2019 All Ireland Senior Football Championship *Mod note: Post #1*

jimmytwotimes 2013

The problem with the Super 8s is that there aren't 8 competitive teams, in the country, at the top level. There never was, to be fair.

Does it really matter how you slice it up?

Provincial grounds might improve things for the neutral Super 8 games, Croke Park is a disaster.

But, in recent past, there might only be one team to push Dubs into 3rd gear no matter how you shake it up.

Bunny Colvin

Downlinz wrote: »

I know it might seem that way when victories by 16 points have become the norm but a game won by 5 points isn't exactly close. Neither should their rivalry with Kerry or Mayo be described as a struggle when they have a 4 and 5 match winning streak against them in the championship and haven't lost to either in 7 years.
Some people are reaching the point of inventing competition and threats for the Dubs now to keep themselves interested.

TBH, I always thought there was some strong hate directed at Mayo from some quarters in Dublin(a lot on social media, granted). I think a lot of it was just so that they could have some sort of rivalry. They were close games but they still beat us every time - going all the way back to 2012. I always felt a lot of it was superficial.

Their traditional Leinster rivals, Meath, haven't been competitive with them in years - sure look at their game against them this year. Kerry will now go back to their current squeeze as they're looking good again.

namloc1980

Man Vs ManUre wrote: »

Roscommon haven’t been to a semi final since 1991. Had the format not been changed back in the late 90s or whenever it was they would have been to 3 or 4 semi finals in this time. Don’t think any other county has performed so badly as provencial winners.

It just shows that the provincial championships are long past their sell by date.

jr86

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

it is only now you would expect to see the best of mayo

Yeah - we said we wouldn't bother in Connacht or the back door (even after losing in it last year,), and wait till the 2nd game in super 8 before we start actually playing. Even though a Donegal win tomorrow would basically knock us out.

Man Vs ManUre

This super 8 experiment is a load of crap. Some ould codger that sits in the vip seats in Croke Park for every football and hurling final probably came up with the idea while he was eating his prawn sandwich. The games don’t feel like quarter finals. The August bank holiday wknd used to be the best wknd of championship football although it was more competitive back then.

eagle eye

Better system would be to put eight teams in and four come out and they play each other and those two winners meet and the winner of that plays Dublin in the All,-Ireland final.
So Dublin get one game which is enough as demoralising everybody they meet up to the final isn't helping anybody.

windy shepard henderson

namloc1980 wrote: »

Mayo got smashed last week by kerry. Let's get real here, Dubs would beat Mayo by at least 10 points this season.

yes i am aware of this fact thank you thats why i said in the next post that the jury was still out in terms of mayo , i would hardly write them off just yet injuries in all

but if you are telling me there are any county close to the top 5 counties at the moment please enlighten me

kerry beat a division 1 team last week and no one bat's an eyelid dublin beat a poor division 1 side and a lead of poor division 2 and 3 teams and everyone wants to split them in 4

the real problem is there is a huge gap from where the top 5 are and the rest , if mayo are no longer in the mix , now its a top 4

its frustrating to hear the same rubbish every week form counties that are nowhere near the top complain about dublin on one hand and the taught of a restructured championship on the other

the standard in football has gone miles back to be fair and it seems no one wants to admit it

windy shepard henderson

jr86 wrote: »

Yeah - we said we wouldn't bother in Connacht or the back door (even after losing in it last year,), and wait till the 2nd game in super 8 before we start actually playing. Even though a Donegal win tomorrow would basically knock us out.

ok so mayo are gone so as you say , we now are left with a top 4 which are miles ahead of the pack

bucketybuck

C__MC wrote: »

The super eights is ****e
Lets be honest
Give me back the old format any day of the week.

The super 8's were always an abortion of an idea, they never addressed any of the real problems the GAA faced and were inherently flawed right from conception. Nothing about this is a surprise, people could see all of this right from the very start.

Its an utter farce that they were ever seriously considered.

jr86

I'm extremely confused about this "top 5" talk and there being a big gap to the rest. It seems Mayo, Donegal and Kerry seem to be in it yet none of them even made a semi last year? And one won't this year.. mayo haven't even won a provincial title in years

Edit - I see it's down to top 4... But again Kerry and Donegal didn't make semi last year. You cant just judge on one year!!

salmocab

bucketybuck wrote: »

The super 8's were always an abortion of an idea, they never addressed any of the real problems the GAA faced and were inherently flawed right from conception. Nothing about this is a surprise, people could see all of this right from the very start.

Its an utter farce that they were ever seriously considered.

3 quarter final games each is a recipe for poor interest. Especially when it makes it very likely that one will be a dead rubber.

coolshannagh28

The super 8s were an idea to try to squeeze more money from the game , unfortunately no one wants to watch uncompetitive games , or watch a game that doesn't really look like football any more .

windy shepard henderson

jr86 wrote: »

I'm extremely confused about this "top 5" talk and there being a big gap to the rest. It seems Mayo, Donegal and Kerry seem to be in it yet none of them even made a semi last year? And one won't this year.. mayo haven't even won a provincial title in years

top 5 as in the only teams to challenge dublin on a regular basis '

top 5 as the best 5 teams in the country

top 5 as in better then the division 2 , 3 or 4 teams dublin have brushed aside in the championship so far

top 5 as in better then roscommon , monaghan or galway who would make it into the top 8 or 10 in the country

the provincial championships are a complete joke at this stage and should have been scraped years ago

jr86

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

top 5 as in the only teams to challenge dublin on a regular basis '

top 5 as the best 5 teams in the country

top 5 as in better then the division 2 , 3 or 4 teams dublin have brushed aside in the championship so far

top 5 as in better then roscommon , monaghan or galway who would make it into the top 8 or 10 in the country

the provincial championships are a complete joke at this stage and should have been scraped years ago

You keep judging Dublin on 2019 only

They could only beat what's in front of them so far. They've eaten the competition so far alive

But they are going for 5 all Irelands in a row like. Last year's a complete canter... Mayo the only team to touch them before that and they're now a shadow of that team...

Look I get people want to conjure up an idea of a competitive championship. But come on let's look at this objectively, Dublin are rightfully unbackable favourites . I'm at a loss as to how someone could argue against that

windy shepard henderson

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

you are basing dublins performances on what , against division 3 and 4 teams , roscommon were the worst team in division 1 this year and have struggled in croke park for years now , how come this talk didnt exist when mayo beat them by 22 points , or tyrone last year by 18

i am afraid every one is seriously missing the point here

Absolutely no one saw that particular result coming in fairness (2017 QF replay), considering the drawn match (2-9 to 1-12).

RoyalCelt

threeball wrote: »

If things don't change at the top fairly soon it's time for a break away from the GAA. The powers that be have shown they only care about money.
They couldn't give a sh1te about the club's.
They couldn't give a sh1te about the players.
They couldn't give a sh1te about fair competition or level playing fields.
They couldn't give a sh1te about atmosphere or spectacle.
They couldn't give a sh1te about the fans.

It's time to leave them to it and go back to what the GAA was meant to be. Not a load of fat lads in suits creaming off big wages.

The sooner this happens the better. A good start would be the formation of an all Ireland county championship. So that would remove the province that currently competes.

vetinari wrote: »

I said it last week, why the **** did Cork not rest players against Dublin?
It was shocking mismanagement.
They might have fared better in the second half today if they had.

Because they are naive. If they put out a complete second string outfit they could have peaked for today's match and beaten Tyrone. They'd be playing an all ready knocked out Roscommon next week to qualify for a semi final that wouldn't involve Dublin. It's crazy how at this stage managers don't have the balls to do something that audacious. The same should go for any leinster team who play Dublin. Have your starting team fresh for the qualifier match the week or two after.

Man Vs ManUre wrote: »

Forget 5 in a row Dublin will probably go on to do the 10 in a row in 2024. And remember the surprise win that donegal got over them without that they would be on 7 or 8 in a row already. It’s an unfair competition now it’s basically 1 county vs the rest.

You actually forget that they could be going for 7 in a row this year. I've no doubt they'll achieve that in 2021. And it's why no matter what format we go with the championship will be ****e.

At this stage they should save us the hassle and go back to straight knockout quarter finals out of Croker at neutral venues. In fact scrap the back door and go straight to semi finals. Put the football final in July and let the club game flourish.

beggars_bush

Dublin would beat the pick of all other teams left in the championship
Especially playing in Croker all the time

threeball

jr86 wrote: »

I'm extremely confused about this "top 5" talk and there being a big gap to the rest. It seems Mayo, Donegal and Kerry seem to be in it yet none of them even made a semi last year? And one won't this year.. mayo haven't even won a provincial title in years

Edit - I see it's down to top 4... But again Kerry and Donegal didn't make semi last year. You cant just judge on one year!!

He still hasn't explained who these top 5/4 are mainly because they don't exist. None are even close to Dublin nor could they hope to be.

jr86

RoyalCelt wrote: »

You actually forget that they could be going for 7 in a row this year. I've no doubt they'll achieve that in 2021. And it's why no matter what format we go with the championship will be ****e.

Yeah they cruised v Donegal early on in 14 and Connolly missed a sitter to put the game to bed. They then got caught in a freakish game. Unsurprisingly they learned from the anomaly and won every year since

An even more sobering thought - Bernard Brogan missed a sitter which probably would have beaten mayo in 2012 also.

Honestly? I think they'll do 10 in a row for sure. How many after that , it's too early to say

windy shepard henderson

jr86 wrote: »

You keep judging Dublin on 2019 only

They could only beat what's in front of them so far. They've eaten the competition so far alive

But they are going for 5 all Irelands in a row like. Last year's a complete canter... Mayo the only team to touch them before that and they're now a shadow of that team...

Look I get people want to conjure up an idea of a competitive championship. But come on let's look at this objectively, Dublin are rightfully unbackable favourites . I'm at a loss as to how someone could argue against that

i am not judging dublin on 2019 only , my argument is only a few teams are near the top and the rest are out of it

the championship is a joke the way its set up since 2014 kerry have played clare 6 times in championship ,they have played dublin just twice

they have played mayo 5 times in that time winning 3 drawing two the biggest margin was in the replay in 2015 two of the other 3 wins were by one point

the fact is everyone keeps arguing that dublin are invincible , however when they actually meet one of the top teams in the country its put up to them

teams like cork , galway roscommon monaghan are not on the same level as the teams i keep mentioning

if dublin had to play the likes of kerry and mayo ect.. every year from the word go and not 4 or 5 handy games against weak opposition to get this far the hype around them might not be so strong

the championship badly needs a change there are far too many counties dropping off and not challenging

RoyalCelt

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

top 5 as in the only teams to challenge dublin on a regular basis '

top 5 as the best 5 teams in the country

top 5 as in better then the division 2 , 3 or 4 teams dublin have brushed aside in the championship so far

top 5 as in better then roscommon , monaghan or galway who would make it into the top 8 or 10 in the country

the provincial championships are a complete joke at this stage and should have been scraped years ago

If you scrap them then there will be 3 less cups for teams to play for. At least counties outside leinster have that.

This mystical top 5 would get nowhere near Dublin. Tyrone and Donegal would do well to lose by 8. Mayo wouldn't get within 10. That leaves kerry. They'd do well to get within 5.

jr86

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

the championship badly needs a change there are far too many counties dropping off and not challenging

Well I certainly won't disagree with this

jr86

threeball wrote: »

He still hasn't explained who these top 5/4 are mainly because they don't exist. None are even close to Dublin nor could they hope to be.

Well Galway don't seem to be in it despite beating Kerry and Donegal in their last championship encounters. Very good rivalry with Tyrone too in league games, and the recent record v mayo until this year... Puke

And with that I'm off. You know how much defending Galway football takes it out of me Threeball

Ah look I'm not trying to get at that other poster. I just think he's quite a bit off beam with his thoughts on the championship competitiveness

windy shepard henderson

RoyalCelt wrote: »

If you scrap them then there will be 3 less cups for teams to play for. At least counties outside leinster have that.

This mystical top 5 would get nowhere near Dublin. Tyrone and Donegal would do well to lose by 8. Mayo wouldn't get within 10. That leaves kerry. They'd do well to get within 5.

explain how they will start magically losing by large scorlines when at the moment they are the only ones puting it up to dublin

the reason dublin have it easy in leinster is because the main counties challenging have dropped off massively from where they were 10 or 15 years ago , kerry , donegal mayo and tyrone have not

cant brand every team with the same stick

windy shepard henderson

jr86 wrote: »

Well I certainly won't disagree with this

so you think the losers of a first round ulster championship game coming down and outplaying the winners of connacht doesn't speak volumes

windy shepard henderson

threeball wrote: »

He still hasn't explained who these top 5/4 are mainly because they don't exist. None are even close to Dublin nor could they hope to be.

i actually did several times if you bothered your arse to look :rolleyes:

jr86

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

so you think the losers of a first round ulster championship game coming down and outplaying the winners of connacht doesn't speak volumes

?

Apologies for the double negative.

"Won't disagree" = I agree with you...

windy shepard henderson

jr86 wrote: »

?

Apologies for the double negative.

"Won't disagree" = I agree with you...

my apologies barely read the post sorry

beggars_bush

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

so you think the losers of a first round ulster championship game coming down and outplaying the winners of connacht doesn't speak volumes

Roscommon have a terrible record v Tyrone at all age levels since the early 00s
And Tyrone were all Ireland finalists last year

That is the 4th division 1 team that Roscommon have played in a row
Mayo, Galway, Tyrone, Dublin
Name one other county with a run of games like that?

I'll add to that, with a pick of only 65000 Roscommon have less of a pick than Blanchardstown has

RoyalCelt

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

explain how they will start magically losing by large scorlines when at the moment they are the only ones puting it up to dublin

the reason dublin have it easy in leinster is because the main counties challenging have dropped off massively from where they were 10 or 15 years ago , kerry , donegal mayo and tyrone have not

cant brand every team with the same stick

Are you surprised leinster counties are dropping off when only meath have won leinster since 2004. I can only speak for Meath but when mcEntee took over over half the players he asked for trials didn't turn up. The longer this goes on the worse it will get and as a meath fan I can't blame them. Smart decision.

They've Hammered the connaught champs by 18 and Cork who ran kerry very close. Stop deluding yourself only kerry have the ability to lose by less then 6.