Galway v Mayo all Ireland would be epic .
All true but in small pockets.
South East Tipp bordering KK is big hurling country and a big swath of ground too.
Although Commercials are a big successful Football club St Mary’s are working hard to be competitive.
They’ve definitely grown considering it was a hurling wasteland 15 years ago
Fethard have fallen off a cliff too as a club sadly enough, they were a serious footballing hub 25 years ago
In The Hyde. Epic.
How many All-Ireland final pairings of counties which border each other have we had?
Hurling:
Kilkenny v Tipp (many times)
Kilkenny v Waterford (several times)
Offaly v Galway (twice)
Galway v Tipperary (a few times)
Clare v Tipp
Limerick v Cork
Tipperary v Laois?
Football:
Tyrone v Armagh (the big one)
Cork v Kerry
Offaly v Galway (a small border mainly in hurling country)
Meath v Cavan
Neighbouring counties which have never met in an All-Ireland final
Hurling:
Limerick v Clare (2018 a very near miss)
Wexford v Kilkenny (2019 a very near miss)
Tipperary v Offaly (1989 a near miss)
Clare v Galway (2005 a near miss)
Cork v Waterford
Cork v Tipp
Limerick v Tipp
Waterford v Tipp
Waterford v Wexford
The big ones in football which have never happened would be:
Galway v Mayo
Dublin v Meath (nearly met in the 2001 semi-final)
Dublin v Kildare
Armagh v Down
Derry v Tyrone
2 Likes
Donegal vs Derry or Tyrone would be massive if it happened
We need to get back to the great Kerry vs Waterford battles of yore
2 Likes
I don’t think Donegal are particularly disliked by either Derry or Tyrone, who hate each other.
Donegal v Tyrone was a big rivalry from about 2011 up to 2016/17, but it was more because they were the two top teams in Ulster than due to simmering border dislike.
While Donegal does border both Derry and Tyrone, it’s sort of removed from both in GAA terms. The Donegal-Tyrone border is mainly comprised of sitka spruce. You have that Strabane-Lifford juxtaposition alright, but neither would be identified as being particular GAA hotspots.
Where Derry meets Donegal - Derry City and Inishowen - is mainly association football territory. The GAA heartlands of each county are a good bit away from each other.
Whereas with Derry-Tyrone, Tyrone-Armagh and Armagh-Down, they’re right on top of each other.
Limerick v Clare obviously has that same dynamic in the hurling.
1 Like
The only team Mayo would beat in an All Ireland final.
1 Like
I’m even more surprised that Jack O’ Connor got the Kerry job in late 2003 having been beaten by Waterford in U21’s the same year. No wonder the O’ Sé’s were sceptical.
[/quote]
Derry are a quality side but with their manager gone it will be interesting to see how they will evolve. The gameplan last year had it’s limitations. It meant Galway comfortably beat them, Galway are not comfortably better than them. Very capable of winning the AI for me.
[/quote]
They’ll need to kick more than the 1-6 and 0-11 they managed on their last two visits to Croker.
I’d take it.
Am I right in saying that the semi final draws will still follow traditional lines with the Connacht champions due to face Munster this year and Leinster vs Ulster? Which in this case it’s likely that Mayo filling the Munster champions slot? And if so is a Galway vs Mayo semi final a possibility then?
1 Like
Derry are a quality side but with their manager gone it will be interesting to see how they will evolve. The gameplan last year had it’s limitations. It meant Galway comfortably beat them, Galway are not comfortably better than them. Very capable of winning the AI for me.
[/quote]
They’ll need to kick more than the 1-6 and 0-11 they managed on their last two visits to Croker.
[/quote]
They will. I think they’re capable, but have generally been stone useless in Croke Park, much like us up until last year.
1 Like
No, the semis will be an open draw, repeat matches to be avoided.
You sure about that?
I thought it reverted to type once we get to the semis
i thought the same.
I have no idea. You’d think from a publicity point of view alone you’re much better off making draws.
I was speaking to Pat Gilroy on Sunday below in Portlaoise and he said the lads are purring in training
They’d be a lot easier on him now given their own stellar records at U20 level management.
Is the standard of inter-county football management the lowest it’s been in a long time? Like I think it was a lot stronger a decade ago or so when you had Jim Gavin, Jim McGuinness and Rory Gallagher, James Horan, Eamon Fitzmaurice, Conor Counihan and Malachy O’Rourke knocking around.
I was thinking there who are the best managers in inter-county football right now and the pickings look slim enough.
Rory Gallagher probably would have been top of the list but he’s gone now.
Podrick Joyce and Davy Burke look about the best of what’s out there. Jack O’Connor on longevity but Kerry don’t seem to be going great right now. Mickey Harte is still right up there.
Kevin McStay has done well up to now but the jury is still out, though he does have a good assistant in Stephen Rochford.
Dessie Farrell and Brian Dooher/Fergal Logan have won All-Irelands as managers but are under clouds, as is Kieran McGeeney.
Glenn Ryan’s tenure with Kildare looks to be petering out, John Cleary is trucking along with Cork without making any great impression either way. Colm O’Rourke’s tenure with Meath has been a bit of a disaster.
You’d probably say Colm Collins and Mickey Graham are in the higher reaches based on historic achievement with meagre resources. Vinny Corey has done surprisingly well in his first year. I don’t even know who’s over Donegal currently.
I’ve a feeling Conor Laverty could be the coming force. He’s one of the very few out there you’d think might have the ability to improve a team significantly in the way Jim McGuinness and James Horan did with Donegal and Mayo from 2011 on.