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A very good player but not a great player. Has maximised his profile off the pitch, he won't be going away for a while. Thursday morning must be the optimal time to get exposure.

[In fact Leinster have gone from having a bit of flair to quite a forward-driven game.]

Looking ahead to the next 4 year cycle Ireland and their new coaches will need to develop Carberry into a world class #10 which I am sure he has the ability to be with sexton hitting 38 in 2023 he probably won't be much more than a bit part player if even. We also need a new #9 whether thats gonna be McGrath who is definatley able to lead the new team or someone coming from the u20 squads of previous years.

Carberry not good enough, there has to be a better player to go with.

He seems the best bet at the moment.  For scrumhalf I would nearly put Cooney and Marmion ahead of Murray, let alone McGrath.  Of course neither even saw the plane to Japan.

I hear a lot of criticism of Best and his age.  Really though, did Scannell or Cronin put any kind of pressure on him?

Still think Henderson and Ryan have plenty to offer.

I would say that Beirne, Conway, Ruddock and Larmer all showed enough in pool stages to be starters yesterday.  Probably wouldn't have made a difference. 

Other than Connacht, I haven't seen our provinces play hugely imaginative rugby.  In fact Leinster have gone from having a bit of flair to quite a forward-driven game.   A bit like Ireland they came unstuck when they met a team that met them on that.   Munster or Ulster haven't exactly set the world alight.

Also I wonder would people tolerate a poor Six Nations campaign again after last year?  Hard to take that on the grounds of winning a match 4 years away? 

We could rock up the next World Cup playing expansive rugby to get bet up by a bunch of grunts playing a narrow, forwards driven game............

To be honest we might not ever again see a run like the first 5 years of Joe's reign.

/Jim.

Leinster's style is evolving, expect more off-loading and expanse this season. 

Naas in the Hurling Intermediate.

Ballymore in JFC
Monasterevin in the IFC
Sarsfields/Moorefield drew yesterday in the SFC, replay next Sunday.

A narcissist is going to narcissist.

Conway unlucky to miss out and picking Kearney is a mistake.

+1

A bigger mistake in the years of prep allowed to Schmidt that he failed to develop another full back. Larmour is a few years off and Kearney reached his sell-by date a year or two ago.  All of his moves are so predictable.

He has moves?

Gives us a fighters chance tomorrow. 2/1. Looking forward to it.  Hon Ireland!

No more than a thousand people at the Dublin SFC Q/F double header in Parnell Park. Probably less than 10% of the combined membership of the 4 clubs.

Great to see all those € paying off in growing the game. Blue wave my hole, actions and consequences.

The framework is there, Berry explained really, both cards spot on.

Why is there no clamour to tier the World Cup the same way there is the GAA championship? There's nearly as many people in Samoa as there is in Tyrone.

It's already tiered 

Championship draw this morning for some reason and "The draws for the Munster and Connacht championships take place tomorrow morning, while it's Ulster turn on Thursday". This is a new (and completely pointless) departure, there's barely enough talking points in the entire draw without dragging it out like this.

Leinster first round draw:

Louth v Longford

The winner will play Laois in a quarter-final

Wexford v Wickow

The winner is set to play Meath in a quarter-final

Carlow v Offaly

The winner will play Kildare in a quarter-final

Quarter-final:

Westmeath v Dublin

Good draw. Looking like Dublin Kildare semi and if Dublin progress* Dublin v Meath Final, two Div 1 teams contesting. Looking forward to it

It's an open draw for the semi-finals.

Moorefield v Sarsfields SFC final in Kildare 

Moorefield going for three in a row. Between them they have won the last 6.

Neither will do much in Leinster.

Tyrone are shit, themselves and Donegal are just a little bit less shit than the other Ulster teams.

done

And BOD. Had a pair myself. 

Leixlip were relegated to Senior last year. Confey are indeed senior.

It does however have large immigrant population from Dublin who don't integrate with the locals, keeping themselves largely to their middle calls ghettos.

A Dub buying a starter home in Leixlip is the very same as, say, Lucan.

There would be a very small percentage who are mad into GAA and would straight away head up to the GAA club, go the adult team matches, etc.
So 95% wouldn't cross the door of the GAA club until the kids come along. Then most would bring their kids (at least a few times!) to the local soccer or GAA club or both.

You have lost your sense of humour Hound.

Maybe so. I'd just read the anti-rugby thread before this!

Ha! The inverted snobs, you better not tell them where MDMA, Jack Mc, Eoin Murchin etc went to school. Their heads might explode as they digest that knowledge.....