National Football League 2023

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120418746#Comment_120418746

What meaningful trophy are you on about exactly ?

Sligo have 3 Connachts and 0 All Irelands in their history.

I don't know why people go on about these meaningful trophies their counties never win. My county were in a Div 3 final last year and I would have taken winning that over being in Sam any day.

evolvingtipperary101

Nice piece on football in Cambodia.

The unlikely rise of Gaelic football on the fields of Cambodia - BBC Sport

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120418810#Comment_120418810

Just because a person has never won a major trophy does not mean they will be happy with a pat on the head and a participation trophy. Your point has no merit, whether the county has 20 all irelands or none doesn't change the relative value of the lesser competitions.

My county has been in plenty of lower division finals and win or lose all of them are firmly in the dustbin of history. Nobody gives a damn about them. I rather win a game than lose it, I'd rather win the division than come 2nd, but I'd never fool myself that winning division 3 is anything other than a step on the path to achieving something that actually matters.

Your county was in the division 3 final last year, what was the name of the trophy?

MacDanger

Do the league trophies have names? Have never heard of a name even on the D1 trophy

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120419096#Comment_120419096

I didn't know any of the league trophies had names and I couldn't give a fuk if they did. Winning the trophy shows you were the best at your level the name doesn't matter.

Would you tell all the junior B clubs out there that all they get is a "pat on the head" and a "Participation trophy" ?

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120419126#Comment_120419126

It also highlights the level you are at, and nobody holds victory parades for being the 17th best team in the league.

You don't know the trophy's name because nobody ever cared enough about it to give it one, which shows exactly the esteem it holds.

Anybody who played the game knows what it means to win a lower division medal. You celebrate after the game and then for the rest of your life if somebody asks you what you won you say "not much, a couple of division 2 medals, a junior B once". You say that because you both know it wasn't division 1, so it was easier and not worth very much. It wasn't the real championship, so you only beat the other losers.

If you want to blow about winning division 3 all I'm going to think is that you don't have much ambition.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120419174#Comment_120419174

You are twisting my words. I'm not saying have a big parade for winning D3 I'm saying it's better than a few games in a tournament you have no hope in.

By the way what are the names on the league trophy's ?

YabaDabaDooley

I'm looking forward to the league finals this weekend. Nice to see Wicklow having a big day out v Sligo on Saturday.

Sunday should be a real feast of football. Dublin will have their loss up in Derry fresh in their memory while Derry will want to lift silverware to prove that win was no flash in the pan.

The main event though is the one i'm most looking forward to. I don't see any shadow boxing or playing weakened teams here. The Div 1 league title is a hard earned trophy and both counties will be going all out to win it imo. I was surprised to see Galway have only won four league titles in their history while Mayo have 12. I have a slight fancy for Galway to win a fifth but it has the makings of a cracking final.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120418148#Comment_120418148

They sat down and scheduled two different competitions, which don't need to pay attention to each other. Because nobody knows who will be in the League Finals. They "devalued" the League by making teams play most of their games with only a one week break. They further "devalued" it by allowing teams to field whatever selections they chose, and to treat games less seriously once they had achieved their aim in the League. Most teams have the first aim of avoiding relegation.

They scheduled 16 teams to compete in the Championship on 09 April. 3 of those have League Finals this weekend. With a two week break after the Finals, the other 13 would have to wait 3 weeks for Championship action. They have also "devalued" the Championship by scheduling some games which will see teams playing on successive weekends.

If a two week break is somehow the optimum, then you would have to write a schedule with two weeks between fixtures for every team. You know all the teams in the League in 2024, and could make a stab at the Championship draws. Have a go at it, and don't forget about the Hurling, and club games.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120419457#Comment_120419457

I've read this twice, and I'm still not sure what your point is. Are you saying that:-

• when they are doing fixtures for the championship, that they look at dates completely independent of the league? Remember - both are run by the GAA, and both have the common teams and players.
• Are you being sarcastic about the devaluing by having the words in inverted commas - whereas you really mean that there is no devaluing of the league or championship
• Do you think a week between the finish of one competition and the start of another competition is sufficient?
• If what I think you are saying is correct in the last paragraph - that 2 weeks should be put between all games if going by the 2 week rule - then you're missing the context. The league is the end of an intense competition. Teams play 7 games in the space of 9/10 weeks. The competition then ends. And a new competition starts. The point that most posters are making is that there should be a break of more than a week between the end of one competition and the start of another - to allow for teams to get their breath back, take stock of injuries, allow the victors even a mild celebration etc.

Sorry if I am misinterpreting something.

dxhound2005

The gist of it is that they scheduled 16 teams to compete in the Championship on 09 April, knowing that the League Finals would be a week earlier. I don't see that as a problem.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120419709#Comment_120419709

I do think they should have stretched it by a week just for the marketing purposes of giving the hurling finals and football start their own week.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120419197#Comment_120419197

There is always hope. Even my county has come close once or twice over the years and they always start the season considered a total no-hoper. You are saying they should give up that hope and prefer instead to settle for a trophy that absolutely nobody cares about. I cannot share that mentality.

If I can pick up a division 3 trophy along the way, thats fine, I'll take it and build from there. But if I win division 3 and then do nothing else then it is a plastic trophy that can gather dust in a cupboard somewhere. And thats the option you give when you question why these teams bother entering SAM at all.

There are no names on the lower league trophies, I have searched and can only find a name for the division 1 title. That was the point, in a sport awash with names for cups and competitions still nobody ever bothered doing something for the senior intercounty lower league divisions. If that doesn't illustrate the concept then I don't know what does.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120419807#Comment_120419807

Great so you are badgering me and making out a trophy is worthless because I don't know the name. And it doesn't have a name.

No one is saying give up hope or whatever you are on about. I never said abstain from the provinces I just said it would be stupid to throw a league final for a probably futile run at a provincial.

And no I don't see the point of a lower division team getting to Sam through some back door only to be bate when there is another good competition there at their level which is well worth winning.

I don't think it's does provincial runners up any good getting into Sam mostly because they got an easy side of the draw like Limerick did last year.

And stop telling "everybody" what they care about.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120419807#Comment_120419807

Didn't Carlow have a really great run not so long ago and they had the hashtag 'Carlow Rising'? Treated it extremely seriously. As was pointed out by management. it was their chance to achieve and win something.

As for the names on cups, that is an irrelevance as far as I am concerned. I know the name of the Leinster football trophy for instance. But the name is rarely used between supporters - 'Leinster' is far more common. A lot of these names get lost in the midst of time. And many don't even know who the name referred to or who they were/or what they did etc.

Always_Running

I think most would agree that all teams should get at least a two weeks gap between the end of the league and the start of the championship.

Mistakes made in scheduling needs to be learnt from by both HQ and provincial councils for next year and that it not repeated.

One of two simple solutions to choose from

Get rid of league finals with the team that finishes top given the trophy or keep league finals and Scrap pre-season competitions which this year alone showed they are past their sell by date or worth anything in preparation for the league and start the NFL a week earlier.

dxhound2005

3 teams are getting a one week break. 13 are getting two weeks. The rest are getting 3 weeks or more. It is not a mistake in scheduling. If it was a mistake, everyone had plenty of time to identify it and object. Depending on how the League works out, there might be no teams having only one week. I don't know what most people want, but I have no problem with the existing schedule.

Doing away with the finals would solve the problem, if it is a problem. I think the pre season competitions are up to the provinces to decide, but I don't think they are relevant.

Ciaran Whelan on the radio picked Sligo, Cavan, Dublin and Galway. He made a strange comment that Mayo were unbeaten in the League.

YabaDabaDooley

Was checking ticketmaster for tickets for the Div 1 & 2 finals last Thursday and as usual only the corner rows of the Hogan and Cusack for sale. Most of them are gone now too. They rarely seem to get good seats. Looks like their could be a decent crowd on Sunday.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120421936#Comment_120421936

Yeah those preseason competitions are really pointless now, I don't know how they survived this long. Teams might has well have behind the scenes 30 plus panels outside their main team playing in other instead.

There is another side of the argument re-scheduling. That players from teams that play regularly get more 'tuned in' and feel the benefits of it. I find the teams going on about needing the two week break are the ones looking for excuses.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120422507#Comment_120422507

Mayo and Derry fans will travel in numbers. Plus the Galway crowd always enjoy a Mayo game.

Should be two good games - teams well met.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120422189#Comment_120422189

Ciaran Whelan on the radio picked Sligo, Cavan, Dublin and Galway. He made a strange comment that Mayo were unbeaten in the League.

I heard that and the clatter of radios being thrown out windows across Monaghan 😁

theoneeyedman

The problem here is less the League schedule, and more the provinces, Connacht in particular.

What's the panic starting the Connacht Championship, there could easily be a week break built in there, don't start until later. With 3/8 teams in D1 from Connacht, there was always a chance one of them would make the final, and there are only 3 rounds to play in Connacht, so what's the panic.

2 reasons though....

The Blazers have to get the jolly out to NY and London for the Bank Holiday weekend nice one!

The power struggle between the provinces and how they sis in the overall schedule is beginning to come to a boil, their lower and influence is waning as time goes on and for the best really, they serve little purpose in this day and age.

As an aside, stand tickets for Roscommon v Mayo 30 Euro next week, by far the most expensive province for a preliminary round game.

I call it the Dome Levy, a tax to pay for Prenty's white elephant, or White Eleph-tent

dxhound2005

It is not particular to Connacht. There are football games in all four provinces on that weekend. Plus hurling games in the Joe McDonagh, and the Kilkenny v Limerick League Final.

It would be easy to build in a break, but for what purpose? To respect the League Finals, or to give every team at least two weeks break? If every team is supposed to have a two week break, it never happened in the League, and it won't be happening in the Championship.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120422608#Comment_120422608

The gates for pre season tournaments go to a player welfare fund I believe. But I'm sure there are ways around that.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120423013#Comment_120423013

I had completely forgotten about that, maybe they could give a percentage of the takings from the GAA after a calendar year 1-2% or whatever.

PressRun

Second Captains have a good podcast up today with the parents of Red Óg Murphy. Sligo's game tomorrow coincides with the one year anniversary of his death, so will be an emotional day for them. He was a terrific talent. Worth a listen and is free.

RedDevil55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120422686#Comment_120422686

The dome has already been paid for. The reason connacht tickets are more expensive, is probably that they have so few games to generate income compared to other provinces. No hurling championship either, unlike Munster and Leinster.

Also, I believe New York and London get to keep the vast majority of gate receipts for their home game every year.

It's annoying in fairness, but I'm sure that would be the connacht council's response if asked.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120423067#Comment_120423067

The gates for the first league match would probably cover it too as a compromise.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120423556#Comment_120423556

Munster also probably know that they need to keep it cheap or the gates will be even worse than they are now.

theoneeyedman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120423556#Comment_120423556

Paid for by whom? And the 350/400 k per year to keep it up?

Anyway, I won't derail here on about the Dome, but it's indicitive of the attitude of the Connacht Council, fixing the games for next weekend and everyone then blames Croke Park fixture makers and the schedule for the fixk up around the league final.

RedDevil55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120424342#Comment_120424342

They got a 2.1m grant from Michael Ring's department which paid for the majority, along with a Croke Park grant.

Also the running costs were quoted at 100 euro per day. Even with increased electricity costs that is nowhere near 350k per year.

blowitupref

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120422189#Comment_120422189

Doesn't matter if it's known since the league started or year before it and It's very much a problem with scheduling when any team doesn't have at least two weeks to prepare and train (fully focus) on their championship opener. Scrapping pre season competitions is relevant as it would create more room on the calendar but the chances of provinces wanting to part ways with that match day money? HQ knew about this issue ahead and asked congress to scrap league finals but was voted against. (that could well change at the next congress)

Ciaran Whelan is probably thinking of a full strength Mayo team who was unbeaten and it will be a much stronger starting Mayo 15 than what started against Monaghan that included 7 players making their first starts this year.

blowitupref

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120424342#Comment_120424342

Yes John Prenty head of the Connacht GAA, was one of the main people that was calling for league finals to be scrapped. His answer to them not getting scrapped was to start the Connacht championship one week after league finals. It's starting far too soon, for example the loser of the Roscommon,Mayo match won't be out in action until another 6,7 weeks.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120424342#Comment_120424342

Everyone being a few people on this thread. Even back in December the local paper just noted it as precious little time to prepare. That was the time for Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim and London to get their objections in. Plus all the counties in the other provinces playing on 09 April. If any of them were arrogant enough to say we are definitely going to be in the top 2 in our Division. Is it making big news in the West now?

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2022/12/08/fixture-details-allow-mayo-fans-to-plan-for-2023-inter-county-season/

"Following the seven rounds of the league, the top two teams will qualify for the final.There's precious little rest thereafter as the championships commences a week later, with Mayo hosting Roscommon in their Connacht quarterfinal on Sunday, April 9. The winners will travel to Galway for the semi-final on Sunday, April 23, with the final scheduled for Sunday, May 7."

manofwisdom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120424468#Comment_120424468

Spot on. And as you said in the next post John Prenty as much to blame for the silly scheduling as HQ was.

YabaDabaDooley

Had another look on Ticketmaster just now hoping for some better seat options and managed to get Lower Cusack Section 306 which is pretty much central so happy with that for €25. Hopefully the weather improves as it's raining heavy in Dublin all night and only stopped about a couple of hours ago.

Coillte_Bhoy

Its hardly a case of the Connacht council deciding the fixtures dates etc on their own, i presume they liaised with Croke Park?

MacDanger

Enjoyable enough D4 final, esp considering the conditions

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120428697#Comment_120428697

One thing I noticed which at this level astounded me was on a day like today lads trying to lift the ball without bending down to pick it up. Possession is 9/10 of the game at this level. Allowing an opposing player the chance to get possession because of you carelessness is criminal at any level

MacDanger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120428927#Comment_120428927

I commented on that as well actually - the incident when young Spillane tried to kick the ball off the wicklow lad for a 45 instead of just picking it up was infuriating!

MacDanger

D3 final not a classic

YabaDabaDooley

Super triple block by the Fermanagh goalkeeper and defenders saves an almost certain goal. Cavan looking a little too strong beginning to open up a gap.

YabaDabaDooley

Sean Quigley looks in good shape chips in with lovely score off his left. Fermanagh right back in this game.

Bass Reeves

Great save by Fermanagh goalie again

YabaDabaDooley

Looked a penalty to me. Quigley pulled to the ground. Referee plays on Cavan go straight up the field and score.

tayto lover

Cavan much the better team when they woke up after half time.

breezy1985

Nice little league double for Cavan tonight.

dxhound2005

Their first Championship game is in 3 weeks, Fermanagh have a 2 week break. If they hadn't made the Final it would be 4/3 weeks. As it is there is a whole host of teams who are going to be waiting 4 weeks. Putting a mandatory 2 week break after the League Finals, would have the potential to have every team in the country waiting 3 weeks minimum.

There must be a danger of teams going off the boil with no competition for as long as that. One week could have it's downsides, but teams have to do it during the League, and will have to do it during the Championship. And the League Finalists are only given one week to prepare for the Finals. I don't see what is so precious about the first day out in the Provincial Championships.

sligeach

Was that not a foot block and a possible penalty for Derry?

Bass Reeves

Derry not clinical enough should have 2-3 more points on the board. Could come back to haunt them