The GAA Thread

[irishblue 128]

We completly steam rolled Leitirm, you see it IB? I'd take Senan Kilbride over Johnny Doyle

I didn't see the full thing, but I saw the highlights of it on the Sunday Game and even then Kilbride looked very impressive... but I wouldn't go that far yet. Reckon you can win Connacht again this year?

[Shane 2,275]

I didn't see the full thing, but I saw the highlights of it on the Sunday Game and even then Kilbride looked very impressive... but I wouldn't go that far yet. Reckon you can win Connacht again this year?

Yeah I'd say so, Can't wait for the final but we haven't achieved anything until we beat Galway and Mayo, If we beat them and get a decent draw in the AIQF I think we could make the Semi's anyway, Shine and Kilbride are two of the best forwards in the country tbf.

Think you'll beat Dubin?

[irishblue 128]

Yeah I'd say so, Can't wait for the final but we haven't achieved anything until we beat Galway and Mayo, If we beat them and get a decent draw in the AIQF I think we could make the Semi's anyway, Shine and Kilbride are two of the best forwards in the country tbf.

Think you'll beat Dubin?

Fairly hard to say to be honest. I'm a bit pessimistic about it, but that always happens. This will be Kildare's first real test, since Wicklow and Meath didn't prove any major problems. If Johnny Doyle is injured for this, we could be in a bit of trouble, but then again it's been said that that's not as bad as first thought too. McGeeney has been saying that he's not worried about the wide tally, but no matter what we can't afford as many against Dublin.

If our backs, which will probably be more or less the same as the Meath match, manage to restrict their forwards at all, then we should have a very good chance, but that's easier said than done especially with Dublin's full forward line.

So basically, I'm not saying anything.

[Shane 2,275]

Fairly hard to say to be honest. I'm a bit pessimistic about it, but that always happens. This will be Kildare's first real test, since Wicklow and Meath didn't prove any major problems. If Johnny Doyle is injured for this, we could be in a bit of trouble, but then again it's been said that that's not as bad as first thought too. McGeeney has been saying that he's not worried about the wide tally, but no matter what we can't afford as many against Dublin.

If our backs, which will probably be more or less the same as the Meath match, manage to restrict their forwards at all, then we should have a very good chance, but that's easier said than done especially with Dublin's full forward line.

So basically, I'm not saying anything.

Haha, we hit a fair few wides against Leitim aswell as missing two goal chances, But the game was over anyway. I really do think we'll win the All Ireland in the next few years, and Fergal O'Donnell deserves immense credit for what he's done with us, We got beat by Mayo by 19 points, than redeemed ourselves slightly in the qualifiers, beating Wexford then losing to Meath, then winning Connaght last year. We have good backs who rarely conceed a goal (1 in the Championship last year, granted it was only 4 games), Michael Finneran at midfield is the most improved player in the Championship over the last few years according to Pat Spillane, Cregg is a brilliant half forward and has been hailed by pudnits, Senan O'Grady came in against Leitrim and must have covered every blade of grass on the pitch, getting MOTM on local papers, and Shine and Kilbride speak for themselves really.

[irishblue 128]

Haha, we hit a fair few wides against Leitim aswell as missing two goal chances, But the game was over anyway. I really do think we'll win the All Ireland in the next few years, and Fergal O'Donnell deserves immense credit for what he's done with us, We got beat by Mayo by 19 points, than redeemed ourselves slightly in the qualifiers, beating Wexford then losing to Meath, then winning Connaght last year. We have good backs who rarely conceed a goal (1 in the Championship last year, granted it was only 4 games), Michael Finneran at midfield is the most improved player in the Championship over the last few years according to Pat Spillane, Cregg is a brilliant half forward and has been hailed by pudnits, Senan O'Grady came in against Leitrim and must have covered every blade of grass on the pitch, getting MOTM on local papers, and Shine and Kilbride speak for themselves really.

Well, to be fair, you could say something similar about Kieran McGeeney and how he's brought Kildare along. We went from being beaten by 4 points by Wicklow in 2008 in the first round of the Leinster Championship to the All-Ireland Quarter final being narrowly beaten by Cork. A Leinster final, an All-Ireland quarter final and then a semi-final over the following two year is a fairly good improvement. This year is our big chance to prove ourselves and if we can get past Dublin, there's a very good chance we can win Leinster. The amount of effort this team has put in over the past few years is unbelievable and it would be great to see them get something at the end of it.

[irishblue 128]

A few results to put up from last weekend if anyone wants to know:

Gaelic Football

Ulster

Derry 3-14 Armagh 1-11

Hurling

Qualifiers

Antrim 2-25 Westmeath 1-19

Cork 10-20 Laois 1-13

Leinster

Dublin 0-19 Galway 2-7

Munster

Tipperary 4-19 Clare 1-19

So, Derry are through to the Ulster football final, and will either play Donegal or Tyrone who play on Sunday. You'd have to feel sorry for the Laois hurlers though, being defeated by 34 points!

Quite a lot of action on in the football this weekend, with the first round of qualifiers taking place on Saturday evening and the provincial semi-final games on Sunday. Galway face Mayo for a place in the Connacht final against Roscommon, I've already mentioned the match in Ulster so that leaves Leinster. Carlow play Wexford in the first semi-final, and it's Dublin against Kildare straight afterwards. Wexford look most likely to win their match in my opinion, but as for Kildare-Dublin, it's really anyone's guess as to how that will go.

[irishblue 128]

The results from this weekend's games and I'll try and give a bit of analysis on the two games I was at today

Gaelic Football

Qualifiers

London 0-15 Fermanagh 0-9

Antrim 0-16 Westmeath 1-7

Down 1-13 Clare 1-12

Longford 2-16 Cavan 0-11

Wicklow 1-18 Sligo 0-16

Laois 2-16 Tipperary 0-11

Meath 5-8 Louth 2-8

Offaly 1-18 Monaghan 1-10

Connacht

Mayo 1-12 Galway 1-6

Leinster

Wexford 4-12 Carlow 0-10

Dublin 1-12 Kildare 1-11

Ulster

Donegal 2-6 Tyrone 0-9

Hurling

Qualifiers

Antrim 0-23 Carlow 1-12

Cork 2-17 Offaly 2-16

Unlike last weekend, this weekend was more or less solely focused on the football side of things, and the first round qualifiers occupied a large proportion of that. London in particular are making a name for themselves, and to top that off their next qualifier game against Waterford is also in Ruislip. Any of the members on here from near there? The Down-Clare result was pretty surprising considering they were All Ireland finalists last year. Louth were no where near getting revenge on Meath for last years Leinster final, and Cian Ward seemed to have been on fire for Meath scoring 4 goals and 3 points. Not too many overly surprising results otherwise.

Moving on to the provincials, Mayo and Donegal sealed their places in the Connacht and Ulster finals respectively. After drawing against London, I wasn't expecting as much of a fight back from Mayo but then again, Galway haven't been they same as they used to be either. Roscommon have a very good chance to hold their reign in Connacht for a few years to come if they win this one. Donegal v Derry should also be an interesting one. I don't follow them all that well so I wasn't expecting Donegal to win that, but both teams have a good fighting spirit about them.

As for the Leinster semi-finals which I was at today, well there's not too much say about the first one in my opinion. I arrived about midway into the first half, and was surprised to see Carlow so close to Wexford and I'm almost sure they levelled at one point too. However, Carlow seemed to lose all faith in the second half and they lost any of the fight they have. As the score suggests, Wexford ran rampant over them and won by 14 points.

Dublin v Kildare was to be much different though. Dublin opened the scoring and pretty much controlled the first half from there on, and at the half were winning by 6 points. Kildare came out and played much better in the second half. They did stay behind score-wise though for most of it, but caught up a lot more. By the last two minutes, Eamonn Callaghan scored a goal and a point to follow in the final minute to level it. In the second and final minute of injury time, this is where the problem arose for Kildare, when the referee gave a free against Aindriú MacLochlainn for what was no reason in reality. Of course, Bernard Brogan goes on to score. The Dubs will now play Wexford in Leinster final.

I'm not as bothered by the loss as I could be, but with the amount of work this team have put in over the last few years, as I said earlier in the thread, and to lose in that way was terrible. I just hope it doesn't have a detrimental effect on them, and they build on it instead like they usually have done before.

Sorry for the extremely drawn out post, I went into way too much detail about the provinical matches.

[irishblue 128]

Not too many results this weekend, so here goes.

Gaelic Football

Kerry 1-15 Cork 1-12

Hurling

Qualifiers

Limerick 1-22 Wexford 2-13

Galway 4-25 Clare 0-20

Leinster

Kilkenny 4-17 Dublin 1-15

Ulster

Antrim 2-20 Armagh 2-12

I didn't watch any of the hurling matches so I can't really comment other than saying that I didn't think Kilkenny would let the Leinster final slip, especially after losing the league final. Not too surprised with any of the other results really either. From what I heard Kerry had a brilliant first half and were running rings around Cork, yet in the second half it took them 25 minutes to score! I'm still glad Kerry won it though.:censored:

I wouldn't have mentioned this bit otherwise but because its somewhat Chelsea related I might as well. Celebrity Bainisteoir, a show in which Irish celebrities who have no or very little knowledge of Gaelic football, take on the management of a club, is back again this year after three series. Today, Laois club Killeshin announced theirs and I couldn't believe it when I heard it - it's Tony Cascarino.

[Shane 2,275]

Haha Tony Cascarno, Our rival club went into that a few years ago, There manager was a guy no one ever heard of! Some journalist!

[irishblue 128]

Results from the weekend just gone by.

Gaelic Football

Qualifiers

Limerick 3-13 Offaly 0-15

Down 1-16 Leitrim 1-8

Antrim 1-13 Carlow 2-9

Waterford 1-17 London 0-13

Kildare 3-16 Laois 0-10

Tyrone 1-17 Longford 0-15

Armagh 0-19 Wicklow 2-13

Meath 0-11 Galway 0-10

Leinster - Final

Dublin 2-12 Wexford 1-12

Hurling

Qualifiers

Galway 2-23 Cork 1-14

Limerick 3-22 Antrim 0-12

Munster - Final

Tipperary 7-19 Waterford 0-19

Once again a weekend pretty much dominated by qualifiers, if only for the finals on Sunday. London's championship journey has came to an end after all, and many thought they could beat Waterford. On the plus side, I heard that it got a mention on Sky Sports News on Saturday or Sunday morning, anyone see it? Wicklow are still going well having drawn with Armagh away, I wouldn't mind seeing them win the replay either. As for Kildare, its just great beating Laois... and by such a scoreline. Tomás O'Connor was brilliant in the forwards and probably could have even got man of the match but Hugh Lynch also had a great performance.

As for the Leinster final, I'm not surprised by Dublin winning it but the match certainly wasn't anything special. Pretty poor first half, Dublin going four or five points ahead at some stages and as I expected dominated it really. Second half was much better though and Wexford were really unlucky in a way. Much better side in my opinion, came out all guns blazing and really it only came down to an own goal. Then again, Dublin did have one disallowed.

I didn't fully watch any of the hurling matches so I can't comment properly on them, but Tipperary simply destroyed Waterford. Lar Corbett scoring four of those seven goals, and four points as well as far as I know.

[irishblue 128]

No hurling matches at all this weekend, so here are the results and a bit of analysis from the football matches.

Gaelic Football

Qualifiers

Limerick 0-14 Waterford 0-9

Down 3-13 Antrim 0-10

Meath 0-14 Kildare 2-11

Armagh 2-9 Wicklow 0-10

Connacht - Final

Mayo 0-13 Roscommon 0-11

Ulster - Final

Donegal 1-11 Derry 0-8

Only one team won at their home ground this weekend, and that was Limerick and I'm not surprised by the scoreline either. From what I heard, Antrim had a few good moments against Down, but they didn't last long and the Mournemen came away with a very convincing victory. Armagh and Wicklow was one of the more significant matches of the qualifiers. Wicklow had done well to draw with Antrim away and there was of course the Micko factor. If Wicklow lost, many suspected that this would be the end of an era with what was one of the greatest if not the greatest managers the GAA has ever seen, Mick O'Dwyer, expected to retire at 75 years of age. Unfortunately, Wicklow were conquered by Armagh and I think it was really from the beginning, but it was a surprise to hear that while Micko was finished with Wicklow, he could still go on to manage someone else.

You could say I'm being biased here, but arguably the most exciting match of the qualifiers, if not of all matches this weekend, was between Meath and Kildare in Navan. This was always going to be a tense encounter and it lived up to expectations. If they weren't ahead, Meath were never far behind Kildare in terms of scores until the very end. There had been a two point gap at half time in Kildare's advantage, but in the second half Meath pulled out the stops and had me very worried about them getting ahead up until about 10 minutes from time. Emmet Bolton scoring that goal really sealed it for Kildare and they went even further from there. A half back scoring a goal and two points is pretty impressive at that. In fact, I'm sure I heard that our defence scored more than the forwards and it was even described as "total football" on the Sunday Game! Derry are up next for the Lilywhites.

I can't say I was as impressed with either of the provincial finals though. From what I can understand having only seen most of the second half, Roscommon had the better of the first and for a good bit of the second half too but Mayo caught up and eventually got the better of them, winning their fourth Connacht title of the last decade. The game between Donegal and Derry took a while to get going and even then it wasn't the best of games. Donegal pretty much always had the advantage over Derry, but I'm surprised at Derry only scoring eight points to be honest. I know they can be more defensive but it's not a great sign for them. People are saying it'll be hard for Derry to recover from the loss in time for the match against Kildare, but I reckon they could put it up to us if they tried, but maybe that's just me being pessimistic from a Kildare point of view.

I've went into a bit too much detail again, and with regard to the Roscommon-Mayo game maybe Shane can correct me, but that's my summary of all this weekend's games. On that note, hard luck because I would rather have seen Roscommon win.

[Shane 2,275]

I will not mention the Roscommon Mayo game because i do not want to talk about it, I was on TV though!

You heading to Croker on Saturday mate?

[irishblue 128]

I will not mention the Roscommon Mayo game because i do not want to talk about it, I was on TV though!

You heading to Croker on Saturday mate?

Yeah I will be hopefully, you going up? How do you think you'll go against Tyrone? Donegal could prove to be a bit of trouble for Kildare and the Sunday Game analysts have written us off completely. A lot of people in Kildare are annoyed at what Joe Brolly said about James Kavanagh and how he was against Down last year. I think it's safe to say that the Kildare hype in the media is finally gone! I'm just going to hope for a shock.

[Shane 2,275]

Yeah I will be hopefully, you going up? How do you think you'll go against Tyrone? Donegal could prove to be a bit of trouble for Kildare and the Sunday Game analysts have written us off completely. A lot of people in Kildare are annoyed at what Joe Brolly said about James Kavanagh and how he was against Down last year. I think it's safe to say that the Kildare hype in the media is finally gone! I'm just going to hope for a shock.

Yeah definatly, There'll be a huge crowd from Roscommon and Donegal there I'd imagine, The Roscommon minors are playing their Al Quater final there at 3 so that will attract alot of interest, the second time the minors will play their this year after they played there Connaght quater final against New York there! As for us and Tyrone, I think it will be won by a few points either way. Everyone is writing Roscommon off after the Mayo game but the weather was atrioucious, You couldn't play football in it. If they get ball into Shine and Kilbride in the full forward line I could actually see us pulling it off But I do think Tyrone will win by 2 or 3 points.

As for Kildare and Donegal, I'm fully expecting Kildare to go out and absouletly wallop them, and win by atleast 5, Donegal are not a good side and won in my view a poor Ulster championship. I'm looking forward to seeing Kildare, I can see them winning the AI this year tbh. Looking forward to the day though, Hope the minors win and if the seniors give a good account of themselves I'll be happy. What do you think about the games?

[irishblue 128]

Yeah definatly, There'll be a huge crowd from Roscommon and Donegal there I'd imagine, The Roscommon minors are playing their Al Quater final there at 3 so that will attract alot of interest, the second time the minors will play their this year after they played there Connaght quater final against New York there! As for us and Tyrone, I think it will be won by a few points either way. Everyone is writing Roscommon off after the Mayo game but the weather was atrioucious, You couldn't play football in it. If they get ball into Shine and Kilbride in the full forward line I could actually see us pulling it off But I do think Tyrone will win by 2 or 3 points.

As for Kildare and Donegal, I'm fully expecting Kildare to go out and absouletly wallop them, and win by atleast 5, Donegal are not a good side and won in my view a poor Ulster championship. I'm looking forward to seeing Kildare, I can see them winning the AI this year tbh. Looking forward to the day though, Hope the minors win and if the seniors give a good account of themselves I'll be happy. What do you think about the games?

Tyrone and Roscommon are two teams I actually like so I don't really mind who wins. I'd rather see Roscommon win it for obvious reasons, but I'm sorry to say I can't see it happen that easily. You do have some great young players but I reckon beating a team like Tyrone is a step too far as they were one of the most impressive teams, after Kerry, of the past decade. Either way, whoever wins, beat Dublin! I wouldn't mind seeing Mayo win either purely because I can't stand Cork, but it's another one I can't see happen.

I just hope you're right about our match. :unsure: I wasn't impressed with Donegal that day either and you're right, that was a poor Ulster final, but Donegal are meant to grind out wins that way from what I've heard about them. I don't really know what to expect of them though, I'm not familiar enough with them to be able to say if we can beat them or not. Since they are defensive though, it's down to how well we can counter that I guess. Our defence should have just about enough to stop a Donegal counter attack, as it's been in brilliant form this year, particularly Mick Foley at full back.

Twice now I've read on other forums that Kildare's league match earlier in the year against Donegal was one of the worse games of football. Funnily enough it was Foley who saved Kildare that time, with a goal at the end to seal a draw at 1-5 to 0-8.

Hopefully we'll go through, and who knows, if we do, we might even end up playing Roscommon.:eyebrows:

[Shane 2,275]

Haha, I was very pessemistic when the draw was annouced, But I actually think we have a shot now with the game in just under 12 hours, All the pressure is on Tyrone which very very mediocre Longford and Armagh tested, and I'm not quite sure whether there back line can handle Kilbride and Shine IF David O'Gara is playing, Because O'Gara really is a key player for us. Saying that, We do need a huge performance. I'd expect Kildare to beat Donegal comfortably aswell.

I'm in the Cusack anyway, Just hoping for 3 decent games!

[irishblue 128]

Haha, I was very pessemistic when the draw was annouced, But I actually think we have a shot now with the game in just under 12 hours, All the pressure is on Tyrone which very very mediocre Longford and Armagh tested, and I'm not quite sure whether there back line can handle Kilbride and Shine IF David O'Gara is playing, Because O'Gara really is a key player for us. Saying that, We do need a huge performance. I'd expect Kildare to beat Donegal comfortably aswell.

I'm in the Cusack anyway, Just hoping for 3 decent games!

Hard luck on the Seniors but fair play to the Minors! I wasn't there for the minor game, but when I arrived midway through the second half, the Roscommon Seniors looked close enough and I reckoned they could nearly take it being so close, but everything just seemed to go wrong afterwards. I was in the Cusack myself, surrounded by Kildare supporters. Absolutely awful feeling coming out after that especially after extra time. I suppose it just goes to show though we're still not ready to be All Ireland contenders or anything, which in all fairness was never really the case anyway in my opinion. Fair enough, a few decisions did go against us but there's not much else that can be said about that, we've had a few go our way throughout this championship. Donegal's game plan worked out well after all.

Like always when we lose, my sympathy lies with the players. They're probably part of one of the most hard working teams in the country and then it's gone like that. McGeeney really does put them through their paces, but saying that, I hope he doesn't go either because that's the last thing Kildare need. You've got people saying he has to go, he's too strict about fitness and there's not enough emphasis on the football, etc. but at the end of the day, this is the best Kildare have been doing since Mick O'Dwyer. I remember being told by someone before McGeeney came, that Kildare needed a manager from outside the county itself. How right they turned out to be. We may have only won the O'Byrne Cup over four years, but it's still only his first managerial job and the fact he brought them from losing to Wicklow to contesting a quarter final within two months of the job tells it's own story as far as I'm concerned. Maybe we haven't been beating the Corks, Tyrones, Dublins and Kerrys, but a couple of years ago Kildare under other managers might not have been beating Laois, Louth or Meath! I could be wrong about all this but I still think he's brought us further than most could have.

As for the other matches this weekend, there's nothing I'm surprised about between Kerry and Limerick, completely expected that. Some goal from Darran O'Sullivan though, just brilliant. Delighted that Mayo beat Cork, it was more or less unexpected but it shows well for Mayo, going from a draw with London to beating last year's champions.

[irishblue 128]

It's been ages since I last updated this and I should really have updated it for the major matches but didn't so better late that ever, even if no one pays much attention to this thread anyway. I'll try and keep it brief as I can too for once.

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final 2011

Kilkenny 2-17 Tipperary 1-16

The third year in a row these two played each other. After losing out to Tipperary and missing out on five in a row last year, the Cats got their revenge this time around. Henry Shefflin, as usual, played a huge part and the fact that they couldn't have his full participation last year was probably what made the biggest impact.

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final 2011

Dublin 1-12 Kerry 1-11

Finally, after sixteen years of disappointment having not won, Dublin won their 23rd championship ever. A close enough game from what I recall and the score there pretty much proves that. What sealed it in literally the dying minutes of the game was Stephen Cluxton's free facing the Dublin fans in Hill 16. He's a goalkeeper but often takes frees for Dublin and is arguably the best goalkeeper in the country at the moment. A lot of people questioned that free at the time, but I didn't and I'm not going to begrudge Dublin their win regardless. Cluxton never went up for the trophy presentation and went straight to the dressing room after the game finished, which was unusual, especially having scored the winning point.

Composite Rules (Shinty-Hurling)

First leg

Ireland 1-16 Scotland 2-8

I personally found this game to be very dull considering how both sports can actually be very lively. I didn't go to the game despite the fact it wasn't actually that far from me, being played in Athy. Very few prominent hurling players were on to the Ireland team but there was a few Kildare players on it which was good to see from my point of view. I'm not so sure about shinty and what players made it on the Scottish team however. Ireland had a bit of an advantage especially with how awful the weather was that day.

Second leg

Ireland 2-9 Scotland 1-11

This game was played in Inverness and was much more entertaining. How Ireland won that is beyond me, considering Scotland were all over us for the vast majority of the match and Ireland only really drove on in the last ten minutes. Being on home territory really did seem to make a huge impact on this game. Ireland did have a few prominent players playing for this one, but still not many.

Total

Ireland 3-25 Scotland 3-19

International Rules (Gaelic Football-Australian Rules Football)

First leg

Ireland 80 Australia 36

I really can't comment much on this game having not actually seen it. It would seem though that Australia don't take this game very seriously, or didn't this year at least. There are a few AFL fans on here, so perhaps they could tell me if any attention is paid to these games over there? It was still a good result for Ireland I guess. Kildare's Eamonn Callaghan scored a goal which was good to hear, but one major disadvantage was Emmet Bolton getting a concussion. He recovered quickly enough afterwards though I believe. Ireland's AFL players were meant to have made a big impact too.

Second leg

Ireland 50 Australia 29

I was really poorly timed for when these were on and was away for this one, so once again, I can't comment much. From what I heard, Australia were more physical in this which could be suggested by the much closer scoreline. Wicklow's Leighton Glynn scored Ireland's goal, which in fact was the only one of the game. No injuries for either team unlike in the first test match.

Total

Ireland 130 Australia 65

I'll finish off on a note I already mentioned earlier in this thread - Celebrity Bainisteoir. As I'd already said, Tony Cascarino managed Laois club Killeshin and not only that, but went on to win the competition outright, beating former Irish politician Paul Gogarty's Oughterard of Galway 0-18 to 0-15 after extra time.

That's a bit of a summary of the end of the GAA inter-county season for 2011, with the 2012 season picking up in January. Most counties now have their club championships at all levels over, so it's on to the beginning of the provincial club championships.