Sadly If they werenāt played nobody would have really noticed.
Another competition ruined by the gaa.
Standard plummeted as well.
Fair play to na Fianna but compare that final to ballyhale and Portuma. Itās night and day stuff.
Weād bate the pick of them!
2 Likes
Enjoy the celebrations.
Iām delighted for Brian and Charlie.
1 Like
There was 31k there on Sunday which is high for club finals. Very few club finals can compare with Portumna v Ballyhale from a pure talent point of view. That sort of match up is extremely rare.
That wonāt stop him pissing vinegar
1 Like
The standard across the board is down. The semi finals the same.
Itās nothing against the current champions.
Just no point dressing it up pretending itās a better standard like some people insist on here.
The year before the Ballyhale final Portumna beat DLS in the final by 19 points. Any year a Munster club scrapes their way to the final you can end up with very disappointing fare.
Its amazing the lies lads will spout on the INTERNET to try piss in someones cornflakes.
Just looked back to the 2015 finals to see how things compared, itās actually very similar. Kilmallock were the Munster representatives, made a holy show of themselves and were hammered by the Leinster champions. Ulster champions beaten in the football by a better footballing side. Was played on St Patrickās Day but this years finals had a bigger attendance.
Shur look it. We know. We were there. Iād be worried thereās a few harmless lads on here who would believe the lies though. The Club finals are a grand niche event, best viewed back in the day skulling pints in a pub preferably far far away from Dublin.
Iād often tip along to the club finals but this years edition lacked the romance of other years. Great to see 2 new winners but both Dublin clubs, and they up against a Tyrone and Cork outfit. Last year had little St Thomasās, Glen and Brigids, of much greater interest to the neutral.
1 Like
As a neutral, I enjoyed this yearās championships even though the finals were a bit of a non event.
Some lads want to see the likes of Ballyhale, Ballygunnar etc. every year in Croke Park or in the past Nemo/Crossmaglen in football. The new names this year made it more appealing in my eyes
6 Likes
As per usual the zealots try and twist things.
Nobody said that.
What was said repeatedly was that the standard is higher due to the split season.
It is not higher. Itās fallen off a cliff.
Clearly not given it attracted only 18k compared to this yearās 31k.
1 Like
The zealots tying themselves in knots as the dawning realisation is they didnāt just destroy the inter county championships as well as the club championships.
I thought @Halfpipe did lovely self-knotting exercise there with his hot takes on attendances.
His propaganda narrative is that the January dates are actually more attractive than St. Patrickās Day in terms of attracting attendances.
As evidence for this he declares that the 2025 finals in January got a bigger crowd (31k) than the 2015 finals held on Paddyās Day (29,752).
Then he goes off and ties the knot tighter and says the 2024 finals (18k) were of much greater interest to the neutral than the 2025 finals (31k).
Heās obviously prioritising the interests of TV viewers over match going supporters here.
Now a dog on the street could tell you that the reason the 2025 finals attracted a realtively āhighā attendance was that there were two Dublin clubs involved and thus the ādouble headerā was somewhat attractive to the general Dublin sporting public. There was also a big Cork club involved and the generally accepted standard bearers of Tyrone football, probably the biggest club in Tyrone, with box office players, namely the Canavans.
And that the 2015 finals involved four villages.
But no, @Halfpipe says it was the January dates that attracted them.
Conversely, @Halfpipe kindly explains to us that a significantly lower attendance in 2024 v 2025 (18k v 31k) demonstrates MUCH GREATER interest in 2024. 
Itās like Trump saying āI had the biggest crowd EVA.ā
Youād have to laugh at the absurdity of some lads reaching for their spin. Not so much a few granules of Michael Atherton dirt to rub on the ball, but an entire pocketful.
I see the split season zealots have degraded the Munster Hurling Final down to a Saturday fixture this year.
Probably a lunchtime throw in too shur why not.
See all the buses on the way to gowran park today.
Youād never see people travel by bus anymore to big gaa games.
The sport is being lost to the grass root fans. Itās being designed for the upper class fans who watch rugby and nfl.
Hooters and stop clocks and offside makes.
Itās beyond horrendous.
I think there have been some excellent games in the football this year particularly with Cuala and Errigal and there were a good few exciting games dotted around the various latter stages of county championships and provincials. The Tyrone SFC obviously remains the benchmark for cut throat competition and excitement.
I think the one week gap from semi-final to final in the football was a disgrace, particularly for Errigal given their semi-final had gone to extra-time. Cuala had an easier semi-final. I donāt think Errigal collapse in the first half of the final if thereās a two or three week gap. Often with teams who are tired due to short gaps itās early in the game it shows and the gap is too much to make up even if they manage to awaken from their slumber. It reminded me of how Waterford went out against Limerick in 2007 on their third week on the go and found themselves 13 or 14 points down after 20 minutes. Itās a physical thing somewhat but itās probably even more a mental thing. The mental task of raising yourself for another prize fight so soon after the last is very difficult.
Errigal deserve great credit for their magnificent second half fight back but the gap was always going to be too much. Even another week and itās a very different game I think.
In the hurling the standard does seem to have levelled off and I think this was a pretty weak championship overall. Sarsfields pulled one rabbit out of the hat by beating a Ballygunner team who always have one collapse in them, but there havenāt been too many weaker teams than them to reach a final over the years. There are no outstanding teams on the club hurling scene at the moment, itās a bit of a valley period.