2015 All Ireland Football Championship - FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MAKE IT STOP

Carlow could have done with Brendan Murphy and a few more of their absentees tonight. Utterly woeful against what will be proven to be a very average Laois team.
As for Offaly. Words fail me. A once proud football county who can’t beat anyone now in championship.

Roscommon are also a county you seem to dislike, well thats what i get from reading over past posts from you. Any reason for this a bad pint once in Roscommon or ex girl friend from there?

In early April 2010 Roscommon seniors were relegated to Div 4 after just one win in div 3, one week later Roscommon won their first Connacht U-21 title for 11 years and since then Roscommon have won another three Connacht U21 titles. Without that success and talent coming through at U-21 level Roscommon would not have risen from div 4 to now div 1 at senior level.

Without the use of google i would seriously wonder could you even name five Roscommon players.

Yes defended poorly but would be fairly new to the packed defence tactics anyway you are talking away from how well Armagh played that day and indeed that summer. Armagh also beat Tyrone away,Meath in Croke park and got within inches of beating the All Ireland finalist and Ulster champions Donegal.

I’m sure Mayo in 2010 or Galway 2007,2010 and 2012 also thought they had safe passage before losing to Sligo.

I expect Mayo to beat Galway again and if Roscommon are to reach and lose the Connacht final it would be no disaster as after all the final would be in MacHale Park Castlebar and Mayo are top 5 experienced and seasoned side. If its Galway well they would also be at home and be hot favourites having beaten Mayo no so disaster to lose that game either. Roscommon would then have to play a round 4 qualifier against one of the B side winners which could likely be the loser of todays Ulster game between Donegal,Tyrone who like Mayo are high ranked sides.

The fact is Roscommon senior football team are a young improving side that has only just got promoted to Div one this spring after spending over a decade down in Div3,4. The potential is there now to improve further however what happens over the next 2 or 3 years will tell me where Roscommon stand at senior level more than anything that may happen this summer.

[QUOTE=“Tonymac, post: 1141948, member: 2956”]Roscommon are also a county you seem to dislike, well thats what i get from reading over past posts from you. Any reason for this a bad pint once in Roscommon or ex girl friend from there?

In early April 2010 Roscommon seniors were relegated to Div 4 after just one win in div 3, one week later Roscommon won their first Connacht U-21 title for 11 years and since then Roscommon have won another three Connacht U21 titles. Without that success and talent coming through at U-21 level Roscommon would not have risen from div 4 to now div 1 at senior level.

Without the use of google i would seriously wonder could you even name five Roscommon players.

Yes defended poorly but would be fairly new to the packed defence tactics anyway you are talking away from how well Armagh played that day and indeed that summer. Armagh also beat Tyrone away,Meath in Croke park and got within inches of beating the All Ireland finalist and Ulster champions Donegal.

I’m sure Mayo in 2010 or Galway 2007,2010 and 2012 also thought they had safe passage before losing to Sligo.

I expect Mayo to beat Galway again and if Roscommon are to reach and lose the Connacht final it would be no disaster as after all the final would be in MacHale Park Castlebar and Mayo are top 5 experienced and seasoned side. If its Galway well they would also be at home and be hot favourites having beaten Mayo no so disaster to lose that game either. Roscommon would then have to play a round 4 qualifier against one of the B side winners which could likely be the loser of todays Ulster game between Donegal,Tyrone who like Mayo are high ranked sides.

The fact is Roscommon senior football team are a young improving side that has only just got promoted to Div one this spring after spending over a decade down in Div3,4. The potential is there now to improve further however what happens over the next 2 or 3 years will tell me where Roscommon stand at senior level more than anything that may happen this summer.[/QUOTE]

For all their hype, which feels like it has been going for years, they’ve been very underwhelming when I saw them.

Thats an excellent post by @Tonymac

The real hype the last ten years was about tyrones underage, talk of a new centre of excellence, funds from a massive supporters club, feile teams from Tyrone arriving down to host families with nutritional guides etc, and where are they now? trying to ape Donegal after Harte as much as admitted they couldn’t compete with even Monaghan playing open football.

[QUOTE=“Tonymac, post: 1141948, member: 2956”]Roscommon are also a county you seem to dislike, well thats what i get from reading over past posts from you. Any reason for this a bad pint once in Roscommon or ex girl friend from there?

In early April 2010 Roscommon seniors were relegated to Div 4 after just one win in div 3, one week later Roscommon won their first Connacht U-21 title for 11 years and since then Roscommon have won another three Connacht U21 titles. Without that success and talent coming through at U-21 level Roscommon would not have risen from div 4 to now div 1 at senior level.

Without the use of google i would seriously wonder could you even name five Roscommon players.

Yes defended poorly but would be fairly new to the packed defence tactics anyway you are talking away from how well Armagh played that day and indeed that summer. Armagh also beat Tyrone away,Meath in Croke park and got within inches of beating the All Ireland finalist and Ulster champions Donegal.

I’m sure Mayo in 2010 or Galway 2007,2010 and 2012 also thought they had safe passage before losing to Sligo.

I expect Mayo to beat Galway again and if Roscommon are to reach and lose the Connacht final it would be no disaster as after all the final would be in MacHale Park Castlebar and Mayo are top 5 experienced and seasoned side. If its Galway well they would also be at home and be hot favourites having beaten Mayo no so disaster to lose that game either. Roscommon would then have to play a round 4 qualifier against one of the B side winners which could likely be the loser of todays Ulster game between Donegal,Tyrone who like Mayo are high ranked sides.

The fact is Roscommon senior football team are a young improving side that has only just got promoted to Div one this spring after spending over a decade down in Div3,4. The potential is there now to improve further however what happens over the next 2 or 3 years will tell me where Roscommon stand at senior level more than anything that may happen this summer.[/QUOTE]

Demographics is a factor at play when it comes to the current state of former traditional powers like Roscommon, Offaly and Cavan. They are the only three counties with populations of less than 100,000 to reach an All Ireland Football final in the last 80 years. Roscommon has a population of about 63,000 which is about 10,000 less than both Cavan and Offaly. Only Leitrim, Carlow, Longford and Monaghan are more sparsely populated.

In relative terms, Armagh, Down and Derry operate on similar playing field to Roscommon.

Armagh is a county of about 170k but the you can discount the vast proportion of the Lurgan/Craigavon/Portadown which makes up more than a third of the county’s population where it is heavily populated with prods. You also have to contend with association football being the main sporting outlet here among the nationalist community.

Of the current Armagh panel you only really have Campbell, Findon, Murnin and Moriarty from this area, despite it encompassing over a third of the county’s population. GAA is mainly corderned off to South and mid Armagh which would still hold a sizeable protestant population who don’t partake. Overall Armagh operate at a similar level in playing numbers to Monaghan and Cavan.

Derry are probably worse off than Armagh. Derry City although a majority nationalist city is an association football City and I think it’s well in excess of 30 years since a player from a city club last played for the county team. North Derry is predominantly Protestant as well which further again reduces the playing numbers.

Down is a hun hell hole which probably holds about a 30% nationalist population and again GAA football is heavily concentrated to the South and South East of the county, the hurling mainly seems to be popular in the nationalists pockets further north in the county.

GAA is a real non-entity in Antrim as well with association football being the main export in the city and the county football team relies very much on the Belfast clubs. Hurling would be popular in Antrim in the pockets of nationalist areas outside Belfast.

Tyrone are the only county in the O6 who have a decent base to go from. The population of the county is around 170-180k with the nationalist population coming in at circa 100k I would suspect. They don’t have the issues of Armagh and Derry who despite being predominantly nationalist counties also have to deal with urbanisation and the fact association football is extremely popular in these areas, so much so in Derry City that GAA is non-existant. Tyrone is quite a rural county with GAA still being very popular in the more urban settlements like Omagh, Dungannon and Cookstown. Even at that Tyrone would still lag well behind counties likes Mayo, Kerry, Cork, Galway, Meath, Kildare, Dublin and Donegal in playing numbers.

The real statistics that should be looked at would be the registered playing numbers per county and no. of club teams per county. Fermanagh would be the most depleted team in the country based on playing resources but have still managed to make an All Ireland semi final in the past 11 seasons .

For all the bluster from the media about Roscommon in the last 10 years or so, have they even managed a big scalp. They beat Armagh in 2012 but that was a sorry Armagh outfit who were very poor from the 2009-2013 period where the team was going through a transition and had some extremely embarrassing results. Have they managed a championship win over anyone else of note in that period? Tyrone dumped out of the championship numerous times over the past few years, Armagh comfortably disposed of them last year, when was the last time they even managed a win over the traditional big two in Connacht?

[QUOTE=“Nembo Kid, post: 1141982, member: 2514”]In relative terms, Armagh, Down and Derry operate on similar playing field to Roscommon.
[/QUOTE]

Roscommon have won as many senior All Ireland’s as Armagh and Derry combined.

Down has a population of over 500,000. Its a more populous county than Cork. Only Dublin and Antrim have bigger populations.

[QUOTE=“Nembo Kid, post: 1141982, member: 2514”]
For all the bluster from the media about Roscommon in the last 10 years or so, have they even managed a big scalp. They beat Armagh in 2012 but that was a sorry Armagh outfit who were very poor from the 2009-2013 period where the team was going through a transition and had some extremely embarrassing results. Have they managed a championship win over anyone else of note in that period? Tyrone dumped out of the championship numerous times over the past few years, Armagh comfortably disposed of them last year, when was the last time they even managed a win over the traditional big two in Connacht?[/QUOTE]

Why are the words ‘Armagh’ and ‘big scalp’ featuring in the same sentence? Armagh are a big scalp only in your head. They have been perennial also rans for much of the 130 years or so of the All Ireland Championship winning a grand total of 1 All Ireland. Armagh were playing Division 3 football this season for god sake. They haven’t been in a provincial final in 7 years.

Roscommon’s record in the championship 2007-2014 inclusive.

2007:
Sligo (L)
Kildare (L)

2008:
Galway (L)
Donegal (L)

2009:
Leitrim (W)
Mayo (L)
Wexford (D) (W)
Meath (L)

2010:
London (W)
Leitrim (W)
Sligo (W)
Cork (L)

2011:
New York (W)
Leitrim (W)
Mayo (L)
Tyrone (L)

2012:
Galways (L)
Armagh (W)
Tyrone (L)

2013:
Mayo (L)
Tyrone (L)

2014:
Leitrim (W)
Mayo (L)
Cavan (W)
Armagh (L)

Not very impressive is it? Their 2010 provincial triumph must go down as the softest provincial win in the history of the game.

[QUOTE=“Manuel Zelaya, post: 1141990, member: 377”]Roscommon have won as many senior All Ireland’s as Armagh and Derry combined.

Down has a population of over 500,000. Its a more populous county than Cork. Only Dublin and Antrim have bigger populations.

Why are the words ‘Armagh’ and ‘big scalp’ featuring in the same sentence? Armagh are a big scalp only in your head. They have been perennial also rans for much of the 130 years or so of the All Ireland Championship winning a grand total of 1 All Ireland. Armagh were playing Division 3 football this season for god sake. They haven’t been in a provincial final in 7 years.[/QUOTE]
You appreciate that includes Belfast?

[QUOTE=“Manuel Zelaya, post: 1141990, member: 377”]Roscommon have won as many senior All Ireland’s as Armagh and Derry combined.

Down has a population of over 500,000. Its a more populous county than Cork. Only Dublin and Antrim have bigger populations.

Why are the words ‘Armagh’ and ‘big scalp’ featuring in the same sentence? Armagh are a big scalp only in your head. They have been perennial also rans for much of the 130 years or so of the All Ireland Championship winning a grand total of 1 All Ireland. Armagh were playing Division 3 football this season for god sake. They haven’t been in a provincial final in 7 years.[/QUOTE]

You spend too much time dwelling over things done half a decade ago Manuel, this is the present and in the recent past (which actually bears relevance) Armagh have been competing at the top of the table. 1 All Ireland triumph, 2 final appearances, four semi-final apperances, 8 qf appearances, 6 Provincial Championships.

But thanks for reinforcing my point. Roscommon haven’t won a big Championship game in the past 8 seasons.

Your misunderstanding of talent is, fulfilling it, development, management of players, the fact that it’s amateur etc etc is still bemeausing.

You can read a game reasonably well when you actually watch it and there isn’t an ulster county involved, but other than that you are clueless to te reality of things.

:popcorn:

[QUOTE=“Nembo Kid, post: 1142000, member: 2514”]You spend too much time dwelling over things done half a decade ago Manuel, this is the present and in the recent past (which actually bears relevance) Armagh have been competing at the top of the table. 1 All Ireland triumph, 2 final appearances, four semi-final apperances, 8 qf appearances, 6 Provincial Championships.

But thanks for reinforcing my point. Roscommon haven’t won a big Championship game in the past 8 seasons.[/QUOTE]

The present for Armagh is, they were playing Division 3 football this year and haven’t even got to a provincial final for 7 years. A humbling exit to Wexford in the 2008 All Ireland Championship marked the end of the road for a fine Armagh team, I understand you to be referring to. Armagh have been utterly sh*t since then. They’ve won just two games in the Ulster Championship over Down in 2011 and Cavan last year since that defeat to Wexford in 2008. They’ve got as far as the ‘Last 12’ you keep referring to, on one occasion last year, when they advanced to the dizzying heights of the quarter final. Aside from that its been a procession of defeats for Armagh at Round 1, 2 & 3 of the qualifiers, year in year out. Armagh even went out to Roscommon in 2012 and Galway in 2013 - from that Connacht Championship you sneak so sneeringly of. So there’s your big scalp within the last 8 years for Roscommon - beating the mighty Armagh in 2012.

Armagh’s 1 All Ireland triumph in 2002 is ancient history in football terms. The last member of that team retired years ago. Armagh in 2002 is as relevant in modern footballing terms as Tipperary’s last All Ireland football win in 1920.

[QUOTE=“caoimhaoin, post: 1142003, member: 273”]Your misunderstanding of talent is, fulfilling it, development, management of players, the fact that it’s amateur etc etc is still bemeausing.

You can read a game reasonably well when you actually watch it and there isn’t an ulster county involved, but other than that you are clueless to te reality of things.[/QUOTE]

Listen, everyone has been talking about Roscommon for ages now, it’s been the same predictions for years about the breakthrough they’re going to make but it hasn’t materialised. Look at their championship record in that time - I’ve put it up there, it’s extraordinarily poor. It’s 8 years on now since they won their first minor title and in the Championship they have performed extremely poorly, would you not agree?

Like who? I’ve barely heard much talk about them aside from winning a few underage games. Was that bird who tossed you aside on Viber from Roscommon or something because you a bigger complex than normal about them.

You’ve also been touting Armagh as one of the big guns and a ‘big scalp’ for everyone when their championship record over the last 8 year period you are referring to is broadly speaking comparable to Roscommon’s over that period. Armagh also have their All Ireland winning minor team of 2009 and indeed an U21 All Ireland winning team from 2004.

You are incorrect in your assertion that Roscommon’s All Ireland minor win in 2006 was their first. It was their fourth. You’d really need to smarten up on your grasp of basic facts if you’re to last around here.

Exactly. Fuck all are talking about Roscommon. They are spoken about in similar terms to Tipperary, neither relatively big footballing sides, great underage for the past few years, now can they translate it to senior and push on?

There has been zero talk of Roscommon. None. Zilch. Nada. Fuck all.

The football championship this decade, well certainly since 2011 has been dominated by Kerry, Dublin, Donegal & Mayo. Over the last 4 seasons, there’s been a gulf in class between those 4 and the rest of the field. Armagh, Tyrone, Galway, Roscommon, Monaghan, Wexford, Meath, Tipperary or whoever else you care to mention have been nowhere.

That’s a reasonably competitive state of affairs in footballing terms. What you had in the 2000’s and just about every other decade bar the 50’s and 90’s was Kerry largely dominating on their own.