The Dominance of Dublin GAA *Mod warning post#1*

Just go ahead and ignore all the other improvements I pointed out there. A five year old debating would make a more substantive argument.

Funding has absolutely helped Limerick. Funding works and has been proven to work across every sport. If it didn't work, organisations/individuals wouldn't waste millions doing it. GAA is not immune from this and the notion that it would be is frankly idiotic.

Dublin playing at home for the All Ireland semi final in both ladies and men's football today. The 2 greatest beneficiaries from the funding in terms of titles. Dublin ladies going for 5 All Ireland's in a row while the Dublin men's are going for 7 in a row. Of course the Dublin men's have won 16 of the last 17 Leinster championships and the Dublin women's were on the way to more than that until they had to end the provincial championships.

Remember, pre funding, Dublin ladies never won an All Ireland and Dublin men's only won 1 in about 30 years. These 2 are the headline grabbers in terms of what enormous funding can achieve but of course we know the improvements are across the board. It's really made a farce of things and everyone's mind turns to money when Dublin play, most of all Dublin supporters themselves. There's no satisfaction winning like this and for everyone else, seeing our championships degraded by the financial disparity is far from pleasing.

Some going for Mayo an amateur team to beat a fully organised and professional Dublin squad today. Wonder what will some of the Dublin players do Monday morning with no jobs to go to?

It's nothing personal against any Dublin supporters but I was far from sickened seeing Dublin beaten. They're a county who've competed unethically for two decades now. And that's in all inter county competitions. So seeing them beaten in hurling, football, camógie, underage competitions etc can only be welcomed. And I was delighted to see them beaten yesterday.

But now onto something that keeps getting ignored because Dublin fans keep playing the victim. Dublin started the problem with the huge levels of finance they were given and invested into development and team preparations etc. This has led to other counties trying to replicate it.

Limerick went to have a look at Dublin's structures over a decade ago. They saw the large number of coaches needed, the strength and conditioning personnel and so on but most of all they became aware of the huge financial resources needed to implement the structures. Limerick found a way of getting their hands on the required level of funding.

Other counties have done the same. Kerry being one of the main ones. They have pumped huge sums into developing talent and on their senior footballers. Mayo the same, they're regularly near the top of the list on inter county spend. Tyrone have plenty of resources. Do you remember Donegal's investor in the McGuinness years? Tipperary have had an enormous back room team in hurling.

You get the message? The big problem is finance. To compete at the top level, you have to have the financial backing. So the answer is obvious, it's not amalgamations of counties, it's not tiered competitions, it's establishing a fair and equitable system that provides each county with enough resources to compete. This should involve caps on spending, pooled sponsorship and many more steps.

Development funding needs to be increased across the board. And it shouldn't be cut in Dublin! Each of the four counties would receive fair funding. This will give opportunity to develop Gaelic Games in disadvantaged areas etc. The same with every county. Promoting our games and increasing participation is what we all want to see. Let's provide counties with the opportunity to do so.

You are completely wrong. I have consistently pointed out the finances available to other counties. Most Dubs are too busy wearing their victim hats to notice. What no other county have had is a GAA/government approved scheme that only they had access to. It was a multi million euro scheme that has led to over 100 titles across the board.

Dublin fans consistently denied the funding had any influence on elite level results. This was clearly nonsense and it has been backed up by results at underage as I've pointed out. Kildare won an u20 All Ireland, Meath have won a few Leinster minors for the first time in many years. Offaly u20's are in an All Ireland final, even Wicklow beat Dublin at underage level. Additional funding at underage works, this goes against everything the defenders of the financial disparity have stated. It just adds to the list of evidence to show what a disgraceful decision it was to allow only one county access to this scheme for nearly two decades.

This funding should be spread country wide, something I have repeatedly said. In fact, the only people disagreeing with that have been Dublin supporters who were somehow under the impression that Dublin were the only county who deserved the funding. I noted already that some Dublin supporters would be secretly delighted with their defeat yesterday. We seem to already have found one. As was pointed out on the last page, Limerick have made significant improvements because of their increased level of funding. Some posters pointed out that this doesn't mean Limerick win every game and All Ireland's every year.

It's the same with Dublin. Yes. it's embarrassing but Dublin haven't won a Leinster hurling title in 8 years, Dublin don't win every underage title but they've won 5 All Ireland's post funding having never won one previously. The Dublin ladies look like they're going for 5 in a row, they didn't win any pre funding. The Dublin senior footballers won 1 All Ireland in around 30 years, they won 8 in the last decade. As you have finally had to admit, funding works. This is why Dublin won nearly 100 titles while they had the one county only scheme. It took you a long time but you got there eventually.

You call it the same old guff because it consistently destroys your points. For the whole thread and outside of here, the defenders of the financial disparity have tried to claim that the money was just for primary school kids, about participation, that it had no relevance to the huge increase in titles gained across Dublin GAA. Now, you've had to accept that the myth you've been peddling has been busted. Funding makes a huge difference. We can see it with Offaly, we see it with Kildare, Meath, even some of your fellow Dublin funding defenders have accepted it as they see the difference with Limerick post their funding boost. Like I said, it has taken you and others a long time but you've finally had to face up to the fact that funding had a major role in Dublin's 100+ titles post funding. That's why there will always be an asterisk beside them.

Remember what the funding provided. Every senior club in Dublin had their own professional coach to develop talent. I know you hate me repeating it and you would prefer if it was silenced but look at the difference it has made. Club football and hurling for example. Numerous Leinster and All Ireland titles in men's and women's football and a Dublin club has won 2 All Ireland's, would have been unthinkable pre funding. The frightening thing is that Dublin now spend close to 4 million on development alone. That Dublin haven't amassed far more titles than they have is quite frankly embarrassing for Dublin GAA. Maybe they'll go looking for even more funding?

But anyway, back to the main point. The scheme was only available to Dublin for nearly two decades, in the last few years it's been made available to certain other counties. It was clearly a disgraceful decision to limit this to one county to begin with but why is the scheme still not spread countrywide?

No I said the Dublin team who are fully paid by AIG to perform.

As expected, you were unable to answer the question I posed to you. The question you posed has been answered numerous times and it's a very simple question to answer. How about you answer my question and then I'll answer yours?

Your whole argument has been obliterated! You tried to claim that the funding had no influence on elite level results but now with Offaly, Limerick et al showing what funding can do, you have nothing left. You've even admitted that increased finance has greatly assisted counties such as Offaly. Basically arguing against your own argument! :D

Obviously some Dublin supporters are upset today, it's only natural and they're embarrassed also. Despite the millions pumped into developing players, team preparations, playing at home, with a hometown ref etc they somehow managed to lose the unlosable!