Replying To Kurt_Angle:  "You state that Dublin management couldn't admit that they had to re think their kick out strategy with Whelan on the field but Whelan barely started any games in 2009. The first choice midfield was McConnell and MaGee.

You state that the performance of Darragh O'Sé and company that year altered this by cleaning out Whelan but when Whelan came on after 15 minutes, Dublin were already miles behind and in big trouble. It would have taken a performance of superhuman proportions for Whelan to alter the momentum / result at that point.

You state that management couldn't admit that the Dublin midfield wasn't capable of winning their own ball at this point but the link provided by a previous poster (below) showed that Cluxton was kicking short(er) well before 2009.

link

This is why I don't think your point makes sense."

Replying To cavanman47:  "Good post. But I will disagree with some points made.

Firstly, my original point was that the article is a case of lazy journalism. The Cluxton to Ryan kick was only an occasional tactic (Dublin would do it 4-5 times in quick succession but not again in the game), and you only tended to see it when they faced a Darragh O'Shea, Pauric Clancy, Paul McGrane, etc. Whelan was relied upon to dominate against other teams (pre-2009) and for the most part he did.

The notion that no other team were kicking short kickouts 4-5 times a game is nonsense. Brian Dooher, for example, was used as an outlet for Tyrone long before this - remember, they were the first team to really take on the Armagh blanket.

If anything, it took Dublin longer to copy this strategy, it just so happened that when they did go ultra-short, to corner backs and wing backs, they started to use it 100% of the time."