gaelicfootballfan

On 7/22/2021 at 3:39 AM, Pennant St Dee said:

I played for Davis’s when I was back in Ireland for a stint in 90s. There’s a lot of GAA clubs in Tallaght Davis’s and St Anne’s probably the two big ones and just down the road in Knocklyon is Ballyboden St Endas where the great Jimmy Stynes started.

My wife was very good friends with a lad who grew up around the corner from her in Kilnamanagh. He is an ex Dublin Senior footballer from the early 2000s, Darren Homan who played for St Kevins 

Homan would have played for Dublin alongside Johnny and Darren Magee, Lauren’s dad and uncle. 

On 7/22/2021 at 6:43 AM, Dees_In_October said:

Thanks for posting! Will check it out at some stage.

Is it likely that Goldie will make an appearance if Dublin go deeper into the finals? She's had such a long layoff, is she an immediate inclusion or does it depend a bit on match-ups and circumstances?

I believe the simple answer is no. She has been named on match day panels recently but never actually togged out and was never available for selection. I do not expect to see her this year even if she does tog out. A brilliant player but Dublin are in the position where they don’t have to take the risk of playing her and it wouldn’t be right to the other players. 

On 7/20/2021 at 5:39 AM, Pennant St Dee said:

Up the Dubs,

originally from the Tallaght/Crumlin areas as a child

Very interesting! Two Dubs from Tallaght (Thomas Davis is the club name), Siobhan McGrath and Olwen Carey are big players and both excellent. 

Two wins from two for the Dubs in their championship group games. Attached below are the links to the games and commentary is in English these times around ? might help keep up with some of the rules. McEvoy and Magee featured in both, Goldrick hasn’t played yet. A quarter final awaits. 
 

A return for Sinead Goldrick to a Dublin panel for the first time in 2021. Dublin start their championship campaign with a game against Tyrone. I would say it’s unlikely she’ll feature but still good to see her back on a panel. 

On Saturday last Dublin won only their second ever National Football Division 1 League title. The league is the secondary competition but Covid means that it’s a lot closer to championship than it usually would be. 
 

Dublin beat old rivals Cork in the final. Played in our national stadium Croke Park and used as one of the trial events to introduce spectators back to sport. Lauren Magee started the game but didn’t finish it due to be yellow carded and sent to the sin bin. Niamh McEvoy was introduced as a substitute and instrumental in Dublins second goal. Sinead Goldrick did not feature or make it onto the match day panel but came onto the pitch for celebrations and can be seen in team photographs afterwards. 
 

To watch the game:  

- google tg4 player, tg4.ie

- press main menu, English setting 

- watch, sport

- peil na mban beo, S21 Ep8, Ath Cliath v Corcaigh. 
 

The Dublin panel. 

Magee singing the National Anthem pre game. 
Fans back in Croke Park

7 hours ago, Dees_In_October said:

I checked out the game against Cork - thanks for sharing, very enjoyable and a bit of nail-biter! Dublin are clearly a well-drilled team that's able to find another gear when challenged. Was fun to watch 'our' girls in their natural element as well. McEvoy, when she came on, seemed to be a bit of an organiser of the play behind the ball, leading an (almost ill-fated!) attempt to suck some time out of the game. Interestingly, Magee's speed really stood out to me among what is obviously a speedy bunch of players. She has so much up-side for Aussie Rules with a bit more time getting used to the game. There was another player who stood out to me as having great potential, but her name escapes me right now - I'll try to pick her out next game I watch!

One question - where exactly is the line with a legal tackle? It seems like a player can be sort-of grabbed once but if they go in again it's a penalty? But then other times that's allowed.

The tackle is often a source of confusion and contention for players, managers and referees. The game is supposedly non contact by the letter of the law although it is far from it in practice. 

A player cannot drag the ball from the arms of an opponent, shoulder or impede the opposition from going forward with the ball amongst other fouls. If the player has the ball in arm or into their body they can’t be dispossessed.To dispossess an opponent it must be a clean tackle of the ball when the player is soloing the ball (the kick to self whilst running) or hopping the ball (the bounce to self whilst running). Dublin do this very well as it’s a difficult skill to cleanly tackle. Essentially you play the ball not the player. 

However the advances in S&C and physicality of players led by Dublin and other high quality teams means that a certain element of physicality is allowed in the tackle or else the whistle would be going non stop. Ultimately though it is at the discretion of the particular referee on the day and their interpretation of the rule which can be an issue and one in Men’s football too.  
 

We do have an advantage rule that lasts for five seconds. That might be what you mean when you mention being grabbed twice. If the player remains in possession of the ball after being fouled the ref will allow 5 seconds to see if the team in possession can create an advantage. If not the initial free is awarded. So player gets fouled but still has ball in hand, 3 seconds later gets fouled again so goes back to the position of the first free. Advantage is indicated by the arm of the referee pointed in the direction of the attacking team. 

I can imagine it’d be difficult to pick up on things whilst listening to commentary in a different language. Still it’s very interesting to read a different perspective of the game from people who are less familiar with it. 

National League Semi Final 

Dublin v Mayo, played Saturday evening. 
Comprehensive win for the Dubs playing well within themselves. First time having crowds at games since early March 2020 with a whopping 200 allowed in to watch. 
National League final in two weeks time vs Cork. This is a trial government event for the return of spectators to sporting events so I’m hoping to get tickets. 

Lauren Magee started the game and Niamh McEvoy came on as a substitute. 

On 6/11/2021 at 10:08 PM, Better days ahead said:

Is Goldrick back training yet? Must have been a bad hamstring tear to keep her out this long. Do you mind keeping us up to date on her progress?

Niamh Hetherington looks a player. Her power and physicality would translate well to the AFLW

Goldrick isn’t home long. Two weeks at most. She did get an op on her hamstring but I never heard a definite length of recovery time and I have no idea what sort of training if any she is doing at the moment. She is definitely involved with Dublin this year though as she was named in the extended panel this weekend. Although she will struggle to have a big impact if she isn’t fit in the next month but I’ll certainly post if and when I hear anything.
 

Hetherton would be suited to AFLW definitely. Tall and strong, good hands, decent in the air. Only 20/21 too. Hannah Tyrell would also be impressive, she recently retired from the Irish Women’s Rugby team but she’s in her 30s so can’t imagine she’ll ever go down. 

On 6/11/2021 at 2:32 PM, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Loving this!

But 'Ladies'? What's the story there, GFF?

Funny you mention it. I’ve never really thought about it I’m so used to calling it ladies football. 

Here soccer would be referred to as Women’s soccer or Women’s football. So if you say Ladies it’s clear you’re discussing Gaelic football and not soccer. You would never associate women’s with Gaelic football, it has always been Ladies. 
 

The organisation itself was founded in 1974 and the game has roots way further back, I suppose they used Ladies as that was more commonplace back then. 

Hi all, hope you are all keeping safe and well especially with lockdown restrictions in Melbourne recently. I’ve been paying attention to Melbourne’s trade activity these past few days and delighted to see so many players have signed on for another season or two and looking forward to seeing the new recruits in action too. That includes Sinead & Lauren coming back for season three and two respectively. No surprises with either of them, I had little doubt they’d be returning. 

This is slightly off the topic of AFLW and some of you may be interested, others less so. Lauren & Niamh have returned to playing with the Dublin Senior Ladies Team in the past three weeks. They’ve played three games so far with three wins. Their next game is a semi final to be played on Saturday June 12th. I’ve attached links for their previous three games if anyone is interested in watching them back. 

The second and third games are shown here on the TG4 channel which has Irish commentary only so you’ll have to make it up yourself. This competition is the league so it’s not the main championship, that comes in a few weeks. However the density of this season makes every game very important. 

I would highly recommend watching the second game vs Cork, it was a cracking match. 

Lauren & Niamh have featured in each game so far, Goldie still recovering from her hamstring injury. 
 

Round 1 vs Waterford: 

How to get Round 2 vs Cork and Round 3 vs Tipperary.

- Google TG4 Player. tg4.ie is the right one. 

- Click main menu in top right hand corner and make sure setting is on English. 

- Click the watch arrow in the main menu, then press sport. 

- Scroll down to find the tab “Peil na mBan Beo”. It means Live Ladies Football. The photo at the moment is of Niamh McEvoy kicking a ball so that’s a giveaway. 

- Round 3 is down as Tiobraid Arann v Ath Cliath. (Tipperary v Dublin) S 21 Ep 4.

- Round 2 is down as Corcaigh v Ath Cliath. S 21 Ep 3
 

10 hours ago, Dees_In_October said:

Thanks so much for your detailed reply! It's great to have more detail about the season structure there. Unfortunately it seems like it may become more difficult for players to cross-over in the future but certainly happy to enjoy it while it lasts and players are happy to do so (and inter-county and club level willing). Like I said, it really brings a different dimension to the competition and the success rate has been quite good in terms of players cementing places even in strong sides and having an impact. Especially considering that as cross-code rookies these are essentially 'free' players for clubs, in the sense that they don't have to spend draft picks to acquire them and have to fill up rookie spots anyway. You can't help but wonder what some of these players would be like with more consistent game time across a year because they learn so quickly already and are such naturals to many elements of the game. Of course, it's all a balancing act.

Anyway, Dublin's definitely my team now (if it wasn't already due to Jimmy!). I think a lot of Melbourne AFLW supporters would feel the same. Hopefully all three girls are able to build strongly from the season here, Goldie especially, and continue their great careers back home. 2022 feels a long way in the future but I'm sure they'd be welcomed back with any other talented mates!

If an expansion of the season is to happen and it say starts in Nov/Dec and finishes in Mar/Apr then you’ll still see Irish girls. However if it goes from May to September it’ll be hard to see it being possible to play both.
 

Plenty of players, from Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland have been asked about the lure of AFLW in the past few years. The answer is either ‘no I’m not interested’ or ‘I’m in college (university) at the moment but after that I wouldn’t rule it out’. There’s some players in the latter category that I think would be well able to adapt to AFL but probably need to be more settled in their personal and professional lives. Who knows you could have some non-Dub Irish girls in Melbourne before too long. 

Interesting that you say about Melbourne supporters supporting Dublin. It was either the final vs Freo or the game before vs Brisbane but I noticed a lady in a seat behind the goals wearing a Dublin jersey. There’s definitely been a lot of people here that have become interested in this Melbourne team to see how the three girls have got on. Dublin LGFA have been tweeting regular updates about the season & write ups on Facebook about team news and small match reports etc.  We have no Gaelic games being played here at the moment so some focus has been on ALFW instead and it’s been given a prime slot on tv that would be filled in more normal times. 
 

Dublin GAA tweeted this earlier on today coincidentally. 

We have a saying here in Ireland that ‘Semi-Finals are for winning’. So in this case it’s ‘Preliminary Finals are for winning’. 

It doesn’t matter how you win your semi final, as long as you do as few will remember the team that loses in the semi final. It doesn’t have to be pretty or glamorous just effective. 

Melbourne have a huge chance to reach the final and anything is possible in sport. I’ve picked up my phone the last 5 Saturday mornings to see that have Melbourne won, fingers crossed it’ll be 6. 

3 hours ago, Better days ahead said:

I’m a big fan of AFLW. No ego’s. Honest effort. No bad attitudes. And skills are improving every year. I’ve no problem paying the women more if it allows the comp to expand, extend the season and attracts more talent to the ranks.

I find that with women’s sport in general. Keep their heads down, work hard, few egos and it’s all about the collective not the individual. They’ve had to work incredibly hard to get where they are now and it shows in their commitment and attitude. 

14 hours ago, FarNorthernD said:

The Kilmacud Crokes and the Foxrock Cabinteely!! Love it. Makes the Melbourne Demons and the Sydney Swans sound positively dull in comparison 

And both FoxCab and Crokes are only 15 minutes over the road from Ballyboden St.Endas, club of Jim & Brian Stynes. 

9 hours ago, Dees_In_October said:

Thanks for your perspective. It's been a pleasure to have the Dublin players join us and they've brought so much to the team. Are there any other Dublin players in particular who you think might be interested in giving AFLW a go? What's the general opinion over there of players being recruited and travelling over? I can imagine some clubs over there feeling like they don't get anything out of it. It seems like there isn't an issue for Dublin and the girls have felt supported by Melbourne in some pretty tricky circumstances the last year or so. I really hope that's the case because it should be a two-way street with this kind of partnership. Go Dublin and the Dees!

The opinion of Irish players travelling to Aus is looked upon more favourably for the women than it is for the men. 
 

In terms of a normal Ladies Football season ie. not 2020/21 due to Covid, there are two main county (Dublin) competitions. The National League that runs from January to March/April and then the All Ireland Championship which runs from July to September. It is the latter that is the pinnacle and Dublin will go for 5 in a row in 2021. The NL is of less importance and it’s what players miss out on when in Aus.

The period between those competitions and after September is the club period. A players club is where they began playing as a child and will be a member of all their life, there is no transferring and there are club competitions when the county season is not on. The best club players get chosen to play inter county football and in this case for Dublin. So the Dublin team and every other is made up of players from different clubs. So the three girls over there now actually play against each other in club championship but represent Dublin together. Any big extension of the AFLW season would make it more challenging to compete for these girls as it would be frowned upon if they missed club action (Goldie did so to travel to Aus in 2019, which was very surprising). Similarly any change in the calendar here which isn’t out of the question would affect it too. 
 

ALFW is naturally a lot more physical than Ladies Football. A more natural skilled footballer here would not cut it over there as they don’t have the same strengths needed. It is very difficult to know what Dublin players if any would be interested. The McEvoy / Goldrick signing was kept completely quiet for months as not to distract from their county season with Dublin. Magee was less of a surprise as she had travelled in early 2020 and was reported to have been very successful at the combine held in Dublin. 

McEvoy and Goldie only had positive things to say when they returned last year and the fact they went again and brought Lauren says a lot. She’s done a few interviews and only had good things to say as well. So the relationship seems very strong but it’s too difficult to know what way the next few years will go of course. 
 

Hope that post isn’t too long and makes sense! 
 

I’ve inserted a photo of Sinead & Lauren playing in club championship final against each other. Lauren with Kilmacud Crokes and Sinead with Foxrock Cabinteely, both successful clubs located near each other on the south side of Dublin county. A few weeks later they played alongside each other to win an all Ireland with Dublin yet some will say club achievements trump all! 

9 hours ago, Brownie said:

Thanks for all the background @gaelicfootballfan she's a wonderful player to watch as is the whole team this year. They never give up.

I went into this season feeling a bit disillusioned but the girls have been so good and the blokes are off to a great start too.

not sure if you've seen much of the men's games, but we've got a true gem to watch with this fella too.

RD 3 | Game breaker | Kysaiah Pickett https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/898026/rd-3-game-breaker-kysaiah-pickett?videoId=898026&modal=true&type=video

All the best.

Thanks Brownie. I actually caught 20 minutes of highlights of the Melbourne/Giants game yesterday on YouTube and was very impressed by Pickett. That goal he scored after intercepting, picking the ball up with his left and shooting over his right shoulder was brilliant. Looks like a very exciting player. 

4 hours ago, Better days ahead said:

Yep. final played following weekend 16/17, no break. Venue dependent on who gets through.

How are things in the emerald Isle? Everyone fed-up i imagine.

Fed up totally yeah with our half arsed approach to lockdown and compliance is dwindling by the day for many. I’m  incredibly jealous seeing AFL / AFLW games with so many spectators at them. Our government have been very conservative since Christmas and especially on the sport front so these AFLW games have been great for the past few months with little  else on to watch. Europe in general has really struggled & the vaccine rollout is going at snails pace. We will be very lucky to have any spectators at games in 2021 sadly. 

2 hours ago, Better days ahead said:

Next Saturday. There's a 9 hour difference with Ireland now so 5.10 am in the morning Irish time (if you're interested in watching)

After earning a break in Week One of the 2021 NAB AFL Women’s Finals Series, Minor Premier the Adelaide Crows will host Melbourne in a Preliminary Final on Saturday, April 10 at 1:40pm local time (2:10 AEST) at Adelaide Oval.

Yeah cheers, I was just wondering is the grand final ie. the winners of Melbourne/Adelaide and Collingwood/Brisbane the weekend of the 17/18th of April or has it not been fixed yet? In other words would Melbourne or Collingwood have no week off if they reach the GF? 
 

Don’t think I’ll get up for it but will definitely watch the games afterwards on the AFLW app. 

Is there a week or two week break before the grand final? 

9 hours ago, Pickett2Jackson said:

 

Just curious if you know much about Jimmy Stynes?

I’m afraid Stynes was playing a bit before my time. I’m well aware he was and still is a huge Demons legend. His brother Brian won an All Ireland here in 95 and an all star but didn’t replicate Jim’s success with AFL. 

10 hours ago, FarNorthernD said:

Great to hear from you GFF. Yes Goldie would be among the first picked each week and improves each game. Unbelievable to think that she is new to the game.
I thought McEvoy would get a run this week. She has been consistently kicking goals in the lower league. Shame to hear she may not return. 
 

As well as her Gaelic Football background Goldie played basketball and competed in athletics as a teenager. All of those skills and traits combined make her into an exciting AFLW player and unlike most others in the competition in playing style. You could describe her as erratic or unpredictable but she’s exciting and often quite effective. I’m not sure if you’re aware of Cora Staunton formerly of Mayo and now with the GWS Giants and was their leading goal kicker this year. She was the top forward here for many years and Goldie would often be tasked with picking her up. Shame they didn’t get to renew the battle down under but I still hold out hope for 2022. 
 

I had seen that McEvoy had been scoring well for Casey in the VFLW but I suppose it’s challenging to break into a side doing so well especially over the past few weeks. It’s understandable that moving to the other side of the world and leaving family behind is a tough thing to do and harder if you’re not getting a decent run of games. Her family also suffered a bereavement while she’s been away which no doubt was very tough. She has plenty left to offer back here though and I look forward to her attacking another season with Dublin. 
 

An Irish Gaelic football fan here who has enjoyed watching the 3 Dublin girls with the Dees & other Irish girls in this years AFLW.
 

Glad to see the opinion of Goldrick is as high on here as it is here at home. She is a phenomenally consistent player, 8 all stars in the last 9 years (All-Australian equivalent I believe?). Will go down as one of the greats of Ladies Football and is a household name now which is fantastic. There is no player in the country that can match or track her for 60 minutes. Shame about her injury and it puts her at risk of competing here at home when they return and she’ll be a huge loss. 
 

I thought the Lions game was Magees best showing and hopefully she builds on that for the Freo game. She’s another big talent, less flashy than Goldrick but is physical and gets through a mountain of work. She could be a real asset if she returns next year after this year under her belt and a proper pre season. 
 

Shame McEvoy hasn’t got much of a run, she’s a different type of player here at home than Magee and Goldrick and the game probably dosent suit her as much. She gave an interview not long ago indicating she wouldn’t return for 22 which is no surprise however I could see the other two give it a crack especially Magee and might possibly bring another teammate or two. The connection between Dublin LGFA and Melbourne has now been built which will encourage more girls to follow the same path these 3 have. 
 

Fingers crossed the Dees get through the Freo test.