wasn't as 'on' as it looked and it would be hard to fault him. I think ref was fair, even if he erred. The weaknesses you mention were symptoms of lack of underlying structure of a still emerging force, we are now closer in terms of wherewithal -Shanahan v Andrews typified this as Ronan got on terms with the stalwart that is Paddy. I anticipate a golden era as we have much talent and good systems in place, we will not forget the lean years when we lost consecutive Sams so nobody is going to get carried away. I put it on record that 'we will beat Dublin this year' and I now believe we can do so again and claim Sam -we are on the up and Dubs have peaked so only a question of when we pass going in opposite directions -we met once yesterday, can they spring back at us or will our wider panel drive another nail? The day you stop critical assessment is the day I will worry about you Vet so there is obviously a few more dirty shirts left in ya, get well soon old man, your county needs you, the forum needs ya!
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Post by Exiled2Dublin on Apr 10, 2017 17:32:20 GMT
Mark Griffin had a fine game but he needlessly broke down a ball which resulted in a Dublin point. It might seem petty to point this out but he did the same against Tyrone and fortunately got a away with it. I don't know. I'd have to check the video to be sure but I think Mark was right to fist this away. As I saw it, there was a dropping ball and Mark just was slightly out of position to rise to it without a big risk of losing it on the way down. There were a few blue shirts around him, empty space behind him and if the ball broke loose to a Dub then one or two passes later it'd be in the back of our net. Not a good scenario and my heart was in my mouth as the ball dropped. I was actually relieved when he walloped it away out of immediate danger. Just a bit unlucky that it led straight to a point for Dublin but it could have been a lot worse PS: I always enjoy reading your reports and I hope you're back to full health soon. There's a few more reports to be written yet this year!!
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Post by glengael on Apr 10, 2017 17:57:59 GMT
The 'Connolly as victim' narrative was being rolled out early this morning, John O'leary on the Sportsnews at 7.35.
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Post by Kingdomson on Apr 10, 2017 18:38:00 GMT
Funny how the general media are not mentioning Philly McMahon and James McCarthy throwing fists on and off the ball. Fair play to TnG for reshowing the images because you'd wait a long time for RTE to highlight it. Paul Galvin couldn't cough and RTE were after him but a different 'narrative' for certain Dub players. This is not playing with a hard edge or being manly, it's just cowardly play no matter what jersey you wear.
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Post by seaniebo on Apr 10, 2017 18:44:02 GMT
That was as close to championship as it gets.. Make no mistake we needed this one.. I was particularly thrilled that we managed this victory with a host of players out for various reasons.. At times we lacked composure but the pleasing aspect is we kept bringing it to the Dubs.. It's a great platform for players such as Morley, Jack Barry and co..Tadgh had his work cut out for him yesterday but he admirably stuck to his task.. Mark Griffin looks more and more at home in the full back line and is Philly McMahon esque with his blistering runs.
Donnachadh Walsh has taken his game to another level altogether and it's a mark of the guy who for so long was underrated.. Maith thú Donnachadh.. A special mention to Mikey Geaney too who has been the subject of much debate.. Probably had his best display in a Kerry jersey yesterday.. I think Kerry have learned more about themselves this year more than any other team so it does bode well.
Jim Gavin expressed his view that the Dubs were late back to training and making free League Final was bonus territory so you'd expect a much fresher challenge versus their top rivals as the year progresses.. This defeat will surely sharpen their focus.. We might have prodded the bear but we live in exciting times in the Kingdom!
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fitz
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Red sky at night get off my land
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Post by fitz on Apr 10, 2017 19:43:32 GMT
The 'Connolly as victim' narrative was being rolled out early this morning, John O'leary on the Sportsnews at 7.35. Yeah, read it on RTE, twas pathetic stuff. Look, we all know how class a player Connolly is, he is class,he looked like he could have cut loose yesterday, his eye was in. But, the guy needs to behave himself, there were plenty of duels going on yesterday that didn't meet his outcome. His discipline is really poor, he's been pandered to, too often. He should been suspended in 2015, but somehow got off. I assume Dublin management have enough going without having to deal with this garbage. He has consistent form, and it seems Gavin has not been able to address it. In Jack O'Connor's book regarding Galvin and trying to get him off suspensions, Jack mentions to Paul, "do you by any chance think you deserve it?". I'll tell you if that was an AI final yesterday, O'Leary wouldn't have given a politician's dream response. Maybe Ballotelli has just sent Connolly his infamous T-Shirt. Time for Connolly to take accountability.
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MeathExile
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I wonder, is there a goal in this game??
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Post by MeathExile on Apr 10, 2017 20:32:19 GMT
Did anyone notice the tweet from Bernard Flynn on TSG last night?? He made some reference to the game being reffed fairly for once. It brought me back to last August when I said on here that I would not go to a Kerry/Dub game in future if there wasn't a neutral non Meath/Dublin resident reffing. Coldrick and Gough sickened me over the last 2 years, and it was nice to see a ref unburdened by local knowledge/friendships reffing a match properly. I hope the referee's group continue to implement the rule of old - neutral ref from non-participating provinces please.....
Apart from that, do any of the elder lemons on here think that Barry is a cut off Ambrose? He has the same running style, but I think Barry has a bit more football in him - a fantastic find.
Going back to a previous post, someone here mentioned improving the forwards with the return of JOD/SOB/KD. Apart from KD, I wouldn't be rushing to change too much from yesterday. When I wantched it again late last night, it struck me how much work the newer lads Savage, McCarthy, Mike G put in to engineer the points in the third quarter. Methinks JOD may be now be better off the bench when defenders are tiring, Stephen overall vision not as good as Savages I think, and KD is the ultimate route B plan. Johnny B will probably be there as well, so we now really have some bench to come in. On that note, Darren was superb yesterday when he came in - he really is a man for Croker.
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Post by kerrybhoy06 on Apr 10, 2017 20:43:59 GMT
Poor Connolly- he's always wronged
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Post by wayupnorth on Apr 10, 2017 20:54:33 GMT
Recap on what was achieved: 20th League title won
End of Dublin's "record" unbeaten run which started after another defeat to us.
End of Dublin's five in a row attempt
Paul Geaney top scorer for League 17. I think 3 more than Dean Rock in second place.
First 20 point score against Dubs under Gavin
I came across the programme from the Cavan match and was astonished to see that the team from what was undoubtedly our worst performance of the season only had two different players from the team that lifted the cup - Mikey Geaney and Jonathan Lyne. The difference was more than their cobtributions on the day.
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tpo
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Post by tpo on Apr 10, 2017 21:03:57 GMT
The opening stages were frustrating from a Kerry standpoint. It appeared that a lot of ball was going in but not stacking. Was this because of poor ball or lack of movement inside? I could not make this out , perhaps the lads at it maybe able to elaborate. Eventually, this matter seemed to be rectified and the situation evened out. Vetern asked. Paul was very near goal at start and the sweeper (Cian)could cut off a lot of space and the full back read the Kerry kick and attacked the ball. In the 2nd half Paul moved out towards corner, hard for sweeper and marker but difficult to score from except he did
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peanuts
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Post by peanuts on Apr 10, 2017 21:09:37 GMT
Two questions for the lads who were at the match: 1. Where did Gavin Crowley play when he came on? 2. Who picked up Paul Mannion when he was introduced? Gavin Crowley came on at wing back on Connolly and Paul Murphy went wing forward. It was Crowley that Connolly pulled down for his black card. Shanahan picked up Mannion when he came on. Eamon would probably have liked to bring on a fresh pair of legs to match Mannion but we were lacking in defensive cover yesterday. The only back left on the bench was O Luing who hasn't really featured and Fitz probably wanted to keep him in case of a black card.
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Post by greenandgold on Apr 10, 2017 21:26:40 GMT
what a performance .. bit late to comment but it almost took today to sink in. 'Its only the league' but I think such an important win ..a marker for us and for other counties ... end of the count for unbeaten run, (somewhat) more reasonable reporting on the teams etc. Moran was def MOTM but I though Morley was terrific.. handles so much ball. .really couldnt fault any of the Kerry lads. As was said on here ..we won most of the 1-1 battles. Youth and the confidence of club/minor wins brought back something we had been missing .. that swagger- that knowledge of how to win. I think the way we ended up in the final might have helped .. it was almost a surprise and relatively little build up or hype coming into the game - maybe allowed the lads to be a bit more relaxed. whatever it was --what a day .. glad to be able to witness it- we are so lucky to follow Kerry! we wont get carried away and I loved that that was said by so many players and supporters.
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Post by thebluepanther on Apr 10, 2017 21:28:58 GMT
Poor Connolly- he's always wronged Not one Dub after yesterday's game felt Connolly was wronged, everyone in unison said he let his team down. Getting tiresome at this stage. Annoying for us was I don't think Kerry had anyone to really keep him quiet and it looked like he was going to cause problems. Your focus was on Kilkenny and Fenton, also to a degree Cluxton. In the end you didn't have to worry about him. He allowed himself get the line again.
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Post by kerrygold on Apr 10, 2017 21:42:35 GMT
Recap on what was achieved: 20th League title won End of Dublin's "record" unbeaten run which started after another defeat to us. End of Dublin's five in a row attempt Paul Geaney top scorer for League 17. I think 3 more than Dean Rock in second place. First 20 point score against Dubs under Gavin I came across the programme from the Cavan match and was astonished to see that the team from what was undoubtedly our worst performance of the season only had two different players from the team that lifted the cup - Mikey Geaney and Jonathan Lyne. The difference was more than their cobtributions on the day. That is why some of us here called out certain performances during the league, Monaghan, Roscommon and Cavan after an excellent opening in Letterkenny and expressed annoyance at the dropping/substitution of Barry, Savage and Spillane after the Cavan game. Kerry's performance yesterday, until Kealy imploded, vindicated those opinions. It would have been a tragedy if Jack Savage in particular had not experienced yesterdays blue heat. I thought he was excellent yesterday both retaining possession and passing the ball forward. Great to see Fitz showing some personality during the week. A team mirrors their manager every time they cross the white line. Delighted for Eamonn and his team yesterday. Fair play to all. Came across a car full of these new young Kerry players at the service station in Newcastle West on the way down last night. They had an energy, purpose and bounce in their step. Yesterday will bring them on a ton.
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Post by Mickmack on Apr 10, 2017 22:18:47 GMT
I was astonished that Jack Savage and Adrian Spillane did come on v Tyrone but maybe Eamonn was resting them in the hope that Mayo would win and they could play in the final.
Paul Murphy was involved in nearly every score in the second half yesterday after moving to half forward, Hopefully this ends the nonsense of playing him wing back.
MDMA st up the goal and then nearly scored one himself. He then got his hand to three of Kealys kickouts at the end and gave Dublin possession from each. We have never managed to curb his influence at the end of games.
On 28 mins Dublin were on top and comfortable. Then Dermos black changed everything. Kerry got a grip in the final few minutes after half time and took over in the first 20 mins of the second.
Kerry got a fair shake yesterday from the ref and linesman. He made errors but no sign of an agenda,
They should simply refuse to play under Coldrick and Gough who are settled in Dublin or Joe McQuillan. Simply say no...what could the GAA do...give up on a few million at the gate...doubt it.
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peanuts
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Post by peanuts on Apr 10, 2017 22:20:30 GMT
Did anyone notice the tweet from Bernard Flynn on TSG last night?? He made some reference to the game being reffed fairly for once. 'Gary its amazing what u get when the big calls on the big days get allocated fairly between the 2 teams' in response to golfer Gary Murphy who said ' Big win for the Kingdom today'
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Post by jackiel on Apr 10, 2017 22:22:45 GMT
Poor Connolly- he's always wronged Not one Dub after yesterday's game felt Connolly was wronged, everyone in unison said he let his team down. Getting tiresome at this stage. Annoying for us was I don't think Kerry had anyone to really keep him quiet and it looked like he was going to cause problems. Your focus was on Kilkenny and Fenton, also to a degree Cluxton. In the end you didn't have to worry about him. He allowed himself get the line again. I'd imagine Jim Gavin gave him a right rollicking , there is a pattern of ill discipline with Dermo and he doesn't seem to be learning anything from his frequent black & red cards. He'd only just 2 minutes before scored a fantastic point, he then throws it all away with a ridiculous incident. With so many talented players vying for position he may be made to serve a penance for his actions.
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Post by southward on Apr 10, 2017 22:44:03 GMT
Connolly's probably been put off the field more often than anyone else in the country. And the craziest bit is, it's nearly always for no-gain incidents and usually in full view of the officials (no-one can accuse him of being sneaky anyway).
Seriously, what's wrong with this man? Do Dublin need to add a psychiatrist to the backroom?
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Post by jackiel on Apr 10, 2017 22:55:54 GMT
Not sure if they have one but there is a psychologist!!
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Post by homerj on Apr 10, 2017 23:00:04 GMT
almost 650k watch the game on tv yesterday, the highest ever TG4 audience! serious figures.
to put into context, England V ireland in last years 6 nations, had 630k watching.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on Apr 10, 2017 23:04:09 GMT
We also had the black swan of a David Moran 45.
It sailed royally over.
Paul Geaney toughed it out yesterday. Kept showing.
After he missed the free he sprinted over to take the next one.
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Post by athletics on Apr 10, 2017 23:06:51 GMT
Does anyone have the game please . I would love to watch it again. Thanks
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kerryexile
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Post by kerryexile on Apr 10, 2017 23:20:56 GMT
I do not want to reopen the debate that took place last week but yesterday I could not believe the violence that was meted out by some Dublin players. I decided not to comment until I had seen the recording of the game. Even though the referee did reasonably well some efforts to tackle were reckless.
Speaking of Jack Barry playing like Ambrose I think the same and I also agree that Jack is a better footballer and I think that will become clearer as time goes by.
I think Micko would have loved to have had Morley in his squad - he would polish that rough diamond just like he did with Jacko.
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fitz
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Red sky at night get off my land
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Post by fitz on Apr 11, 2017 0:04:27 GMT
I do not want to reopen the debate that took place last week but yesterday I could not believe the violence that was meted out by some Dublin players. I decided not to comment until I had seen the recording of the game. Even though the referee did reasonably well some efforts to tackle were reckless. Speaking of Jack Barry playing like Ambrose I think the same and I also agree that Jack is a better footballer and I think that will become clearer as time goes by. I think Micko would have loved to have had Morley in his squad - he would polish that rough diamond just like he did with Jacko. Re: the punishment dishing, do you have incidents as example? I thought the overall focus was on playing football but likely missed stuff, again I thought the atmosphere was pretty positive, it didn't appear a nasty game to me but???
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Post by beantownfan on Apr 11, 2017 1:36:43 GMT
I just rewatched part of the game.. You have to wonder what in the name of God was Connolly thinking?? Gavin Crowley on the field for one minute, and he managed to get 'under his skin' to the extent that he had to haul him down. If I was Jim Gavin I'd be absolutely livid with him. Crowley was doing nothing out of the way, not even obstructing Connolly if he was interested in playing ball.. Granted Connolly did it sneaky enough that the ref would never catch it, I'm delighted he was caught, a very unsportsman-like move. I must say I'm impressed with the strut in Crowley's step, even before the ref went walking to the linesman when Connolly was caught for playing the ball on the ground Crowley was giving him a few smart remarks.. Great to see a few lads with a pep in their step! Fenton should have gotten the road @ 38 min, he clearly impeded Jack Barry, the ref gave a yellow, but it is a black by the rule book!
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kerryexile
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Post by kerryexile on Apr 11, 2017 8:23:31 GMT
I just rewatched part of the game.. You have to wonder what in the name of God was Connolly thinking?? Gavin Crowley on the field for one minute, and he managed to get 'under his skin' to the extent that he had to haul him down. If I was Jim Gavin I'd be absolutely livid with him. Crowley was doing nothing out of the way, not even obstructing Connolly if he was interested in playing ball.. Granted Connolly did it sneaky enough that the ref would never catch it, I'm delighted he was caught, a very unsportsman-like move. I must say I'm impressed with the strut in Crowley's step, even before the ref went walking to the linesman when Connolly was caught for playing the ball on the ground Crowley was giving him a few smart remarks.. Great to see a few lads with a pep in their step! Fenton should have gotten the road @ 38 min, he clearly impeded Jack Barry, the ref gave a yellow, but it is a black by the rule book! I think the Dublin players are instructed to always stop the opposition making runs. As you say we saw Fenton blocking Jack Barry. Cormac Costello came up through the ranks as a ball playing forward totally focused on scoring but in the now famous photo Colm Keys tells us "The game was in its dying embers when Brian O Beaglaoích, a Kerry substitute, went to make a run up the Hogan Stand side. He was halted in his tracks by Dublin substitute Cormac Costello who, not content with just halting momentum, put the U-21 star into a headlock and brought him to the ground to ensure he'd go no further". It would not be in Costello's instinct to do it, but for some reason he did. Connolly's problem was that Crowley was in front of him, there was no subtle option, so the only way to stop the run was to pull the jersey. Fttzwop - I will have to look back on the video and see the times of the tackles in question.
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Post by kerrybhoy06 on Apr 11, 2017 9:14:24 GMT
Poor Connolly- he's always wronged Not one Dub after yesterday's game felt Connolly was wronged, everyone in unison said he let his team down. Getting tiresome at this stage. Annoying for us was I don't think Kerry had anyone to really keep him quiet and it looked like he was going to cause problems. Your focus was on Kilkenny and Fenton, also to a degree Cluxton. In the end you didn't have to worry about him. He allowed himself get the line again. I was refering to O Leary's comments as most of the dub fans were honest enough to admit that it was stupidity on Connolly's part.
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Post by skybluezone on Apr 11, 2017 9:32:23 GMT
[quote author=" MeathExile" source="/post/202447/thread" timestamp="1491856339" ]Did anyone notice the tweet from Bernard Flynn on TSG last night?? He made some reference to the game being reffed fairly for once. It brought me back to last August when I said on here that I would not go to a Kerry/Dub game in future if there wasn't a neutral non Meath/Dublin resident reffing. Coldrick and Gough sickened me over the last 2 years, and it was nice to see a ref unburdened by local knowledge/friendships reffing a match properly. I hope the referee's group continue to implement the rule of old - neutral ref from non-participating provinces please..... Apart from that, do any of the elder lemons on here think that Barry is a cut off Ambrose? He has the same running style, but I think Barry has a bit more football in him - a fantastic find. Going back to a previous post, someone here mentioned improving the forwards with the return of JOD/SOB/KD. Apart from KD, I wouldn't be rushing to change too much from yesterday. When I wantched it again late last night, it struck me how much work the newer lads Savage, McCarthy, Mike G put in to engineer the points in the third quarter. Methinks JOD may be now be better off the bench when defenders are tiring, Stephen overall vision not as good as Savages I think, and KD is the ultimate route B plan. Johnny B will probably be there as well, so we now really have some bench to come in. On that note, Darren was superb yesterday when he came in - he really is a man for Croker. [/quote] I think everyone is in agreement that Kerry deserved to win on Sunday. Also agree that the referee by and large did a decent job, although some supporters I know don't feel that way, and would point to Darren O'Sullivans miss that was then given as a handy free, a 45 that Moran (I think) converted that was a push on James McCarthy over the endline (I believe Dessie Dolan on radio commentary described it as "only a little push"!, I didn't know there were rules for degrees of pushing!). Also a probable penalty on Dean Rock that I didn't notice in real time, and neither did the ref obviously. But in general, Dublin weren't good enough on the day. Have a look on Reservoir Dubs forum and you'll see the same sentiment. But the above comment implicates a sinister aspect to Dublins successes, and that Dublin can only beat Kerry if the ref is "onside". For a start Bernard Flynn is lacking in grey matter, this is his own problem but when he foists his point of view on the rest of us he's hard to listen to. He is well known for trumpeting an anti Dublin agenda any chance he gets. A tabloid pundit if ever there was one. He happens to me from Meath, Coldrick is from Meath. I see your username is "Meathexile". So you won't have to travel too far to know that Meath GAA people in general would not be known for their fondness of Dublin GAA. Do you see the irony in what you are suggesting in terms of Coldrick looking after Dublin? I dislike all the guff talked about referees generally, although I am partial to the occasional rant. I do however feel that when some Kerry supporters have an actual list of referees they would class as "not suitable" to officiate at their games, there is an element of "doth protest too much". Not all referees are anti Kerry, in fact none of them are. Joe McQuillan is another on the "list", and to those shrewdies observing the Dublin Monaghan game last week you will have noted that Connolly was on the pitch for all of 2 minutes when McQuillan gave him a black card for what wasn't the first cousin of a black. Dublin Joe alright. Joe is from Cavan. Cavan and Monaghan have their own savage little GAA rivalry, so its doubtful if Joe was looking to assist Monaghan, and he certainly wasn't looking to assist Dublin. Gough and McQuillan have been pummelled by Kerry supporters, and two of the biggest decisions complained about were Kev Mc shoulder on Crowley, and again Kev Mc double hop in final of 2011. McQuillan had his back to the double hop so couldn't have seen it, Gough admitted that he didn't see Kev Mc shoulder. So if you cannot see it how can you give it? Unless of course you take the advice of your umpires/linesmen, which is what happened on Sunday. Interestingly, the advice on this occasion went against Dublin with Connollys black (which was a black). The umpires at the Hill end hadn't the same attitude when it came to dispensing advice, and it cost Dublin a potential converted penalty and an actual converted 45. Kerry were on their best behaviour on Sunday, knowing full well the eye was on them after "events" in Tralee. Plus with Fitzmaurice shaping the narrative earlier in the week it was obvious they would not be acting the maggot to any great degree. I do think it will be interesting if the two teams meet later in the year (hopefully in the final), because Fitzy has had his shot across the bows already. If he goes at it again it will come across as "fake news". Gavin was cute enough post match on Sunday, kept the powder dry. Although in fairness its not his style to attack other teams etc. But I'd say he won't be averse to having a cut if he feels the narrative is being laid down against his team again.
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