Rankings in Football - from Irish Independent

[armaghniac]

The Ulster finals of that year against armagh, Canavan wasnt involved in PLAY

Indeed. I don't suppose the fact that Tyrone didn't win those games sheds any light on how they perform without their God.
Tyrone are a good team without Canavan, there isn't much clear evidence that they are No 1 though. 

[nrico2006]

Tyrone played the majority of matches last yr without canavan.  In the drawn ulster final and replay.  He was wrongly sent off within a minute of coming on in that game.  In the dub games also, he wasnt on and look how well tyrone played, and in the subsequent semi he came on and hit the free.  I dont think tyrone need to prove they can play without him, cos they have already shown they can.  As u say dubnut, opinion is going to lead to arguments.  My opinion is that tyrone are the best when they are at full strength, simple as that.  Kerry would be second.  But on the facts, no matter what the circumstances were last year, kerry are no1 now, with mayo 2nd and so on. 

[Hound]

Here's how that list compares to my statisitical rankings
Indo ranking on left, mine on right:

1 Kerry - 1
2 Tyrone - 2
3 Armagh - 3
4 Mayo - 4
5 Dublin - 5
6 Cork - 7
7 Galway - 11
8 Laois - 6
9 Donegal - 8
10 Derry - 10
11 Offaly - 13
12 Wexford - 15
13 Fermanagh - 9
14 Meath - 14
15 Westmeath - 12
16 Kildare - 22
17 Down - 16
18 Monaghan - 19
19 Louth - 23
20 Limerick - 17
21 Roscommon - 24
22 Cavan - 21
23 Longford - 18
24 Sligo - 20
25 Leitrim - 26
26 Clare - 25
27 Tipperary - 28
28 Antrim - 29
29 Carlow - 27
30 Wicklow - 30
31 Waterford - 31
32 London - 32

[lynchbhoy]

if the ranking are based on results in the championship
then surely Derry should be above tyrone (and longford above Derry !)

but I would expect this is a subjective table that is based on gut feeling as much as results etc
and not too far off the mark
except that Derry are imo higher than their performances suggested imo

Star spangler - I'd love to see Tyrone ranked 34th
Jeez the whinging out of you boys then would be something else!

[Bud Wiser]

I think ye are all missing the point the man made on these rankings.  The rankings in the independent I thiought anyway were a look forward to 2007.  He then went on to name the counties in their order that he thought had a chance of winning the All Ireland next year and he then gave a small CV of each county, but both the ranking and the reference to each team referred to 2007.

Why don't someone do a ranking on what county managers pocketed instead.  I know one that got 100,000 a free car and a years free house rental in a smashing new house in a fine estate.

[Dinny Breen]

Can someone please tell me for the love of god why Meath football is ranked so high?

[Ball Hopper]

So what's the best way to rank counties? 

League and championship performance together over a year, with increasing value for each win as the year progresses?   

Say 1 point for league win, half point for draw, 2 bonus points for making league semi-finals, 2 points for league semi-final win, 5 for winning league.

Then 3 for each championship win, 5 for provincial title, 2 for each qualifier win, 7 for semi-final win, 10 for Sam.

Should a team get a bonus of 2 points for making a provincial final (hardly in Munster, but in Ulster it seems fair to do so).

The big question then becomes...who has time to figure all this out for 2006?  and 2005?  and 2004? 

Let's agree on the points awarding method first, and we'll see from there.

[armaghniac]

The big question then becomes...who has time to figure all this out for 2006?  and 2005?  and 2004?

Hound, above, has already done this and a very good job it was. Hound's ranking reflects past performance, Brehony seems to be predicting the 2007 season, yet they are quite similar. The question for the front runners is whether Kerry are quite as good after some retirements, and whether Tyrone will get back the likes of McGuigan and whether they can really cope with the retirement of their deity.

[Ball Hopper]

Thanks armaghniac...Hound, what was your scoring system and the length of your timeframe?  Diminishing points for previous years?  Or just one year by itself?

Thanks,  BH.

[BallyhaiseMan]

how in Gods name are Longford and Sligo ranked below us Cavan boys....   
On this years performances we should be about 26th with Clare and Leitrim ahead of us.

[armaghniac]

Ball Hopper, Hound will explain his own system, but it was based on diminishing weights over a 5 year period.

[Ball Hopper]

Looking forward to seeing it, at Hound's convenience of course.

[Gnevin]

So what's the best way to rank counties? 

I'd say you can go far wrong with hound's system

[Fuzzman]

As with the FIFA rankings, there could be teams near the top that are consistently strong but you know there not much chance of them winning the world cup.

1  Brazil 1588
2  Italy 1560
3  Argentina 1551
4  France 1523
5  England 1359
6  Germany 1348
7  Netherlands 1305

Likewise in the AI it takes that little bit extra to push through and actually win it.
People will continue to say Mayo don't have the bottle to win it until they prove them wrong.

[magpie seanie]

I've always found the Hound's ranking to be pretty realisitic and they are founded on a sound rationale. They look closer to the mark.