U-21 All Ireland football championship 2014

Sorry JS, but on this one he may be right.  4 in a row is a great achievement, and I've no doubt your boys showed a lot of heart when all seemed lost, but jeeze, what are you teaching them down there….

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Semi - finals a double header in Portlaoise Saturday 19th. April.

Cavan V Cork.
Dublin V Roscommon.

Carrick-on-Shannon the "provisional" venue for the expected Cavan/Roscommon final. 

The two city counties to face each other in the final looks the most likely now however both the Rossies and Cavan will push them all the way.

Thomas Clarke wrote:Sorry JS, but on this one he may be right.  4 in a row is a great achievement, and I've no doubt your boys showed a lot of heart when all seemed lost, but jeeze, what are you teaching them down there….

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

To Win TC, we're teaching them how to win...   

Never mind Brolly, who hasn't actually seen Cavan play this year. Our U21s have just won an Ulster Championship without a half decent inside forward or free taker. Kicked a valley of wides again last night, we're creating chances just not taking them. Which will lead to our downfall eventually. Thankfully our defensive play is excellent with some quality individuals.

This is an very strong panel (lack of forwards aside) and last night we played most of the game without our center back and captain (probably our most important player) Conor Moynagh who got a black card early on, our first choice midfielder Brian Sankey who broke his hand and couldn't start and our best scoring forward Conor Madden who did his hamstring against Monaghan. And we still won.

The Dubs will have a battle on their hands in Portlaoise. Cavan have had one eye on the All Ireland Series since they started training this year. We don't have the scoring power up front to be realistic All Ireland contenders, a mean defence will only get you so far. Dublin will be heavy favourites but who knows...

Tomorrow is the day. Individually this Dublin side is one of the most talented teams at this level that we've seen in a long while. The stars will need to align for us tomorrow. One thing for sure, these lads will leave everything on the pitch.




Watch out for this lad, son of former Cavan great Joe Dillon Snr. Liable to root himself out a goal through sheer ignorance.

Good luck to the Breffni Blues tomorrow.

Not the same aura about this Dublin U-21 team as 2012 and maybe that is something to do with no Ciaran Kilkenny. Cavan will stick to the plan that worked best in Ulster and it should be interesting clash of styles.

The other game will probably be all out attack both have good forwards and less than great at the back it might need extra time to separate the two. The bookies have Cork,Dublin favourites to reach the AI final however underage football is so unpredictable.

The Roscommon half-back line of John McManus (son of the legendary Tony) flanked by the 2 Dalys, are no mugs either defending or going forward. I'm expecting them to put it up to Cork and in one of my rare
inconsistencies, will be lending them my support.

This may be related to my dislike of Cork however.

Dublin were awful.
Cavan took advantage of that and were the better team for much of the game.
The booing of the frees was classless and embarrassing from Cavan.
We outnumbered Dubs about 5/1.
Dillon's black card was stupidity borne from frustration, unforgivable in an AI Semi Final.
Moynagh should not have been brought back on.
The free on Moynagh should have been blown, it wasn't and Moynagh pulled the man down. The free should have been given first, it wasn't, Moynagh then committed a black card offence himself, the ref gave the Dublin player a yellow, if it was anything it was a black card.
The free at the end was soft, and the advantage given after the Dublin player has time to steady himself and take a shot seems dubious.
He played 2 minutes on the button despite a 40 something second injury to a Dublin player in injury time. Blew when Cavan were in possession, one last attack should have been allowed. We may well have got the draw. At the end of the day defeat was due to our own shortcomings.
The behavior of the supporters (the main culprit was, I think, a West Cavan man who isn't playing with a full deck so I wouldn't expect any better) was disgraceful. Management also let themselves down big time. Players can be forgiven, and none went overboard.
I hope Roscommon win the final.

Cavan had the beating of Dublin then went into their shell in the final ten minutes. Other semi final the Rossies much the better side should have won by at least six points however their defence is weak and Costello,Mannion,Mchugh etc will score freely against them also no way will Dublin play as poorly in the final

I thought Cavan were more attacking in the sense that they fought tooth and nail for every possession and put in an extraordinary effort to make tackles. Dublin were a bit more casual and a lot of their players seemed happy to wait until they got possession back before wasting any energy. For that reason alone, I would have preferred to see Cavan win. Their players put more into it.

Best players on show for Cavan: Killian Clarke, Padraig Faulkner, Dara McVeety, Joe Dillon

Best players on show for Dublin: Davy Byrne, John Small, Jack McCaffrey, Conor McHugh

Throughout the second half, I felt the close calls were favouring Dublin. I would need to look back at the video to identify these close calls but that is the feeling I got. In relation to McHugh not getting a black, it looked like he thought he was ready to walk off the pitch himself before the ref pulled out the yellow!

If the ref was bad in the second game, then I don't know what you'd call the ref in the first game. I'd be the first to say Roscommon were the better team however Cork were robbed plain and simple. I could not believe some of the decisions Roscommon were getting and the last one for the winning free was of Martin Sludden proportions.

Best players on show for Cork: Brian O'Driscoll, Sean White Mark Sugrue, Alan Cadogan

Best players on show for Roscommon: Ultan Harney, Thomas Corcoran, Enda Smith, Diarmuid Murtagh

It was a free though Loyal, he picked the ball up with his knees.

Peter Reilly was ill advised to do interviews after the game yesterday when the blood was still up.. Terry Hyland he is not.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:

If the ref was bad in the second game, then I don't know what you'd call the ref in the first game. I'd be the first to say Roscommon were the better team however Cork were robbed plain and simple. I could not believe some of the decisions Roscommon were getting and the last one for the winning free was of Martin Sludden proportions.

Going by the rules it was the correct call by the ref.

The official guide Rules of Foul Play

RULE 4 - TECHNICAL FOULS
4.1 To overcarry or overhold the ball.
4.2 (a) To throw the ball.
(b) To handpass the ball without it being
released and struck with a definite striking
action of a hand.
4.3 To lift the ball off the ground with the knees

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Jonsmith wrote:It was a free though Loyal, he picked the ball up with his knees.

Peter Reilly was ill advised to do interviews after the game yesterday when the blood was still up.. Terry Hyland he is not.

Think he is still doing them [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Well what can i say about saturday probably the worst semi/final performance i have ever seen by a Dublin team,can't see dessie making it to senior management this team was so one Dimensional it was shocking the kick passing was atrocious,thought Cavan played really well and should have won it ,and it wouldn't have bothered me if they had ,a lot of Dublin players didn't stand up they were lucky to get out of jail and get another chance in the final

One player that stood out for me was Emmett O Conghaile thought he played well and changed the flow of the game a little in Dublins favour,he has the ability to move to midfield for Dublin seniors before this year is out


As for Cavan Gaa and supporters reaction to this defeat and the referee was shocking and wrong -rilley has not even got 1 leg to stand on,as is points are wrong and utter rubbish,and have left Cavan Gaa looking like complete fools.

What i dont get about the winning free Dublin got is that the player had already been given an advantage, i didnt see exactly what the foul was but it looked like nothing to me, but he was still able to get his shot away and hit the upright.

Where then does the ref see the justification in giving him a second chance????

bocerty wrote:What i dont get about the winning free Dublin got is that the player had already been given an advantage, i didnt see exactly what the foul was but it looked like nothing to me, but he was still able to get his shot away and hit the upright.

Where then does the ref see the justification in giving him a second chance????

That is what the rule is, Boc. Same as in rugby, which is where it came from.

I can see it both ways. My father, like you, argues that if you take your shot you should forfeit the advantage, but I can also sympathise with a player who takes a shot while off balance or while being pulled and really got no advantage from it anyway. If the rule is 5 seconds, then the simplest things for referees is to allow them to call back anything that transpires during that time.

From my memory of the incident the player steadied himself and took the shot, I don't think he was off balance. In the first half we had the same situation with Tom Hayes, referee took his hand down instantly after the shot.

Jonsmith wrote:From my memory of the incident the player steadied himself and took the shot, I don't think he was off balance. In the first half we had the same situation with Tom Hayes, referee took his hand down instantly after the shot.

You've a kick to win the game. The place from which you take the kick is the same. You get 2 choices:

a) You kick it on the run having just been pulled;
b) You get a chance to catch your breath, steady yourself, and kick it in your own time and under no pressure.

Which do you choose?

The rules say that if a foul is committed you get 5 seconds in which to obtain an advantage. Inconsistency in referees applying the law is another topic altogether, and has been rife throughout the league.

the rules changing from year to year make it so hard on referees,it was tough call to make so late in the game right or wrong who knows

champers wrote:the rules changing from year to year make it so hard on referees,it was tough call to make so late in the game right or wrong who knows

I've long felt that the game is too fast for referees nowadays, and the pitch is too big.  2 refs at club level would be unserviceable, but there is no reason why you couldn't have it at intercounty.  

I'd also like to see more formal teams of officials - refs, linesmen, umpires - all openly assessed and awarded big games as a unit.  It's something that American Football does, with the top performing 'teams' getting the big games.  It may encourage linesmen and umpires to help out the ref more, so that they all get a chance to officiate together in August/September.

Thomas Clarke wrote:

champers wrote:the rules changing from year to year make it so hard on referees,it was tough call to make so late in the game right or wrong who knows

I've long felt that the game is too fast for referees nowadays, and the pitch is too big.  2 refs at club level would be unserviceable, but there is no reason why you couldn't have it at intercounty.  

I'd also like to see more formal teams of officials - refs, linesmen, umpires - all openly assessed and awarded big games as a unit.  It's something that American Football does, with the top performing 'teams' getting the big games.  It may encourage linesmen and umpires to help out the ref more, so that they all get a chance to officiate together in August/September.

I don't know what the protocol is - Linesmen at bigger games do often appear to be referee's that I recognise albeit from lower tier games. Umpires however seem to be pulled from the pub by the ref on the day. 
I have recognised an umpire in an AI  senior semi final that has never reffed even at club or underage  level which seems wrong.

OMAR wrote:

Thomas Clarke wrote:

champers wrote:the rules changing from year to year make it so hard on referees,it was tough call to make so late in the game right or wrong who knows

I've long felt that the game is too fast for referees nowadays, and the pitch is too big.  2 refs at club level would be unserviceable, but there is no reason why you couldn't have it at intercounty.  

I'd also like to see more formal teams of officials - refs, linesmen, umpires - all openly assessed and awarded big games as a unit.  It's something that American Football does, with the top performing 'teams' getting the big games.  It may encourage linesmen and umpires to help out the ref more, so that they all get a chance to officiate together in August/September.

I don't know what the protocol is - Linesmen at bigger games do often appear to be referee's that I recognise albeit from lower tier games. Umpires however seem to be pulled from the pub by the ref on the day. 
I have recognised an umpire in an AI  senior semi final that has never reffed even at club or underage  level which seems wrong.

Yeah, that's what I mean. It seems to be a real mix 'n' match carry on, when a team of 8, working together and being assessed together would probably be much more effective. Reward the top teams with AI finals, All-Star trips etc.

Good luck to the young Rossies on Saturday evening in what promises to be a tight affair.

In other related news good wishes to Dublin's Shane Carthy. This is the great leveller here, there's a life beyond the white lines that must be lived as well. Get well soon Shane, good to note the support around the young man. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

All the best to Shane Carty tough on a young lad but he should get the best care possible. Tomorrows U-21 final promises to be a good game the rossies will have to improve in defence if they are to win. Both sides have been scoring average of 0-19 per game. Dublin will be given more room to play and as result they might leave themselves exposed at the back.

All points to a narrow Dublin win but i fancy to the rossies to nick it.