Unpopular GAA opinions you hold

DoctaDee

If you're asked to do umpire/the line for your local club it's because they know you'll try to ride the away team ...

Mal-Adjusted

I know it'd go down like a ton of bricks, but I really think the football championship should be tiered and it's links cut from the provinces and instead linked to league position. Top two divisions play for Sam while division 3 and 4 teams play for a separate trophy (for the sake of argument, call it the Gooch cup)

The likes of Waterford/Carlow simply can't compete and at best might get the odd win over another no-hoper. Clare put in a great performance at the weekend, but for what? they're just going to be swatted aside by Kerry as if they weren't there. That does nothing for either Clare or Kerry. there's little point to a competition with a tiny handful of teams capable of competing and 20+ also-rans.

Kieran81

MacBizzle wrote: »

In a positive or negative sense? As in, would they destroy every team or be destroyed by every team?

in my opinion , kerry would be comprehensively beaten by every single one of them, speed , athleticism , tactically , versatility , time on the ball , all these areas on a different level to that generation . honestly think after 20 minutes they wouldnt be able to catch their breath

should also add that usually people say something along the lines of x player from today wouldn't last 5 minutes in a game from back then , he'd be essentially taken out by a hit/dig/collision that doesnt take place nowadays, i think this is ridiculous , if modern players with the physiques that are now common place at top level intercounty football were allowed hit players from that generation like they could back then the gap between the two would be bigger

BUNK1982

Kieran81 wrote: »

in my opinion , kerry would be comprehensively beaten by every single one of them, speed , athleticism , tactically , versatility , time on the ball , all these areas on a different level to that generation . honestly think after 20 minutes they wouldnt be able to catch their breath

Probably not if you made the AI winners of the last 10 years adhere to a 70's/ 80's training and preparation routine...

Kieran81

BUNK1982 wrote: »

Probably not if you made the AI winners of the last 10 years adhere to a 70's/ 80's training and preparation routine...

well thats kind of my point , the game (and by default its preparation) is always progressing to higher levels. i'm sure in 15/20 years those all ireland winners will be operating on a higher level again

mickmackey1

Kieran81 wrote: »

kerry would be comprehensively beaten by every single one of them, speed , athleticism , tactically , versatility , time on the ball

Interesting you left out 'skill' there

The_Banker

There is no need for the vast majority of GAA stadiums in Ireland.

There should be 1 stadium of Croke Park standard in each province.

Many stadiums are vanity projects, which never reach capacity, have terrible facilities and are dangerous. Most wouldnt receive a safety cert outside Ireland.

The GAA should have a national stadium stragety rather than a county driven stragety.

WesternZulu

The_Banker wrote: »

There is no need for the vast majority of GAA stadiums in Ireland.

There should be 1 stadium of Croke Park standard in each province.

Many stadiums are vanity projects, which never reach capacity, have terrible facilities and are dangerous. Most wouldnt receive a safety cert outside Ireland.

The GAA should have a national stadium stragety rather than a county driven stragety.

I agree with all of this!!

We have a case where every county feels the need to build monster white elephants in an effort to outdo their neighbours.

And the focus purely seems to be on capacity, with little consideration for spectator comfort.
Ireland is an especially rainy country, it's ridiculous that most stadiums have only one covered area. At least 3/4 of every ground should be covered.

AugustusMinimus

I'll have to change my mind about the Clare fans. Outnumbered about 4:1 yesterday and spent the entire day moaning about a referee who in truth was bad to both sides equally.

Mal-Adjusted

in fairness, there's no shortage of moaning about this and that from the losing team. we had to put up with week after week of "forty seven seconds!" back in September. Cavan were going on about one of their players being targeted before their loss to Armagh, despite them being the ones who rushed in and started the brawl

Dirty Dingus McGee

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Interesting you left out 'skill' there

Skill would be miles ahead as well in the majority of cases. A lot of aimless hoofing of the ball went on in the 70's and the amount of throwing the ball that teams got away with back then was shocking.

dirkmeister

I don't think it's fair to compare teams from 40 years ago to teams nowadays. It's also pretty pointless. Its like comparing maradona and messi, can't people just enjoy them for what they are/ were?

Kerry beat everyone put in front of them, therefore they were the best...by some distance.

andyman

Diarmuid Connolly is the best footballer in the country and has been for a couple of years now.

DDC1990

andyman wrote: »

Diarmuid Connolly is the best footballer in the country and has been for a couple of years now.

Connolly is the overrated IMO.

He is hailed for his performance against Castlebar, where he was left roam the field against an average Full Back, who won't get near the Mayo team.

He is a top player when given space, but a tight man marker shows him up as a limited scorer under pressure.

He is blessed to be in a team with Brogan x2, McMannamon, Andrews, O'Gara etc. where he often doesn't face a teams best man marker.

Not saying he's a bad player, but in my opinion he's more Top 20 then the best player.

Off the top of my head and in no order I'd have the following ahead of him for "best player in Ireland": Paul Flynn, MDMA, B. Brogan, Cluxton, James O'Donaghue, Colm Cooper, Marc Ó Sé Brian Hurley, Michael Murphy, Seán Cavanagh (despite the diving as I mentioned earlier), Colm Boyle, Ger Caffarkey.

CurryFlavoured

Connolly being one of the best around is a myth tbh, and I'm a Dub and a fan of his.

He's never been consistent, earlier on in his career he was more likely to lose you the game and even now on form he doesn't measure with someone like the Gooch for example. In last years AI final Lee Keegan marked him out of the game and even got a couple of scores himself, that's no slight on Diarmuid because Keegan is outstanding but that shouldn't happen to the best player in the country. He's fantastic on his day, probably one of the best but all things considered he definitely isn't the best.

Hammar

Paul Flynn is the best footballer in Ireland right now in my opinion.
He is an outstanding fielder of the ball,very good ball carrier and has very good feet.He is also a terrific athlete. He is just a great all round football player.
The only player i would place ahead of him would be a full fit Gooch.

CurryFlavoured

I'd be more inclined to agree with that Hammar.

Flynn has everything you would want from a half forward - clean catches, breaks, tackling, gets up and down the field very well, great shot and pass accuracy. He's not as stylish as someone like Connolly but I'd definitely say he's one of the most effective players in the country.

Kieran81

dirkmeister wrote: »

I don't think it's fair to compare teams from 40 years ago to teams nowadays. It's also pretty pointless. Its like comparing maradona and messi, can't people just enjoy them for what they are/ were?

Kerry beat everyone put in front of them, therefore they were the best...by some distance.

they're constantly referred to as the greatest team to play the game, comparison will go hand in hand with that , sure they were the best of their era , i just believe modern football is played at level they weren't even remotely close to.
as for me not mentioning skill , i thought it went without saying , these days every player on the pitch is expected to perform all the skills ie forwards tackling effectively , backs scoring points regularly and all of this done at much higher pace with far less time on the ball

TCDStudent1

CurryFlavoured wrote: »

Connolly being one of the best around is a myth tbh, and I'm a Dub and a fan of his.

He's never been consistent, earlier on in his career he was more likely to lose you the game and even now on form he doesn't measure with someone like the Gooch for example. In last years AI final Lee Keegan marked him out of the game and even got a couple of scores himself, that's no slight on Diarmuid because Keegan is outstanding but that shouldn't happen to the best player in the country. He's fantastic on his day, probably one of the best but all things considered he definitely isn't the best.

But there is not one sportsperson in the history of sport that has never had a bad game.

I agree with you that he was average earlier in his career. Actually, I often wondered why Dublin fans hyped him up so much. Its debatable if he is better than Cooper. But I'd certainly have them in the same bracket of current top players in the country.

TCDStudent1

DDC1990 wrote: »

Connolly is the overrated IMO.

He is hailed for his performance against Castlebar, where he was left roam the field against an average Full Back, who won't get near the Mayo team.

He is a top player when given space, but a tight man marker shows him up as a limited scorer under pressure.

He is blessed to be in a team with Brogan x2, McMannamon, Andrews, O'Gara etc. where he often doesn't face a teams best man marker.

Not saying he's a bad player, but in my opinion he's more Top 20 then the best player.

Off the top of my head and in no order I'd have the following ahead of him for "best player in Ireland": Paul Flynn, MDMA, B. Brogan, Cluxton, James O'Donaghue, Colm Cooper, Marc Ó Sé Brian Hurley, Michael Murphy, Seán Cavanagh (despite the diving as I mentioned earlier), Colm Boyle, Ger Caffarkey.

I dont know how who can come to this conclusion. How many times have we seen Connolly get the ball with back to goal, the back as close he can be, Connolly just turns and pops it over? That is almost Connollys trademark, similar to Bernard Brogan. They are both unmarkable when they are in top form.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Darren Hughes is the best all round footballer in Ireland at the can play in any position (including goals) and would improve every team in Ireland.

DDC1990

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I dont know how who can come to this conclusion. How many times have we seen Connolly get the ball with back to goal, the back as close he can be, Connolly just turns and pops it over? That is almost Connollys trademark, similar to Bernard Brogan. They are both unmarkable when they are in top form.

No his trademark is kicking points from 40 yards out with no one really tight to him. He loves floating long range points over from either side of the pitch. Great skill but totally different to Brogan who can score with any number of players trying to mark him.

He's also a real confidence player, if he misses his first shot, he'll struggle to make his mark on the match IMO.

Again, I don't want it to seem like I'm bashing him, but I cannot have him ranked as the best in Ireland when he's just about Top 5 in his own team IMO.

DoctaDee

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Darren Hughes is the best all round footballer in Ireland at the can play in any position (including goals) and would improve every team in Ireland.

Welcome to Boards.ie Darren

TCDStudent1

DDC1990 wrote: »

No his trademark is kicking points from 40 yards out with no one really tight to him. He loves floating long range points over from either side of the pitch. Great skill but totally different to Brogan who can score with any number of players trying to mark him.

He's also a real confidence player, if he misses his first shot, he'll struggle to make his mark on the match IMO.

Again, I don't want it to seem like I'm bashing him, but I cannot have him ranked as the best in Ireland when he's just about Top 5 in his own team IMO.

I'd disagree with you on this. But lets say there is nobody tight on him. Surely, that is a sign of just how good a player he is, he can find space. If he is capable of kicking points from 40 yards (which he can do with both feet), then surely the defender would stick tight to him. It is a credit to him that he can find such space.

I agree that he is a confidence player alright. And that really held him back when he came onto the Dublin team first.

What 4 Dublin forwards would you have ahead of him? B. Brogan, P.Flynn. are the only 2 I could possibly have ahead of him.....And in saying that, I find it difficult to put P.Flynn ahead of him because he is a totally different type of player and I dont like comparing players that bring different strengths to the team.

Dirty Dingus McGee

DoctaDee wrote: »

Welcome to Boards.ie Darren

I think he is a great player and I'd love to see him play for Offaly he's strong, good ball winner, can kick a score, can defend , carry the ball well and can play in a variety of positions.If I was picking my best 15 in ireland at the moment he'd be in it.

Boom__Boom

DDC1990 wrote: »

He's also a real confidence player, if he misses his first shot, he'll struggle to make his mark on the match IMO.

Its a pity there isn't some stats to see how he does in games when his first shot goes over versus when it doesn't.

Boom__Boom

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I'd disagree with you on this. But lets say there is nobody tight on him. Surely, that is a sign of just how good a player he is, he can find space. If he is capable of kicking points from 40 yards (which he can do with both feet), then surely the defender would stick tight to him. It is a credit to him that he can find such space.

More often that not a forward finding space is all about a defender not marking properly or else the team defending having adopted the wrong tactics in terms of their defensive approach.

It's rarely the case that it's as a result of a player being especially good at finding space.

Amprodude

Kerry winning 5 All Ireland's in the 2000's werent the team of the decade, Tyrone were. Kerry never beat Tyrone in.that period.

Waterford were the most overrated hurling team of the 2000s of that time and never could perform when a gun was held to their head.

keeponhurling

Amprodude wrote: »

Kerry winning 5 All Ireland's in the 2000's werent the team of the decade, Tyrone were. Kerry never beat Tyrone in.that period.

That's actually a popular opinion , even in Kerry

AngeGal

Niall Finnegan was the most under rated forward of the last two decades.

Dublin will not retain Sam this year.

McGeeney did a good job with Kildare.

GBXI

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I'd disagree with you on this. But lets say there is nobody tight on him. Surely, that is a sign of just how good a player he is, he can find space. If he is capable of kicking points from 40 yards (which he can do with both feet), then surely the defender would stick tight to him. It is a credit to him that he can find such space.

I agree that he is a confidence player alright. And that really held him back when he came onto the Dublin team first.

What 4 Dublin forwards would you have ahead of him? B. Brogan, P.Flynn. are the only 2 I could possibly have ahead of him.....And in saying that, I find it difficult to put P.Flynn ahead of him because he is a totally different type of player and I dont like comparing players that bring different strengths to the team.

You're talking a lot of rubbish here kid. Connolly's trademark is gliding through space in the half-forward line and clipping points over the bar off either foot from distance. The exact opposite of receiving the ball with a marker touch tight and shooting over his shoulder like B Brogan does regularly.

Paul Flynn is exactly what Connolly should aspire to. Flynn is by a distance the best half-forward in Ireland. All Star 3 years running, excellent tackler, supremely fit, good fielder, can score from either foot, and is a goal threat. Connolly has the ability to do all of the above, he just very rarely shows it.

blue note

I don’t actually care all that much about winning. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great and I certainly celebrate a win, but I’d never be too think after losing. I just enjoy playing, whether we win, lose or draw. I actually just don’t get how some guys take it so seriously.

When it comes to intercounty though, I love supporting Waterford and winning becomes very important.

GBXI

blue note wrote: »

I don’t actually care all that much about winning. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great and I certainly celebrate a win, but I’d never be too think after losing. I just enjoy playing, whether we win, lose or draw. I actually just don’t get how some guys take it so seriously.

When it comes to intercounty though, I love supporting Waterford and winning becomes very important.

Again, I'm not being a smart-ass but you haven't actually expressed an opinion here, more your preferences and the enjoyment you get from playing!

Amprodude

Joe Canning is overrated.

Prop Joe

7 a side hurling should be promoted hugely in non-traditional hurling areas.With the finals played at a blitz type weekend ala Kilmacud 7's

blue note

GBXI wrote: »

Again, I'm not being a smart-ass but you haven't actually expressed an opinion here, more your preferences and the enjoyment you get from playing!

I think you are however being pedantic. It's a thought / feeling that goes against the way the vast majority in the GAA feel.

Frankie Lee

AngeGal wrote: »

McGeeney did a good job with Kildare.

Hardly unpopular for anyone who knows anything about football. Niall Finnegan was good all right.

deadybai

John Mullane wasn't all that great

adrian522

Mullane was possibly the best forward of the last 10 or 12 years. His scoring average from play puts him among the best ever to play the game.

MacBizzle

adrian522 wrote: »

Mullane was possibly the best forward of the last 10 or 12 years. His scoring average from play puts him among the best ever to play the game.

His average points per game was 2.7 and his average goals per game was 0.3

Fireball07

AngeGal wrote: »

Niall Finnegan was the most under rated forward of the last two decades.

Dublin will not retain Sam this year.

McGeeney did a good job with Kildare.

The 1st one is interesting. Good player alright, but most underrated? Hmm... he isn't talked about much but was he that good? I guess that's why you think he's underrated.

harpsman

keeponhurling wrote: »

That's actually a popular opinion , even in Kerry

Not acording to spillane-if thats worth anything. Its a tough call-between 04 and 09 Kerry won 4 and lost 2 finals. 03-08 Tyrone won 3 but werent close the other years, but I think you have to give it to Tyrone for the head to head record.

adrian522

MacBizzle wrote: »

His average points per game was 2.7 and his average goals per game was 0.3

In championship he averaged 3.8 points per game. All from play. For comparison, Shefflin 3.38, Eddie Brennan 3.04, Eoin Kelly 2.96 were all short of that total (In terms of scores from play).

He was a scoring machine.

harpsman

intellectual dosser wrote: »

You're nearly there....

The reality is that as a competition the Leinster Championship is redundant because Dublin are so far ahead of the pack. The only way to fix that is to do away with the Leinster Championship

(Going back to my own unpopular opinion of removing all provincials)

Is removing provincial championships an unpopular opinion? I hear it much more than the opinion of retaing them.

And as others have said the provincial championships give nearly every team in Ireland something to play for.
How many people are going to watch a dead rubber group game between say kerry and offaly? about 200, id say.

ciarriaithuaidh

harpsman wrote: »

Is removing provincial championships an unpopular opinion? I hear it much more than the opinion of retaing them.

And as others have said the provincial championships give nearly every team in Ireland something to play for.
How many people are going to watch a dead rubber group game between say kerry and offaly? about 200, id say.

That wouldn't happen if a properly structured championship was put in place obviously..

deadybai

Wouldn't Mullane have played a good few games in the qualifiers against weaker opposition? I think he was a good player but he just lacked something that made him great like Shefflin and D.j Carey. What was Dj's average from play?

harpsman

patsman07 wrote: »

The old championship system of straight knock-out and only provincial winners contesting All-Ireland semi-finals was better. It led to more exciting games imo.

Because the new system gives teams a second chance it leads to more demands on players in terms of training. Teams like Dublin, Kerry/Tyrone can afford to invest excessive time money and effort into their training as they have the insurance that it won't be all over after one game at the beginning of June.

First point wrong-the qualifiers have improved the championship by miles.

Your 2nd point is just irrational gobbledygook. It makes no sense at all. Sorry

harpsman

CurryFlavoured wrote: »

McAuley is a little overrated and shouldn't have won POTY last year, Lee Keegan should have.

Marc O'Sé is the best of the 3 O'Sés but he plays the least fashionable position.

Id say Flynn was the best player last year. If McAuley wasnt so greedy and crap at shooting he woulda been poty.

Na, Tomas was the best.

MacBizzle

adrian522 wrote: »

In championship he averaged 3.8 points per game. All from play. For comparison, Shefflin 3.38, Eddie Brennan 3.04, Eoin Kelly 2.96 were all short of that total (In terms of scores from play).

He was a scoring machine.

Just out of curiosity, where do you get these stats? It'd be interesting to have a look at some others

harpsman

eigrod wrote: »

As I see it, from the 23 non-Ulster Counties, it is extremely unlikely that any County other than Dublin, Cork or Kerry will win an All Ireland Football Championship in the next 30 years.

Mayo may have a chance, but I think history shows they won't.

Why are you ruling out galway and Meath?