Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 6952

1631559
Spot on Sam; the abuse Donegal and Jimmy took 2 years ago from the Dublin media, GAA snobs and bigoted anti-Ulster elements was scandalous. I thought they were brilliant in their tactics and I really enjoyed watching the system Donegal used. It is all about geography; the Southern press and many GAA folk there just don't like anything to do with Ulster and the way our teams don't bow and lie down to Kerry and Dublin. It is prejudice and nothing else. Meath were battering teams all over the place in the 80's and 90's (just ask Peter Canavan) and there wasn't a tenth of criticism towards their tactics. I will always cheer on my fellow Ulstermen from whatever county against other sides because I know if they win it will annoy a hell of a lot of people outside our province. Our sides play with fire and fight in their bellies and a with a touch of stuff you attitude and long may that continue.

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Wasn't Joe Brolly, an Ulsterman, the ring leader of these so called Dublin media abusers? I read a lot of reports from the Monaghan game in the Dublin media and I read nothing but praise for them. Maybe the 'abuse' is only levied at teams who employ certain tactics and maybe this isn't some big anti-Ulster conspiracy afterall. Just saying.

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4700 - 04/08/2014 22:02:47    1631576

As regards the Antrim post supporting the like of Donegal , we as a tourist County get a lot of people from Antrim and all over Ulster as visitors so he could have good friends in Donegal or he could be familiar with Donegal football. But I do hope we give him plenty to cheer about in the coming weeks and he would be welcome to meet SAM in the diamond in late September.

SamonErrigal - you are spot on here - As a kid/teen I spent time practically every summer in Donegal - my folks took us to all different parts as well. Now I have my own family I have continued this trend.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 05/08/2014 10:16:43    1631613

The only anti ulster bias in the mass media was sparked by Spillane, I would not put it any further than him. And it was because kerry struggled badly against ulster opposition in croke park.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 05/08/2014 10:17:29    1631614

Donegalman
County: All
Posts: 1458

1631614
The only anti ulster bias in the mass media was sparked by Spillane, I would not put it any further than him. And it was because kerry struggled badly against ulster opposition in croke park.
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Fair point Donegalman but the damage done by Brolly with comments about Donegal and Tyrone cannot be understated either. In fairness he targets specific teams and team members and not Ulster in general. I think the point here though is that a lot of Ulster posters (one in particular) interpret criticism of a particular team as an all out attack on the province which of course it isn't.

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4700 - 05/08/2014 13:33:47    1631785

Surely not Offside, you must have entered some parallel universe because that doesn't sound right to me.

Funny enough I was driving through Leitrim at the time Brend... ;-)

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 05/08/2014 14:09:38    1631821

Joxer
County: Dublin
Posts: 1678

1631785 Donegalman
County: All
Posts: 1458

1631614
The only anti ulster bias in the mass media was sparked by Spillane, I would not put it any further than him. And it was because kerry struggled badly against ulster opposition in croke park.
----
Fair point Donegalman but the damage done by Brolly with comments about Donegal and Tyrone cannot be understated either. In fairness he targets specific teams and team members and not Ulster in general. I think the point here though is that a lot of Ulster posters (one in particular) interpret criticism of a particular team as an all out attack on the province which of course it isn't.

Excecpt in the overwhelming majority of cases it is actually levelled at the province in general and not an individual team. That is the point.

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12123 - 05/08/2014 14:17:55    1631825

Funny enough I was driving through Leitrim at the time Brend... ;-)

Hih! Such cheek! :)

Grey_Wolf (Leitrim) - Posts: 235 - 05/08/2014 17:28:54    1632004

After my thread on Ulster knock-outs this is fair play. Always said I was up to balance and fairness. The northern blanket stands between Dublin Region and a rematch with Mayo.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7879 - 05/08/2014 18:01:53    1632024

do kerry no have a blanket too!!!

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1676 - 06/08/2014 14:41:07    1632478

3 days to go....monaghan by 2 i think...pair of brogans to come off injured at some stage....pity armagh and donegal were paired off...there would have been 3 ulster teams in the semi only for that....ulster proves its superiorty again folks...please dont question it.!

.tribute (Cavan) - Posts: 360 - 07/08/2014 19:40:41    1633177

I imagine plenty of ulstermen felt a bit like peter canavan. His joy of one week ago replaced by disbelief. Ulster type football will no longer suffice. Jim Gavin has changed the face of Gaelic football. Perhaps a more footballing Ulster side can emerge if there is one. Down traditionally were into playing a bit. Mickey harte is trying with Tyrone but there's a lot of work to be done when it's not your style.

jonno (Kildare) - Posts: 260 - 11/08/2014 11:19:11    1634796

jonno

1634796 I imagine plenty of ulstermen felt a bit like peter canavan. His joy of one week ago replaced by disbelief. Ulster type football will no longer suffice.

Eh? Think you will find that there are exaclty the amount of Ulster teams still left in it that most on here predicted i.e. Dublin would beat Monaghan and there was always going to be one out of the other all Ulster tie. No disbelief from this quarter anyway.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 11/08/2014 11:50:36    1634820

Plus, would you not be wiser waiting til there are no Ulster teams left before making that sort of statement about the Ulster way not working. As far as I can see the team which play the style best are still in the hunt for Sam.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 11/08/2014 11:57:08    1634833

Don't give up the day job to be a TV psychic tribute :-}

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 11/08/2014 12:05:22    1634843

I see a number of Donegal posters are doubting if they can beat Dublin because too many of Donegals players are out of form this year or carrying injuries, yet they won Ulster without any real scare. Are Donegal really that far ahead of every other team in Ulster that they can be provincial champions without even playing well?

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 11/08/2014 14:39:21    1635001

Soma, yes. Although I don't feel we have done too badly with injuries this year by all accounts.
The way that Donegal play means the don't have to beat a team out the gate.

McFadden and McBrearty have done it this year like we would expect which makes it very difficult. Everyone know Defensively Donegal have a great chance of stopping the Dublin express but can they get enough scores. This is the issue.

That said Donegal and Jim are canny and may just have a plan. I could see Murphy spending some more time (maybe half the game) in the FF line. I think route 1 can cause Dublin some problems defensively.

But guys this game will come down to a lot more than that. Kickouts are as important as points for both these teams. So how is that going to workout. Neil Gallagher could have a massive baring on the outcome.

I'm just happy to be talking about this semi final. Have the hotel booked and have the American football the day before so overall I look forward to a great weekend in the city and I hope the game lives up to its billing.

dstuction (Donegal) - Posts: 1209 - 11/08/2014 15:22:59    1635043

I imagine plenty of ulstermen felt a bit like peter canavan. His joy of one week ago replaced by disbelief. Ulster type football will no longer suffice. Jim Gavin has changed the face of Gaelic football. Perhaps a more footballing Ulster side can emerge if there is one. Down traditionally were into playing a bit. Mickey harte is trying with Tyrone but there's a lot of work to be done when it's not your style.

Bit odd that the free-flowing pure footballing counties in the south can't be Dublin either then.

MichaelO (Tyrone) - Posts: 820 - 11/08/2014 15:42:46    1635058

beat*

MichaelO (Tyrone) - Posts: 820 - 11/08/2014 15:45:50    1635061

@ Offside_Rule

The first post of the thread says Monaghan to beat the dubs. I gave a quick read through the posts and there were plenty of posters giving Monaghan a chance. One statement even stated if Dublin went man to man against Dublin they'd win. The majority of Ulster posters were giving Monaghan a chance whereas the majority of the rest weren't, and as it transpired Monaghan got beaten by 17 points. That's a fairly emphatic hammering and Monaghan will have to take a look at themselves. I know a result on it's own shouldn't put a provinces quality into question, but still Monaghan beat Tyrone, Armagh and came very close to Donegal. And getting that hammering from the Dubs doesn't paint a pretty picture. They beat Kildare by 2 points, Kildare lost by 5 to Meath and Dublin beat Meath by 16 points. So if you look at those few results the Dublin Monaghan scoreline was fairly predictable, as Meath and Kildare were close enough, thus Meath and Monaghan were close enough, and Dublin hammered both of them. So one could assume that Dublin are also 16/17 points better than Tyrone and Armagh. And Donegal could be in trouble too as they weren't much better than Monaghan or Armagh. I really hope that game is close but there's nothing telling me this year that any Ulster team is up to challenging for the All Ireland yet. Derry gave some good indications in the league, but crashed in terms of championship. Donegal gave a solid league, and a solid Ulster championship. But they've beaten teams who have since been beaten by "weaker" counties, and in the case of Monaghan have been embarassed by the top team. So far no Ulster team has shown they can beat any of the top 3/4. From a Donegal point of view people are still hanging on to 2 years ago and hoping they can reproduce.

I know it seems to offend people but I don't think Ulster is that strong right now, last year looked good, Tyrone, Cavan, Monaghan all looked on the up. Donegal we hoped was just a glitch year after a fantastic one. But all of the other 3 took a step back. This year Derry and Armagh have impressed, but Derry took a step back in championship. For the last 2 decades there has been an Ulster team considered a title contender every year, and this year I just don't believe there is. I said in January and was ridiculed. I said on a recent post by a Limerick poster too. And I'm still saying it. I'm not trying to take a dig at Ulster football but in my opinion it's weak at the moment. I really do hope Donegal give the dubs a good game, but right now I can't see it. Donegal haven't been tested by a non-Ulster team yet in championship and I think that's a worry as I believe that Ulster football overall is weaker than it has been in the past.

And I know having Kerry listed as my county is going to add to anti-Ulster bias machine, but I genuinely am looking at it from a neutral perspective. It's great that Ulster still had 3 teams in quarter finals, but apart from Armagh no Ulster team has impressed me yet this year.

JMK (Kerry) - Posts: 273 - 11/08/2014 16:01:01    1635079

I should add I haven't watched Donegal Armagh yet, so perhaps I will be impressed by Donegal from that game. From news articles it would appear not, but I'll take my own judgement. GAAGO is great for watching the games they've been played! I don't have to get up at 7am anymore to get the first game on a sunday!

JMK (Kerry) - Posts: 273 - 11/08/2014 16:05:22    1635082