Let's say Ger Brennan is thinking through his options for the upcoming Dublin vs Louth Leinster final. It's his first year as a Louth manager (first year as an intercounty manager of any type) and he wouldn't have taken the job if he didn't want to have days like these to plan for so staying at home isn't an option. The way he sees it, he has these options:

Option A - it's a dead rubber match in all but name. Put out an experimental team and expect to lose by more than 20 points.....

Option B - damage limitation. Put out the best team for a very defensive strategy (conceding no goals is the goal) and hope to lose by less than 20 points....

Option C - someone has to beat Dublin eventually...Ger sees all your HS posts and recognizes your strategic GAA wisdom to be of the highest caliber. What should he do to give Louth a strategy against the Dubs? Be specific and, ideally, mention teams/games in recent years when Dublin looked average and why they didn't click on those days.

level (Louth) - Posts: 105 - 29/04/2024 18:27:32    2541596

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 1944 - 29/04/2024 22:05:59    2541637

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13783 - 30/04/2024 07:34:24    2541668

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13783 - 30/04/2024 07:45:17    2541670

Ger should commission his best men and build a network of trenches stretching from sideline to sideline from the halfway line to directly in front of the Louth goal. They should be fortified with machine gun nests, razor wire embankments and a portion around the D containing landmines. The team should then take to the pitch with four inch mortars, use an intricate section of tunnels by which to communicate from their keeper up the pitch, and with a contingency plan to lay a charge under their own goals to take them out if it gets too bad by remote detonation.

If all goes to plan, they could keep it within 10 points.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 596 - 30/04/2024 07:55:41    2541672

Canvas the government until they plough millions upon millions into Louth GAA.

Lobby the GAA until they let Louth play all their games at Croke Park, thus ensuring they're well used to it when the big games come along.

Allow Louth clubs to buy in the best talent from around the country to improve the overall standard of club football within the county.


The above all seems unlikely, ridiculous even, and grossly unfair to the other counties, but there is a precident.

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5181 - 30/04/2024 08:23:19    2541678

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13783 - 30/04/2024 09:42:40    2541698

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13783 - 30/04/2024 09:47:00    2541699

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3045 - 30/04/2024 11:36:02    2541735

brianb (Kildare) - Posts: 350 - 01/05/2024 12:47:19    2542223

If Dublin want to beat Louth by 20 points + they will, no matter what Louth do. Dublin are 1/500 with Paddy Power.

So Louth's goal will be to keep it competitive, and don't let the game run away from them. We saw Meath have some success in the first half, but as soon as Dublin moved through the gears - they were out of sight. Louth need to make sure that doesn't happen.

If they can keep the margin in single figures, and keep the goals down, Louth will be happy.

hyperache (Meath) - Posts: 250 - 01/05/2024 13:14:43    2542238

C. What have they to lose by giving it a lash and getting well beaten but by giving it a go and not by sitting back? They'll be sore going into group games keen to show they're not as bad as some think they are after the Leinster Final.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7642 - 01/05/2024 13:24:18    2542244

Louth have,a,realistic chance of taking second place in their group. Yes I am assuming Dublin beat them.

So, he ought to use Leinster final to test how they intend to approach Meath and Monaghan. Limiting goal chances and concentrate on turnover attacks.

Easy said of course and need to be more defensive against Dublin than either of them. Avoiding a hiding is important for their heads. Dublin also be looking ahead to Roscommon so won't be anywhere near full throttle.

Might be interesting enough game.

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 3102 - 01/05/2024 20:57:42    2542344

One of the most average Dublin performances in the past few years was against Roscommon in the first game of their group last year. Dublin were very lucky to get a draw that day. Louth (and other teams) can borrow a LOT from the Roscommon playbook that day, zero'ing in on a few very specific tactics that Dublin found hard to manage and areas where Roscommon could have improved.

1. You Need Possession Off Your Own Kickouts
What kills weaker teams against Dublin is when the Dubs start dominating your kickouts (which usually comes from the long kickout and losing what are basically 50-50 contests). Roscommon had an awesome strategy for their own kickouts which was they loaded their own D and their 20 yard line with players for the short kickout and once the ball was kicked out a bunch of lads would move back behind the 20 so they could receive the backpass. Lots of short pass options for the kicker and if Dublin pressed on the kickout with 8 or 9 lads (what the press required given the Roscommon numbers going short), there was tons of room for runners to move into from where they were clustering in midfield so the keeper could knock it over the press to a runner hitting the wings. Very effective.

I'd consider one tweak -- have someone other than the keeper take the kickout. The main reason for that is to give the receiver the option of a quick pass back to the kicker (which they don't have if the kicker is the keeper). On this note, push the boundaries on the rule of the law in new ways.

2. Contact/turnovers
This is another area where Dublin REALLY get most weaker teams -- the intensity of the tackling (the Dublin lads are strong and they all hit hard) leads to lots of turnovers and the ball doesn't go dead when there is a turnover. Dublin transition quickly and you're hosed. Obviously, you avoid contact that you can't break but there is another part to it -- if you go into contact that you are not breaking, you go down and take the ball with you. And you hold onto the ball until there's a free for you or against you. If one of your teammates goes to ground, you move back into defensive mode asap (don't wait for the whistle bc you know your teammate is stopping the game and preventing a quick transition).

3. No goals
Easier said than done but it really means being comfortable letting/forcing Dublin to take higher probability point shots from a little further out when they've possession. You need all the intensity, swarming, zonal, man-marking -- but do it all a little deeper and decide that conceding goals is sacred. Make it so that they need to get really lucky for a goal. Don't lose faith if they start knocking over points on a streak.

4. Be comfortable making very slow progress up the field.
Having the ball is better than not having. Go with numbers behind and around the ball. Like the kickout, make them press a lot and then transition the ball into space.

5. Gaelic tiki taka
A good argument could be made that the handpass/possession play in gaelic football today is a version of tiki taka and it is difficult to imagine a team being successful without very possession oriented play. Where it goes wrong for teams against the top tier is lads running into isolation -- it starts off looking like a break into Dublin territory, a counter attack at speed but the Dub defenders shepherd the runner down the sides and isolate him. If you transition the ball into space or there's any sort of break or run into space, you need 4 or 5 lads sprinting to provide swarming support immediately around the carrier. And a carrier only keeps going alone if they are running into big open space down the middle.

6. Go down more easily
The drags, the pulls, the pushes -- unless you've got a sniff of goal, take the foul and go down. Even if it goes against you, hold up the ball and get a bit of attention from the medics. Play that game and take the energy out of it.

7. Formation strategies
Gaelic football is strangely absent any unusual formation strategies but it's ripe for it. Clustering should be more common for weaker teams against stronger teams. How many times have you seen a team with a sideline ball kick against a top team and, if they don't get it off quickly, they really struggle? Let's say, I've a sideline kick on the opponents 45. 10 or 12 of my own players cluster within 10 yards of each other closer. A really tight cluster. What does a defense do? Go man to man and you're 3 on 3. It's really hard to manage all the runners off a cluster. You could even hoof the ball into the cluster where the opposition have players -- let one of them get the ball static and swarm them. There's no way they are getting out of a 10 man swarm and they'll be done for carrying.

8. Go for the forward mark
20 yards by foot across the 45 (or hand?? I don't think the rulebook eliminates hand pass marks. Handpass tiki taka up to the 50-60 yards out from opponents goal and then very precise passing over the 45 to get the mark. It's not easy but you practice incessantly for that strategy and you're looking to get one of four reliable scorers onto the end of that mark -- 70% reliable.

Do the above and you've a game.

level (Louth) - Posts: 105 - 01/05/2024 23:33:31    2542365

He should try the things that have worked for others.

1. Concede the short kick out and edge Dublin at halfway.
2. Allow Kilkenny the ball and get into his hadpassing mode (where he is least effective).
3. Every 20 mins or so, go full on press and kock Dublin out of their stride, falling back to 1&2 just as Clifton figures out the press.

Have to constantly change it up, a predictable pattern of play will result in predictable result

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1197 - 02/05/2024 05:02:44    2542380

There was a huge contrast in how Louth approached the league game with Dublin last year and the Leinster final. In the league game, we stayed compact and there was only a point in it at HT - and eventually lost by 7. In the final, for some reason MH decided to go at Dublin and there was huge gaps defensively, which Dublin exploited for 5-21. Dublin are winning either way but you'd hope for better than Dublin having the game over as a contest after 15 or 20 minutes.

PK57 (Louth) - Posts: 1657 - 02/05/2024 11:24:56    2542427

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1954 - 02/05/2024 11:24:59    2542428

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 1944 - 02/05/2024 11:43:08    2542440

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1954 - 02/05/2024 12:14:37    2542444

Best of luck to Ger Brennan regardless of the outcome. He'll have his own take on the approach.

Shearer (Louth) - Posts: 883 - 02/05/2024 13:50:20    2542462