All Ireland Football Final 2010- Cork vs Down

Lads, how can ye say Cork are the worst team ever to win?

They have dominated football along with Kerry for the last 5 years. In that time they have lost to only one county, Down have now lost to eleven in the same period for example, Tyrone lost to six.

They have been in 6 semis in a row, and 3 finals in 4 years. Bar Tyrone's unexpected run in 2008 it has been all Kerry V Cork.

Now Down should have finished them today when they were poor, and they have been poor all year, but still won the thing.O'Connor was magnificent otherwise they would have folded, his two quick points in the first half when they were rocking was the key.

I admit Cork have not looked good this year, but over 5 years, they have the record. You have to go back to Fermanagh in 2004 to find a team other than Kerry to have beaten them.

On the other hand.....I could be right all along and there isn't a good team out there.

I feel two Kerry suspensions cost them the title, and after that, well The Dubs threw it away.

and they are far from the finished article.

Game of two halves.Down first and Cork second. Well done to the Langers. Graham Canty,Nicholas Murphy and (although not used) Anthony Lynch ye got yere just rewards at last . Also Donncha O'Connor who was painted as the choker proved yesterday and v Dublin that he was the man who stood up under pressure. Overall enjoyable match and lets be honest some of the point scoring was up there with the best ever seen in All Ireland finals. This Cork team has been sneered at in its own county(City really) and Conor criticised by a former manager also. They had to beat not alone Down but internal snobbery and taunts. Well done lads and looking forward to Killarney next year.

bocerty wrote:
whether he makes it to senior football is anyones guess my own personal opinion is he might disappear up is own backside first seems to be the sort of guy that reads too much about himself and believes all of it.

Yeah, I've heard that also Boc, but I wouldn't worry too much. Within reason, I like a forward who loves the limelight, and has a bit of arrogance. Those sort of guys usually make it, as they crave the attention. I know there are limits, but he's in a successful county and will be a junior member of the senior panel (if he ever makes it), so it is not as though he'll be paraded around as some great white hope.

The ones to worry about are those who shy away from it all, as they can be lost if they aren't dragged along by their peers/clubs.

Very good performance again yesterday by Tyrone. Two good minor winning sides in the last 3 years, but with that sort of talent to chose from. it is very important that we go on and win the U-21s next year.

Thomas Clarke wrote:

bocerty wrote:I am off to bed lads early start in the morning heading of to see our minors collect the Tom Markham slan

I'd be confident Boc, despite the injuries. Munroe does not inspire faith, but I think that Tyrone, if they can match Cork for drive and power in midfield, have better footballers in most other positions.

And Ronan O'Neill looks exceptional.

interesting observation TC and i would be inclined to agree with you having watched him as a player and attended coaching courses he delivered. In the week that saw JB take over a Derry manager i would actually put the two in the same boat as far as their credentials are concerned. Their success would be more down to brute force and ignorance than any take on tactics or the like.

But you cant argue with eithers track record. Munro has been in charge of the minor team for 4 years, in that time he has won 3 Ulsters and 2 All Irelands thats not bad considering

just a quick question - and going on Bluearmy1s post last week about Tyrone and their defence in 2003 and Downs more traditional approach to playing football the way the purists like it (and i am not having a go BA1 its your opinion/observation and i am more than happy to accept that).

Would a sweeper playing in front of the Down fullback line have made any difference yesterday, from my view point O' Connor was the one man causing all the bother for Down and his speed was giving Gordon some headaches, it seemed to me the sensible thing to do but..................

bocerty wrote:just a quick question - and going on Bluearmy1s post last week about Tyrone and their defence in 2003 and Downs more traditional approach to playing football the way the purists like it (and i am not having a go BA1 its your opinion/observation and i am more than happy to accept that).

Would a sweeper playing in front of the Down fullback line have made any difference yesterday, from my view point O' Connor was the one man causing all the bother for Down and his speed was giving Gordon some headaches, it seemed to me the sensible thing to do but..................

Not sure about the sweeper but I was surprised that they played Marty Clarke as far forward as they did
maybe he should have dropped back and used a feeding point for short kickouts - bypass midfield which was a lost cause for Down and let him spray ball into Hughes and co.

I was just about to give a similar answer to Omar's. Although the sweeper largely worked for Dublin against Cork, I don't think that Down could have played this way. Down are a smaller team than Dublin, and I think that inviting Cork onto them would have been a mistake, probably resulting in a lot of frees conceeded. By that stage, Cork had established complete dominance in the middle of the field, and I don't think that a sweeper would have made any difference. I also doubt that Down had anyone who could have played the role sufficiently well.

I agree with Omar that dropping Clarke deeper could have been tried. It may have helped him shake off O'Leary and get into the game. As it was, unfortunately, the whole occasion just seemed to pass him by, as can sometimes happen.

The biggest tactical change and the one that won the game was Cork playing the ball in to the forwards early - as they did in the second half. This aimless handpassing the length of the field gives time for defences to reset and often sees the attacking team running down blind alleys. Cork have huge men inside and when they hit them long the points flowed. This worked v Dublin too so I can't understand why Counihan didn't employ the tactic from the start. The first two minutes of the game saw goal chances created with this ploy but then Cork reverted to type for the rest of what was an ineffective half for them. He also used the same subs in the same manner and may have been lucky. I would love to know if he called the change in tactic from the line.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:The biggest tactical change and the one that won the game was Cork playing the ball in to the forwards early - as they did in the second half. This aimless handpassing the length of the field gives time for defences to reset and often sees the attacking team running down blind alleys. Cork have huge men inside and when they hit them long the points flowed. This worked v Dublin too so I can't understand why Counihan didn't employ the tactic from the start. The first two minutes of the game saw goal chances created with this ploy but then Cork reverted to type for the rest of what was an ineffective half for them. He also used the same subs in the same manner and may have been lucky. I would love to know if he called the change in tactic from the line.

It seems to be his Plan A - He tries Plan B first and if it does not work they revert to Plan A
Not sure if he called it or if they just assumed that when Colm O neill comes on its a signal to play it in long
As regards his calls from the line the only obvious call he made - was to tell Goulding to kick the last free dead
Over the corner flag on the near side or somewhere similar - Goulding decides to go for the point and misses short on the far side of the goal - which I imagine is exactly what Counihan did not want him to do.

Jayo Cluxton wrote:The biggest tactical change and the one that won the game was Cork playing the ball in to the forwards early - as they did in the second half. This aimless handpassing the length of the field gives time for defences to reset and often sees the attacking team running down blind alleys. Cork have huge men inside and when they hit them long the points flowed. This worked v Dublin too so I can't understand why Counihan didn't employ the tactic from the start. The first two minutes of the game saw goal chances created with this ploy but then Cork reverted to type for the rest of what was an ineffective half for them. He also used the same subs in the same manner and may have been lucky. I would love to know if he called the change in tactic from the line.

it must be a Cork thing JC as the minors did exactly the same thing, they set out to do no more than contain Tyrone and stop them from building momentum and ultimately scoring. Then with 7-8 minutes left and the game seemingly beyond them they decided to play a bit of ball - they won all the breaks and lumped high ball after high ball in on top of our defence and caused us serious problems, alas with the help of a dubious free and some poor time keeping by Mr Duffy we just managed to hold on - had that game gone on any longer we were dead and buried

Congrats to Cork, no doubt the better team yesterday....The nearly men finally delivered a bit like the Dublin team of the 90s..I'm not sure they were the best team in the Championship this year ..Without wishing to sound bitter I would say they are the least impressive champions since 03....but they have the medals now i suppose thats all that matters..
Just like to say unlucky to Down you brought a freshness to this years championship that was welcomed by all.....Maybe football was the winner this year...

Lets not forget an unsung hero from the game, Noel O'Leary.Do a good man marking job on Marty Clarke overall. Also Conor's introduction of Nicholas Murphy did help a great deal to continue the momentum of midfield dominance.Canty brought stability as a sweeper and Derek Kavanagh did well also. . Overall Cork created at least two clear goal chances while Down had none.Only worry for Cork is that they should have won by more but I am sure they are not that upset about it.

And just one more point. This Cork team would have won a further three All Irelands, at least, in recent years but for coming against one of the greatest teams of our times ie. Kerry.

Congratulations to Cork. Commiserations to Down.

Although Down would be on of the teams I would never support they do deserve a lot of respect. Teams can learn from Down - confidence does go along way.]

Cork haven't played as well as they have in previous years and having appeared in so mant finals only to lose it was about time they won it.

The bad thing about this year is that it only got better near the end.

down lost a lot of their own kickouts, could none of the exceptionally talented and astute backroom team see this. for my t'uppence worth i would have pulled benny out for kickouts to put a line of big men along the half way line such as kalum king fitzpatrick benny (who is over 6ft) and possibly clarke. and leave yourself with four decent options to hit. they left the two men in the middle and bar a few big catches , which mostly came off cork kickouts they were cleaned out totally.

this was i feel the start and end of all thier problems because had the supply been cut off out the field surley the f/back line would have had less issues to deal with.

Took a heavy week-long session in Belfast to get last Sunday out of the system but here's my opinion on the game.

-Down were physically smaller therefore had to rely on 'hand in' tackles. I thought Kevin McKernan gave a few great examples of getting the hand in round the forward just as he is about to take the ball into possession. However, this style of tackling has to be disciplined or else it can look like shirt pulling or digging. In my opinion, Cork got a lot of soft frees in the first half.

-Down were more vibrant in the first half, had to work a bit harder for scores than in recent games but Cork's forwards were so poor that Down were still able to build up a lead.

-Down totally lost midfield. King and Fitzpatrick are still relative rookies at this level and it was a massive ask for them to put in a big performance against Cork's well built and experienced fielders. Probably one of the biggest pities of 2010 from a Down point of view was the fact that had you asked any Downman 2 years ago who Down's midfielders would be in an All-Ireland final they would have said Ambrose Rodgers and Dan Gordon. These two formed a formidable midfield but as we all know things didn't work out as expected. Rodgers I believe would have made a difference in this game and was the only real inspirational sub Down could have brought on to really lift the players.

-Part of the midfield defeat was the fact that Brendan McVeigh did not vary his kickouts. Too many kickouts were lobbed right into the big Cork midfielders instead of one or two out the sidelines or a short one. To me this is where the game was lost for Down.

-I have said all year that Dwn's backroom staff is among the best in the game. I still stand by that as it's not fair to go on a minority of lost matches. But the decisons taken on Sunday were baffling. While Cork were springing on Nicholas Murphy and Graham Canty ..getting a big roar from the crowd, Down were taking off Paul McComiskey who in my view was Down's best player on the day. Several baffling substitutions were made towards the end.

-Cork's big men performed on the day. While Down's young players rose to the occasion, notably Peter Fitzpatrick who even though was maybe not quite ready for this challenge never gave up the fight. Down's big stars like Hughes, Coulter and Clarke just didn't perform....and Ambrose never got the chance to follow in his father's footsteps. Coulter spent too long near the goalmouth.....he's better out the pitch as a playmaker and point scorer....this is 2nd time this year in the Championship Down have allowed him to be isolated and not coincidentally the 2nd game they lost.

-Cork deserved their win on the day. Down just didn't perform. Very young team yet and still plenty of time to develop but absolutely sickened for the older lads who might never see an All-Ireland medal.

Forget sweepers....it was a game of strength versus skill and strength won out in the end. To be fair to the Down team they were only a point away from saving this game against a group of players who were determined not to be remembered as the ultimate chokers.