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The comparison would be Dublin not Derry...

Cork will need to beat limerick now which if limerick have qualified is I suppose a possibility.

Agree re Dublin. What McGuinness did was completely nullify Derry's tactics. Beating Limerick will require something special that is similar.

McGuinness didn't beat Derry by trying to be better at what Derry excel at, he looked at their strengths and used that against them, the high press on the Donegal kick out, their keeper just booted it beyond the press and they'd runners hitting that space beyond the press once the big men flicked the ball into it.

Smart enough, but for Derry to persist in the "process" which had been worked out spoke of a team overcoached.


To beat Limerick you avoid the intensity and congested areas, have the scorers 70 metres from goals working the ball in pods to get the long range shots off and you'll need a very high percentage of scores going over for it to work.
If that doesn't pull out their deep lying half forwards then nothing will.
Then once they come out chasing the game you need to hit the spaces they leave behind

Limerick rode their luck against Clare. The goal that gave them momentum was from a mishit free aside from the square ball shouts and a bit of poor goal keeping, but Clare couldn't respond like they did against Cork.

Clare do have the physique to compete against Limerick, but they've questions to answer about their mental fortitude in Munster finals and AI semi-finals where they've probably been the better teams but lapses in concentration have been their undoing.

Galway didn't show much in Salthill to suggest they've improved this year, but Leinster doesn't heat up for another few weeks.

Tipp, Cork and Waterford need to be smarter if they want to challenge Limerick or the bottom line is they just aren't good enough no matter how you cut it.

The comparison would be Dublin not Derry...

Cork will need to beat limerick now which if limerick have qualified is I suppose a possibility.

Agree re Dublin. What McGuinness did was completely nullify Derry's tactics. Beating Limerick will require something special that is similar.

McGuinness didn't beat Derry by trying to be better at what Derry excel at, he looked at their strengths and used that against them, the high press on the Donegal kick out, their keeper just booted it beyond the press and they'd runners hitting that space beyond the press once the big men flicked the ball into it.

Smart enough, but for Derry to persist in the "process" which had been worked out spoke of a team overcoached.


To beat Limerick you avoid the intensity and congested areas, have the scorers 70 metres from goals working the ball in pods to get the long range shots off and you'll need a very high percentage of scores going over for it to work.
If that doesn't pull out their deep lying half forwards then nothing will.
Then once they come out chasing the game you need to hit the spaces they leave behind

Limerick rode their luck against Clare. The goal that gave them momentum was from a mishit free aside from the square ball shouts and a bit of poor goal keeping, but Clare couldn't respond like they did against Cork.

Clare do have the physique to compete against Limerick, but they've questions to answer about their mental fortitude in Munster finals and AI semi-finals where they've probably been the better teams but lapses in concentration have been their undoing.

Galway didn't show much in Salthill to suggest they've improved this year, but Leinster doesn't heat up for another few weeks.

Tipp, Cork and Waterford need to be smarter if they want to challenge Limerick or the bottom line is they just aren't good enough no matter how you cut it.

The comparison would be Dublin not Derry...

Cork will need to beat limerick now which if limerick have qualified is I suppose a possibility.

Agree re Dublin. What McGuinness did was completely nullify Derry's tactics. Beating Limerick will require something special that is similar.

McGuinness didn't beat Derry by trying to be better at what Derry excel at, he looked at their strengths and used that against them, the high press on the Donegal kick out, their keeper just booted it beyond the press and they'd runners hitting that space beyond the press once the big men flicked the ball into it.

Smart enough, but for Derry to persist in the "process" which had been worked out spoke of a team overcoached.


To beat Limerick you avoid the intensity and congested areas, have the scorers 70 metres from goals working the ball in pods to get the long range shots off and you'll need a very high percentage of scores going over for it to work.
If that doesn't pull out their deep lying half forwards then nothing will.
Then once they come out chasing the game you need to hit the spaces they leave behind

Limerick rode their luck against Clare. The goal that gave them momentum was from a mishit free aside from the square ball shouts and a bit of poor goal keeping, but Clare couldn't respond like they did against Cork.

Clare do have the physique to compete against Limerick, but they've questions to answer about their mental fortitude in Munster finals and AI semi-finals where they've probably been the better teams but lapses in concentration have been their undoing.

Galway didn't show much in Salthill to suggest they've improved this year, but Leinster doesn't heat up for another few weeks.

Tipp, Cork and Waterford need to be smarter if they want to challenge Limerick or the bottom line is they just aren't good enough no matter how you cut it.

Great stuff. The psychology has to be spot on as well.

The last rr - pre qf- qf
 is the killer

I wonder how many first seeds will win their qf . Will it be 3/4 like last year ?

You would have to assume 4/4 would be the standard every year for the group winners making it the the semis.
This would have been the case last year only for Monaghan's penalty win over Armagh.

I wouldn't be surprised if 3/4 would be the usual most years for the first seeds in as regards making the semis. I think most years you've a very decent chance of one of the Ulster teams turning over one of the other provincial winners.

As you said the the preliminary quarter-finals route with 3 games in 3 weekends looks like an absolute death-trap of a route towards Sam. It's very hard to see a team winning Sam through that route.

the top 4 don't necessary have to be the provincial champions.

Has the money been going into Dublin equally across all codes and genders?

I assume it has, and if so, why is it that the senior male footballers are the only ones with continued success?

I know the ladies did well, and maybe that has turned them around as before that period they only won one.

But with regards to hurling and Camogie Dublin's last win was in 1984 and they were a brilliant team back in the 60's, but nada since and the senior hurlers haven't been to a final since 61

Are Dublin just producing better footballers as the money isn't making a difference in hurling

.

Dublin is stronger in football.There are more footballers than hurlers in Dublin.
The money fell on fertile ground. It was enough to override Kerry.

Limerick is stronger in hurling. The money was enough to buy the expertise in. Cork, Tipp and KK were unable to respond. The timing was right.

Dublin have money and a playing hurling population 3rd to Cork and Tipp

So it's either a numbers game poor coaching no money or football is a gift to play

Hurling has higher skill levels.

Its a bit one sided. The home draw for the semi final significant.
Lucky in the GAA that we don't have home semi finals where blue teams can fill the stadium with their supporters and overawe the opposition.

the Dubs can't fill croke Park this time of the year after 14 in a row. Who is responsible for this?

And some people think America is a democracy.

It was never a democracy.

It was only a matter of which one from the ruling elites takes control every four years.

The UK is more or less the same at this point.

They are plutocracies now but they were democracies previously. It all goes in circles.

It's strange to have leaves bursting out knowing that by the time the conkers appear the finals will be very old news.

Has the money been going into Dublin equally across all codes and genders?

I assume it has, and if so, why is it that the senior male footballers are the only ones with continued success?

I know the ladies did well, and maybe that has turned them around as before that period they only won one.

But with regards to hurling and Camogie Dublin's last win was in 1984 and they were a brilliant team back in the 60's, but nada since and the senior hurlers haven't been to a final since 61

Are Dublin just producing better footballers as the money isn't making a difference in hurling

.

Dublin is stronger in football.There are more footballers than hurlers in Dublin.
The money fell on fertile ground. It was enough to override Kerry.

Limerick is stronger in hurling. The money was enough to buy the expertise in. Cork, Tipp and KK were unable to respond. The timing was right.

Why do they do the draw for this before the provincial finals?

It's a good question.  Some teams might now be thinking a loss wouldn't be the end of the world, so it takes the edge off things.

I'm pretty sure both Donegal and Armagh will want to avoid the group with the winners of Mayo/Galway and Derry!

Mayo and Galway are certainly in a tough position. The loser will get Dublin, Ros and Cavan; the winner the aforementioned group with Derry, Donegal/Armagh and Westmeath.

Armagh beat Galway and Westmeath last year and drew with Derry. That would do again.
In any case, teams can reach the preliminary QFs by kicking the weakest team and then you see who you get there, although the sequence of games can banjax you with injuries etc.

Unless you waltz through your province and have the biggest panel

The last rr - pre qf- qf
 is the killer

I wonder how many first seeds will win their qf . Will it be 3/4 like last year ?

Is there an argument to say the loser of Mayo/Galway would be at an advantage in the group stages?

Only 1 team per group goes out. It's all about injuries and momentum then.
The surest way to success is to top the group and avoid the pre qf match.

The provincial input into the RR makes Dublin-kerry finals more likely.

Kids are inspired by sporting breakthroughs  on the field. This is well understood in the Glens. If you want something to be important, make it important.

If DG gets a positive outcome for the season he will be gone.

As to where he goes or who would take him that's an entirely different conversation.

Yep if he gets anything decent in the south he will be away, otherwise he may hang about as €70k a year or whatever it is would be hard enough to walk away from.

Antrim need to build on this. Laois never built on the buzz they had with Eddie Brennan. The GAA should have a fund for this sort of situation.

Anti everything, blame foreigners for all their personal problems, never take responsibility for anything, never solve anything. Most importantly, pretend they care about ireland, citizens, women etc - when they dont.

Most of them would be low down the IQ level and easily manipulated by a few semi intelligent but evil people.

The far right leader tells lies to people he knows are stupid.

I thought that tactic is standard across the world. People buy into that every time come elections

Someone once said that if voting changed anything it would be outlawed.

The comparison would be Dublin not Derry...

Cork will need to beat limerick now which if limerick have qualified is I suppose a possibility.

Agree re Dublin. What McGuinness did was completely nullify Derry's tactics. Beating Limerick will require something special that is similar.

This story is really like the one about the Stardust

Certainly a tragedy with an attempted coverup, but collusion in the North went much further than that.

British State forces actively provided Loyalists with the intel, support and equipment to carry these murders out and then did everything to prevent a proper investigation then and indeed ever since.

The details are different but the contempt for ordinary decent people is not. . The North has an extra layer of political violence of course  but the core dynamic is the same imo.

There was no RUC or MI5 involvement in the Kerry Babies story.