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Anyone know the number of paid full-time GPOs/GDAs Dublin have and how many the other counties have?

Dublin have between 45-50 full tome GPO's. The clubs they work for pay half their salary. The County Board pay the other half.

[Dublin have just build a fracility that dwarfs it]

The 3 lowest teams there are 3 of the biggest underachievers in recent years in terms of population in Cork, Galway and Kildare. Kerry are doing ok but they have massive revenue from sponsorship and donations. Meath's and Down are two other teams who should be getting better looked after. Tyrone and Donegal are doing very well with limited support but they have good income streams.

how much did the Garvaghey Cebtre cost?

Its an absolute disgrace and its been going on for years. Even the NFL the most professional organisation going have a system in place to try and level the playing field. The GAA will sit and do nothing until its too late.

I don't know what garvaghey to do with it. We have a good system in place for raising funds from supporters and have loans which are being paid back? Whats your point about Garvaghey. Dublin have just build a fracility that dwarfs it

You can replace the word 'build' with 'been given', I think.

Lies. Please call up that centre whatever its called and ask for a full list of teams, ages, gender that have used the pitches and facilities since it opened, let me know how you get on.

And Jinxy its a great facility for Meath teams to use at inter and club level so don't know why you would not be happy with location.

Did Dublin build it?

Were Dublin  given it?

We'll know when their existing agreements vis a vis training locations have run their course.
The €2 million that was earmarked by the GAA for the Centre of Excellence in Rathcoole has gone into this instead.
The Dubs paid to fit out the gym and have first call on it.
If it's a 'National' centre of excellence why didn't the GAA pay for the gym equipment?

The fitting out of the gym was overseen by Bryan Cullen.

Did I see him on the Dublin bench on Saturday?

If Dublin Underage or Adult Squads use a pitch in Abootstown for a session they pay €150 for the privilege. They also pay to use the gym. Not sure of the figure but again its the same for any GAA team who wants to use it. There is a little bit of a difference between renting a facility and being given it for free as is being suggested here.

Ewan's own county Kildare could use these facilities more often, only they spent their money on dodgy property deals and renting an empty apartment for Seanie Johnsone for a couple of years, while also keeping him well stocked with hurleys

The money is per registered player. Not sure how that doesn't show the truth.

I suspect you won't get a response from any Dub.

The lad who tweeted this was asked if it included Juvenile Players. His reply was that he wasn't sure.

I can tell you it doesn't include Juvenile Players which is where Games Development Money is spent. He may as well as measured the money against registered taxidermists for all the relevance it has.

[Yeah but he's been hired by Dublin over a dozen times and has yet to be hired by Kerry]

Did someone say Gough is a teacher who lives and works in Dublin but he represents Meath at intercounty level?

You have to wonder does that impact on a ref to any extent when he knows if he makes a bad call against Dublin then he will be hearing about it the next day at work or from his neighbours whereas if it had of been a Ulster ref he wouldn't have cared about any such bad calls.

I just think the Crowley one was so obviously a foul and if it had of happened near the start of the game it would have been given and maybe a yellow card. If he had of given it and it was a draw would so many of you be saying the ref did quite well?

On top of that Gough is on the Dublin team's payroll, regularly coming in to referee A v B games at €80 a pop. It also gives the Dublin team extra info on what he blows for and what he lets go.

They get in multiple referees, as do other counties, its whats been done for years so please try and find another excuse!

Yeah but he's been hired by Dublin over a dozen times and has yet to be hired by Kerry, so he clearly knows what side of his bread is buttered and was hardly going to do anything last Sunday to jeopardise this nice little earner. If you think there's nothing wrong with a ref refereeing a game between a county he's getting regular payments from and a county he's getting nothing from you must work for the Olympic council.

Are you going to tell us how you know this or will we all just assume you are making stuff up?

In 2011 and 2013 they All Ireland marginally.

The last 2 years they are on a different planet physically to all teams .

Is the sport of inter county football sustainable if this continues .  Many will say it is a phase but I am certain it is not as the dice is totally loaded in their favour :

- financial power
-  population
-  rural depopulation and urban growth
-  ultra modern infrastructure.
-   A pile of super clubs.
-   Massive GAA funds pumped in .

Attendances will drop this year and it is really hard to drum up any enthusiasm for the summer ahead.

Any views??

Dublin Minors were hammered by Meath on Saturday and are out of the Leinster Champiionship. The second year in a row Dublin have not even reached a Leinster Final at this grade. Dublin's abysmal minor record of 1 All Ireland in 30 odd years looks like extending further. Not exactly the form of a County who are going to ruin Gaelic Football for everyone by winning every All Ireland for the next 20 years?

Then again maybe Dublin are losing these matches on purpose to shut up "screaming Marys" like yourself.

Sure all ye're players live within a few miles of the training and playing centres.

We don't have a training centre, Or a bus for that matter!

Do you mind me asking where you got this info?


One thing that stands out is that all the talk about Dublin buying all Irelands is nonsense. When you take into account that the minor hurlers and u21 footballers both reached an All Ireland Semi FInal along with both Senior Teams going well I;d say we are spending less than a lot of counties proportionally.

Over 12 years this funding is in place.

So any 26 year old on the Dublin panel would have come onto the U14 development squad aged 13/14. So a good chunk of them have benefitted.

I have some involvement with Dublin development squads. They are pretty much the same.as the Tipp squads listed above. One t shirt per year gear along with sorts and socks. One or two away games.aside from blitzes. No strength and conditioning  activity until.u17. These.are the facts. There is no more money spent on them than there is anywhere else and considerably less.than a lot of.counties.

Reading this thread I think the question is would Dublin have won 3 out of the last 5 if they didn't get Irish Sports Council money and money from elsewhere? Would they have won any? Looking at it objectively I think it's fair to say that they would not have. They hadn't won any since 1995 and then suddenly they win 3 out 5. A coincidence? Doesn't seem likely.
So if they already have the best team in the country because of money paid to them, then surely they will only continue and improve on this? Seems a bit unfair. Surely they'll win at least 7 out of 10, how can they be stopped?

The above logic is completely flawed. The increased funding
started  10 or 11 years ago. Most of the key men on the Dublin team were already adult footballers at that stage so would not have benefitted from extra games development money. Cluxton. The brogans, Connolly, Flynn, macauley, brennan, bastick etc were all in their late teens or early twenties. GPOs coming into their clubs would have zero influence on their development.

Indeed the Dublin football development squad system was extremely mediocre until 3 or 4 years ago. . This team will break up in the next few years and the golden era will end and while Dublin have been decent underage in recent years they have hardly dominated nationally. I reckon that all the players mentioned above will be retired within 2 or 3 years and Dublin will be back in the pack.

Finally I'm watching Dublin footballers since the 70s. Until recently Kildare, Meath, laois and Offaly would have had top teams winning or at least competing for major honours. Maybe instead of asking the question, how come Dublin are so good? These counties should ask the question how come.we are so bad?

So how come those players you listed weren't winning 3 out of 5 before the 2011? If I remember correctly they were getting many the beating against Kerry, Tyrone etc. Did the players that benefitted from the extra money push them from being an average team to what they are now?

How can they go back into the pack when according to people here they're getting over 2 million to develop players? It would seem impossible.

I'd say the fact they got rid of pillar Caffery and. brought in pat Gilroy may have had something to do with it.

Reading this thread I think the question is would Dublin have won 3 out of the last 5 if they didn't get Irish Sports Council money and money from elsewhere? Would they have won any? Looking at it objectively I think it's fair to say that they would not have. They hadn't won any since 1995 and then suddenly they win 3 out 5. A coincidence? Doesn't seem likely.
So if they already have the best team in the country because of money paid to them, then surely they will only continue and improve on this? Seems a bit unfair. Surely they'll win at least 7 out of 10, how can they be stopped?

The above logic is completely flawed. The increased funding
started  10 or 11 years ago. Most of the key men on the Dublin team were already adult footballers at that stage so would not have benefitted from extra games development money. Cluxton. The brogans, Connolly, Flynn, macauley, brennan, bastick etc were all in their late teens or early twenties. GPOs coming into their clubs would have zero influence on their development.

Indeed the Dublin football development squad system was extremely mediocre until 3 or 4 years ago. . This team will break up in the next few years and the golden era will end and while Dublin have been decent underage in recent years they have hardly dominated nationally. I reckon that all the players mentioned above will be retired within 2 or 3 years and Dublin will be back in the pack.

Finally I'm watching Dublin footballers since the 70s. Until recently Kildare, Meath, laois and Offaly would have had top teams winning or at least competing for major honours. Maybe instead of asking the question, how come Dublin are so good? These counties should ask the question how come.we are so bad?

Because they don't have the money to compete with a professional sports team. Next question.

Roscommon were crap before this Dublin team started winning all Irelands and chances are they will still be crap long after their finished winning them

Reading this thread I think the question is would Dublin have won 3 out of the last 5 if they didn't get Irish Sports Council money and money from elsewhere? Would they have won any? Looking at it objectively I think it's fair to say that they would not have. They hadn't won any since 1995 and then suddenly they win 3 out 5. A coincidence? Doesn't seem likely.
So if they already have the best team in the country because of money paid to them, then surely they will only continue and improve on this? Seems a bit unfair. Surely they'll win at least 7 out of 10, how can they be stopped?

The above logic is completely flawed. The increased funding
started  10 or 11 years ago. Most of the key men on the Dublin team were already adult footballers at that stage so would not have benefitted from extra games development money. Cluxton. The brogans, Connolly, Flynn, macauley, brennan, bastick etc were all in their late teens or early twenties. GPOs coming into their clubs would have zero influence on their development.

Indeed the Dublin football development squad system was extremely mediocre until 3 or 4 years ago. . This team will break up in the next few years and the golden era will end and while Dublin have been decent underage in recent years they have hardly dominated nationally. I reckon that all the players mentioned above will be retired within 2 or 3 years and Dublin will be back in the pack.

Finally I'm watching Dublin footballers since the 70s. Until recently Kildare, Meath, laois and Offaly would have had top teams winning or at least competing for major honours. Maybe instead of asking the question, how come Dublin are so good? These counties should ask the question how come.we are so bad?

[Brogan ahead of McGuigan? 08 was the best year Brogan was ever having, the Tyrone match told me everything I needed to know about him on a pitch.]

A composite Dublin 2011-2015/Tyrone 2003-2008 team would probably look something like as follows:

1. Cluxton
2. McMenamin
3. O'Carroll
4. P. McMahon
5. McCarthy
6. Gormley
7. McCaffrey
8. McAuley
9. Cavanagh
10. Dooher
11. A. Brogan
12. Connolly
13. Canavan
14. O'Neill
15. B. Brogan

9 Dublin 6 Tyrone

Dublin have it.

Wud have both J McMahons ahead of O'Carrol

McCaffery ahead of Jordan 

Brogan ahead of McGuigan? 08 was the best year Brogan was ever having, the Tyrone match told me everything I needed to know about him on a pitch.

What do you mean by this? Brogan went off with a hamstring injury after a few minutes. Are you suggesting he feigned the injury?

McGuigan was arguably as talented as Brogan but through no fault of his own only had a couple of really good years.  This year was Alan Brogans 13th year playing County Football and he was close to being Dublins top player in about 10 of them. Therefore I'd have him ahead of Brian.

Hamstring  Right

Your actually delusional if you think Brogan feigned injury.
He marked far harder and better defenders than Gormley over the years and never took a backward step. He's also still winning All Ireland medals while Gormley is nothing more than a distant memory with a touch of a lingering odour off it.

[Brogan ahead of McGuigan? 08 was the best year Brogan was ever having, the Tyrone match told me everything I needed to know about him on a pitch.]

A composite Dublin 2011-2015/Tyrone 2003-2008 team would probably look something like as follows:

1. Cluxton
2. McMenamin
3. O'Carroll
4. P. McMahon
5. McCarthy
6. Gormley
7. McCaffrey
8. McAuley
9. Cavanagh
10. Dooher
11. A. Brogan
12. Connolly
13. Canavan
14. O'Neill
15. B. Brogan

9 Dublin 6 Tyrone

Dublin have it.

Wud have both J McMahons ahead of O'Carrol

McCaffery ahead of Jordan 

Brogan ahead of McGuigan? 08 was the best year Brogan was ever having, the Tyrone match told me everything I needed to know about him on a pitch.

What do you mean by this? Brogan went off with a hamstring injury after a few minutes. Are you suggesting he feigned the injury?

McGuigan was arguably as talented as Brogan but through no fault of his own only had a couple of really good years.  This year was Alan Brogans 13th year playing County Football and he was close to being Dublins top player in about 10 of them. Therefore I'd have him ahead of Brian.

it's the money spent on coaching and looking after young squads that worries me more.

Worries you in a good or bad way?

Surely there is far more bang for your buck investing in youth participation than having to bail out the Anglo-esque counties like Mayo & Kildare?

Can we get back to football please? And if you're going to start throwing accusations around, get your facts straight.
Mayo GAA were not bailed out, the GAA took over the loans from the bank, and Mayo will be repaying to the GAA (in full, albeit at a lower interest rate) rather than the bank.

Yeah right. The money was just resting in Mayo's account!

Without trying to look like T Fearon...

Has the National League gone past it's sell by date?

All I hear is teams treating matches, finals included, like a training session. Ah sure we'll see what happens, it'll be a good preparation for the championship, we'll be aiming for a decent performance... These sort of statements. Yes I know championship is more important but most teams are going into the NFL half-arsed. It's disrespectful to fans who pay good money to follow their team. This last few seasons, half-arsed talk, and I keep thinking, well why the feck am I going to these matches?!

Half a dozen teams capable of winning Sam, maybe less, and most won't get into a asses roar of Sam. Yet they take the league lightly, when they haven't won a trophy in 100 years. The recent winners celebrate like they just won a charity match.

Time to scrap it and incorporate league within the c'ship I think.

Will you be looking to scrap the championship  if the Dubs keep winning that too?