Who will stop this Dublin team from 4, 5, 6 or more in a row?

[TheGreatest]

The first unbeatable team I was aware of was Kerry. The second was Liverpool. The third was Shamrock Rovers. And the greatest of these was Shamrock Rovers. Because they were the biggest fish in the smallest pond and they kept on winning. They had an engine that consisted of Byrnes. You would get a pain in your hole listening to Philip Green reporting on them. Eventually the regime collapsed.

Liverpool were a machine. They could win European Cups. You could get Liverpool pyjamas in Galway. That is how good they were. If someone had gone into the playground and said Liverpool would not win the league for 25 years all the lads would have laughed. Ha ha. Very funny.

Kerry won 4 in a row but suffered 2 ambushes in 82 and 83. You were watching the 82 final with your father. The goal was unbelievable. It was like the 96 hurling final. If Offaly are in the mood they can do that sort of thing. Bring a team down to earth.

The 83 mess allowed the Dubs to win a rare Sam.
Kerry came back for another 3 but they could go no further. They were useless in the early 90's.  That is why the Ulster teams could make hay.

Anyone who thinks Dublin will reign for ever and ever hallelujah hallelujah should read up on Prussia. Hegemony is never permanent. Only stupidity is permanent.

Absolutely correct

You got it in one!
God love poor Seafóid, he is living up to his name. HIs analogies are colourful but very wide of the mark.
Unless the political and economic faces of Ireland change very dramatically, Dublin will keep getting stronger in every sense while gap between it and the rest of the country will continue to widen.
It was a case of primus inter pares, first among equals, for the examples he quoted but when it comes to Dublin vs The Rest, there is one very important difference: Greater Dublin has 40% of the Republic's population right now but official estimates expect that percentage to rise to 50% by 2040.
Along with its 40% of the people, Dublin has 50% of the nation's resources, according to Simon Coveney, and the imbalance will continue to increase as time goes by.
One team to represent half the country's population is unlikely to be toppled from its preeminent position any time soon.

The arguement that Dublin's population "advantage" will inevitably result in them monopolising the football championship is not supported by the evidence. Just look at the relative strengths of the county teams around the country and compare these to their populations.

If we accept that Mayo is the strongest/second strongest team in the country, look at the counties south of the border with bigger populations (apart from Dublin) who are rated below them:

Cork
Galway
Kildare
Limerick
Meath
Tipperary
Donegal
Wexford
Kerry
Wicklow

Bigger populations don't in themselves lead to better teams.

Dublin Hurlers another example. It has been proven time and time again, across the world that large populations don't lead to sport success but people here don't want to hear it. There are plenty of studies done, up online.

[Rossfan]

Dublin hurlers have gone from the level of Antrim/Laois to winning Leinster and NHL. Also they've won a string of Leinster Minor and U21 since the money came.
Of the Counties you quoted 4 are hurling Counties, Galway is 50/50. Kerry are always competitive, Donegal are in transition and may be competitive again.
So you're left with Meath Kildare and Wicklow who are now going to have  money pumped in.
If population doesn't matter how come the 11 least populated Counties have only 10 AIs between them - Offaly last one 35 years ago,  Cavan 65 years and Ros 73.

[seafoid]

Dublin hurlers have gone from the level of Antrim/Laois to winning Leinster and NHL. Also they've won a string of Leinster Minor and U21 since the money came.
Of the Counties you quoted 4 are hurling Counties, Galway is 50/50. Kerry are always competitive, Donegal are in transition and may be competitive again.
So you're left with Meath Kildare and Wicklow who are now going to have  money pumped in.
If population doesn't matter how come the 11 least populated Counties have only 10 AIs between them - Offaly last one 35 years ago,  Cavan 65 years and Ros 73.

Below 80K it is very hard to win an all Ireland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Irish_counties_by_population

Antrim, Derry, Limerick and Kildare have big populations of GAA people but don't win much
Culture is very important
So is psychology.

Offaly won the hurling in 1998

[seafoid]

The first unbeatable team I was aware of was Kerry. The second was Liverpool. The third was Shamrock Rovers. And the greatest of these was Shamrock Rovers. Because they were the biggest fish in the smallest pond and they kept on winning. They had an engine that consisted of Byrnes. You would get a pain in your hole listening to Philip Green reporting on them. Eventually the regime collapsed.

Liverpool were a machine. They could win European Cups. You could get Liverpool pyjamas in Galway. That is how good they were. If someone had gone into the playground and said Liverpool would not win the league for 25 years all the lads would have laughed. Ha ha. Very funny.

Kerry won 4 in a row but suffered 2 ambushes in 82 and 83. You were watching the 82 final with your father. The goal was unbelievable. It was like the 96 hurling final. If Offaly are in the mood they can do that sort of thing. Bring a team down to earth.

The 83 mess allowed the Dubs to win a rare Sam.
Kerry came back for another 3 but they could go no further. They were useless in the early 90's.  That is why the Ulster teams could make hay.

Anyone who thinks Dublin will reign for ever and ever hallelujah hallelujah should read up on Prussia. Hegemony is never permanent. Only stupidity is permanent.

Absolutely correct

You got it in one!
God love poor Seafóid, he is living up to his name. HIs analogies are colourful but very wide of the mark.
Unless the political and economic faces of Ireland change very dramatically, Dublin will keep getting stronger in every sense while gap between it and the rest of the country will continue to widen.
It was a case of primus inter pares, first among equals, for the examples he quoted but when it comes to Dublin vs The Rest, there is one very important difference: Greater Dublin has 40% of the Republic's population right now but official estimates expect that percentage to rise to 50% by 2040.
Along with its 40% of the people, Dublin has 50% of the nation's resources, according to Simon Coveney, and the imbalance will continue to increase as time goes by.
One team to represent half the country's population is unlikely to be toppled from its preeminent position any time soon.

Lar, the economic system IS falling apart. Why do you think interest rates are on the floor?
We need a new system. One that works for everyone. Not just a few nihilists in BAC .
We also need to save the pension schemes.

[TheGreatest]

Dublin hurlers have gone from the level of Antrim/Laois to winning Leinster and NHL. Also they've won a string of Leinster Minor and U21 since the money came.
Of the Counties you quoted 4 are hurling Counties, Galway is 50/50. Kerry are always competitive, Donegal are in transition and may be competitive again.
So you're left with Meath Kildare and Wicklow who are now going to have  money pumped in.
If population doesn't matter how come the 11 least populated Counties have only 10 AIs between them - Offaly last one 35 years ago,  Cavan 65 years and Ros 73.

Point proven - Dublin hurlers, always the population, never the success.

[Rossfan]

Till they got the money to go with the population

[TheGreatest]

Till they got the money to go with the population

So it was money, not population? Just want to clarify as people are using population as their argument.

No uproar around the ladies footballers, same coaching and funding that so many cry about.

[Rossfan]

Money AND population.
Leitrim and the other 10 Small football Counties can get all the money in the world but the numbers game will always stymie them.
But sure keep the blinkers on.

[TheGreatest]

Money AND population.
Leitrim and the other 10 Small football Counties can get all the money in the world but the numbers game will always stymie them.
But sure keep the blinkers on.

Before the money was it population? No it wasn't. So why is population being used now.... ah I see, because the Dublin footballers are winning All Irelands, we need excuses.

No blinkers here.

Leitrim poor argument.

[vallankumous]

Before the money was it population? No it wasn't. So why is population being used now.... ah I see, because the Dublin footballers are winning All Irelands, we need excuses.

No blinkers here.

Leitrim poor argument.

you sound like you are trying to convince yourself

[Orchard park]

whether palatable or not  population is a key player. Crokes and Boden i would think have more kids playing than all of Leitrim

[Rossfan]

Those figures for registered players that someone had up earlier - Dublin 39,000 Leitrim and Fermanagh around 3,500 each.
1 Emlyn Mulligan for every 11 Connollys,  Brogans etc in  Dublin.

[seafoid]

"The Dubs are winning because of money" argument doesn't stack up imo. They have won 6 Sams since 1990. The Dubs are far less efficient historically than Kerry in winning Sam.
If you take out the effect of a golden generation of players you wouldn't be left with much.

Part of what makes the Dubs look good is Mayo in second position. If an all Ireland win against Mayo or Cork was worth half a Sam against Down or Tyrone the Dubs would look different.

[AZOffaly]

Are you mad? ""The Dubs are winning because of money" argument doesn't stack up imo. They have won 6 Sams since 1990. "

4 or 5 of them are in the last 6 or 7 years. It absolutely correlates with the revamped approach to Dublin. And the once in the lifetime group of players are slowly being eroded. Bernard Brogan, Diarmuid Connolly, MDMA were all peripheral this year. Cluxton is probably the only real cog from back then, and he's a goalkeeper.

[TheGreatest]

Those figures for registered players that someone had up earlier - Dublin 39,000 Leitrim and Fermanagh around 3,500 each.
1 Emlyn Mulligan for every 11 Connollys,  Brogans etc in  Dublin.

Is that Adult men senior players?