All-Ireland Football

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Shit - i can't get the hang of that quote button thing - my thoughts are the last few lines of the quote box.

Just edit it believebelive, and move the lowermost quote to up above your own piece.

[believebelive]

Fair enough and that is great that the matches are getting played but I think that it is still unfair to ask clubs to play their premier competition (the Championship) while their county players are not available for training and often miss league matches, friendlies and so on.
I know in my own club the perception from the club players is that the season does not really start until the few county players come back.
Why shoud a county team be afforded the opportunity to train with full attendence and prepare as best they can for their championship when a club team is not given the same chance? maybe Louth is different and county players are released to train for their clubs but that is not the cse in most counties.

[stiffler]

How about playing the all ireland as a champions league like tournament, 8 groups of 4 teams, then 2 out of each group go to the last 16, the 3rd place team goes to Tommy Murpy cup quater finals. This results in a minimum of 3games for each team, and a competitive Tommy Murphy cup.

Play the provincial competitions as a league format in place of the current league structure, with the four provincial winners going to the semi final of the national league.

[fearglasmor]

Four groups of eight.
Kilkenny won't play so London and NewYork can play off to see who enters.
Play off the group stage between May and July with a geme every 2 weeks.

Top 2 in each group play Sam Maguire knockout q/finals.......
3rd and 4th play Matt Connor Cup Q/finals........
5th and 6th play Tommy Cooper cup Q/finals.......
and so on....
Final position in the group determines cedeing in next years group draw.

Play Q/f  S/f  and Finals in 4 competitions between Aug/Sep

No League, replaced by group stages.
Play knockout provincial championships in Mar/Apr instead of things like O'Byrne Cup.
Every team is playing ball from Mar to Sep
Every team progesses through the competitions on an equal basis.

Clubs play their competitions without county players.
As a club palyer I would rather have had meaningful games than sit on me arse waiting for one or two county players to become available and end up playing shite tournaments or 7 asides through the summer.

[balladmaker]

Plain and simple...the Provincial championships should be detached from the All Ireland.  Either a chmpions league style format which is not based on geographical location or a straight forward open draw for the All Ireland.

The Provincials can be run instead of competitions such as the McKenna Cup, O'Byrne Cup etc.

[Mike Sheehy]

Galway's hurlers are not comparable to Kerry footballers.They come into the All-Ireland series completely cold,and in Galway there is real competition form other sports such as rugby and soccer.Also their resources are thin because they are strong at all GAA sports

You claim to have watched Kerry club football but I doubt you have ever been to the county if you come out with tripe like that.

Also, you might reflect a while on Ulster hurling and the fact that neither yourselves or Antrim have even come close to winning an AI despite having no "real competition" year in, year out in Ulster. How do you explain that ? ...no doubt you will come up with a myriad of excuses....that fact that you are just not good enough would never enter your head of course.

One thing is for sure, if the Kerry hurlers had the same oppotunities that you lads have had there'd be a few Liam McCarthy cups winging their way to Tralee.. but I dont see yourselves or Antrim launching campaigns to rescue Kerry hurling from the "unfair" Munster Championship.

[johnpower]

The system the system . Keep blaming the system . Hoiw many counties fall on their ass once they hit the qualifiers ?. Larger counties with larger player base will always have an advantage Kerry Mike is right no one casres about Kerry Hurling . How many people watch Down home league games ?.If we have an ope draw how will it affect attendances and take from the gates that provincaL councils get from Local  derbys . The gaa needs money to compete with other sports what will replace this revenue . Been realistic only 2 teams south of Portaoise can win the football and only 1 team north of Portlaoise can win the Hurling 

[Kerry Mike]

If those that jealously guard the old system are convinced of its merits-allow a 1 year trial of the new system,and see if there is a desire to return. Time to change!

There is no jealously guarding the current system, in fact if Munster is supposed to be so weak and we get an easy spin to an All Ireland final every year, maybe under a new system if we got a few tough games under our belt we would be some team come September.

I dont buy into this crap that teams are burnt out by the time they get to an All Ireland 1/4 Final. Kerry aim to peak for every game and that includes the league which we take very seriously, to say we aim to peak for August or September is something that may have happened in the 70's but not anymore, every team will have trouble raising their game against lower opposition on any given day be it club or county competitions and the happens all the time in all provinces. And even in other sports.

For any county to win an All Ireland it should take no more than 6 games spread over 5 months, Tyrone took 10 games to win in 05 but that was extreme as they drew 3 games and lost one, one of those draws against Cavan whom they subsequently hammered by 21 pts. And with all due respect to Cavan there had to be a severe mental issue with Tyrone in that first game. Imagine the outcry if Cavan had beaten them.

If any team can't get fit and focused for those 6 games it does not say much about their preperations. Winning is largely a mental thing along with fitness and obviously good footballing skills.

But there is no point talking about change, we are all great to talk the talk and sit at a computer and on a bar stool and talk shite about another "easy" All Ireland for Kerry but how many have the balls to get up off their holes and get down to their next clubs meeting and table a motion to change the structure of the provincial championship. Get it moved through to your County Convention and your Provincial Council and onto Central Council and passed by all sections of our great democratic Association.

If that happens and there is some new system in place so be it, we in Kerry will take it on and I'd take a good stab that we would probably be successfull in that too. I think the last 100% knock out Trophy that was brought in, the Ford Bucket in 1985, is still  being used back in West Kerry by a Mr P.O'Se to feed the calves. That was another great idea that ended in the Bin.

Anyway it time to head to the bar and talk some shite...

[Pangurban]

Why waste time debating something that just aint going to happen, Money and Tradition still count. First round game in ulster Championship Down v Armagh= packed Stadium. First round game Down v Kerry in Killarney, you get the picture

[Mike Sheehy]

There is no jealously guarding the current system, in fact if Munster is supposed to be so weak and we get an easy spin to an All Ireland final every year, maybe under a new system if we got a few tough games under our belt we would be some team come September.

Exactly, and was it not Joe Kernan that was whinging that there was no advantage to winning Ulster due to the long layoff and the relative advantage that teams coming in the back door have due to extra games.

So, apparently, lack of competitive games is an advantage to Kerry but its a disadvantage to Ulster teams !!

[6th sam]

Galway's hurlers are not comparable to Kerry footballers.They come into the All-Ireland series completely cold,and in Galway there is real competition form other sports such as rugby and soccer.Also their resources are thin because they are strong at all GAA sports

You claim to have watched Kerry club football but I doubt you have ever been to the county if you come out with tripe like that.

Also, you might reflect a while on Ulster hurling and the fact that neither yourselves or Antrim have even come close to winning an AI despite having no "real competition" year in, year out in Ulster. How do you explain that ? ...no doubt you will come up with a myriad of excuses....that fact that you are just not good enough would never enter your head of course.

One thing is for sure, if the Kerry hurlers had the same oppotunities that you lads have had there'd be a few Liam McCarthy cups winging their way to Tralee.. but I dont see yourselves or Antrim launching campaigns to rescue Kerry hurling from the "unfair" Munster Championship.

Obviously with 3 irate replies from kerry mike ,we seem to have hit a raw nerve!

By the way ,how would playing in a weak ulster be such an advantage to kerry hurlers ,yet you don't consider playing in a weak munster an advantage to kerry footballers--I can't grasp your logic.
I would agree that Ulster Hurling should not be given any advantage.

The fact is that in the past 20 odd years,8 different ulster counties have played in AI semi-finals,whereas apart from Clare's 1 munster title,Kerry  or Cork have got a free ride.While not taking away from the fact that Kerry are an outstanding team,they've definitely benefitted from a skewed system,and the rewards it has brought them..

If Kerry Mike is convinced of the dominance of Kerry football--let Kerry test that dominance in a fairer system.