ffsing ?
nembo has kev rattled, on a daily basis kev is fucking up on gga threads
Yes.
I was watching Cafferky chase around after him ffs
No, you weren’t mate.
Judging by this season, do we think the gap between the big 4 and the rest is beginning to narrow?
Mayo’s team has been backboned by the 2006 u21 team which means alot of those lads are creeping up on their 30s now. I don’t know if age will be such an issue for them as it’s not like they have had to expend anywhere near the energy or effort Donegal have had to in that time period as they can comfortably taper their plans for August every year. The mental toll of having being there and blowing such great chances is sure to have a negative impact sooner rather than later.
Donegal look a spent force and are bound to be hit by a number of retirements next year. I think it will be for the best with them, time to give the new faces a chance to come in and establish themselves. I envisage a period of transition for them where they will still be a dangerous proposition but ultimately a level off being serious contenders.
Dublin haven’t carried the same invincible feel about them this year and a lot of their key players of recent years seem like they might be past their best, MacAuley and Flynn are two, Connolly also nowhere near the level of the last few years. The Brogans now in their 30s and and a high chance Cluxton might call it a day. Again age may not be as big a factor here as they like Mayo can tailor their plans for August every year.
Kerry have by far the oldest age profile of the big teams and I’d say you’re likely to see a raft of retirements this summer. The defence also looks vulnerable and are still relying on lads in their mid 30s to shore it up. They could possibly lose a few of their attack as well. Once again, age may not be such a telling factor as these lads have been able to preserve themselves until August every year.
I would definitely have Tyrone in that grouping now, 2 semi-final appearances in the past 3 years and really had the opportunities to beat Kerry the last day out. They have a very young side and should push on next year, claim an Ulster title and take it from there.
Then you have the next tier, teams with little chance of winning it but capable of putting it up to the big teams and catching them on an off day, here you’d have teams like Monaghan, Armagh, Meath, Kildare, Galway, Derry and Cork.
Monaghan and Cork are kind of in limbo, they both have a lot of guys who have been on the road for a long time now and probably need to start weeding them out and focusing on the future.
Meath, Kildare, Derry, Armagh and Galway have all very young squads bar one or two experienced heads and should really be looking to kick on and make some inroads in next season’s championship. The two Leinster sides need to abandon the naive football they play and develop a much harder edge to them, they both have some nice footballers but should look how Galway presented themselves this year and were able to give some of the big sides a game and grind out other good results.
Cavan, Roscommon and Tipperary are still an awful long way off doing anything noticeable at Championship level.
The draw will make a dfference next year with Dublin and Kerry likely to be on the same side. So the oppurtunity should be there for Mayo to make one more push for an All-Ireland with this team. They’ll have Galway in Castlebar next year if they play them. Cafferkey, Higgins, Barrett, Cunniffe, Boyle, Seamus O’Shea, Barry Moran, Ronaldson and Conroy are the current panel members who played on that 2006 u-21 team. Dillon and Andy Moran are older again. A fit Evan Regan or Michael Conroy might have got them over the line against Dublin this year.
I expect Tyrone to push on again, as long as they don’t commit hari-kari by getting rid of Harte, with a few more under-21s to come through.
Kerry will have Cork in Killarney again. But if Cork lose on the first day out against Kerry next year they could actually benefit. That’s presuming the current pattern of dates for provincial finals and the way it fits into the new A/B back door system continues.
The current sytem of dates sees the Munster final on the first Sunday in July every year and the Ulster final on the third Sunday. Leinster and Connacht alternate between the second and third Sundays.
If this holds, next year the Connacht final will be on the second Sunday in July with the Leinster final on the third Sunday.
This would, in theory, mean that the Munster champions would meet the beaten Connacht finalists (or the team that beats them in qualifier Round 4) in the quarter-finals with the Connacht champions meeting the beaten Munster finalists, with the same type of pairings occuring between Leinster and Ulster teams.
This means you could have similar quarter-finals to 2014, in the same way that the 2015 quarter-finals worked out quite similarly to 2013. But the semi-final pairings would work out differently to 2014, with Leinster v Munster and Ulster v Connacht.
A Mayo-Cork quarter-final looks a good long range possibility in the A section, with Dublin meeting the defeated Ulster finalists in the quarter-final, presumably Donegal, Tyrone or Monaghan, on the other side of the draw.
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Kerry have been in transition for two years now. James o d, Buckley, o brien and geaney will carry the forwards. I can’t see all of gooch, donaghy, d Walsh going either. There midfield is in place for a few years too. Add in Tommy Walsh who is bound to come good too. They are short on backs. They really need a 3 and a 6. Last two minor teams have been really really good so you’d assume a few of them will be coming through. Tyrone can’t be mentioned in the same league as Mayo, Dublin and Kerry just yet. They lost to an ageing Donegal team and They were lucky to meet Monaghan in q/f who have a serious inferiority complex
Against them. Another good showing next year and you can count them in. Agree re Dublin talks of them having 40 quality players is nonsense. There forwards all look a little bit past it.
#waffle
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Yes, they can as they are the only team to crash the big four’s hold on the semis in the past few years and what’s more is they did it twice. Kerry’s midfield is great but Maher is tipping on 30 now. You have the likes of Cooper, Donaghy, Walsh, Sheehan, Galvin, O’Mahony, O’Se and probably more all in their 30s now. I don’t expect them to fall away, I would still expect them to be serious contenders next year but I think they’re only going to get weaker. Also worth remembering Moran has done his cruciate twice so I would expect his knees will begin to play up at some stage.
The Donegal that Tyrone lost to this year was a different animal altogether than the one that went out to Mayo in the Championship. Donegal simply can’t go from May - Sept anymore and I’m not sure Kerry would be able to either but it’s not something they have to worry about at all.
As for Tyrone being lucky to meet Monaghan, yes it might have been the easiest draw for them and the weakest provinicial finalist on paper but Tyrone had the toughest path to the semi-final of the last four teams involved.
Slim Jim pointed the finger at Cillian O’Connor for Brogan’s goal on Saturday.
They had to beat Limerick, Tipp, Sligo and Meath to get to the q/f and then they meet as you said the weakest provincial winner on paper. Nothing tough about Tyrones path to the semis either.
Tyrone played two Div 1 teams, a Div 2 team and three Div 3 teams on their way to the SF.
Dublin played two Div 2 teams and a Div 3 team.
Mayo and Kerry both played one Div 1 team, one Div 2 team and one Div 3 team.
Tyrone had the most difficult path of the four semi-finalists.
Fuck off with that league shit. You said yourself Tipp are crap, Limerick are crap, Meath are no great shakes and Sligo are crap too. They meet one decent team with an inferiority complex in Monaghan. They meet two of last years top four sides this year and lost both games. Tbf Tyrone are prob ahead of Donegal know in the chasing pack but still a bit off Kerry, Dubs and Mayo. Until they go and beat one of these teams you can’t say they are at the same level of them.
Kerry will make shit of Dublin.especially with O sullivan out.
Dublin could destroy that Kerry defense.
they won’t get the chance to. Kerry will bunch the whole thing.but dublin will allow Kerry forwards space. O sullivan dropping to centre back saved them in 2013 after Kerry scored 3 first half goals. he won’t be there next week. its going to be car crash for dubs.
I fucking hope so.
I know the DRA is a legal body independent of the GAA but is it the very last avenue of appeal for any player looking to get a suspension thrown out?
Heard from a normally reliable source over the weekend that Dublin made it clear to the DRA they would go to the High Court if the DRA did not clear Connolly. Obviously the DRA heard the case on the Friday night, the match was on the next day so time constraints would have prevented Connolly from going down this route so that’s why he was cleared to play. If they went to the High Court and got an emergency injunction or whatever the match would have had to be postponed and imagine the outcry of that.
Will be interesting to see when they release the reason/s he was allowed play.