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Leinster Football Championship - 8 Like(s)
Replying To realdub: "You'd have beaten us in 2011 if it had of been in Newbridge?
How do you make that out?" All other things being equal - Kildare would have got the home town decision instead of Dublin.
brianb (National) - 16/04/2025 13:06:16
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Is GAA, Or More Specifically It's Prominence, A Bad Thing For Irish Sport? - 5 Like(s)
Replying To Liamwalkinstown: "The question is there.
Given countries like Norway, Sweden, Croatia etc are so infinitely superior to us at global sports, is the obvious reason, the prominence we place on GAA in this country? Kids are almost forced into it in school and anyone who shows any prowess has the pressure of the world on them to "play club"
Is this stopping them becoming stars in other, more lucrative and high profile sports?
Is GAA possibly even a negative for Ireland, in 2024?
I'll go again, shall I !!" To me this reads more like blaming the GAA for the failures of other sports. The prominence we place on GAA is not doing rugby any harm at the moment. I would argue it wouldn't harm our Soccer team either if the FAI had their house in order.
In fact its probably more likely that the community involvement through the GAA from a young age, getting kids into sport has a positive effect on all sports. There are plenty of examples of promising underage players leaving the GAA behind and having a successful professional sports career in other sports.
If someone has the talent to be a premier league footballer or a provincial rugby player or a top inter-county player - it is up to them to decide which to pursue.
brianb (National) - 22/09/2023 14:48:04
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Things You Hear Now At A Gaa Game That You Didn't Hear Is The 80'S - 4 Like(s)
Last time I was in Croke Park I heard a pin drop. You wouldn't have heard that in the eighties!
brianb (National) - 28/05/2024 21:29:51
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Kildare Vs Dublin - 4 Like(s)
Replying To TheUsername: "Sure its all a massive conspiracy mate your own county board are Du6s want to bes sure - sure theyd have to be, good news tinfoil in cheap in Dealz in Athy for your hat making purposes, beware the radio waves!
Always next year, every year a chara.........................!" The "conspiracy" is fairly well documented at this stage. 16/17 Leinster titles since Sean Kelly's committee decided to fund the Dubs revolution in 2003.
Its still 15 v 15 on the pitch but off the pitch its another question. That is slowly being addressed but it will take a few more years for the effect to be seen at senior level.
brianb (National) - 04/08/2021 17:15:19
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Leinster Football Championship - 4 Like(s)
Replying To Seanfanbocht: "Whatever about Dublin, money etc surely to God Meath and Kildare could at least be at the same level over the last decade as small Counties like Ros and Monaghan!" I think you're right - though maybe a little bit harsh in that 2 years ago Kildare beat Roscommon by a point before losing to Monaghan by a point. Last year Meath lost to Monaghan by a goal.
Even still - its a fair enough point; both Meath and Kildare should be better.
The main thing this shows is the importance of having a provincial championship to aim for. Throughout the time that the money pumped into Dublin was helping to set them up with the best team seen in GAA - Monaghan and Roscommon were able to aim for and win provincial championships. This can't be understated. Kildare and Meath were aiming to be the best of the rest in Leinster and there's not trophy for that.
This had a big impact in Kildare - with a lot more kids playing Soccer and Rugby than football. I've made the point on there that Kildare have produced more Irish internationals in both Rugby and Soccer than All Stars this century.
I do think the corner has been turned; with a lot more focus on the underage structures in the county and has been seen in the underage levels and indeed coming though with the hurlers.
The last excuse we had was Dublin being given home advantage for every Semi-Final in Leinster; this is gone too.
So no more excuses. Its time to step up and see the playing field level on the pitch. I think we're going to see a few great years in the Leinster championship starting this year.
brianb (National) - 11/04/2025 12:29:27
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Is Pat Spillane Right Or Wrong With His Three Improvement Suggestions . - 3 Like(s)
Replying To Cnocrua: "Just because scoring levels have gone up does not guarantee more excitement. Look at basketball where there are scores almost every 30 seconds but the first 3 quarters can be a bore.
I think what people miss, or would rather see is the excitement of a battle for possession, which is often missing when completing a 3 yard handpass to someone unmarked. The drama of what's going to happen next might have fallen out of the game a bit.
And to clarify I don't think anybody is disputing that today's players are better, fitter, more prepared and skilful than ever before." I think you've hit the nub of the issue - scoring levels have gone up because players are better, fitter more prepared and skillful in some areas. Other areas of skill have been neglected - there are far fewer contested duals now.
Looking at games on All Ireland gold it tended to be 3/4 pieces of individual skill by 3/4 different players would be rewarded by a score be it a high catch, long accurate kick pass or an accurate shot. Now it's more of a collective game where the main skill is not losing possession and we're eventually looking for an accurate pass to a player in space to provide the score.
While we're all generalising here I see the chief "problem" is that players are so much fitter now and can get up and down the pitch so much better. This means fewer gaps and more defenders back. That in turn makes it harder to score and has driven players to be so much better than before. The scores are better, but the game is less open. I think we want to see a more open game.
brianb (National) - 12/10/2022 14:45:25
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Kildare Vs Dublin - 3 Like(s)
Replying To sligo joe: "Comparing 70s/80s to the present era is apples and oranges. The Dublin team of the 70s that played in 6 finals in a row would also have a much smaller turnover of players. Panels are much more fluid now in all counties and it's a full panel game. Back in those days rarely was a sub used bar injury, a lot of games only one or two subs and often none." . . . exactly; The Dublin success is not purely down to a golden generation but a conveyer belt of talent coming through coincidentally since the GAA started pumping cash in
brianb (National) - 05/08/2021 11:20:21
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Can Gaelic Football (Handball?) Be Saved? - 3 Like(s)
Replying To sligo joe: "So basically you want to reward the defensive team that stay in their own half pretty much all of the game and maybe try and sneak a win late on?" Don't you think thats whats happening now?
brianb (National) - 26/04/2024 14:12:22
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GAA To Start Charging Children Who Attend League Games - 3 Like(s)
Replying To Pikeman96: "He asked about cash. I gave an answer about cash. Paying by card would be a different thing.
But the issue would remain that if 90% or more of people just paid at the gate (by either cash or card), then the venue control team don't know with any great accuracy what the likely attendance will be. Say there's a match at Wexford Park which could draw somewhere from 6,000 to 10,000 people. There's a big difference in what's needed from an event control point of view, in terms of the number of turnstiles you'd have to open, the number of gate people that would therefore be needed, the number of stewards required, etc. Even whether or not you open the shop at the 'open' side of the ground opposite the main stand, and need people to run it for the day.
These are all important considerations. They don't occur to most supporters, but that doesn't make them any less important." Yes - important considerations alright. But let's consider that I can buy a ticket for a game outside the ground by logging into Ticketmaster and spending 5 minutes proving myself not up be a robot. Not that many robots would want to see Kildare hurling.
I get the move to all ticket - that has been shown to significantly increase the takings for the same attendance. I get that buying a ticket during the week helps know the crowd size and that the ticket can be more expensive on the day to encourage buying easier.
I don't agree that the crowd size would be so unknown so as to prevent ticket sales on the day. I also don't agree that charging kids admission to the league games is a good idea.
We have to remember that the GAA is a community organization built on thousands of hours of community volunteers every week. Every decision like this weakens that goodwill every so slightly.
brianb (National) - 16/12/2024 09:36:02
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2022 All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers thread - 3 Like(s)
Replying To The_analyser: "All in Clare and Roscommon was expecting Salthill for our game and are left puzzled by this choice of venue. One national journalist said the rossies will travel in big numbers as its a novel trip to Croke park. This will be out 12th trip to Croke Park to see the senior footballers in action in the last ten years its far from novel." I'm not sure how Croke Park came into anyone's mind for the Clare V Roscommon game. Madness. How its not in Galway is beyond me.
A packed out Tullamore with the Kildare Mayo minors playing before again would make a lot of sense.
This double header is another crazy decision.
brianb (National) - 07/06/2022 17:11:47
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Leinster Football Championship - 2 Like(s)
Replying To TheUsername: "Always laugh at the playing at home thing from Kildare.
Be Croke Park quicker from Kilcock, Maynooth or Leixlip then you would crossing the City.
Lets be very frank here any team doing well in Leinster has used Croke Park for home games.
Meath did it, Laois did it, Kildare did it.
How many Championship games did Kildare play in Newbridge in 98 on their way to the final?
Newbridge or nowhere my eye." Except it's not just Kildare. Ultimately Donegal brought the motion to stop Dublin getting 2 home games in the old super 8s.
Anyone in Rathcoole, Saggart or Tallaght would be quicker to Newbridge than Croke Park - so I'm not sure what your point is.
brianb (National) - 16/04/2025 23:07:08
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Jim Mcguinness-Right As Usual On Championship - 2 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "Rubbish…. It hasn't improved any of the weaker teams… It only makes the best teams stronger ( might not be the case with Mayo who flump it every year ) and is only there to try and increase revenue… no other reason" Very quick to judge - lets wait and see what happens in the next few weeks once the knock outs start.
It will be 2 / 3 years before we'll see if it improves any of the weaker teams. One thing for sure - compared to the super 8's where only the best teams got extra games - now all teams get these extra games. That's got to be a big plus.
brianb (National) - 14/06/2023 10:53:12
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International Rules - 2 Like(s)
Replying To dahayeser: "That's not my point. The point I am making is it the GAA have something the AFL want (an international dimension) then you'd expect the GAA would use that as a bargaining chip to get the AFL to back off on recruitment." I might be out of step on this but surely if a player is offered an opportunity in AFL to play professionally we should wish them the best of luck. Plenty of lads choose to play rugby or soccer and we don't have this debate.
brianb (National) - 26/06/2025 10:49:39
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Tailteann Cup 2025 - 2 Like(s)
Replying To county man: "Yeah that was a complete mis-match and there is the potential for a few more hammerings in round 2 when the top seeds play the bottom seeds, but there are always going to be 1- 2 teams (Meath & Down in past years, it is Kildare & Westmeath this year) who are stand-out above the rest.
The other games can be competitive though and look at Carlow today winning away to Fermanagh. There were a few other easy victories in the end this weekend but they were all competitive for decent stages.
There is an argument for a third tier maybe but I would see how the Tailteann goes for another few years and see what Division 4 teams want to do also." I think this year is a big shake up year. There's a lot of changes going on with the rules meaning the form book from the last few years is less reliable than before. The link of the championship to the league means that this will be baked into the structure for the next year or two.
I don't like the current championship structure at all - teams can't build through the Tailteann cup; a promotion isn't a promotion as they only go up for a year. Teams can only build through the league.
Last year's winners Down could go well this year and for example get to an All Ireland Semi Final but having been relegated - still be at the mercy of provincial final pairings to get back in to Sam Maguire in 2026. We need to link Championship form to Championship promotion/relegation.
brianb (National) - 12/05/2025 09:39:36
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Kildare Vs Dublin - Leinster Final - 2 Like(s)
Replying To Gleebo: "How much store are people putting in Kildare's league victory over Dublin? A big psychological block lifted, surely?
Wasn't hugely impressed with the semi-final win over Westmeath, but then semi-finals are fairly bad indicators a lot of the time." Definitely a big psychological block lifted. Dublin look a bit more dangerous now that Costello and O'Callaghan have come back into the fold but Kildare have the Naas lads and Feely back as well so should have a few more options too.
I recon the Kildare lads will be quietly confident going into the game. It will take a big effort but if Dan Flynn is on a good day and Kilkenny is kept as quiet as he was in Newbridge there might just be a shock.
brianb (National) - 25/05/2022 17:01:01
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National Hurling League 2 Up 2 Down - 2 Like(s)
Replying To carlo: "Off topic but jesus the media love in with Offaly is getting cringe worthy. Yeah they beat a 14 man Dublin in the league by a point but that could have gone anyway. This is an Offaly team that have contested a minor All Ireland & won an u20. It's not exactly a massive shock. Our hurlers beat Waterford ( a far better team than Dublin) & got about 20 seconds on TV. We also drew with the mighty Offaly but that apparently was a bad performance by Offaly. The whole country seems to have a massive want for Offaly to be good again but I'm not certain it will happen. I'd love nothing better than to meet them in league final again as we have regularly beaten them over the last few years & have no fear of them. Unfortunately our game against Laois fell to the weather today so we will have 4 games on top of each other so unlikely to push for promotion. In the meantime we can all sit back & enjoy the mighty Offaly...." I didn't think you should begrudge Offaly their moment. Its the redemption arc that the media love. You've already shown you're as good as them. You've taken 3 points from the top 2 in the division; the promotion push is on.
brianb (National) - 24/02/2025 10:55:25
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Promotion Of Our Games - 2 Like(s)
Replying To legendzxix: "I'm not a fan of the split season but the GAA seem to have their reasons and they seem determined. There seems to be very little appetite from county boards to move away from the league starting at an the end of January, and the championship ending at the end of July. Is money the main factor? Less expense when the majority of counties are out at the of June.
If the National League started at the end of March, the championship could end at the end of September. County championship could complete in December. Provincial club and All-Ireland club championships from January to mid March. Intercounty provincial leagues could run from January to mid March also.
County leagues run during the provincial and All-Ireland intercounty championships. Intercounty provincial leagues can run during provincial and All-Ireland club championships." I'm also not a big fan of the split season either. It trying to get 8 months of inter-county action and 8 months of club action into 6 months each.
My main issue with the current calendar is that in the prime playing conditions of July, August and the first half of September we've had 8 inter-county football games and 3 inter-county hurling games. In Kildare we're just starting our club knock out games now.
I believe a master fixtures list is the way to go - we can have All Ireland finals at the start of September and county finals at the start of October.
brianb (National) - 22/09/2023 17:32:09
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Late County Finals - Split Season - 2 Like(s)
Replying To Pikeman96: "It's a novel idea, and it would give those counties more time to complete their club championships, since they couldn't start them as early as all other counties. Personally, I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, but I would wonder the knock-on effects of it if both All-Ireland finalists happened to be from the same province.
There are not many other suggestions here from either the Kerry man or the Tyrone man that I'd agree with, though. In particular, I think the suggestion that we should "lose the fascination with dual players" is nothing short of disgraceful." The dual player and how you accomodate them is an important part of the picture though. Almost every year there is a club doing well in both codes. A team like Slaughtneil or Kilmacud might get to the All Ireland Club final in both codes. They'd probably need to play 12 games in each code to get there. Thats 24 games.
If you start the club season at the start of August and alternate hurling and football each week you'd end up with Janruary finals. Perhaps we should plan for that scenario?
brianb (National) - 28/11/2022 15:38:15
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GAA To Start Charging Children Who Attend League Games - 2 Like(s)
Replying To Doylerwex: "It's hardly a fair comparison.
The GAA is a cultural, community based amateur organisation.
They've done many questionable things but this is the epitome of biting the hand that feeds you.
Consider the make up of a league crowd in Wexford park. How many groups of teenagers do you see? Will they still go? What else might they decide to do if they're not in the park?
Above all it's about getting children involved and wanting to play. Kids will lose out because of this.
As I mentioned above I'm actually really upset about this. It's going to cost us 60 quid extra just to get in now so unfortunately they just won't be going to all the games any more.
Some bright spark will realise the ridiculous decision they've made when there's nobody but season ticket holder at league games and you'll hear the ball being struck on the telly in front of an echo chamber stand full of crickets." I 100% agree. We can add this to the debacle about not being able to buy a ticket at the gate for matches and really wonder if the GAA wants people to go games at all.
brianb (National) - 12/12/2024 17:12:55
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Kildare Vs Dublin - 2 Like(s)
Replying To brian: "I'm pretty sure every Kerry and Tyrone fan sang that from the rooftops... sure weren't they both the best team of the 00's?
TBF i think the point of comparing this period of Dublin success to Kerry's 70's and 80's team is a bit off track. That Kerry team were together from mainly being around from minor upwards and were a collectively brilliant team. The bones of the Dublin success was based around guys who were there from 2010 and before in some cases and the older guys rolled off over time and were supplemented by younger guys. But how many of the current and former squad have 6 plus all irelands in their back pockets either as starters or subs.
Cluxton, Fitzsimons, McMahon, McCarthy, MDMA, Bastick, Daly, Rock, Mcmenamon, Kilkenny and others.
The success of the senior team inspired the guys coming through which didn't happen the kerry team in the 80's. Kerry i think lost a lot of players as Micko stuck almost religiously to the same squad for 12/13 years and they then went into a lull from 86 to 97. Jim Gavin infused the team with younger players but still kept the older players involved so it's to his credit that tyhey were set up for continued success as he integrated lads over time and then they became starters. Micko didn't do that and Kerry were in limbo for almost a decade.
Yes i see the point you make about a conveyor belt, but success breeds success. In Meath we won in 87/88 and then won minor's/U21's in 90,92 and 93 which formed the backbone of teams winning all irelands in 96 and 99. Kerry missed a trick in the 80's, Dublin haven't." I agree with pretty much everything you said there and 2/3 years ago I would have come to the same conclusion. That's before the likes of the Brogan, Connolly or Flynn were each arguably replaced by as good or better.
I think this is structural and is going to continue on unless something changes. There another new Dublin team emerging there with the likes of Murchan and the Basquels ready to step up.
There is a competitiveness problem at the top end of the football championship. I'm not sure how many Leinster / All Ireland titles in a row Dublin need to win before everyone will agree that is a big problem.
brianb (National) - 05/08/2021 21:11:53
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