IT WAS A final symptomatic of an underwhelming championship summer.
That’s not to take anything away from Dublin – they were deserving winners on the day, no doubt about it – but we’re not going to look back on the 2015 championship as one to remember.
After all the build-up, the hype and the anticipation, we didn’t get the game we expected or we wanted and there was a part of me hoping for a replay because the rain dampened the spirits and the day itself.
For the neutral, a draw would have been the ideal result. Get everyone back to Croke Park on a dry day and let these two heavyweights go at each other in better conditions.
A summer that failed to ignite ultimately petered out.
Looking back over the last few months, it all went according to script. All the provincial finals went as expected and when we reached the quarter-final juncture, you were thinking that the championship started here.
It was August and the business end of proceedings had arrived but it just didn’t live up to expectations and we certainly won’t recall this year as a memorable one.
Yet there were still moments to savour. Sunday’s final at HQ is unlikely to make the highlights of the decade DVD but there was an atmosphere we’ve come to expect on days like this.
Dublin bring the crowds and the razzmatazz and they probably played the better brand of football on the day.
All things considered, Jim Gavin’s side adapted to the difficult conditions better and they made fewer mistakes over the course of the 70 minutes – that ultimately was the difference.
No doubt the contest was spoiled by the incessant rain in the capital but Kerry simply didn’t bring their ‘A’ game. We didn’t see the Kerry we’re used to seeing and I’m sure they’ll have no excuses.
The best team on the day prevailed and Dublin are deservedly celebrating with the Sam Maguire tonight.
There were so many basic handling errors, from both sides, and any time there was a bit of physicality, lads were slipping and sliding all over the place.
The Croke Park pitch doesn’t tend to absorb the rain but the water instead sits on top – hence why so many players were losing their footing.
It was sloppy. We didn’t have the high-scoring game and it wasn’t a great spectacle but I wouldn’t blame either team – any side would have struggled to make a game of it out there today.
From the outset, it was one of those games where the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win and that proved to be the case.
Dublin were much sharper. They were tidier in possession and didn’t seem to cough up the ball as much as Kerry did.
The Kingdom’s build-up was slow and that meant they weren’t able to ‘buy’ as many frees as you would expect in those conditions. When it’s wet, if you run with pace the referee is more likely to award frees when there is minimal contact.
It’s too easy to blame the conditions though. Eamonn Fitzmaurice made a couple of big calls and because things didn’t go his way, they’re going to be analysed now.
Marc Ó Sé was a big call. He didn’t even come off the bench so that would suggest he wasn’t 100% fit but he’s the sort of player you want going into a big battle and Fitzmaurice was also slow to introduce Kieran Donaghy.
The form of Colm Cooper was another factor. He didn’t have the summer we’re used to seeing and I can’t recall him having a shot today. When he’s pulling the strings, Kerry will play well so it was a combination of factors that led to the result we got.
Instead of running with pace at the Dublin defence, Kerry went lateral and that allowed blue shirts to get behind the ball. It’s not an obvious blanket defence and you’ve got to take your hat off to Dublin for the way they’ve defended.
As the curtain comes down on another championship, you’re left to look for positives.
Tyrone and Monaghan’s campaigns spring to mind while Mayo continue to knock on the door but there’s no team that you’d say are heading in the right direction.
I’m confident we’ll be in the exact same position this time next year, talking about the same top teams. It’s a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
Finance is a massive thing and it’s too easy for the smaller counties to criticise the big boys like Dublin because they have the resources available. Why don’t they think outside the box and look for funding that would help them reach the next level?
For one reason or another, this year more than any other highlighted the need for change and while I certainly wouldn’t be looking at a two-tier system, change is needed.
As we all know, the GAA are slow to change and I’m sure we’ll be facing the same problem in 12 months. For now, however, this is Dublin’s moment and they’re deserving All-Ireland winners tonight.
No they’d be terrible. As a Forest fan, I think the team have been, for the most part playing good attacking football and scoring goals. They’ve been inconsistent – a little soft at the back is all. Due to the influx of cash, the standard in the EFL is far more technically proficient and tactically sophisticated league (at the top end at least) than it was when O’Neill and Keane last managed this division. I’ve seen nothing in their recent work to suggest they have the tactical savvy to do a job for Forest. They certainly don’t have tne man-management skills to get the best out of the modern professional footballer.
@Fergal O’ Reilly: yes because they got to the last 16 of the euros and 90 mins from a World Cup without having a clue about tactics. Sick of people churning out this shpeel about o Neil and Keane.
@Lorcan Cunningham: there was a horrible amount of luck and just plain heart and fight by the players to get there though. When the adrenaline of the Euros died, then the will of the players did too. There’s nothing motivating about playing the same aimless football for the following two years when smaller countries with less talent become more proficient and confident.
@Lorcan Cunningham: Nah! You’ve cherrypicked one example of things working out – and there’s probably one or two other properly “impressive” displays e.g. Germany and Serbia. (But even then what exactly was their tactical master stroke? ) And anyway, the last 12-18 months have been abject – deplorable even – with ZERO semblance of a tactical game plan . And on top of that, you need to be even better man-managers in a club environment because of player/agent-power. The two lads are beyond abysmal in that department.
@Fergal O’ Reilly: last 12 months things crumbled due to injuries/retirements. The lads were at the helm for some memorable nights for Irish football over their tenure, nights that had been lacking for a decade. Get off the o Neill’s a dinosaur bandwagon lads it’s embarrassing.
@Fergal O’ Reilly: I don’t think anybody could disagree with you . O’Neill would be absolute disaster for Forest. In fact I think he would be a disaster for any team. If you want to watch dross week in week out, get Big Sam. At least you would have some chance of promotion
In the context of management, to mention Brian Clough and Martin O’Neill in the same sentence is sacrilegious. Brian Clough was one of the greatest football managers who ever lived. Martin O’Neill was at best a journeyman manager.
@Fergal O’ Reilly: The Big Sam thing was a joke by the way. You should also pray the don’t get Big Sam.
@Lorcan Cunningham: I’m not on the “dinosaur bandwagon” apropos of nothing (like I’d never bring it up for the sake of getting a dig in – that’d be puerile, and indeed embarrassing) …I only make the case for his lack of tactical nous in making the case against his being considered for the role
@CrabaRev: Ha! I get you! To be honest, we’ve almost been relegated for the past few seasons, been banned from the transfer market for FPA transgressions, had parts of the stadium closed off etc. I just think that being 4 points off a promotion spot in mid January isn’t a bad place to be, and this manager should have been given more time and resources.
@Lorcan Cunningham: Not as embarrassing as O’Neill himself. From his amazing lack of on-field tactics, to his total lack of regimented training sessions (no practicing of set piece defending?!) to his contemptuous attitude to the Irish media and Tony O’Donoghue in particular.
The man belongs in the dustbin of history, and should be let nowhere near any professional setup.
Let’s see what they can do when they can actually buy in players unlike international football. The ‘we haven’t got the footballers’ excuse would work here
He wasn’t fired!
“RUNNN FORREST RUNNN”
I’d like to see Keane work as a No. 2 for a manager who plays attacking football such as Brendan Rodgers or Roberto Martinez.
1. Karanka was not fired – he resigned, as per the club website.
2. In what parallel universe would either O’Neill or Keane be a good fit for Forest? A generation of Forest fans were brought up on free flowing passing football as practiced by Brian Clough. The younger ones want this to remain as the club ethos – we do not want to watch ‘$hit on a stick’ football with no real tactics as played by O’Neill sides. Clough once famously said “if god had wanted football to be played in the clouds, he’d have put grass up there”. O’Neill has never heeded his mentor’s coaching philosophy as a manager, somewhat ironic given that O’Neill was a cultured playmaker himself.
No, two coaches we definitely do not want to see employed at the City Ground are Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane.
@Colm O’Sullivan: I hope it’s neither of those two. I’ve a feeling it could be Jokanovic
Always liked O’Neill as a manager, gave Leicester a great belief when they were down and out! I don’t think he will be considered though…feel Marinakis will look for someone like Mark Hughes or David Moyes
That is ironic; good last line.
Daryl Murphy will end up there if Roy Keane goes there, Roy Keane and Daryl Murphy go together just as well as Harry Redknapp and Nico Kranjcar
@Eddie Dillon.: Daryl Murphy is already there.
@Eddie Dillon.: Ah jaysus Eddie