The Sunday Game

[ballinaman]

There's another point worth considering here.
People say, "We talk about this every year!" and throw their hands up to heaven as if this is some massively significant issue.
Yeah, we do talk about this every year, but it's always at this time, i.e. the first & second round of games where the mismatches are more pronounced.
Usually in the aftermath of Dublin mincing someone I might add.
Is this an issue for Ulster?
No.
Is this an issue for Connacht?
Not really.
Is this an issue for Munster?
Probably not, as the provincial winner is not a foregone conclusion.
So basically we're talking about ripping up the whole script and years of tradition on the back of Dublin being too good for every other team in Leinster, at this point in time.
The solution seems pretty obvious...





get rid of Dublin.

Given its status as capital, might be an option to rotate Dublin between all the provinces. Would spice things up to play in the Connacht championship next year, Ulster the year after, then Munster, then back to Leinster. Would make the Leinster championship a lot more interesting too

Good shout. Could be good to get an early match in Croke Park for teams from other provinces instead of waiting until August bank hol.

[fearglasmor]

Rte graphic still calls it the back door.
Look at thd GAA website fixtures. Five tabs. L M U and C championships and one for All Ireland.
The reality is the structure has changed and no one in the media has picked up on it.
Provincials ard now jus stand alone comps that determind cedeing fof when you enter the All Ireland.
The structure is good except for Ulster who else screw it up bh not cedeing their championship. So now you have the stupid situation of Tyrone being in the first round of the All Ireland with 3rd and 4th division teams.
They just need to sort out the fixtures scheduling now. The world has changed by stealth.

[yellowcard]

McStay is the only one I can listen to. Used to hate him for some unknown reason! But he has his homework done. He calls it as it is with weaker counties without being patronising. Spillane just stick to the safe stats stuff and looks at a county traditionally. O'Rourke is solid, not much guff, but seems to have fell into the lazy stuff aswell. Brolly is just car crash TV. Tries harder than Spilane and O'Rourke to get a real angle on things, but has just ended up the clown of the panel. Whelan is decent. My problem with him is him talking on controversial issues, it sounds so ironic! O'Shea after a good start. Sounds like a broken record. All the good sound bites from last year seemed to be rehashed and he knows little or nothing of Football in the provinces bar his own.

As for co-commentators Martin Carney (who always gets Mayo and Donegal Matches) and Tommy Carr. Sweet Jesus!

I agree on McStay. When he was a co commentator he really annoyed me but when he is sat in the studio I think he is a different man and is one of the best. Comes across like a decent bloke. The combination nation of Canning and Carney on commentating duties is a poor one.

[ck]

Why are the night time men much better analysts. The day time live programme has the 3 amigos who just look for headlines and cheap jibes, whereas the night programme actually does attempt to analyse the games

[Sea The Stars]

The Sunday Game ensures there's a talking point every week. So far sledging, Brolly's remark about Marty Morrissey and this week O'Rourke calling for a change in structure. There's always something the following week to keep everyone talking.

Also completely agree with fearglasmor, I have actually made that exact same point as you before. Provincial championships just determine what stage you enter the All-Ireland race. The GAA should try and market this structure a bit better.

The qualifiers are now an opportunity for Longford to show progress where they will be coming up against teams of similar ability to themselves.  I think this format is as good as any B championship. The advantage of the qualifiers is that the further you progress, the standard gets better giving lesser counties a chance to test themselves against teams increasing in quality.

[manfromdelmonte]

The Sunday Game ensures there's a talking point every week. So far sledging, Brolly's remark about Marty Morrissey and this week O'Rourke calling for a change in structure. There's always something the following week to keep everyone talking.

Also completely agree with fearglasmor, I have actually made that exact same point as you before. Provincial championships just determine what stage you enter the All-Ireland race. The GAA should try and market this structure a bit better.

The qualifiers are now an opportunity for Longford to show progress where they will be coming up against teams of similar ability to themselves.  I think this format is as good as any B championship. The advantage of the qualifiers is that the further you progress, the standard gets better giving lesser counties a chance to test themselves against teams increasing in quality.

Unless you get a lucky draw, a few home draws or come up against opponents who've had less time to prepare after a deflating defeat in a big game (eg Sligo in 2010 or Louth in 2010)

[panc56]

Agreed Sheedy is getting away with murder. If it was two years ago with Glen Ryan I charge we would not have had that beating nor would we have left the gate open so widely early on. I'm not foolish enough to think we could have won the game but at least we would have given Dublin a test. Would Horan , McGuinnes Harte etc have allowed it to occur?

[Rossfan]

So first managerial vacancy for 2016 will be the Larries

[LaurelEye]

So first managerial vacancy for 2016 will be the Larries

I doubt it unless the clubs rear up to a greater extent than they did last year.

[twohands!!!]

Agreed Sheedy is getting away with murder. If it was two years ago with Glen Ryan I charge we would not have had that beating nor would we have left the gate open so widely early on. I'm not foolish enough to think we could have won the game but at least we would have given Dublin a test. Would Horan , McGuinnes Harte etc have allowed it to occur?

I think the fact that he 1) got promotion out of Division 4 2) got revenge for the league final loss to Offaly so recently 3) the bookies had Dublin at 1/200 mean that he had a fair bit of credit banked and anyone trying to criticise at him would have a very tricky route to walk to not come across as being overly critical.

I think he'd be getting a whole lot more criticism for his approach if Longford hadn't gotten promoted in the league. 
There's also the fact that Longford were one of the few Leinster counties who made clear progess in the league.
I also have a sneaky feeling that the 0-10 Longford scored against the Dubs might look a bit more impressive come the end of the championship.

[orangeman]

The president is not at all happy with Sunday game analysis.

RTE must be loving all this talk. No such thing as bad publicity.

[Jinxy]

He certainly shoots from the hip anyway.
I dunno whether that's a good or a bad thing.

[Syferus]

The president is not at all happy with Sunday game analysis.

RTE must be loving all this talk. No such thing as bad publicity.

Unless you're the GAA apparently..

[JoG2]

The president is not at all happy with Sunday game analysis.

RTE must be loving all this talk. No such thing as bad publicity.

Unless you're the GAA apparently..

or George Ratner

[5 Sams]

Michael Lyster rushed to hospital last night with a sudden illness. Fcuk hope he's ok.

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