this is one of my more serious posts so feel free to offer any critical analysis of what i may say.

is mattie forde overrated? i have seen a few posts on here from people that hold him in a higher regard to colm cooper, stevie mcdonnell, paddy bradley, ronan clarke. this is not true in my opinion and mattie forde is knowhere near the player some make out. the other wexford corner forward ciaran lyng is equally as good as him yet gets about a quarter of the recognition mattie gets.

for me, the only thing forde can do is score the odd spectacular point. he shoots from almost impossible angles looking for the glory but as was seen against laois last sunday, he missed a good few. now i have never seen gooch or stevie mcdonnell go for these sort of points when there is at least three other teammates in a better position. i think mattie had about eight wides on sunday, hardly the hallmark of the best forward in the game. occasionally the great score does come off and everyone raves about the player he is. but for the brilliant score, he will kick three or four wides.

in the first half against meath, a player making his championship debut kept him quiet. in the secong period, he got three points but that was when wexford's tails were up and anyone would have got the points he got bar maybe the last one which might i add, he had fifteen yards of space all round him when he went for it. rte gave him man of the match which defied all logic to me.

i don't know where mattie has got his reputation from him but thats nearly all it is reputation. perhaps it was the time he scored 2-10 against offaly in the qualifiers a while ago but i am yet to see him put up a decent score like that when being marked by a good corner back. his best performances seem to come against division 3 and division 4 teams so it will be interesting to see how well he performs in the leinster final.

he is definetely not in the same class as gooch or stevie mcdonnell and i probably wouldnt even rate him in the top 10 forwards in ireland.

Loyal2TheRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 4522 - 26/06/2008 10:48:22    38337

He's up there with all the players you mention. Dont believe Lyng scored against Laois. Cant say i like Forde but as a footballer he is no doubt class. Sour grapes perhaps Loyal!!

tiobraid (Tipperary) - Posts: 4119 - 26/06/2008 11:12:12    38358

Loyal
thing is, we will never know. How good would Gooch be if he was playing for Wexford? How good would Forde be if he was playing for Kerry?
Just one thing tho, i have often seen Stevie, Gooch, Borgan, Bray, Joyce etc have bad days. So far this hasnt been Matties year, but thats a great sign for the yellows cos if their team mantain the current level of performance, and Matty does hit form....beware the rest of us. Is Matty in the top five forwards in Ireland, maybe not, is he in the top ten, without a doubt.

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 26/06/2008 11:13:57    38362

have not seen that much off him to be honest loyal but your analysis sounds like another player i know, tries the spectacular all the time, comes off about one out of three attempts, then everyone raves about him. See how good he is when he comes up against a good defence. what i have seen so far i personally think he is good but as i say i have not seen that much.

samin10 (Armagh) - Posts: 2434 - 26/06/2008 11:27:38    38384

Loyal..

some relevant points there but some garbage aswell. he is without doubt in the top 5 forwards in the country. he is equally good on his left as he is on his right foot and not to many forwards can claim that. even bradley looks awkward enough shooting with his right. He has been Wexfords main scorer for the last few years but the scores seem to be getting spread around more now. the last day he hit alot of wides but you could see by the look on his face that he couldnt believe they werent going over. (it loked to be windy enough in croker the last day aswel) i'd prefer to have a fella that isnt afraid to shoot in my team that a fella that is afraid to shoot after he hits a wide. against meath he could have ran in fisted the wall over the bar to win the game but he had the confidence to settle himself and slot a difficult shot over.

howshecuttin (Longford) - Posts: 376 - 26/06/2008 11:39:59    38398

Loyal, I'm amazed you put down a well constructed argument. Is that a pig I see outside my window??

In any case, I would agree with you loyal, I also think Mattie is overrated. Like Liam says, we'll never know just how good he really could be if he was in a team like Kerry say. When he has racked up a high score its usually been against weaker opposition and this is lauded totally out of proportion by the media.

He does have an allstar to his name and in my opinion would be in the top 10 forwards alright, its not his fault that the media completely go mad about him. However, like you say Loyal, when he comes up against tougher defenders he doesn't really shine. When we played Wexford in 05, he scored 3 points - only 1 from play, against Armagh in the league final that year he kicked 7 but again only 1 from play (whiterbananas - don't worry I did my homework this time).

holymoly (Dublin) - Posts: 757 - 26/06/2008 11:50:31    38409

yeah the wind was horrendous and awkward. i wouldnt read too much into his misses that day.

Horse (Laois) - Posts: 1146 - 26/06/2008 11:51:33    38411

Class act playing in an average team

MayofaninKK (Mayo) - Posts: 117 - 26/06/2008 11:59:52    38417

Ah lads he is a fine player with 2 good feet,defo in the top 10 I would say.

footiemad (Westmeath) - Posts: 733 - 26/06/2008 13:17:23    38480

the guy is a class act I have seen him play a number of times now if he was playing for one of the top teams over the last five years then he would have 5 all stars and loyal if he was a Meath man you would be singing his praises If Wexford didnt have him the last day against us even though they have other good forwards im not sure they would have beaten us

an.mhi.me (Meath) - Posts: 107 - 26/06/2008 13:17:51    38481

class act.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 26/06/2008 13:29:47    38496

lads matty is pure and utter class.when a player is having a bad day and a bad year by his standards he still manages 4 or 5 outstnading points a game.loyal were you at the wexford meath game?the four points matty scored were unreal.when gooch is having a bad game he too manages 3 or 4 points.this is surely the sign of a class act.id love to see wexford playing mayo.people have underestimated wexford for too long.they have 6 scoring forwards and a defence who can hold thee own against some of the best (bray,geraghty,munnelly etc)

daytona11 (Kildare) - Posts: 4012 - 26/06/2008 13:48:20    38518

I have to agree with loyal on this too, i watch the game on sunday against laois and i thought mattie is a good but he is also a very selfish player which isn't good for any team. EXAMPLE: the last score that he took he had kieran lyng inside him one on one with the keeper and why didn't he pass it to him, here's why because he wanted the headlines in the papers on monday morning. I look at the top forwards in this country and almost everyone one of them are the same brogan, mortimer, mcconville, bradley but then you look at the gooch he has everything and he's not afraid to include his team mates and that is why kerry have been so sucessful also if you watch peter canavan during 2003 and 2005 he was the same always looking for the man in the best position for the sake of tyrone winning an AL not about his name in the flashing bulbs in the paper come monday

piledriver (Offaly) - Posts: 35 - 26/06/2008 13:54:30    38520

As I am from Wexford, my views will off course be viewed as bias; He is not at all overrated. He takes responsibility and will shoot when the opportunity arises and has a very high scoring ratio, however if a colleague is in a more favourable position he will take that option also.. Remember that long cross field pass in the first half against Meath?

Last Sunday at Croker, conditions were dreadful for long range kicking and many of his efforts did not work out but in fairness all misses were marginal, actually hit the upright twice.

Reference to playing division 3 teams always, well just a small reminder, this years Div. 3 finalists Wexford and Fermanagh have reached there respective provincial finals. Third team Down are competing this weekend in a provincial semi-final, so competitiveness is quite high in the lower divisions.

As some posters have said, Time will tell, lets see what happens shall we!

Per Ignem (Wexford) - Posts: 385 - 26/06/2008 14:51:12    38597

yup, way over-rated for me.

banner_boy (Clare) - Posts: 1285 - 26/06/2008 15:02:04    38611

He's not a bad player but not quite in the cooper/mortimer category i think we can all agree

whiterbannnas (Mayo) - Posts: 2441 - 26/06/2008 15:31:19    38638

He is not as good as gooch and he does go for glory alot but all in all I wouldn't say he is overrated.

He is top class and certainly one of the best in the country. I don't think that can be disputed tbh

Concept82 (Wicklow) - Posts: 440 - 26/06/2008 15:59:53    38662

Piledriver - If I was in his position with the point he took on Sunday when he had Lynn inside him, I would have done the same thing, if they were 2 points behind or if it was early in the game I think you would have seen him pass it inside but with only a few mins left and being a couple of points up, he did the correxct thing and put it over the bar to keep the score board ticking over.

willk1977 (Dublin) - Posts: 108 - 26/06/2008 16:10:10    38674

can always rely on white bannans for a bit of humour!!moritmer wouldnt lace fordes or coopers boots!

daytona11 (Kildare) - Posts: 4012 - 26/06/2008 16:37:07    38713

He's OK I suppose!
Hasnt been tested against real opposition so far, only Meath and Laois so its hard to tell!

Regards,

Snufalufagus....Laochra Gael

Snufalufagus (Dublin) - Posts: 8100 - 26/06/2008 16:40:28    38720