Topics

I guess the guys can have a week celebrating before getting started on winning the famous 5 in-a-row...Hopefully Dermo will be back to take part!!

With Dublin having won the last 2 titles including winning 2016 with player like Brogan/Flynn/MDMA totally out of form and after losing ROC/McCaffrey is anyone likely to beat them next season in the championship?

Kerry - losing a few of their older players but will their minors come through quick enough?
Mayo - bound to lost a couple of players but will they get any of their U21 forwards to come through quick enough
Tyrone - will Cavanagh come back???

With Mayo/Dublin etc winning games by playing open attacking football and working on winning by kicking big scores will other teams try to follow this philosophy or will they stick to the negative defensive styles???

Based on the new rules that are going to be enforced for the pre-season games and the leagues how do people think they will impact the game?

Ensuring that Body Checks especially after the player has played away the ball, dragging down a player, tripping a player by hand, foot or hurley, neck high tackles, wrestling with a player either on the ground or off the ball and remonstating with a referee in an agressive manner all lead to removal from the game and replacement by a sub.

Will these have a major effect on teams? Are they more beneficial to stronger squads? How long will it take for Managers to whinge about players being ordered off for cynical play that its not fair etc?

Which teams are more likely to be affected? Will it impact Kerry/Armagh/Tyrone/Monaghan more than others?

Just curious considering there is a triple header today with teams who would supposedly have large fan bases as to what the attendance is today....it looks from TV as if its no more than maybe 30k

Does anyone else feel like me that Gaelic Football is starting to become like soccer with regards to contact?

One of the things I enjoy most is the physical contact in the game - the good hard shoulder, the hard tackle, the attack on the ball and the taking of a fair hit without complaint and if Dara O'Se gets sent off for that little push it is becoming disgraceful.

It seems to be a due to a mixture of refs deciding to book/send off for minimal contact, disciplinary bodies banning people for next to nothing and combined with an attitude of players to go down and pretend to be hurt when barely touched which I think is an absolute disgrace?

What can be done to get it back to a proper physical mans game again???

With 5 Div 1 teams knocked out already in the Championship - 1 knocked out by Div 1, 3 knocked out by Div 3 teams and 1 by a Div 4 team - maybe the standards weren't that high after all...

In Div 2 4 teams are out already (1 more when Dublin/Westmeath meet) - 1 knocked out by Div 1, 1 knocked out by Div 2 and 2 by Div 3 teams

Maybe Div 3 was the top league 

Considering at the start of the season people would have said Dublin, Cork, Tyrone, Armagh, Monaghan, Derry ,Galway, Mayo would be the main challengers for Kerry and we have already seen Monaghan and Tyrone beaten, Cork, Armagh, Galway struggle against lowly ranked teams.....Dublin are the only one of the major challengers who started well (even though people still critiscise them for the performance)...

So who is likely to come closest to beating Kerry?

Well this is the big one for Dublin in the league - Win this and promotion should be close to secure, lose and we will be right back in the chasing pack again...We owe the Farney Men for their big victory 2 years ago and I hope we do it....

It should be a very tough physical game which will suit the players in the long run....lets just hope it is a drier day than Saturday...

Would like to see Shaughnessy come back in for the next match and possibly Cahill (if fit)...hope Fennell plays as the more gametime he gets the better in the long run...Up front Brogan/Cullen need to start firing and would like to see a full forward line of Brogan, Keaney, Brogan...

I assume there will be no hassle getting tickets on the Sat as flying back for this one......

What can we hope for this year in order to improve us even further and hopefully help us make the Final and ideally beat Kerry in the final if possible???

Keeper - Obviously Cluxton will still be keeper so no change needed.....will Leonard get a runout as keeper in the league to get more experience?

Full back line - Obviously is likely to be the same as last year with McConnell having a full years experience - would like to see Shaughnessy/O'Shea getting runouts though in the league to keep in contention

Half back line - Not sure what will happen here but I would like to see Cahill, Brennan, Moran as the half back line....bring Moran back to wingback and put Brennan in as centreback...a more defensive centre back than Cullen...keep Casey and possibly Paul Brogan as options for wingback...

Centrefield - Whelan/Ryan/Magee will be the first 3 and would be good if O'Mahoney gets an injury free season and gets a good runout in the league...

Half forwards - Brogan, Cullen, Lally, Connolly, Pat Burke, Sherlock should all get runouts in the league

Full forwards - Vaughan, Keaney, Brogan, Quinn, Bonnar (if allowed), Barry Kennedy, Kevin Leahy should all get runouts in the league

Cullen able to drop back to provide a spare man in the halfbacks without having the man-marking duties if required....Cahill I think better on the right and Moran a good passer from left halfback...

Championship team if all goes well

Cluxton

Henry, McConnell, Griffen

Cahill, Brennan, Moran

Whelan, Ryan

Brogan, Cullen ,Connolly

Brogan, Keaney, Vaughen

Leonard, Shocko, O'Shea, Casey, O'Mahony, Magee, Sherlock, Quinn, Kennedy, Lally, Bonner, Burke, Leahy

Not wanting to create even more discord and disharmony on this board than I normally do but considering the main claim is that the grants will lead to a reduction in volunteers etc due to the creation of a 2 tier GAA I just wondered how many people hear would quit volunteering?

So what do people think their counties main aims this year should be in the National League...

For Dublin the main aims I think should be...

1 - Win Div 2 and get promoted.
2 - Give more experience to the younger players such as McConnell, Brennan, B Brogan, Vaughan, Connolly, O'Mahony, Bonnar
3 - Give more gametime to players such as O'Shea, Shaughnessy, Lally, Magee, Quinn, Goggins
4 - Try out options at centre back (eg Cahill/Magee/Brennan)
5 - Decide who is possible replacement for McConnell at full back if things not working.
6 - Decide on a centre forward and play him for the whole league campaign - Keaney/Brogan/Cullen
6 - Ensure a more clinical view of shot taking
7 - Try to ensure a more efficient defensive performance

Cluxton - not for all games
Shaughnessy
McConnell
O'Shea
Henry
Cahill
Brennan
O'Mahoney
Magee
Connolly
Keaney
Brogan
Quinn
Bonnar
Vaughan

for example being a team which leaves Casey, Moran, Cullen, Whelan, Ryan, Brogan etc a rest and have guys like Lally, Magee, Goggins etc on the bench to come on....

1 - Stephen Cluxton
2 - David Henry
3 - Darren Fay
4 - Paul Griffen
5 - Tom Kelly
6 - Brian Cullen
7 - Anthony Moyles
8 - Shane Ryan
9 - Ciaran Whelan
10 - Paddy Keenan
11 - Alan Brogan
12 - Stephen Bray
13 - Dessie Dolan
14 - Conal Keaney
15 - John Doyle

Dublin - Ciaran Whelan
Kerry - Dara O'Se
Tyrone - Conor Gormley
Derry - Sean Marty
Sligo - Eamon O'Hara
Cork - James Masters
Laois - Tom Kelly
Monaghan - Thomas Freeman
Louth - Paddy Keenan
Donegal - Brendan Devenny
Meath - Anthony Moyles

By Billy Keane
Tuesday July 17 2007


My Superman's phone box was the Snug in The Palace and I emerged dressed in blue from head to toe. I was a Dub for a day.


My head was full of what a Dub should be. Me, Anto from Monto, approached the henna tattooist outside The Bank Of Ireland on College Green.

He assured me it would come off in a week. But what if I was to be stigmatised at Killarney Races as result? I baulked. But the good reporter always asks the hard questions.

And yes, Dublin women do wear blue knickers on match days. It's all on camera for The Road to Croker on Thursday at eight on RTE 1.

The camera draws all sorts.

I was cheered by a group of junkies sitting on those same Georgian steps the ascendancy often mounted in the days of the Raj.

We had the great good luck to run into a mother, a truly beautiful young woman on a terraced side street. She was tall, graceful and elegant and it dawned me there's not much difference between us and youse. She had a lovely blonde child in one hand and a packet of Mikado's in the other for HT tea.

We made out The Hill 16 Bar. There were hundreds of Dubs cordoned off behind bars. One Laois man remarked "it was the right place for 'em" .

I was getting a bit nervy now. What if I came across a band of gurriers out for a bit of Culchie bashing. Mata Hari was shot at dawn. My cover was blown by an Indo reader but I need not have worried.

I was joined by Dinky, after the small cars. Dinky told me he was a doctor. He was cutting down the beams in the attic of the Royal College of Surgeons.

A group of Carlow supporters walked by intheir distinctive red, green and yellow jerseys.

"Come on ye Rastafarians" shouted Huggy. The Dubs sang the new Carlow anthem "No Woman, No Crime".

I had 'em all singing The Barney Song. We all hugged Huggy.

Some fella taunted the passing Laois parade with a chant of "your sisters are your mothers".

But there was nothing really vicious in it. The Dubs just like winding people up. They're not against anyone, just up for Dublin. And the Laois boys laughed it off.

But it wasn't all Dublin in the Rare 'Oul Times.

A parking tout hassled my cameraman and minder Michael Foley. Some guy tried to grab the camera, unsuccessfully. We stopped off at the barriers on Jones Road to get our faces painted.

I was now Anto the Cherokee I fulfilled a lifetime ambition when I shouted out "Last few choc ices and ripe bananas" in fluent Dub. I was allowed to sell scarves by Linda and scrounged a fiver for a flag off a corporate boxer who made every euro a prisoner.

There were dogs and horses outside the Hill and police dressed for the worst, I started to sweat up a bit. It was the first time I stopped yapping all day. I had a vision of the Dublin jersey draped across my coffin before the high altar in St Mary's parish church in Listowel.

The Hill was as blue as a desert sky.

The noise was overwhelming. We were up at the top and not far to go before vertigo set in. I cheered my heart out for the Dubs. The canny cameraman Michael even suggested I might be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome but there's an old Bantu saying "never insult the crocodile's mother before you cross the river".

Laois scored a great goal and The Hill, as my hero Con Houlihan put it, "was as quiet as Knocknagoshel on a Good Friday". Then the Dubs goaled and we were knocked over by friendly fire in the ensuing madness. "Come on you boys in Blue" started up.

Ten thousand as one, except one. I just couldn't synchronise the choreography between the finger pointing and the clapping.

But I got away with it. The uniform transforms you. You dress as a Dub, therefore you are a Dub.

Even when I spoke in a Kerry accent most people didn't even pick up on it.

I checked the toilets at half time. Plenty of soap, hot water and towels but no coke.

There were a few dopeheads going a bit mad in the food area but nothing too bad, even though the First Aid man told me he was very busy over on the other side of the Hill.

This girl of about 15 was getting shifted by a lad of about 17. They were both doped up. She didn't know where she was. Anything could happen to her. It was very sad.

Later my cover was blown when I roared 'Up the Kingdom' after the second Brogan goal. The boys mam, Marie is a neighbour.

There was a little bit of tension but it soon passed after a chorus of "get the culchie off the hill."

Michael diverted attention when he put the camera ona young lad kissing a girl.

"I hope she's your moth," immediately quipped Pronto beside me. But I was never in any great danger. They were nearly all good lads. Ninety nine per cent. Stereotyping be damned.

And would I go back? Most certainly. Sorry . . . deffo.

- Billy Keane

I have one ticket spare - Hogan Upper Section 727 Seat J17.......cost price to first person who PM's me for it.....will be in Quinns at about 1pm on Sunday to hand it over....

As a Dublin fan who is normally not very complimentary to Meath football can I just say that I have to admire your standpoint on the Brian Farrell issue. It is good to see that counties are prepared to accept the rules of the GAA and get on with things rather than appeal on techinicalities etc...

All I can say that along with Mullane's decision a few years ago that this is the approach that should be taken..........and I hope if the situation arises with a Dublin player that they take the same mature approach.

PS - In case anyone interprets it differently I would prefer he played for Meath as if Dublin are going to go on to the All-ireland final we need to be properly tested in tough close physical games all the way unlike last year....

Article from the Independent today which shows how to influence young people to play GAA...



Transfer timebomb

These two talented 13-year-old boys are on the brink of quitting Gaelic football because the GAA's transfer rules have left them in limbo. Cliona Foley reports on a row that has rocked a parish

TWO Kildare teenagers who are being blocked from moving clubs are likely to give up Gaelic football altogether if they are not allowed to transfer, their parents have warned.

The row, involving two 13-year-old members of Athgarvan GFC, has once again raised questions about the strict transfer rules which apply to children and adults alike in the GAA.

If they were playing juvenile soccer or rugby, the youngsters could move freely at the start of a new season, but not in the GAA.

Jamie Smith and Shane McSweeney's parents are afraid that by blocking their sons transfers, the GAA will drive them into the arms of other sports.

Smith (13) - who moved from England to Athgarvan in County Kildare just four years ago - is already a promising soccer player with Newbridge Town. He has played for his local league in the Kennedy Cup, the country's most prestigious U13 soccer tournament and a haven for scouts from English clubs.

But he has also played Gaelic football for Athgarvan, winning a place on a South Kildare team.

Shane McSweeney, almost 14, has played Gaelic football alongside him for their local club which provides the main sporting outlet in a burgeoning village on the edge of the Curragh.

His younger sister is already playing at U11 level for Sarsfields, in the nearby town of Newbridge - a club he, like Smith, now wants to join.

And his mother Mary fears that not allowing him transfer will create a vacuum which rugby - which he has taken up in his new secondary school (Newbridge College) - will inevitably fill.

Both families are desperately disappointed that their local club (Athgarvan) has blocked the children's transfer to Sarsfields and are now questioning the fairness of the GAA's strict transfer system.

It feels like he is being treated unfairly and that adults are putting up barriers for their own small victories

Newbridge is less than three miles away and Sarsfields could be fairly described as an urban 'super-club', given its facilities, structures and past successes.

In comparison, Athgarvan is a tiny rural club which has to amalgamate with another club (Nurney) to make up the numbers at U14/U16 level.

Athgarvan officials have declined to speak to the Irish Independent, but they refused to sanction the youngsters' transfers and countered the children's requests before a Kildare transfer hearing last Monday night.

In arguing for holding onto the two players, Athgarvan suggested during the hearing that this was a case of poaching - a claim strenuously denied by Sarsfields.

Smith's father Liam has also denied the poaching claim, insisting that his son instigated the move because many of the children he knows from playing soccer, and from school, are Sarsfields' members.

Liam Smith says there is no question of his son being poached and, as an FAI Emerging Talent coach, is surprised that young GAA players cannot transfer unless their clubs release them.

"There's complete freedom of choice in soccer, the children can play for whatever club they choose at the start of the season. As a coach, in any sport, your priority would be the development of players and ensuring they are playing," Smith explains.

"I know GAA players traditionally would stay with their parish club, but our view is that Jamie has just turned 13, has made new friends and it is very short-sighted of Kildare GAA to stop him.

"He loves playing Gaelic football. But if he can't move GAA clubs, he will probably either play more soccer or basketball or rugby."

Mary McSweeney also believes her son - who has played with Athgarvan since he was eight and reached a county final at U12 level - will not play for them this season, even if they retain his membership.

"He's nearly 14, an age when a lot of kids give up sport. Six of his U12 team have gone to rugby, four have transferred elsewhere and four have given up.

"It's not the end of the world, no one is dead or anything," she stressed. "But it feels like he is being treated unfairly and that adults are putting up barriers for their own small victories.

"He wants to move now and if he is not allowed I can see him playing rugby, even though he much prefers Gaelic."

Ironically, Kildare has no 'parish rule' which often restricts players' movements between neighbouring clubs.

However, the dilemma occurs because GAA players, at all levels, cannot move clubs without the permission of their last one.

Athgarvan's refusal to rubber-stamp these transfers is far from unique.

The Kildare County Board heard 21 transfer appeals last Monday and held firm on 14 refusals. Ten of the 21 appeals, at least, came from juvenile players.

Dilemma

Kildare GAA secretary Kathleen O'Neill says there is a valid reason for having juveniles governed by the same, strict transfer rules that govern adults.

"The problem is that a lot of children who travel into big towns for secondary school and make new friends, have been nurtured, from their primary school days, in small country clubs," she reasons.

"There are lots of volunteers who have invested time and effort in those children and the transfer rules, as they exist, at least offer some kind of protection to those small GAA clubs for all the effort they have put in to developing those players."

Because young soccer players automatically become free agents at the end of each season, such a row would not have occured in that sport, although underage soccer still sees its share of inter-club rows once the transfer window opens.

Club transfer controversies simply do not exist in underage rugby, according to Leinster's Provincial Domestic Games Manager David Ross, who works at the heart of their amateur game.

"Our clubs are very spread out across the country, so you simply don't have the case of children moving to another club nearby," he explained.

Automatic

"We don't actually have a 'transfer system' for youths (U18 players) because they simply do not move clubs unless their families re-locate, and then they will automatically be cleared to move."

However, he stipulated that "we would not encourage the concept of one club taking underage players from other clubs, especially if they were obviously making up a strong team.

"If we got a request from an eight-year-old looking to move to a club 15 or 30 miles away, simply on the grounds that they had a really good coach or something, that would not be encouraged," Ross added.

Meanwhile, the refusal of the youngsters' transfer request is expected to be rubber-stamped by Kildare County Board next Tuesday.