What’s the point of them having teams now? In all seriousness like.
At least it would make things meaningful again for the division 2/3 type counties.
His point was to distract from the shambles he prescribed over with a pre prepared rant. Those lads beat Derry (of the Ulster championship last) so they could’ve been mildly competitive at least.
Why would the banks give them the money. All those players and more have endorsement deals and get appearance money. It lifts the stress of leaving work early, regularly. They are dublin footballers and they are part of Diblin GAA, the money for support in so many ways there is off the charts compared to even Cork. I saw this up close earlier in the year. Now you still need to nurture talent and I’m not taking away from that at all, I have great time for the dubs, but calling a spade a spade, Longford don’t have the same opportunity to improve themselves like the dubs. There is simply no denying that, and assuming Sheedy of not having them fit is lazy analysis.
[QUOTE=“Tabby, post: 1152641, member: 2142”]What’s the point of them having teams now? In all seriousness like.
At least it would make things meaningful again for the division 2/3 type counties.[/QUOTE]
If you are looking at the last 15 years of Championship football, in that time period we had Westmeath winning their first ever Leinster Championship, you had Laois getting their first in over 50 years. Louth were moments away from doing the same.
In Connacht you had Sligo getting their first Connacht in 32 years.
In Ulster you had Monaghan getting their first in 25 years, you had Fermanagh agonisingly missing out on their first ever Ulster title, even Antrim got to a final and you also had Armagh and Tyrone making their All Ireland breakthroughs.
In Munster you had Limerick there or thereabouts for a while and Tipperary are emerging now.
Ulster still holds that competitiveness, in truth it’s probably as competitive as it ever has been but the other provinces have fallen into one horse races the past couple of years, the onus is on the likes of your Galways, Kildares, Meaths and Corks to up their game. As I said earlier, Dublin have a number of distinct advantages and something needs to be done about it but the likes of Kildare and Meath need to have a good look at themselves.
As I also covered earlier, I feel it’s imperative that the qualifier system is rejigged in order to settle any imbalance in the provincial system.
Dublin have just come across a good batch. In time someone else in Leinster will. Lads needs to cool the jets here. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=“Nembo Kid, post: 1152401, member: 2514”]The bottom line is that Dublin do have a lot of things in their favour:
[LIST]
[]Money
[]Population
[]Location - pretty much all their players are based in Dublin I would imagine
[]Play all their games at home
[/LIST]
[/QUOTE]
Regardless of whether you class Croke Park as a home venue or a neutral venue for Dublin, venue is a non-issue as regards Dublin’s dominance in Leinster. Up until the re-development of Croke Park was complete a little over 10 years ago, Dublin regularly went on the road for Leinster quarter finals and semi finals. If you take the period from Dublin re-emergence as a football power in 1974 up until their last Leinster Championship game outside of Croke Park - against Longford in Pearse Park in 2007, they probably played somewhere between 30 to 40 games outside of Dublin, the only one they lost was a Leinster semi final to Laois in Tullamore in 1981.
I accept the point its only the also ran teams Dublin were facing on the road but the decent teams have no hang up’s coming up, playing Dublin in Croke Park and beating them there. Donegal did it last year, Mayo in 2012, Derry, Down, Tyrone, Armagh all beat Dublin in Croke Park on the way to winning All Ireland’s. If you use the same starting point of 1974, Dublin have lost 37 championship matches in Croke Park.
The biggest problem I see in the GAA is that its evolved to a similar type of situation that you had in rugby in the 1980’s and early 90’s. The likes of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa & France were professional in all but name then when it was supposedly still an amateur sport. The rest were competing as amateurs, holding down jobs. Elite counties in the GAA are all but professional in their set up now, the financing of their teams, resources, soft jobs for players. The rest are competing as amateurs and also rans.
[QUOTE=“Tabby, post: 1152641, member: 2142”]What’s the point of them having teams now? In all seriousness like.
At least it would make things meaningful again for the division 2/3 type counties.[/QUOTE]
28 counties have reached a provincial final since 2000. That’s the point and that’s the aim for counties, to try and win a provincial championship. 20 have reached All-Ireland semi-finals in that time-frame, 22 have reached All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Imbalances of money are the elephant in the room now. Dublin have the money. It’s all very well for Dublin to tell other counties to get their house in order when it’s the economic powerhouse of the country, has the most attractive brand in Irish sport and gets more development money than 31 counties put together. Longford can’t negotiate multi-million euro sponsorship deals. Dublin run a professional set up whereas Longford, Fermanagh and Antrim are pub teams in comparison. You don’t have to be a fitness expert to see the difference in the conditioning of the players. A better form of redistribution of funds has to be found to promote competition.
Changing championship formats isn’t going to make a whit of difference to competitiveness as long as that funding gap is there and will likely only make it worse. A tiered championship effectively pulls the rope up on the weaker counties.
[QUOTE=“Sidney, post: 1152667, member: 183”]28 counties have reached a provincial final since 2000. That’s the point and that’s the aim for counties, to try and win a provincial championship. 20 have reached All-Ireland semi-finals in that time-frame, 22 have reached All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Imbalances of money are the elephant in the room now. Dublin have the money. It’s all very well for Dublin to tell other counties to get their house in order when it’s the economic powerhouse of the country, has the most attractive brand in Irish sport and gets more development money than 31 counties put together. Longford can’t negotiate multi-million euro sponsorship deals. Dublin run a professional set up whereas Longford, Fermanagh and Antrim are pub teams in comparison. You don’t have to be a fitness expert to see the difference in the conditioning of the players. A better form of redistribution of funds has to be found to promote competition.
Changing championship formats isn’t going to make a whit of difference to competitiveness as long as that funding gap is there and will likely only make it worse. A tiered championship effectively pulls the rope up on the weaker counties.[/QUOTE]
Nail on thehead there sid
Well said Sid : also can a court injunction be taken on those suggesting " a champions league style format " .
[QUOTE=“Sidney, post: 1152667, member: 183”]28 counties have reached a provincial final since 2000. That’s the point and that’s the aim for counties, to try and win a provincial championship. 20 have reached All-Ireland semi-finals in that time-frame, 22 have reached All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Imbalances of money are the elephant in the room now. Dublin have the money. It’s all very well for Dublin to tell other counties to get their house in order when it’s the economic powerhouse of the country, has the most attractive brand in Irish sport and gets more development money than 31 counties put together. Longford can’t negotiate multi-million euro sponsorship deals. Dublin run a professional set up whereas Longford, Fermanagh and Antrim are pub teams in comparison. You don’t have to be a fitness expert to see the difference in the conditioning of the players. A better form of redistribution of funds has to be found to promote competition.
Changing championship formats isn’t going to make a whit of difference to competitiveness as long as that funding gap is there and will likely only make it worse. A tiered championship effectively pulls the rope up on the weaker counties.[/QUOTE]
The semi final figure is incorrect there, there have only been 14 different semi finalists since 2000 as opposed to 20. 6 from Ulster, 4 from Leinster and 2 each from Connacht and Munster.
I’m also a bit put out that my posts prior to this which covered all these points were largely ignored and people are commending you on repeating them.
[QUOTE=“Nembo Kid, post: 1152700, member: 2514”]The semi final figure is incorrect there, there have only been 14 different semi finalists since 2000 as opposed to 20. 6 from Ulster, 4 from Leinster and 2 each from Connacht and Munster.
I’m also a bit put out that my posts prior to this which covered all these points were largely ignored and people are commending you on repeating them.[/QUOTE]
I fancy Roscommon to rectify that this year.
Cunts are obsessed with this term they’ve been brain washed by sky sports it seems
[QUOTE=“Nembo Kid, post: 1152700, member: 2514”]The semi final figure is incorrect there, there have only been 14 different semi finalists since 2000 as opposed to 20. 6 from Ulster, 4 from Leinster and 2 each from Connacht and Munster.
I’m also a bit put out that my posts prior to this which covered all these points were largely ignored and people are commending you on repeating them.[/QUOTE]
Sorry. What I should have said was that 20 counties (I’m including Louth :)) had either won a provincial championship or reached an All-Ireland semi-final.
The general point stands though.
what is it with the gahliban harping on about how professional they are?
[QUOTE=“Nembo Kid, post: 1152700, member: 2514”]The semi final figure is incorrect there, there have only been 14 different semi finalists since 2000 as opposed to 20. 6 from Ulster, 4 from Leinster and 2 each from Connacht and Munster.
I’m also a bit put out that my posts prior to this which covered all these points were largely ignored and people are commending you on repeating them.[/QUOTE]
I’d say it’s cos people respect Sids views whereas they see you as a crank.
That’s unfortunate as you probably do make good points here and there, but they get lost with the standard ulster chip on the shoulder lark.
they don’t have the same opportunity alright but they’re not hurdling ditches in training either…I thought Longford had some centre of excellence and strength and conditioning facility set up for a good few years now?..
They appear to have an agreement in place towards such but it hasn’t been built yet.
thought they had a Dub doing their S &C in some facility down there for a good few years…
here it is…
[SIZE=6]From stuck in the mud to state-of-the-art[/SIZE]
[SIZE=4]Published 20/01/2013 | 05:00
http://cdn1.independent.ie/migration_catalog/article28939570.ece/a6478/ALTERNATES/w620/gaa-456Open Gallery 1
Longford footballer Michael Quinn with strength and conditioning coach David Hare[/SIZE]
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Longford have gone from using dumbbells on the pitch to a first-rate gym, writes Marie Crowe
When Paul Barden started lifting weights with Longford almost a decade ago, it was very much a novel practice. They used to work out on the training pitch with dumbbells and Olympic bars and when they’d drop the weights they’d sink six inches into the mud. Getting them back out was nearly a workout in itself.
But those days are firmly in the past. Barden and his team-mates now train in a state-of-the-art facility on the outskirts of Longford, equipped to the same standard as the gyms of professional teams.
At their disposal they have an astro-turf area for movement preparation and speed work, an advanced weights area, several TRX suspension trainers, four Airdyne spin bikes, a functional trainer and – look away now Pat Spillane – a medicine ball wall. And every session is supervised by a qualified strength and conditioning coach.
The man behind the gym is the county’s strength and condition coach, Dubliner David Hare, who was first brought in by manager Glenn Ryan. Six months ago he compiled a report for the county board arguing that if they wanted to compete in Division 2, then they needed to improve their facilities.
At that point the team was operating out of two converted squash courts filled with weights in Pearse Park. They were doing their best, but with the league campaign on the horizon the bar was raised. The county board agreed and decided to form a partnership with Hare in the gym. They kitted it out and he works as the county’s coach and runs the gym as part of his Functional Training Ireland business.
The facility is also available for all inter-county teams from 15-year-olds right up to senior, and the ladies too. Every player in the county is exposed to the sessions that the senior squad do. They are working-out in the same environment, use the same equipment but all have individual plans tailored to suit their own needs.
Senior star Michael Quinn hopes that this will have a positive impact on future of Longford football.
“It promotes good habits,” said Quinn. “And when lads are stepping up from minor to under-21 and on to senior there isn’t as big a gap. It takes a while for underage players to make that step up because of physicality, but you’d be hoping that they would be more advanced and ready for it when that comes because they will be doing the right training earlier on.”
The new set-up also promotes injury prevention and for a player like Barden, who is 32, this is vital. In fact, Barden feels that if Hare hadn’t come in as Longford’s strength and conditioning coach when he did three years ago, his career would be well and truly over.
“Before Dave came in I’d spent three years with a bad back injury,” he says. “I was struggling trying to play. I reckoned I shouldn’t be there, but I stayed because I felt I should,” explained Barden.
“I was hardly able to pick the ball up off the ground. I was thinking of giving it up and I had spoken to Glenn Ryan. But then Dave came in and after a couple of months I found that his training was working for me. All the bench weights went out the window; it’s all strength and conditioning, fixing where I need to be fixed. I started to really enjoy my football again.”
But, ultimately, the gym is a business and so is open to the public, including teams; they can sign up for a monthly rate and attend an unlimited amount of classes. This provides an opportunity for them to be coached by professional strength and conditioning coaches and also go toe-to-toe with top-level inter-county footballers. Gowna club footballer Cathaldus Hartin joined up and is benefiting greatly from the training.
“It’s a super facility, you are training in a real high performance environment,” explained Hartin. "From a club team’s point of view, it’s great inspiration to come in and see the county players and to be able to relate their own training to that of the top players. Football training, both club and county, has gone to another level. Club teams are training like county teams were five years ago and county teams are pretty much professional.
“Once you go into the gym here and see what the county lads are doing, you realise that if you are not doing it, you will be left behind. And even looking at the physique of the county players, you realise that if you are going to go out and compete with them at club level then you have to work harder.”
Gregory Bradley of Elite Training and Fitness kitted out the gym for Longford. His company are already working with over half of all county teams in some capacity and he’s found that more and more clubs and counties are interested in having their own state-of-the-art facilities.
"It’s not a fad; one of our main things we find that people are looking for is education. Some treasurers or secretaries wouldn’t have knowledge about the right equipment and would come to us wanting to buy treadmills.
“We’d advise them that they are better off investing in good basic gym equipment that would last a long time. They want to know about this kind of thing.”
At a time when counties are constantly striving to reach the next level, Longford’s vision and openness could spell the way forward for top-level GAA teams.
Sunday Indo Sport
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