Hurling puts football in the shade

[laoislad]

I was there and I've never known excitement like it. Was a nervous wreck through the whole second half. And the joy/relief when the winner went over and the final whistle blew - no words. Over the moon for Joe too. There was plenty of sloppiness but that just added to the tension and drama.

Juice said it, why do we need to bring this crap thread up again?

Football is a great game, but obviously the massive gap between the top few and the rest is causing some dull games.

Look at the reaction it gets 
That's why...

[punt kick]

Was at the double bore feast on Saturday and the two matches yesterday, no comparison in terms of skill and excitement - have my tickets for next Sunday, can't wait expect it to be another clinker.

[johnneycool]

I was there and I've never known excitement like it. Was a nervous wreck through the whole second half. And the joy/relief when the winner went over and the final whistle blew - no words. Over the moon for Joe too. There was plenty of sloppiness but that just added to the tension and drama.

Juice said it, why do we need to bring this crap thread up again?

Football is a great game, but obviously the massive gap between the top few and the rest is causing some dull games.

Off the top of my head I'm thinking of canavan free v Armagh 05, cluxton v Kerry 2011, coc miss in last year's final...
And the gap is worse in hurling. It's that bad that half the counties in the country don't even bother entering.

I'd agree with that as you're entirely correct, but therein lies the problems with the football mismatches that a lot of football orientated county boards aren't prepared to accept. Some footballers themselves also can't accept it either if the truth was told and are holding on to that mystical good run that comes once in a blue moon when they get to play against one of the big teams in Croke Park even if they are hockeyed.

In hurling you play at a level you are competitive at until you progress up through the ranks for a crack at the big teams. That has proven illusive for most at the moment, but then again with three counties having dominated hurling since its inception into the GAA you can hardly go blaming the league and championship structures with so many other mitigating circumstances.
Footballing orientated county boards had no issue with tiered hurling championships but it would be a major reality check if they voted for a tiered football championship as you'd be admitting that after putting all your efforts into football and are still shite and that's that!

[seafoid]

There are 16 teams of acceptable standard in the hurling. There are too in  football but nobody wants to admit it.
In hurling the barrier is skill. In football it seems to be S&C
I think football is in crisis.

[punt kick]

Two is a bit harsh - Tyrone are there or there abouts also.

[Zulu]

There are 16 teams of acceptable standard in the hurling. There are too in  football but nobody wants to admit it.
In hurling the barrier is skill. In football it seems to be S&C
I think football is in crisis.

16 hurling teams of acceptable standard but only 2 in football, is that a joke?

Football is a far more skilful game than it's given credit for and scoring is much more difficult. However, it's difficulty to make an argument for football being a good spectacle the way it's being played. I think hurling is a poor spectacle than it used to be too but football is gone way back I'm afraid.

[Hardy]

16 in hurling, 16 in football is the sense of what he said.

[johnneycool]

There are 16 teams of acceptable standard in the hurling. There are too in  football but nobody wants to admit it.
In hurling the barrier is skill. In football it seems to be S&C
I think football is in crisis.

16 hurling teams of acceptable standard but only 2 in football, is that a joke?

Football is a far more skilful game than it's given credit for and scoring is much more difficult. However, it's difficulty to make an argument for football being a good spectacle the way it's being played. I think hurling is a poor spectacle than it used to be too but football is gone way back I'm afraid.

The demise of what will be looked upon as a great Kilkenny team has opened up hurling and from yesterday you could realistically say that all of Cork, Waterford, Galway and Tipp would have a good chance of AI glory and even then if the likes of Clare, Kilkenny and to a lesser extent Limerick get their team play sorted they've the hurlers in their ranks to do the same without people saying it would be a shock that they won the AI. I'd have Wexford and Dublin just below that bracket

Football realistically is between Dublin and Kerry and possibly Tyrone. Mayo and Roscommon seem to be a bit lower down the rankings with a bundle of average enough teams capable of beating each other, but not within an asses roar of the serious contenders. Donegal have fallen drastically this year.

Getting beat 6 points in football IMO would be a comfortable enough victory, whereas in hurling a 6 point margin can still be a very competitive game as like you say scoring is easier to achieve due to the distances a score can be got from.

Scoring forwards it seems are like hens teeth in football irrespective of S&C. The two teams with the better ones are top of the pile, Dublin and Kerry.

[seafoid]

There are 16 teams of acceptable standard in the hurling. There are too in  football but nobody wants to admit it.
In hurling the barrier is skill. In football it seems to be S&C
I think football is in crisis.

16 hurling teams of acceptable standard but only 2 in football, is that a joke?

Football is a far more skilful game than it's given credit for and scoring is much more difficult. However, it's difficulty to make an argument for football being a good spectacle the way it's being played. I think hurling is a poor spectacle than it used to be too but football is gone way back I'm afraid.

2 is spelt two.
Too means also

The game is mutant. It has been pushed to the limit by various pressures and there is a certain amount of dark stuff going on behind the scenes to get bodies ready for competition. The rules need to be revised. You cannot alienate the spectators who keep the whole circus going.

Rugby League is designed to be interesting.  Gaelic has meandered somewhere else.   

[Zulu]

There are 16 teams of acceptable standard in the hurling. There are too in  football but nobody wants to admit it.
In hurling the barrier is skill. In football it seems to be S&C
I think football is in crisis.

16 hurling teams of acceptable standard but only 2 in football, is that a joke?

Football is a far more skilful game than it's given credit for and scoring is much more difficult. However, it's difficulty to make an argument for football being a good spectacle the way it's being played. I think hurling is a poor spectacle than it used to be too but football is gone way back I'm afraid.

2 is spelt two.
Too means also

The game is mutant. It has been pushed to the limit by various pressures and there is a certain amount of dark stuff going on behind the scenes to get bodies ready for competition. The rules need to be revised. You cannot alienate the spectators who keep the whole circus going.

Rugby League is designed to be interesting.  Gaelic has meandered somewhere else.

Thanks for that seafoid but I had presumed your 'too' was a spelling error as your sentence doesn't make much sense as written, However, spelling and structure aside, it's ridiculous to suggest there are 16 teams of acceptable standard in hurling. There are none in Ulster, one in Connacht and three in Leinster. Football definitely has problems but there are way more competitive teams. Hurling is improving in that regard but Wexford were comfortably beaten by Waterford so genuine All Ireland challengers are still thin on the ground.

[armaghniac]

There are 16 teams of acceptable standard in the hurling. There are too in  football but nobody wants to admit it.
In hurling the barrier is skill. In football it seems to be S&C
I think football is in crisis.

16 hurling teams of acceptable standard but only 2 in football, is that a joke?

Football is a far more skilful game than it's given credit for and scoring is much more difficult. However, it's difficulty to make an argument for football being a good spectacle the way it's being played. I think hurling is a poor spectacle than it used to be too but football is gone way back I'm afraid.

2 is spelt two.
Too means also

The game is mutant. It has been pushed to the limit by various pressures and there is a certain amount of dark stuff going on behind the scenes to get bodies ready for competition. The rules need to be revised. You cannot alienate the spectators who keep the whole circus going.

Rugby League is designed to be interesting.  Gaelic has meandered somewhere else.

Thanks for that seafoid but I had presumed your 'too' was a spelling error as your sentence doesn't make much sense as written, However, spelling and structure aside, it's ridiculous to suggest there are 16 teams of acceptable standard in hurling. There are none in Ulster, one in Connacht and three in Leinster. Football definitely has problems but there are way more competitive teams. Hurling is improving in that regard but Wexford were comfortably beaten by Waterford so genuine All Ireland challengers are still thin on the ground.

If the 8th team in hurling played the 16th, the latter would never win if they played every day for a week.
The 16th team in football could beat the 8th placed on 2 or 3 of those days.

In hurling the semis are fairly even, but yet do not include two recent winners Clare and Kilkenny.

[seafoid]

I think at the start of the year the list of contenders for the hurling wouldn't be that different to football except there wouldn't be such a gap between the top and second tier. Obviously the undercard for football is much longer but when did that ever make a difference to Sam ownership ?   Clare would have been maybe 5th or 6th choice in 2013 and they ended up winning the hurling. With Kilkenny rebuilding there should be a bit more variety as well.
Football has been a closed shop for a while.

[sid waddell]

There are 16 teams of acceptable standard in the hurling. There are too in  football but nobody wants to admit it.
In hurling the barrier is skill. In football it seems to be S&C
I think football is in crisis.

16 hurling teams of acceptable standard but only 2 in football, is that a joke?

Football is a far more skilful game than it's given credit for and scoring is much more difficult. However, it's difficulty to make an argument for football being a good spectacle the way it's being played. I think hurling is a poor spectacle than it used to be too but football is gone way back I'm afraid.

On the contrary.

Gaelic football at its best as played in this decade has been a spectacular spectacle.

Dublin v Kerry 2013 and 2016, Dublin v Donegal 2014, Dublin v Mayo 2012, 2015 and 2016, Kerry v Mayo 2014 (2), all have been incredible spectacles.

Simply put, some counties take the game more seriously than others.

We all know which counties take it more seriously.

[RedHand88]

There are 16 teams of acceptable standard in the hurling. There are too in  football but nobody wants to admit it.
In hurling the barrier is skill. In football it seems to be S&C
I think football is in crisis.

16 hurling teams of acceptable standard but only 2 in football, is that a joke?

Football is a far more skilful game than it's given credit for and scoring is much more difficult. However, it's difficulty to make an argument for football being a good spectacle the way it's being played. I think hurling is a poor spectacle than it used to be too but football is gone way back I'm afraid.

On the contrary.

Gaelic football at its best as played in this decade has been a spectacular spectacle.

Dublin v Kerry 2013 and 2016, Dublin v Donegal 2014, Dublin v Mayo 2012, 2015 and 2016, Kerry v Mayo 2014 (2), all have been incredible spectacles.

Simply put, some counties take the game more seriously than others.

We all know which counties take it more seriously.

We've had more real good games at the late stages of the championship in this decade when compared to last decade. Last decade had 2 top quality teams, this decade has had 4, arguably 5 if you count tyrone and the decade isnt over yet.

[sid waddell]

There are 16 teams of acceptable standard in the hurling. There are too in  football but nobody wants to admit it.
In hurling the barrier is skill. In football it seems to be S&C
I think football is in crisis.

16 hurling teams of acceptable standard but only 2 in football, is that a joke?

Football is a far more skilful game than it's given credit for and scoring is much more difficult. However, it's difficulty to make an argument for football being a good spectacle the way it's being played. I think hurling is a poor spectacle than it used to be too but football is gone way back I'm afraid.

On the contrary.

Gaelic football at its best as played in this decade has been a spectacular spectacle.

Dublin v Kerry 2013 and 2016, Dublin v Donegal 2014, Dublin v Mayo 2012, 2015 and 2016, Kerry v Mayo 2014 (2), all have been incredible spectacles.

Simply put, some counties take the game more seriously than others.

We all know which counties take it more seriously.

We've had more real good games at the late stages of the championship in this decade when compared to last decade. Last decade had 2 top quality teams, this decade has had 4, arguably 5 if you count tyrone and the decade isnt over yet.

The three games of the last decade which were played at the real top level were Tyrone v Kerry 2005 and 2008 and Tyrone v Armagh 2005.

There were others that were very good but a notch below like Armagh v Dublin 2002 and Dublin v Tyrone in 2005.

But overall, the top games in this decade have been at a higher level than any of the previous. They've been wars, but they have been glorious wars.