The Gaelic Football Thread

[TravisBickle]

If you were a Dublin selector, which other Dublin player would you have been suggesting be switched onto marking Clifford?

Fitzsimons did pretty well.

 

[BossHogg]

People are really overrating Fitzsimons performance.

Clifford scored two from play, won scorable frees, set up a goal and lost Fitz multiple times.

Clifford’s radar was off, and Fitzsimon deserves credit in part for that but some of the wides were from open positions.

Clifford won every ball that went into him pretty much.

Cant agree more with this. The only reason Clifford was "held" to 2/3 points was because of Clifford. Could've been anyone marking him, don't think it would have made much difference.

 

[JimmyBarrySmurph]

Cant agree more with this. The only reason Clifford was "held" to 2/3 points was because of Clifford. Could've been anyone marking him, don't think it would have made much difference.

Dublin set up perfectly defensively, played the percentages and Clifford was pushed out to the outside by Fitz. I don’t remember Clifford missing many scorable chances and he was forced to kick in the rain from very difficult/impossible angles. Exactly what you’d want to do with a player of his caliber

 

[BossHogg]

Dublin set up perfectly defensively, played the percentages and Clifford was pushed out to the outside by Fitz. I don’t remember Clifford missing many scorable chances and he was forced to kick in the rain from very difficult/impossible angles. Exactly what you’d want to do with a player of his caliber

He pulled two soft ones, that Fitzsimons (or any other defender) wasn't around for, wide. One either side. They only lost by 2.

 

[JimmyBarrySmurph]

He pulled two soft ones, that Fitzsimons (or any other defender) wasn't around for, wide. One either side. They only lost by 2.

What were the 2 soft ones?

 

[BossHogg]

What were the 2 soft ones?

The one on the left wing on his left boot to level it near the 70th minute and one earlier on his right about 30 yards out he dragged across the goal.

 

[JimmyBarrySmurph]

The one on the left wing on his left boot to level it near the 70th minute

Say no more.. Insane attempt at the time. Fueled by Clifford’s frustration at that stage.
As you might know, in the modern game, players are not permitted to take on these very low percentage shots. More than anyone, Jim Gavin introduced this to football and over the years he dropped Connolly & Brogan for not playing to the percentages. Kerry and Clifford will learn from this.
My view is Dublin closed down the service channels into Clifford, he wasn’t getting the normal ball down the chute that he likes, Fitzsimons kept Clifford on the outside all day, outside the scoring 35m, where he was forced and left to shoot the low percentages. A defensive master class

 

[peopleluas]

It seems very possible that had Gough refereed according to the rulebook (instead of not doing so per that great widely-praised "letting the game flow" euphemism) in the AI final, Kerry would have won it.

But that's Gough's pattern. If he had equally refereed the Cork/Kerry match according to the rulebook (dishing the cards early enough to penalize the illegal stopping of the Cork running game), Kerry would have not won the group and would have been playing 3 matches in 3 weeks facing a rested Derry (or equivalent) - and so Kerry would probably not have made it to an AI semi-final.

 

[Harry Zontal]

Usually there is a lot more gloating when Kerry lose on here. Its somewhat quiet.

 

[jimmym]

I was a happy man at full time yesterday