Messages

Maybe not completely the right thread because it's about more than the early championship but a few points on the season. If you sat down to come up with an intercounty season I don't think you could come up with much worse than they currently have. There's so many issues with the format and structure that it's laughable.

The season started in the first week of January and so much of it is wasted with meaningful games that meant nothing in the grand scheme of the season. And the lack of jeopardy and miss matches has taken any excitement away. The season starts with the pre season tournaments that are warm ups for a league that in itself is a warm up for the provincial championship. They are nice to win but for most counties have no bearing on what happens in the All Ireland championship.

Then when the All Ireland does start they throw in group stages with 3/4 going through and in most cases could be easily predicted. This nonsense needs to stop at the end of the year before any more damage is done.

Either play the provincials first with the winner being guaranteed a last 12 spot in the All Ireland and then start the leagues with teams qualifying for the knockout stages based on their position in it (top 4 straight into quarter finals - division 2/3/4 winners into the play offs etc). Or play league first and then provincials with provincial winners straight into quarter finals and a play off round with runners up playing teams qualified through the league.

They have shortened the inter county season but then thrown far too much into a short period of time. Far more senior inter county games and underage county matches (again nearly impossible to get knocked out of the competitions) and them all played in separate venues helping to kill interest in the underage county scene as well.

 The games are being played at a time of year when other sports with far superior marketing are finishing up which again is effecting interest levels for casual fans. It is also a very busy time of year for club activity with loads of underage and senior activity which again is putting people off going. It's alright a match every few weeks but people can't go to everything every week.

If that isn't bad enough they are putting some of the biggest games behind a pay wall. And then to cap it off they are picking miss matches to show in front of empty crowds. Dublin Roscommon never should have been on at the weekend in an empty croke park. Louth beating Meath in a sold out ground was a far better game to show. Or if they insisted on showing Dublin it should have been in parnel park. Again this weekend they are showing Dublin/Kerry games that look completely one sided instead of the likes of Donegal/Cork. Then in a few weeks when we finally get some knockout action they are showing second tier semi finals on rte instead of it. Crazy stuff.

I've no issue with constructive criticism but there's some comments above criticising players and management who give up so much time for the county that is uncalled for. Especially given they're coming from boys that probably weren't even at the game.

I do think the managements time is probably coming to an end and we do
Look well off Donegals conditioning.

They're picking games based on the big counties as opposed to the better games. Monaghan/Louth and Cork/Donegal should be on ahead of the Dublin and Kerry games. Showing them hammering other teams does nothing to promote the championship.

I'm not w

I don't know what the motivation was but there certainly is some logic in the 3 teams going through other than money. It greatly reduces the number of dead rubbers and increases the importance of topping the group.

you have got it all wrong. Its all money. Grab all association and what have you..........

I wouldn't go that far but is people in Croke Park whose remit is to maximise profits and at times they need to be reined in.

I'm not even sure they are maximising profits. A replay of an ulster final or
All Ireland semi final would likely  surpass the revenue earned in the preliminary quarter finals.

I don't know what the motivation was but there certainly is some logic in the 3 teams going through other than money. It greatly reduces the number of dead rubbers and increases the importance of topping the group.

Will they choose Dublin Roscommon over Louth Meath next week? Louth Meath looks like the more attractive fixture.

I'd like to see a number of new faces start against Westmeath, and give others a break. Not taking Westmeath lightly, but we should still have enough to win whilst resting players for remaining matches.

So rest Andy Murnin, Rian O'Neill, Ryan Grugan, Aidan Forker, Aaron McKay and Stefan Campbell,

Start Jason Duffy, Tiaran Kelly, Aidan Nugent, Shane McPartlan, Connaire Mackin, Jarley Og Burns and Barry McCambridge (Well, start 6 out of those 7).

I don't know about changes but this definitely isn't a game Armagh should be considering giving players a rest in. If they were to lose the home match in that group there is a serious danger of not making it out of the group. The other two matches are very difficult.

'Weaponised'. Christ what utter nonsense.

Dublin's population is an advantage at underage level. An advantage that still doesn't make us the best at underage as only 15 can be on the pitch at a time.

Our senior team comes almost exclusively from lads who played minor and/or U20. If you haven't done that, you're highly unlikely  to play senior or even make the senior championship panel. There'll always be exceptions but very few, but the pool of players we pick from is usually limited to those rather than 1.6 million! In reality we've no bigger pick that Kerry. The top 100 players in Kerry and the top 100 Dublin players are probably at a similar enough level. Our best 26 is currently a little bit behind, probably.

The quality of club football in Dublin  is very high compared to most other counties, and that is down to population. This, imo, is a big reason why lads coming out of minor and U20 improve faster than many other counties, where club football has less depth.

The fact that Dublin don't have many more players makes it all the more ridiculous the amount of centra funding they've received over the last 15 years. They've got something like 20
times more money than my own county. This allows them to have excellent coaching from a young age.

On top of that their population allows them to attract sponsorship which is ten times higher than other counties. This money should be used to provide the coaching not central money. Instead Dublin can use this to provide a highly professional senior set up which most counties could only dream off.

Dublin also benefit from most if not all players living in a small geographical county. This means less travelling costs and easier training schedules and recovery for players.

When you consider the already large advantages Dublin have over everyone else it's criminal the funding central
Gaa have been allocating them. And little wonder the success they've had.

On top of all the advantages allowing them to play so many games in croke park just adds to the farce of it all.

I think we need to drop one of the corner forwards and bring another out and out worker into the team. We also need more pace round midfield so really hoping Kilpatrick is fit - both him and Oguz would be a good help around there.

Good to get younger players game time yesterday but would really help if we had a couple of the experienced players available for next week - it's going to be hot and heavy. I don't see us as being as open on the kickouts as Derry and Donegal could have a problem if Patton unavailable. If they aren't getting the scores from kickouts they'll rely on turnovers and breaks - Tyrone have to be better set up for this and get stops on.

We are more than capable of winning this if can get a bit more structure into our defensive shape.

Mattie Donnelly deserves special mention. Some effort to get back from yet another serious injury and a great performance especially considering it was his first start in near a year. He will go down as a proper Tyrone legend.

Breffni Park in Cavan

For all the negativity and apathy there is still a team there that can play some great football. They played a lot of great football in the Monaghan and mayo matches. Darragh canavan is a joy to watch if gets right ball and hopefully ruairi can start living up to his promise.

Given injuries im happy enough with the team out. But if we do get past this one there has to be a more defensive line out the next day out. We've been very open and top teams have really punished that the last two years.

They definitely should be trying to get underage games on before senior fixtures. Both from the point of view of giving the young lads a bit of exposure and secondly to give those in early something to watch at the senior games. There doesn't seem to be any effort put into promoting the games or making a day out of it. They have also totally devalued underage intercounty gaa.

Sunday's double header looks decent - you'd imagine they'd be disappointed not to get 40,000 plus. Derry Dublin the two best teams in the country on current form and both will want to win it so no danger of teams holding back too much. Ulster derby in the division 2 final which should attract decent numbers too. Though so far a lot of the ground not open - Easter Sunday could play a factor.

And relegated by Tyrone a few months prior to that.