Good Year or Bad Year

Good Year/Bad Year

Good Year

• Football Championship - Overall a good year – most open championship in a decade and five good games from the last eight - probably sixams that will fancyachance of winning next year (Kerry, Cork,Dublin,Kildare, Tyrone, Down)
• Cork – Got there eventually though will need to beat Kerry in Croker to bury the bogeymen
• Down – Losing by a point in an AI final when they would not have been in anyones top-ten in May is remarkable progress
• Dublin – Improved throughout the year – Fell a whisker short against the eventual champions – significant progress from the QF maulings of 08/09 – will need some scoring support for BB and will need to vary tactics as the opposition will be ready for the defensive system next year – None the less they will have a good shout next year – Also U-21 success provides additional cause for optimism
• Kildare – Went a step further than last year – at times played some super football in the qualifiers and quarter final
• Others Roscommon – Limerick – Sligo – Louth

Bad Year

• Kerry – First time not in the final since 03 and well beaten in the Quarter final – Tadhgless – Daraless and Walshless – Will still be in the mix next year but need to start replacing the “thirty-somethings”
• Armagh – Impressive league form – got their usual win against Donegal – too reliant on Ronan Clarke – Still suffering from leaving the 02/03 team unchanged for too long
• Galway – No longer even a top ten team
• Mayo – League Finalists – shocking championship form although I’d still say they might be able to bounce back quicker than Galway
• Tyrone – Out at Q/F stage – one step back from last year – Cantered through Ulster this year – Not a disaster as the loss to Dublin was down in part to some shocking shooting on the “third Quarter”. However the Dublin defensive system exposed the mileage on the legs of some of the key ball carriers (dooher) – and with O Neills ongoing injuries it was difficult to see who would step up and take the big scores when the game was in the melting pot.
• Meath – Yes they won Leinster and yes they beat the dubs but in reality they never looked like making the Semis which is a step back from last year.
• Derry – Two three years ago they were being mooted as dark horses for SAM
• Donegal – From Quarter Finalists to Two gamers – Two many nearly men – Toye, McFadden etc – Need to look to the future – Good U-21 performance is the only cause for hope.
• Monaghan – Bright start in Ulster but well beaten by Tyrone and Kildare – A few years ago this side ran Kerry close – Look to have peaked in terms of what they can achieve

Good summary there OMAR.

I thought it was a very enjoyable C'ship with lots of teams reverting back to the foot pass instead of handpassing it to death. Some great games and scores - little or no controversy other than mistakes by officials. A host of teams will fancy their chances in 2011 and that is good. I thought the football was far better than the hurlign although the hurling final rescued that C'ship somewhat.

Also the last two Sam winners have done the League/C'ship double so we may see a very competitive league too! Roll on 2011!

I think it was good year overall.Although the Kingdom went out early I still enjoyed it. Cork,Down,Dublin,Kildare,Louth and Rosommon provided us with very good games and good brand of football.Too early to start forecasting for 2011, but now that Cork have got the monkey off their back they could be serious team for a couple of years.

Laois

Was good not having Kerry or Tyrone winning it this year, maybe a sign of things to come as this years championship was wide open.