Replying To gaa.88: "Good post WanPintWin. As a Kerryman I will admit that of course Kerry have a huge advantage in the intermediate and junior grades. However our system in Kerry works very well. Croke park ordered a few years back that the county championship has to be limited to 16 teams. Becuase in Kerry we have divisional teams ( an amalgamation of smaller clubs) that play in the county championship then we could only have 8 senior teams and 8 divisional teams. Of course then that means the 9th best club team in Kerry are intermediate and if they win that championship it gives them a big advantage in the All Ireland run. We in Kerry think having the divisional teams are brilliant ( altho if they win they cant represent the county as they are a few clubs amalgamated). Divisonal teams gives every player a chance to play senior county championship football no matter what grade their club is . If a player is good enough from a weak club they can play with a divisional team. In fact both the Cliffords would have never been able to play county championship football only for the divisional team as their club Fossa is not senior. Now this year the diviosional teams are decreasing so we have 9 senior club teams and next year I believe Kerry will have 10 senior club teams and 6 divisional teams. This still gives us an advantage but cuts it down a little as it will be our 11th best team representing Kerry at intermediate instead of 9. Our system is used for the betterment of Kerry football and we think its a great system for players in Kerry but yes it is advantagous to Kerry clubs representing the county."
Lots of talk about counties different league and championship systems. On Sunday Kerry's system didn't win it for their teams in the two finals. Clogher missed too many chances and Glenullin didn't play attacking football. Kerry can't be blamed for that.
Replying To Saynothing: "Lots of talk about counties different league and championship systems. On Sunday Kerry's system didn't win it for their teams in the two finals. Clogher missed too many chances and Glenullin didn't play attacking football. Kerry can't be blamed for that."
On the individual games, I agree completely. I've already made my thoughts clear on Glenullin's tactics, which were very poor in my opinion. On a general point, Kerry teams have an advantage in the provincial and All-Ireland junior and intermediate championships. It doesn't mean they're unbeatable, but does make it harder for clubs from other counties.
Plenty clubs like Galway's Oughterard when they beat Templenoe in 2020, have beaten the Kerry representatives against the odds. I think Templenoe were 1/7 for that game with the bookies. They had 4 Kerry county panelists at the time, which for an intermediate club was amazing. It is what it is. Kerry aren't to blame for it. It should be acknowledged but there's no point griping about it. Kerry should always do what's best for them.
Replying To gaa.88: "Correct.Croke park has a different surface to every other gaa pitch and the ball bounces differently too off the surface.Players playing there for the first time will tell you its completely different. While Croke park is not the biggest dimension wise it is still fairly big with 145m x 88m with the largest being 145m x 90m. Semple stadium is 145m x 80m."
We have used the same playing surface on Hyde Park as been used in Croke Park and I'm sure we aren't alone in doing that. Sand and top layer rolled out grass imported from Wexford I think.