The Dubs!

Due to inability to post on GAA I'll post thoughts anseo!

Congrats to the Dublin hurling team on a massively impressive performance in winning the Bob O'Keeffe Cup after a hiatus of 62 years. Kudos to all involved. I was particularly impressed with the style of play - some beautiful scores and wonderful passing. I cannot understand how some 'pundits' were suggesting that playing 5 weeks in a row might see a tired Dublin team. These guys are fitter than soccer players - it was the best possible preparation and it showed. A 5 week break now worries me.

Now for the football. I hope and expect the lads to be spurred on by the hurlers and if the footballers play to their full ability I expect a good win!

Good hot summer so far - expensive but priceless too!

Typo - 52 years - cannot edit!!

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At this stage it will be a major shock if all provincial finals do not go to the jollies
Leaving Kildare, Tyrone, Meath,Derry cork as potential back door men for august bank holiday, again if you were a betting man you would go with provincial winners.
Looks to me that Mayo would have a realistic chance of halting Donegal
If not its the star wars final. Up to hans brogan and diarmuid skywalker to defeat the dark side and save football. Hopefully the sunshine summer will have petered out by then.

One of the best days for Dublin hurling since before i was born,it was emotionally draining this weekend and i believe the 5 weeks break is well needed,keaney was superbly brillant as was everyone of them that took the field,tracey was unlucky not to have scored one of the great goals to grace croker,donal og said on the SG last night the that theres no better time than the present for dublin to win an all-ireland i totally agree and believe this team have the mental toughness to deliver sam/i mean liam to the capital,the grass roots in dublin brought this team to the capital but the job is only half done,2 more performances like yesterday and the DUBS WILL BE CHAMPIONS IN 2013 unlucky for some but not the capital.

Interesting to note that should the favourites win their provincial championships (and I think all three will), that Cork will be the only 'other' team in the past 3 years to win a provincial. Donegal, Dublin and Mayo will have completed 3 in a row. Over the last two years the 4 winning provincial sides have contested the semi finals also. I am not sure there is going to be a huge heap of change in the coming years either. Dublin still a distance ahead in Leinster, Mayo ditto in Connacht and Donegal still the team to beat in Ulster with Cork & Kerry unassailable in Munster. Even with the backdoor it seems that the vasrt majority of counties are being left behind. Yes Tipp nearly beat Galway, Derry avenged Down and we will have interesting games but when the qualifiers meet the top 4 or 5 that will be that.

Something needs to be done or counties will fall away completely. Look at Offaly - Galway even - and numerous others are on the slippery slope. Can't see why there is a clamour to retain the provincial championships.

dublin will win sunday as they wish,but may i wish meath well after sunday hopefully we meet again on the 3rd sunday in september

JCluxton wrote:Interesting to note that should the favourites win their provincial championships (and I think all three will), that Cork will be the only 'other' team in the past 3 years to win a provincial.  Donegal, Dublin and Mayo will have completed 3 in a row.  Over the last two years the 4 winning provincial sides have contested the semi finals also.   I am not sure there is going to be a huge heap of change in the coming years either.  Dublin still a distance ahead in Leinster, Mayo ditto in Connacht and Donegal still the team to beat in Ulster with Cork & Kerry unassailable in Munster.  Even with the backdoor it seems that the vasrt majority of counties are being left behind.  Yes Tipp nearly beat Galway, Derry avenged Down  and we will have interesting games but when the qualifiers meet the top 4 or 5 that will be that.

Something needs to be done or counties will fall away completely.  Look at Offaly - Galway even - and numerous others are on the slippery slope.  Can't see why there is a clamour to retain the provincial championships.

Mayo will win their first three in row Connacht titles since the 50s while Donegal never won back to back Ulster titles before last year. Yes at moment along with Dublin these are the top dogs in their provincial championships however things can quickly change.  In Ulster you have Tyrone,Derry div 1 sides then Cavan with their underage success should continue to improve. In Connacht Galway won't stay poor forever while Roscommon are in the same boat as Cavan and Sligo finally got rid of Walsh maybe that will improve them.

Gaa_lover wrote:

JCluxton wrote:Interesting to note that should the favourites win their provincial championships (and I think all three will), that Cork will be the only 'other' team in the past 3 years to win a provincial.  Donegal, Dublin and Mayo will have completed 3 in a row.  Over the last two years the 4 winning provincial sides have contested the semi finals also.   I am not sure there is going to be a huge heap of change in the coming years either.  Dublin still a distance ahead in Leinster, Mayo ditto in Connacht and Donegal still the team to beat in Ulster with Cork & Kerry unassailable in Munster.  Even with the backdoor it seems that the vasrt majority of counties are being left behind.  Yes Tipp nearly beat Galway, Derry avenged Down  and we will have interesting games but when the qualifiers meet the top 4 or 5 that will be that.

Something needs to be done or counties will fall away completely.  Look at Offaly - Galway even - and numerous others are on the slippery slope.  Can't see why there is a clamour to retain the provincial championships.

Mayo will win their first three in row Connacht titles since the 50s while Donegal never won back to back Ulster titles before last year. Yes at moment along with Dublin these are the top dogs in their provincial championships however things can quickly change.  In Ulster you have Tyrone,Derry div 1 sides then Cavan with their underage success should continue to improve. In Connacht Galway won't stay poor forever while Roscommon are in the same boat as Cavan and Sligo finally got rid of Walsh maybe that will improve them.

Dunno about this. Firstly, Munster is never going to change; it will always be Cork and Kerry. Mayo are so far out in front in Connacht it's unreal. While a team may catch them on the hop, I don't see anyone else (Galway included) becoming consistent challengers for the next 5+ years.

Similarly in Leinster, I cannot see any team getting close to the Dubs. In fact, it's a gap I see widening as Dublin seem to have finally figured out how to tap into the numbers they have available to them.

Ulster is the only province where things are likely to change. It is reasonable to expect Donegal, Tyrone, Cavan and Derry to consistently challenge for an Ulster title in the coming years.

So I don't see things changing quickly at all.

RMDrive wrote:Dunno about this. Firstly, Munster is never going to change; it will always be Cork and Kerry. Mayo are so far out in front in Connacht it's unreal. While a team may catch them on the hop, I don't see anyone else (Galway included) becoming consistent challengers for the next 5+ years.

Similarly in Leinster, I cannot see any team getting close to the Dubs. In fact, it's a gap I see widening as Dublin seem to have finally figured out how to tap into the numbers they have available to them.

Ulster is the only province where things are likely to change. It is reasonable to expect Donegal, Tyrone, Cavan and Derry to consistently challenge for an Ulster title in the coming years.

So I don't see things changing quickly at all.

Yeah i pretty much agree with your assessment there RMD, when was the last time someone outside Cork or Kerry won Munster? Early 90's? All i know is it was when i was young and had hair! That duopoly will not change for quite some time, although it will be interesting to see how Tipps minor team progress after winning 2 Munsters in a row and by all accounts had chances to win at the weekend again to make it 3.

Leinster, 'The Peoples Champions' are simply miles ahead of anyone else, just look at how they destroyed Kildare in Leinster, who had serious designs on winning it this year. I can't see them being challenged there for some time bar the odd freak result like the one against Meath.

Connacht will be a one way street for the coming years also as Mayo are a different beast in comparision to the rest of the opposition there, I honestly can't see them being caught on the hop at all due to the distance between them and the next best.

Ulster this year is presumed to be Donegals, however in the near future i would expect to see Tyrone begin to mount a serious challenge to their crown. I am intregued actually to see if Mickey Harte can rebuild and knock Donegal off their perch as the top dawgs in Ulster, i believe he is a great manager and want to see just how good he is. If he can build a new Tyrone team and regain Ulster then for me he will cement himself as one of the greatest managers of modern times. Derry & Cavan should make up the other positions as suitors to the crown, as for Monaghan, i firmly believe that this is the current teams dying kick, a final hurrah for the side that done well in recent years.

Ulster is and will remain competitive due to the dominance of football over hurling in all counties, and the relatively small population variations.  No-one is mentioning Down and Armagh as being challengers in the coming years, but they too will be in the mix again before long.  In terms of balance, Ulster is fine and will be for a long time to come.

Munster is a joke, and always has been.  Cork and Kerry have shared 77 out of the last 78 titles, yet remain vehemently opposed to any change to the structure.  Talk about setting your sights low.  Tipp have had 5 years of underage success, and may eventually compete but, if they do, it will be to the terminal detriment of their hurling.

I agree with GAA_Lover, in that Connaught is not as lopsided as it appears.  Mayo are clearly the strongest at present, but Sligo, Galway and Roscommon have all won titles in the last 7 years.  Also, in the last 8 years, no Connaught final has been won by a margin greater than 2 points.  Galway will get stronger again - they are currently underachieving, have had recent U21 success, and their climb back may be quicker than a lot of people think.   Roscommon too have the size and tradition to do something, but organisation and attitude appears to be their problem.  They remind me of a pre-Messianic Donegal.

Leinster is very competitive, aside from at the No.1 spot.  This is due to Dublin's enormous population and financial resources finally being used properly.  Kildare and Meath have big enough populations and interest to eventually provide a challenge, but they will both have to work much harder than they have done so far, especially Meath.  An economic boom in rural areas would also help with balance - the Dubs are traditionally strongest during tough times.  Splitting Dublin, of course, is something that should never be ruled out, but their actual success (as opposed to potential success) doesn't yet warrant that idea being examined too closely.

You know what, i'm not sure i agree with Dublin being split should it be considered seriously, if they do start dominating i don't think that i would agree with it then either.

bald eagle wrote:You know what, i'm not sure i agree with Dublin being split should it be considered seriously, if they do start dominating i don't think that i would agree with it then either.  

I don't think it is preferable or necessary at present, BE, but to expect a county with 30,000 people (e.g. Leitrim) to compete on a level playing field with a county with 1.5m is equally unpalatable.

It is similar to my views on redrawing hurling borders - at some point, you have to balance out the desire for tradition (i.e. provincial/county structures) with the appeal of the game to as many people in as many areas as possible.

As I say, I don't think it is an issue at the moment, nor may it ever become one, but I think it should always be open for discussion.

To be fair, it's pretty laughable that the Dubs have won 1 Senior All Ireland since '95 given the population they have. They should be competing strongly every single year. They seem to be getting a grip on it and are churning out underage teams full of brilliantly conditioned athletes. That's why Dublin will rarely if ever have the support of the neutral, there's nothing special about Dublin winning, they have the numbers and the funding to get to the top, very little special about it.

bald eagle wrote:[Connacht will be a one way street for the coming years also as Mayo are a different beast in comparision to the rest of the opposition there, I honestly can't see them being caught on the hop at all due to the distance between them and the next best.

There's hardly anyone on this forum or in Ireland that would begrudge Mayo a title, but I for one cannot see the hype that's attaching to the current Mayo team. They'll win a Connacht final no doubt, but beyond that their expectations are limited. They may make the last 4, but without the presence of at least a trio of marquee forwards to rattle off points they're out of their comfort zone.
Mayo haven't a single marquee, top notch forward - Cillian O'Connor included.