The GAA has just confirmed that Maurice Deegan from Laois will referee this year’s All-Ireland senior football final between our lads and Donegal. Derry’s Barry Cassidy has also been named as the ref for the minor final between Dublin and Meath.
This will be the Laois whistler’s second decider, as he also took charge of the 2008 final between Tyrone and Kerry. We, of course, have plenty of recent Croke Park experience with him as he reffed both this year’s league final against Cork (which he made an utter balls of) back in April and also last month’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Down (where he was, on the whole, okay).
I know I’ve been fairly exercised about who has been appointed to ref our most recent matches but on this occasion I’m not saying nuthin’. We all know from April the issues with Deegan but I think it’s good that we’ve had him for matches twice at HQ this year so there’s no excuse now for not being able to anticipate how he’s likely to handle Game 5 and to plan accordingly. In doing so, it’d also make sense to root out a tape of the 2008 All-Ireland final, in particular, to see where the Laois man stood then on robust defending and to compare and contrast this with our more recent experiences with him.
Willie Joe, have you take up a job in RTE???!!!
The minor final is Dublin and Meath, not Dublin Laois…
I’m sure jame’s will be very happy with him, sure won’t the ccccc committee review or whatever the feck their called will be keeping an eye on him 🙂
Don’t worry Ollie, WJ playing mind games, keeping us on our toe’s 😉
I really hope he doesnt get a word in his shell to crack down on the so called “cynical fouling” that everyone has been at for years, well all the “smart teams” anyway, but was only really called out last weekend on the Sunday Game. Usually in the past thats the green light for someone in the CCCC to ring Pat mcEnaney (spit!) to tell him to have the ref crack down on those bold Mayo bucks who invented in last Sunday.
God, how did I get so cynical?
Jaysus lads I’m still not right after Sunday! I’ve corrected that now, Ollie – thanks for helping to keep me between the ditches.
I agree with you east cork exile on the “cynical” fouling. Its truly amazing that this is been discussed and treated with such shock at the analyst and pundit level. Its nothing new yet now its like Mayo invented this! Give me a break! To be fair, the majority of Dubs didnt complain about that during or after the game…as they understand, its part of the game…Gilroy even eluded to it in his post game interview. BTW, to hear KM cribbin about it on tv is annoying.
Anyway, back to the ref for the final…I dont have any issue with him…I’m sure JH will size this up and have if needed, some coded warnings for the CCCC over the coming weeks, as he had for the Joe Mac appointment on last Sundays game.
BTW, I cant take credit for this little biy of humor, but one of my friends, commenting on Joes’ performance, quippped that “he did everythign right but kick the winner for his team (Dublin)” …anyway thats another discussion over pints I suppose.
No problem wih the Ref
Remember our so called collapse last Sunday coincided with all our injuries in the backs, we had one man on suffering with the flu,.mcloughlins injury was crutial—when he came back on he steadied us up again.I feel our full back suffered an injury just before Brogans goal chance,.Was geraghty injuried?
Holy shit. Just found out that the All Ireland final in 1951 was played on the 23rd of September. It’s in the bag.
It’s even better than that, Joe – I was informed via Twitter earlier on that, like Maurice Deegan, the ref for the 1951 final was also from Stradbally. I haven’t a clue if that’s the case or not but if it is then I think the GAA should dispense with the formalities and hand us the cup now.
NB – Full match on Setanta tomorrow night at 8pm.
What the story with the subs did mayo break rules if so then Dublin would claim for replay
See the previous post, cc – Dublin thought about lodging some kind of appeal on the replacements issue but when they met this morning they decided against doing so and instead wished us well for the final.
I see there is a row going on in Donegal as to where the All Ireland homecoming should take place. Shades of Kildare/Galway 1997. Happy Days.
Just heard Mike Denver screaming his stupid head off about Mayo being back. Shades of the hype that pervaded 2004 and 2006. Think these country lads should keep singing about dogs and watermellon wine and let Mayo slip nicely into this one.
I for one will get NO enjoyment out of reaching All Ireland if we dont win it. Been there done that. Ill sing me heart out after but for now lets be smart. Horans demeanour and coolness after the match gives me reason for optimism. Thats the way to go. Let Donegal build as many chicken ranches as they like- let us be smart for once! Lets discuss tactics and ideas not peripheral stuff. Thats what Id like to hear anyway from this great site.
Well said Luke. It’s a time for shutting the mouth and let the other omadawns do the talking. Brother inlaw from donegal reckons its a matter of just showing up because donegal are by far the better team. I say ” we”ll see”.
I just booked my flight, it will be a real battle for Mayo but you never know, maybe my shouting will spur them on.
By the way are donegal a two pony show, McFadden and Murphy or do they have a wide array of scoring players?
I agree David as I said before game 4 when people worried about our FF line that our scores now come from various sources we re not depending on that line only If as in the past we had one or two its easy to mark those In our four games to date I think we had 13 9 9 9 different lads thats harder to deal with I agree if we can hold the two mentioned we re half way there but of course its easier said than done Can we do it I believe we can The boys were great on Sunday proud to be from Mayo
After losing the last 5 All-Ireland finals we’ve contested, you’d have to say that anyone contributing to hype in Mayo in these next three weeks frankly needs an intelligence test. As Kevin McStay once wrote about All-Ireland finals and their aftermath, the highs are high but by Jesus the lows are low.
Speaking personally, I will never forget the sickening feeling following the 2004 final. The circumstances in the build-up were not a million miles away from where we find ourselves now. We were set up perfectly, stumbling into the final after taking two games to beat Fermanagh. Kerry were the hottest of hot favourites. But we knew that McDonald in his prime, Dillon and Mortimer scoring for fun and Brady strutting his stuff at midfield gave us a great chance.
And then – annihilation.
All of the hope, all of the hype, buried in 20 minutes by a Kerry team who turned up with their minds on the game and nothing else. You can be very sure that Donegal’s players will take the field on Sunday fortnight with precisely the same ruthless streak. They don’t give a flying f-ck how long we’ve been waiting.
Mayo have a very big task ahead. I have not been slow to praise James Horan and his team on this site, and Sunday’s victory was testament to the composure of the man. He should be given at least another three years in the job, regardless of what happens in the final. He has, as I’ve said before here, ‘put the balls back into Mayo football’.
But Donegal, whether we like to hear it or not, have beaten a higher calibre of opponent than we have. Both Cork and Kerry were better teams than Dublin, and Dublin, even without Alan Brogan (a critical absentee for them), were by far the best team we faced.
I’m not here to crap on the parade. Sunday was a giant step for this team. The point is that they need to improve by as much again to beat Donegal. Going missing for 20 minutes will be fatal against these lads.
As much as any man here, I am sick to the back teeth of Mayo and its people being the butt of the joke in GAA circles since 1996. The only thing that will change that is for Mayo to win the Sam. That’s not fair, but it’s a fact of life. So as supporters, we need to do everything we can to help the team focus on the game. Step 1 : cut out the hype.
Great post DavyJ …… spot on!
By the way are donegal a two pony show, McFadden and Murphy or do they have a wide array of scoring players?
McFadden is this year’s top scorer Murphy hasn’t scored much but plays important role they have scorers all over the field their defenders must have scored half of their scores this year.
Davy j,
That post of yours just brought me back in time. The hollow feeling lasted for a week on both occasions.
DavyJ , i came out of croke park in 2006 , walked down to the quays , got on a bus to lucan, walked into the house, deleted “up for the final ” from the night before and the match itself off the skyplus and went up to bed, it was about 7 o’clock…..
but fcuk it the flight is booked , one-way in on the saturday , i’ll make my way back the banks of the Thames at some stage after this final , we have a very good team , they will do us proud on many occasions in the years ahead. we’ll have more days like sunday , arm in arm singing our songs to the nation on RTE , showing our colours and our banners and praising our team. All Ireland Final day and we are there , we are blessed to be from where were from and no-one will ever tell us otherwise.
I have to say I disagree, Davy J – getting to an All-Ireland final is something that any county should celebrate and enjoy and just because we haven’t won the last five we were in doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make the most of this one and enjoy the run-up to it to the full. Almost half the counties of Ireland will never get to experience this feeling and so much of the fun in being in the final is everything that happens before the ball is throw in on the day itself. Who cares about the ones that are gone? We can’t get them back now and, if we’re honest, the only one worth crying over is 1996 (which does still hurt, all these years on) and it wasn’t hype that did for us then. Every time we reach another final, there is, of course, the risk of another dose of disappointment but that’s always the way when you reach for the stars. We’re going to be disappointed if we lose this one too but this shouldn’t mean that we ought to deny ourselves the joy of getting to the final in the first place.
Sweet jesus, Daragh o ses article this morning makes an awful read, i’m sure he is near saying Mquillan won it for us.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0905/1224323612500.html
It’s wicked alright, Sean – I’m going to include something on it in a bit. I don’t recall him calling out David Coldrick when he let Kerry away with murder in their qualifier win over Tyrone a while back.
Dreadful piece by O’Shea. I don’t think he praised Mayo once in the entire Article. He blamed the ref, Dubs played the wrong tactics
and Mayo were very cynical. Half the article had nothing to do with the match at all. Very poor piece.
east cork exile and mister mayor were right , suddenly we start doing it and its like we feckin invented it
Christ, what a fool and what a load of crap he wrote. Must have been watching a different game. If he is that shallow he cant be trusted. Goes to show you what we are up against if that sort of manure is allowed to be published in the national press.
Anyway good to see that there is trouble in the Donegal camp about where to have the coming home parade in their county. Great stuff. Another one to be printed out and nailed to the Mayo dressing room door on the 23rd. Happy days indeed. Keep it up fellas.
WJ – I hear you. I’m not trying to suggest that we shouldn’t enjoy the build-up. As you say, the build-up is often the best part. My hope is that we are smart about it, that we enjoy the anticipation and the excitement without beating the chest and being over-confident about it.
As has been said by other posters, players do not live in a bubble. Our actions and our attitudes will influence theirs to some degree between now and the final. I realise James Horan and his assistants must insulate the team from expectations as best they can but as supporters we also have a responsibility to keep a lid on it. I’m as giddy with excitement as the next man but I’m keeping it to myself until 3:30 on the 23rd, hopefully in Croke Park if I’m fortunate enough to land a ticket. That’s the time to go wild.
I agree with all of that, Davy J – I guess it’s getting the balance right without going overboard. I don’t think there’s any danger of the latter and I reckon this is where all those other final appearances will be helpful to us. As Newstalk’s Ciaran Murphy noted the other day, this is one final where we’ll be more blasé about being there than our opponents will be. That’s a very powerful weapon for us and one that I’m sure James and the lads will be looking to exploit to the full on the 23rd.
Yep, really disappointed in Daragh over this article, maybe the supporters around him were a few head the balls and they said something nasty to him as he kind of got a dig in at them in it over their tunnel vision towards Mayo.
The pulling and dragging towards the end of the game is annoying for the team chasing and i do agree there needs to be some rule change but like what has already been pointed out in here, we didn’t invent it , we did against Sligo too, i will never shy away from the truth but what do others want us to do , revert to type and let them in for a goal.
It was hammered home all this year Kerry should of taken down kevMc for the goal in last years final, even the experts shook the heads in disbelief when Limerick didn’t do it v Kildare earlier on in the year.
As for going down with cramp, well fook me , i remember been told to do that over 20 years ago at underage club level.
Re the referee-per DOS comments. At least 2 additional Dublin players should have been booked in the 1st half (1) the guy who tripped Dillon and (2) Bastick for swinging at o Shea. (3) 45 that went off McManamon that wasnt. (4) Brogan wrestles Clarke to the ground after the save to take him out of the follow up play-should have been free out-instead Flynn scored a point. (5) Not entirely sure, but it sure looked like Brogan also pushed the Mayo corner back into O Gara, thereby causing the clash of heads. (6) Cluxton took either 4/5 45’s-each taking at least a minute off the clock-which would come close to equalling Mayos “tactics”. (7) Dublin full back should have definitely gotten a red card for pulling the injured player off the ground.
Yes we did get a few calls at the end of the first half but more than evened itself out over the course of the game.
This ref likes to let the tough stuff go. Mayo will need to spend the next three weeks working on the guns