Paddy O'Rourke's comments on intercounty demands

Started by Jinxy, February 15, 2018, 09:02:56 PM

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armaghniac

Quote from: Orchard park on February 15, 2018, 11:51:54 PM
Quote from: Syferus on February 15, 2018, 09:25:22 PM
Quote from: Cunny Funt on February 15, 2018, 09:23:35 PM
Meath are not the Meath of old and probably due to a lack of underage success for years and club football that has only improved recently. Basically Meath have to walk before they can run. Meaths aims should be to reach the super 8s and try to gain promotion to div one this spring. If the rest of the Meath players attitude was like O Rourkes "this is not worth it" then Meath will only stay where they are and make no progress at all.

The question remains does the toil match the reward? I think in every county bar Dublin the answer is a resounding no. Even the players involved now probably regularly ask themselves if what the IC game has become is worth it.

Is the toil less for a Dublin  player ??

Apart from the travel, no. But an AI medal might make it worth it.
If at first you don't succeed, then goto Plan B

trileacman

I'd argue it's only Dublin dominance that's cutting the throat of the gaa now. If not for them they're be much more reward for the rest of the teams around the county, especially the Leinster teams. Mayo dominance in the West is waning and will soon end leaving room for ros or Galway to have a few bigs years at winning Connacht and dreams of Sam. If Dublin were brought into the chasing pack they're be some serious battles in Leinster between the big 4.

We've seen that everybody bar Dublin is eminently beatable on the day. Meath nearly caught Tyrone out twice in the last 5 years. Smaller counties can still turn the books on the larger ones in knockout football.

Dublin are like Michael Schumacher when he and Ferrari sucked the heart out of F1 in the early 2000s with his grip on the silverware.
Fantasy Rugby World Cup Champion 2011,
Fantasy 6 Nations Champion 2014

Captain Obvious

Quote from: thejuice on February 15, 2018, 11:32:45 PM
I think people are missing the point. We got to a semifinal in 2009 and the lads have been upping the commitment year on year ever since but getting less and less of a return.

The Meath 2009 semi finalist team

P O'Rourke, C O'Connor, A Moyles, E Harrington, S Kenny, C McGuinness, C King, N Crawford, B Meade, P Byrne, J Sheridan, S Bray, D Bray, B Farrell, C Ward

The Meath 2012 team that was knocked out the championship 3 years later.

D Gallagher, D Keogan, B Menton, M Burke, D Tobin, S McAnarney, B Meade, C Gillespie, G Reilly, A Forde, D Carroll, S Bray, B Farrell, J Sheridan, C Ward.


Only a few survivors and I think only a hand full are still playing county football now. Meath as bad as any team outside the top six for chopping and changing their teams year after year.

Jinxy

To quote T.S. Eliot, 'This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.'
There will be no single day that we all get to make a stand against the outright commercialisation of the inter-county game.
We are already well on the way there.
If you were any use you'd be playing.

johnneycool

Quote from: Jinxy on February 16, 2018, 09:13:14 AM
To quote T.S. Eliot, 'This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.'
There will be no single day that we all get to make a stand against the outright commercialisation of the inter-county game.
We are already well on the way there.

And it's working for the few and not the many. (c) Jeremy Corbyn.

Rossfan

Trileacman I'm wondering who's the 4th BIG in Leinster?
There's Dublin, Meath, Kildare and.....?
Davy's given us a dream to cling to
We're going to bring home the SAM

rosnarun

if your only interest in playing football is to win an All-Ireland final then you probably wont.
winning is the ultimate reward for for the best of the best not a condition of entry .

one of the things that disgusts me about professional sport is the way a player moves to a winning team and claim to feel any sense of ownership of that win.
I remember Michael o leary buying a gold cup winner a few days before the race and when it. the favorite won'  he celebrate like he gave birth to it himself .
not sure what that is but it has nothing to do with Sport

If you make yourself understood, you're always speaking well. Moliere

Ethan Tremblay

Can see this from both points.  Paddy knows that putting in months of hard graft, sacrifice and effort isn't going to bear any fruit and to be fair the way things are going only 4 teams are going to be thereabouts come silverware time.  Leinster is an especially hard nut to crack these days which Dublin dominating. 

Retrospectively, most players would talk about more than the medals sitting in a drawer at home when reflecting on their careers.  The camaraderie, sense of belonging and the bond is what most take away I think.  I would say if Paddy is content he has walked away knowing he has taken out of Meath what he wanted then fair dues.  You have to step away at some stage. 
I tend to think of myself as a one man wolfpack...

Esmarelda

Quote from: Jinxy on February 15, 2018, 09:54:25 PM
I played football because I enjoyed it.
If you don't enjoy it and you've no chance of winning anything, what's the point.
Meanwhile, the ordinary club players are sitting on their hands for the best part of the summer while they watch their 'elite' players hand-passing the ball around in circles with the county.
Would enjoying it not be enough though? We've been through most of this before on numerous threads. In every sport there are entrants that have almost no chance of winning for the foreseeable future. If O'Rourke isn't enjoying it for whatever reason, be it that he can't see them winning or any other reason, then I suppose he's right to stop. I wouldn't hold that against him.

Maybe more can be done to make it so that he can see a future where Meath win Leinster, but if that happens, you're still going to have loads of players on loads of teams who still have very little chance of winning anything.

lenny

Quote from: Ethan Tremblay on February 16, 2018, 11:34:09 AM
Can see this from both points.  Paddy knows that putting in months of hard graft, sacrifice and effort isn't going to bear any fruit and to be fair the way things are going only 4 teams are going to be thereabouts come silverware time.  Leinster is an especially hard nut to crack these days which Dublin dominating. 

Retrospectively, most players would talk about more than the medals sitting in a drawer at home when reflecting on their careers.  The camaraderie, sense of belonging and the bond is what most take away I think.  I would say if Paddy is content he has walked away knowing he has taken out of Meath what he wanted then fair dues.  You have to step away at some stage.

The sooner we get to a tiered championship like at club level the better. The clamour for it is growing all the time. The Longford manager was the latest to call for it this week. Ridiculous and deflating that teams like Longford and Wicklow are expected to take on Dublin.

Syferus

Quote from: lenny on February 16, 2018, 11:57:50 AM
Quote from: Ethan Tremblay on February 16, 2018, 11:34:09 AM
Can see this from both points.  Paddy knows that putting in months of hard graft, sacrifice and effort isn't going to bear any fruit and to be fair the way things are going only 4 teams are going to be thereabouts come silverware time.  Leinster is an especially hard nut to crack these days which Dublin dominating. 

Retrospectively, most players would talk about more than the medals sitting in a drawer at home when reflecting on their careers.  The camaraderie, sense of belonging and the bond is what most take away I think.  I would say if Paddy is content he has walked away knowing he has taken out of Meath what he wanted then fair dues.  You have to step away at some stage.

The sooner we get to a tiered championship like at club level the better. The clamour for it is growing all the time. The Longford manager was the latest to call for it this week. Ridiculous and deflating that teams like Longford and Wicklow are expected to take on Dublin.

You're smoking some shît if you think a tiered system would make the situation better and not worse.

Donnellys Hollow

This is reflective of a wider apathy within Leinster football. I think plenty of players around the province will be thinking this way in the years ahead. Your realistic ambition starting off the year is to try and reach a Leinster Final where your goal is to keep the score down against Dublin. Even if you achieve that you will probably still be mocked for all your efforts on national television for failing to beat a team who are operating in a different galaxy. Support within Leinster has fallen away because the public believe it's not a fair fight anymore. The players were bound to follow at some point.

Quote from: rosnarun on February 16, 2018, 10:07:05 AM
I remember Michael o leary buying a gold cup winner a few days before the race and when it. the favorite won'  he celebrate like he gave birth to it himself .

That never happened!
There's Seán Brady going in, what dya think Seán?

Esmarelda

Quote from: Donnellys Hollow on February 16, 2018, 12:20:11 PM
This is reflective of a wider apathy within Leinster football. I think plenty of players around the province will be thinking this way in the years ahead. Your realistic ambition starting off the year is to try and reach a Leinster Final where your goal is to keep the score down against Dublin. Even if you achieve that you will probably still be mocked for all your efforts on national television for failing to beat a team who are operating in a different galaxy. Support within Leinster has fallen away because the public believe it's not a fair fight anymore. The players were bound to follow at some point.

Quote from: rosnarun on February 16, 2018, 10:07:05 AM
I remember Michael o leary buying a gold cup winner a few days before the race and when it. the favorite won'  he celebrate like he gave birth to it himself .

That never happened!
Was there a time when Wicklow and Carlow didn't feel how you've outlined before?

Rossfan

No matter how bad Wicklow or Carlow were previously Meath and Offaly were winning or had a realistic  hope of winning Leinster.
Problem is now as said above teams are only playing for a place ir Round 4 of the Qualifiers.
Davy's given us a dream to cling to
We're going to bring home the SAM

shark

Quote from: Rossfan on February 16, 2018, 09:39:57 AM
Trileacman I'm wondering who's the 4th BIG in Leinster?
There's Dublin, Meath, Kildare and.....?

It's a long time since Westmeath lost to any Leinster team outside of Dublin.