The Official GAA thread

That should be that

 

Woohoo!

 

David Clifford wouldn't have looked out of place playing for Antrim today.

 

Suprised how poor he was.. it was difference in the end. Dont want to blame him but he had a few decent chances.

Two great teams..

 

To be fair Clifford has a heavy weight on his shoulders not his day

 

That's the most Irish thing ever...

Announcer.. "give the ref a round of applause.."

Crowd.. "Boooooooooooo"

Announcer.. "now, now"

 

Enjoyed the game, really good contest that could’ve went either way. Paul Mannion MOTM for me.

 

I am biased as an old Kilmacud Crokes player myself but I was not surprised to see Paul Mannion get the man of the match award although there were a fair few top performers for Dublin on the day. Lots of talk about Clifford being poor and he was below his norm but credit to Mick Fitzsimmons for doing a good job on him on the day. Cluxton in goal hardly got a kick out wrong all day and kicks 2 big frees in the first half. Both Brian Fenton and James McCarthy were immense for me in the middle and they were the foundation of this victory for Dublin IMHO. The bench was big too especially Jack McCaffrey. A beautiful day to enjoy as a Dub and even better I was back at home to enjoy it all live and in person. Got quite a few Up the Dubs the next day at Dublin airport wearing a Dublin top as I waited for my flight back to Chicago.

 

Was that back in the day when it was 15 v 15?

 

No we always played 16 v 15 at Crokes. Coaching geniuses the club has

 

What did you make of the All Star team? Were you happy with Dublin getting five awards?

 

Not really bothered one way or another. Winning the All Ireland was all that mattered because as if it needed too it really put a perfect seal on what is without doubt Dublin's greatest ever generation of players and the games greatest ever team. I enjoyed every one of our All Ireland's from this generation from 2011 through this summer but this one was right up there with 2011 and 2019 as the ones that meant the most and well beating Kerry in an All Ireland final thats always memorable.

 

Well, that puts our one AI in 119 years into perspective. I suppose it's all about levels but I've enjoyed the last two years. It's nice being competitive. There is no doubt that the Dublin team you talk about was the greatest ever. Fantastic individual footballers and not a weak link in the side. Jim Gavin seemed a really decent fella. I enjoyed watching them. I have had a soft spot for Dublin since '93 semi final. Many teams would have been cynical and protected their lead but they kept playing football and allowed Derry to play their football. Great match. Always respected them for that. Anyway, I'll be down in Croke in the winter for the league game. We had a great night in Celtic Park in March.

 

Fair play for the nice words. There are so many begrudgers out there with such a chip on their shoulder about Dublin. Talking about Dublin being too successful and should be broken up ( yet Kerry have more All Irelands then we have) as if Dubliners don't have a pride in our county as much as anybody else in their own county. One of the things I have the most pride in personally from my playing days was being lucky enough to wear the sky blue jersey for Dublin in both soccer in the Kennedy Cup and in GAA up to minor level when I quit to concentrate on soccer.

So true about Jim Gavin as well comes across as a truly class act as a person as well as obviously as a coach. One of the features of his teams in particular was even in the tight games especially against Mayo he always had an answer and found a way to win. I felt sorry in a way for Mayo as the team they had much of the last decade was excellent too and would have won an All Ireland or 2 in pretty much any other era they just unfortunately for them appeared at the same time as the games best ever team.

No question your lads have made tremendous progress in recent years and I expect will be right up there among the best teams again next season. You were so close against Kerry in that semi-final. It will be interesting to see if the team learned how to win that level of game from that loss last summer. Sometimes when a team is new to that type of game they don't know how to win it the first time.

 

I understand what you are saying. I never experienced the hate thing for Dublin. Maybe it's more of a southern thing, we're too preoccupied with our own rivalries and grudges up here. My first jersey as a youngster was a Dublin one. My parents often went to Dublin so mammy could go to Roches Stores. On one visit, I spotted a rail of GAA jerseys and was mesmerised as you just couldn't get them up north. I got a Dublin jersey that day. At that time mammy worked with a woman whose husband managed a sports shop in Belfast and who had a contact in O'Neills. They agreed to make a one off kids Derry jersey for him. O'Neills handed it over to him at Dundalk and that's what I got that Christmas.
I have never had any bother with Dublin fans. As I said, got on great with them in March when they came up to Celtic Park. I remember seeing Brian Fenton staying on the pitch for ages afterwards getting his photo taken with the young fans and adults alike. Fantastic footballer and very decent person. He had a great year. I also met Dublin fans this summer as we were coming out of Croke after the Cork quarter final and they were going into the Mayo game. Seemed very genuine people.
I understand the begrudery thing too. I don't live in the county at the moment but would still wear my county colours. The people who made jibes about supporting a Division 4 team a few years ago are the same people who now label you as a glory hunter! I have barely missed a Derry game, football or hurling for years but there's no point talking to them. They just begrudge success, limited though ours is.
Thanks for the words of encouragement but I'm a bit apprehensive for the coming season. You never know how it's going to go with a new manager and this will be our third in less than a year. Anything for us is a bonus but I would love to win three in a row Ulster championships as we've never done that although it might be smarter to just build up to the group stages. In the meantime, I'm just looking forward to the McKenna Cup in a weeks and praying that we can find another couple of forwards from somewhere. Anyway, congrats on a great year and best of luck for next season.

 

Your no doubt right. I think there is always a chip on the shoulder thing for any team that is successful and people wanting to tear them down. Probably says more about those people and their mentality then anything else. I can understand your apprehension with yet another new manager for the season ahead but I think you will be right up there as one of the genuine contenders when the Championship comes around again next season. The question will be did the players learn from how close they were in that semi-final last year. For Dublin I am probably equally nervous as I think we will see a number of retirements and last seasons All Ireland had a real ring of the last go around for this great team about it. We will see I guess. Hopefully you have a great season and who knows maybe we are playing each other in an All Ireland final next summer!

 

Made the journey home from Croke Park yesterday seem very short. Doire Abú.