The GAATipster Open-draw All Ireland

Believe it or not I'm trying to honestly judge who would win these games. It would be much beter craic to let the heart overrule the head but the whole idea of this is to show the novel pairings and the unexpected success that an open draw would bring. So here's what I reckon.

Limerick
Leitrim
LIMERICK WIN

Cavan
Kerry
KERRY WIN

Dublin
Cork
CORK WIN

Donegal
Kildare
KILDARE WIN

Fermanagh
Monaghan
MONAGHAN WIN

Longford
Wicklow
WICKLOW WIN

Meath
Galway
MEATH WIN

Wexford
Tyrone
TYRONE

Limerick, Kerry, Cork, Kildare Monaghan, Wicklow Meath and Tyrone in the quarter finals!

Better hang up the Galway jersey for another year.

When's the Quarter Final Draw?

Meath are going all the way in this.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:When's the Quarter Final Draw?

Tomorrow sometime after I get the grass cut.

Is this in Mrs. RMDrive's garden?

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:Is this in Mrs. RMDrive's garden?

We actually share the garden loyal. She's good to me like that.

RMDrive wrote:

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:Is this in Mrs. RMDrive's garden?

We actually share the garden loyal. She's good to me like that.

What is she doing now?

Dubs out already - you're having a laugh - and you're bankrupt! Beaten by Cork shame.

ps RMD well off Xmas card list ....

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Dubs out already - you're having a laugh - and you're bankrupt! Beaten by Cork shame.

ps RMD well off Xmas card list ....

no strawberries goling west this year

Here is the quarter final draw coutesy of excel and random numbers (whoever he is).

MEATH
TYRONE

KILDARE
MONAGHAN

LIMERICK
WICKLOW

KERRY
CORK

I'll rattle the QF and SF off this week and aim to have the final on the same day as the real one.

Men against Boys, thats all I will say. As some Tyrone men have rightly confessed since, we gave them a lesson in how to compete with the big boys that day. They were overwhelmed by our pace, our physicality, our hunger, they simply could not compete with us. Barry Callaghan (Dunderry), Graham Geraghty (Senchelstown at the time) and Brendan Reilly (Dunboyne) were immense for us. Of course, they were cries from certain sectors over the tactics we employed but the simple fact is Tyrone were weak mentally and physically.




Fast forward eleven years and Tyrone come looking for some Royal blood, they were still hurt over the events of the previous decade, they spoke of needing to beat Meath to be a worthy team of the decade, they wanted it. But once again, they came up short. The hoodoo remained.

Two years on and what has changed? Very little to be honest, both sides reached the All-Ireland semi-finals, both succumbed to the strength and power of Munster sides. There is no doubt in my mind that we are better than Tyrone though. Our size and physical presence round midfield combined would cause them headaches just like Cork did. Cormac McGuinness, Caoimhin King, Brian Meade, Mark Ward, Anthony Moyles, Shane O'Rourke, Nigel Crawford, Peader Byrne and Joe Sheridan are all six foot plus, Brayer is 5ft 11". We are just the type of side that Tyrone struggle with. They are fine against teams who adopt similiar tactics to themselves (i.e Ulster sides) or against a team like Dublin who like to run and cut teams open but up against the likes of Cork and Meath, Tyrone are vulnerable. Inside, the likes of Brian Farrell and David Bray would excel up against the likes of Gormely and Ricey (and we all know the type of tactics they are famed for). The backs again I'd have no issues as we possess the best of man-markers around in Cormac McGill and Eoin Harrington. Form and history point to a Royal victory, but what does common sense point to? I suppose thats

Meath have beaten Tyrone nine times in the teams eleven most recent league and championship meetings (see gaainfo.com), Tyrone beat us twice.

There is therefore an 82% chance that we will emerge victorious.

on form over the last number of years tyrone would of course overcome a mentally weak meath team. apart from this years blip tyrone dont fail once we get into august and september of the championship season. yes we may have been caught out in 1/4 finals in july time but once the teachers have the smell of school floor wax they panic at the thought of work and train twice as hard to overcome any oppostion therefore straining a few extra holidays out of their employers now correct me if i am wrong but as we are in september that can only mean a tyrone victory over this meath team.

96 is a long long time ago we only have one man playing who played that day and like a fine wine he has only improved with age mr brian dooher. 2007 was like 2001 . if your gonna catch us get us after we win ulster. if L2TR is gonna pull the trump card that we can only beat ulster like teams and dublin well we beat dublin and kerry in the last 12 months and beat both quite convincingly yet both teams took a poor meath team to the cleaners .

meath dont have a defender to mark oneill or mugsy, they dont have forwards who can take the physical and mental barrage that rock and ricey hand out or that will tackle back on philly j or davy harte and they dotn have a man on the line nearly as great as our own mr m harte.

all in all bar meeting cork in the semis this championship is tyrones to lose.

RMD we all know this result tyrone 4-17 meath 0-09

redhandman wrote:on form over the last number of years tyrone would of course overcome a mentally weak meath team. apart from this years blip tyrone dont fail once we get into august and september of the championship season. yes we may have been caught out in 1/4 finals in july time but once the teachers have the smell of school floor wax they panic at the thought of work and train twice as hard to overcome any oppostion therefore straining a few extra holidays out of their employers now correct me if i am wrong but as we are in september that can only mean a tyrone victory over this meath team.

96 is a long long time ago we only have one man playing who played that day and like a fine wine he has only improved with age mr brian dooher. 2007 was like 2001 . if your gonna catch us get us after we win ulster. if L2TR is gonna pull the trump card that we can only beat ulster like teams and dublin well we beat dublin and kerry in the last 12 months and beat both quite convincingly yet both teams took a poor meath team to the cleaners .

meath dont have a defender to mark oneill or mugsy, they dont have forwards who can take the physical and mental barrage that rock and ricey hand out or that will tackle back on philly j or davy harte and they dotn have a man on the line nearly as great as our own mr m harte.

all in all bar meeting cork in the semis this championship is tyrones to lose.

RMD we all know this result tyrone 4-17 meath 0-09

The magic words of Tyrone GAA.

1996 is indeed a long time ago, we have forgotten all about it but its seemingly the Red Hands who are having trouble letting go. Move on please. I suppose its hard for ye to move on though, the weight of history says ye can't beat Meath (2/11 in league and championship meetings since 1980).

This is Meath you are playing, results against Dublin and Kerry mean nothing when ye face the mighty men from the North East. In fact the old we beat x by y amount points but ye lost to them by z amount of points shows your fear. Who are you trying to convince? Yourself? Because you ain't convincing me redhandman.

Its funny you bring up Jordan and Harte as well because they are just the type of wing-back that Peader Byrne and Stephen Bray love. They would get nothing off them. As for having nobody good enough to mark your forwards? Don't make me laugh! Mugsy and O'Neill were like rabbits in headlights in 2007, they hadn't a clue what hit them.

Meath by 2 points.

nah L2TR - no fear of meath at all not trying to convince myself either. the long and short is we are to give an argument as to why one team would triumph over another. you had used vhs evidence of meaths chances as well as some lenghty prose.

so to turn the tide back i felt i had to give a full explaination as to why we would beat your lot.

i said earlier this year i ran into a few fellas from meath at a family weddin arrogant lot. yet nothing to show for 2009.

the whole thing about oneill not getting a kick in 2007 was due to injury. the man couldnt hardly walk and retired after that match.

i also cross referenced results against two teams . i see your point as well we beat x and x beat you so we would win in a head to head.

lets try another avenue how many of this meath team have allstars and how many have allireland medals ? this tyrone squad have mostly done the clean sweep minors u21's and seniors . this meath lot cant even beat a crap dublin outfit. no contest tyrone all the way L2TR

And still the excuses pour in. "O'Neill was injured". Look accept it redhandman, Tyrone are not good enough to even be mentioned in the same breath as these Royals. The ifs, buts, woulds, coulds and shoulds are a popular choice of word in County Tyrone.

And where were your AllStars and celtic crosses in 2007? A lot of good they did you then? Tyrone cannot overcome this mental barrier that Meath hold over them.

Fair play if you met some Meath lads at a wedding but I've a feeling I could be attending a funeral once RMDrive announces the results of these games - the funeral of Tyrone GAA.

l2tr you have if'ed could would all year face it you have did the same this year as your lot have done since the turn of the millenia - nothing.

have a straw poll and i think most people would be putting thier money on the red hand hand men .

sure i thought you pulled outta this a long time ago!!!

Some Tyrone fans may be accused of hanging onto the past when if comes to the 1996 meeting between these two teams, however of late it appears the Meath fans seem to spedn more time looking back at this match as they hanker after the days when Meath were a footballing county to be taken seriously. The wind of change has blown in both counties with quite opposite effects. Tyrone now dine regularly at the top table of championship football while Meath have to settle for a table out in some remote car park.

Tyrone have made great strides winning 3 All Irelands in 6 years beating the team of the decade in each of those 3 seasons. They are managed by the wily maestro Mickey Harte who was almost redefined the parameters of gaelic football, gone are the days of 6 forwards and 6 backs, Tyrone's philosophy is 'every man a forward every man a back' and each man is comfortable on the ball and more than capable of scoring. Tyrone have also played division 1 football in the NFL for several consecutive years.

Meath on the other hand are a pale shadow of their former selves, the last remaining thug from the team of the 90's has now hung up his boots to pursue a career in journalism and being an all-round good samaritan. They are managed by Eaman O' Brien a man whose footballing tactics appear confined to lumping long high balls in on top of the SS (though he is as likely to be posted missing as he is to get on the end of them) whilst this tactic bore some fruit against the 'nice' boys from Mayo it produced absolutely nothing against the men from the Kingdom, though it was more than surprising to hear O' Brien claim 'we were too predictable' after the Kerry defeat.

In truth Meath found themselves in an All Ireland semi more by accident than anything else, though were it not for a series of time keeping errors and poor referee decisions they could easily have found themselves with a leinster title to celebrate. Meaths championship record this decade is poor to say the least, the biggest embarassment coming at the hands of Wexford were Meath had a 10 point lead overturned. Only a foolish betting man would put money on this Meath team getting within 10 points of Tyrone.

Verdict - Tyrone at a canter!!!!!!!1

No doubt everyone will be tipping Kildare to beat us, but remember we have the Grimley factor now! With his extensive knowledge of the Kildare team and our underdog we are in good shape to win this one!

We were pheckin' robbed agin Limerick. Personally, I had a relevantly poor day by my standards ( 0-08 ) from play before being withdrawn in favour of "younger legs" i.e. Mickey Quinn, after forty minutes.
We were leading by 5 points at that stage but some very poor refereeing ( I never comment on referees and won't say anything about this clown ) and a possible, stress possible, over-enjoyment of Dromoland Castle seemed to catch us at the death.
Our goalie however was the victim of a savage attack by 2 marauding Alsatians twice in the closing minutes and led to both Limerick goals and therefore the matter is currently with the CCCC and the RSPCA. (and the Garda drugs squad - dog division)

The Limerick Co.Board are somewhat worried about the dog business and kindly sponsored an extended stay in Dromoland for 2 extra days and tentatively suggested a possible replay. RMD was advised of this by fax and e-mail at 21.00hrs today and a decision is imminent.
I have avoided the dreaded PM route on this lest there be any suggestion of impropriety on Leitrim's behalf and will abide by the Committeeeeee's decision. Due to replay in Co.S/F Pairc Sean is available on the weekend pending the outcome.

Leitrim taking this competition very seriously altogether Boxty!

In line with the build up to the real AI final, the QF's are going to pass over with very little fuss.

MEATH
TYRONE
Tyrone win

KILDARE
MONAGHAN
Kildare win (Monaghan have stagnated a bit while Kildare are on the up)

LIMERICK
WICKLOW
Limerick win -

KERRY
CORK
Cork win (this is a tough one of course but I reckon Cork are going to win on Sunday so I guess they will win this one too!)

The semi-final lineup is ....

Cork V Tyrone

Limerick V Kildare

RMDrive wrote:In line with the build up to the real AI final, the QF's are going to pass over with very little fuss.

MEATH
TYRONE
Tyrone win

KILDARE
MONAGHAN
Kildare win (Monaghan have stagnated a bit while Kildare are on the up)

LIMERICK
WICKLOW
Limerick win -

KERRY
CORK
Cork win (this is a tough one of course but I reckon Cork are going to win on Sunday so I guess they will win this one too!)

Is this wise RM? Three of the last 4 have no presence here! What were you thinking!!

Mind you Kerry or Wicklow ain't big patrons either!

Jayo Cluxton wrote:Leitrim taking this competition very seriously altogether Boxty!

We have kept "the legend" in reserve thus far Jayo, he's in the form of his life and 'tis a shame that 2 dogs belonging to the "harmless young Fundons" could attack our goalie in this fashion and deprive him of one last day in the sun.

Beyjaysus, if the ref was bad in the Athletic Grounds in Roscommon in '58 when we were robbed (Mulvey RN) this clown was worse. A Laois man as well - Loyal may have a point McGarty was disappointed that we would hardly get the chance to represent the county together again.

Everything is taken seriously here, paying the correct taxes, taxing your car, not being in pubs after hours, shopping in the free state to boost revenues, buying home heating oil from local suppliers, not "borrowing" sheep when headage officers are due, I could compile a list of things that are inherently bad practise but 'twould take all night.