OFF the Ball

I am sitting here chained to a radiator in the offices of GAA Global and refuse to move until my full posting rights have been restored.  The handcuffs cut into my wrists - not for the first time - and the bas***rds have turned the heating on full blast but I will perspire ... I mean persist.

RMDrive walks by me, with a mug of tae, smug and laughing off my protest with comments such as 'Conform or die' 'Toe the line or sling your hook'. Apparently full posting rights will be restored if I accede to the site rules and agree 100% with everything everybody posts. 

GAA fan keeps putting electric volts through the pipes in what can only be described as shocking behaviour.  He insists that posts referring to Dublin saving the GAA - aesthetically, financially, sportingly - and the integrity of the game are not to be published as they are too near the truth.  As an Ulster man he does not want this fact publicised. 

The truth needs to out here.  The vioce of reason - the voice of Dublin - needs to be heard above the morass of rural comment.  Save our games.  Restore the truth.

On GAA matters .... Those who can post won't. Those who want to post can't ...........

Have you tried the "log-in" process.* You enter Username followed by Password and should then be good to go.

* You should have a few of those at this stage.

H'on de Dubs. Great little bunch of people. I miss all you guys. 

looking forward to a great sporting weekend for the dubs,hopefully give the cats plenty to think about,and a tough game against the lillies,

It'd be great great to have the old JC back posting here, but as Boxty said he (you) should try the log on process, if this fails then i'm sure the password recovery service is right up there with the best of them!

A great weekend for Dublin GAA fans!

Was quite impressed with Jim G's men - but Kildare were simply woeful despite a brilliant start. Some really good performances all over the park from the Dubs with Bernard possibly the poorest player in blue! He is not firing at all this season .. but if he does! O'Gara did really well in the second half too and looks to be in much better shape than before. McManamon too brought plenty of added pace and directness when introduced. While I don't know if Jim G will tighten things up as things go on I have to say its great to see a team playing the way Dublin are. If they can continue winning maybe it will change the way the game has gone in recent years. I don't know how the Leinster Final will go as Meath ALWAYS give us a game - but I would reckon that Kildare would beat Meath, so ......

Congrats too to Anthony Daly - a couple of weeks ago I felt he had taken Dublin as far as he could! I really thought the team looked flat v Wexford - even in the replay victory. But they dug out two immense performances to remove the Cats from Leinster. Ironically while football supporters just take Leinster for granted, a win for the hurlers would be massive. Here's hoping they get a ton of support next week!

If I was a Kildare fan I would be very disappointed with the performance and basically the way things are. I have always been an admirer of McGeeney as a player but I think he has been a huge disappointment as the manager of Kildare. He has two O'Byrne Cups to show for his tenure - the same as DCU in that time.
And only one Leinster final appearance. Judging by yesterday, his team are gone backwards.

Yes they have been a little unlucky with decisions (can think of key incidents v Dublin, Down and Donegal) that could have gone another way and changed history - but they didn't. Some would say you make your own luck!

They have not beaten any top team in the C'ship with McGeeney at the helm. You also have the whole Seanie Johnston debacle, which, whether he was directly involved or not, happened under his stewardship. James Kavanagh also left the panel this year for personal years though some say the SJ saga had something to do with it.

Tactically yesterday Geezer could not have got it more wrong and despite keeping his team in the dressing room for about 25 minutes at half time (I thought he was gonna come out togged out in white!) made no discernible change in any way to even attempt to halt the carnage.

Interesting draw v Louth in qualifiers and at least trhe lads have a fortnight to prepare. But I think he is in the last chance saloon .....

It will be interesting to see Dublin's progress from here on. Kildare had been planning meticulously and were quietly confident - but they were simply blown away. In fairness they tried to match the Dubs fair and square and were simply beaten all over the park.

There was little or no cynicism in their play which was refreshing. Others might say they were naive in this lack of cynicism. It appears to me that to stop Dublin there will have to be a lot of illegality involved. I hope referees are up to the task!

Btw have tried that Canadian Molson beer and was singularly unimpressed.  Bit watery for me.  Heino remains the tipple of choice!

In 2011 Dublin had a fair level of neutral support in their quest for Sam for a number of factors. They hadn't won Sam for 16 years, had had a lot of heart-ache in the intervening years and were playing Kerry!

I would hope their style this year would win them a lot of neutral support. In this day and age it's great to see such positivity and emphasis on attack. If successful it could change the whole current negative mindset in Gaelic football. It would be great to see teams trying to win by attacking and being positive instead of pulling and dragging and fouling and diving and playing 13 men behind the ball etc. As a fan of good football I am thrilled with the way Dublin are going about their business. They are Gaelic football's version of Barca - the tiki-taka Dubs!

I know if Dublin were among the also rans this year and say Cork or Kerry were playing with the Dublin style I would be rooting for them.

I'm sold
I've bought three jerseys for the kids and put a picture of Jim Mcguinness on the mantelpiece with devils horns to keep the kids away from the fire.

You can be more direct about your point if you want hopefully the beautiful game will speed Karl Lacey's recovery

Boys cock a hoop tonight as news broke on Pat McQuaid. and withdrawal of Swiss nomination
They've given the skins campaign a lot of air time 

Jamiefullers reaction on twitter

@jaimiefuller: this was not planned. no better place to be when the news breaks about swiss withdrawing pat's nomination than dublin. #likeadogwithtwo€&@ks

Transfer rumours. 

Newstalk get Pat Kenny 
McDevitt and co to get 4x1shows on rte tv 

Seems like a good swap for RTE

JCluxton wrote:In 2011 Dublin had a fair level of neutral support in their quest for Sam for a number of factors.  They hadn't won Sam for 16 years, had had a lot of heart-ache in the intervening years and were playing Kerry!

I would hope their style this year would win them a lot of neutral support.  In this day and age it's great to see such positivity and emphasis on attack.

JC t'will all be with Mayo. They are playing the same brand.
Everyone wants to see a Mayo Dub final the men from the West may claim there first one since '51

JimWexford wrote:

JCluxton wrote:In 2011 Dublin had a fair level of neutral support in their quest for Sam for a number of factors.  They hadn't won Sam for 16 years, had had a lot of heart-ache in the intervening years and were playing Kerry!

I would hope their style this year would win them a lot of neutral support.  In this day and age it's great to see such positivity and emphasis on attack.

JC t'will all be with Mayo. They are playing the same brand.
Everyone wants to see a Mayo Dub final the men from the West may claim there first one since '51

welcome back Jim