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Messages - smelmoth

#1
GAA Discussion / Re: TG4 - Club Championships Coverage
September 03, 2023, 03:03:23 PM
He might was well enjoy the next half. It will be his last for a very long while.

There is plenty of opportunity for that type of thing. A good long ban is deserved but should also act as a deterrent
#2
GAA Discussion / Re: AIQF Armagh v Monaghan
July 01, 2023, 08:39:43 AM
Quote from: Hound on June 30, 2023, 10:20:12 PM
Quote from: tonto1888 on June 30, 2023, 09:25:42 PM
Quote from: Main Street on June 30, 2023, 02:08:23 PM
Considering Armagh are hotly favoured to win regardless of how close the contest could be and considering that McGeeney is currently the most experienced manager in football, wouldn't it be such a huge humiliation  for him should Monaghan prevail under the tutelage of a wet behind the ears rookie manager? One who is learning his trade on the hoof, oft times struggling to impress his type of game, good decision making onto the players

Who says Armagh are hotly favoured?
Bookies.

1/2 favs.

Most of that market flow must be coming in from Monaghan and Tyrone. Certainly that's were the brimming confidence seems to be emanating from.
#3
GAA Discussion / Re: AIQF Armagh v Monaghan
June 27, 2023, 07:00:37 PM
Quote from: Schkite on June 27, 2023, 12:54:25 PM
Seems to be an awful lot of confidence from the Armagh crowd that they will win, and win convincingly no less. You'd swear they had a good bit of success and were seasoned campaigners at the business end of the championship to warrant such confidence. Or even a dominant record over us in recent years.

I dunno, Monaghan are certainly in a bit of transition with alot of youth being brought through and with it being Vinny's first year in charge, but I still think we've a great chance here in a 50/50 game.

Where are you picking up on this armagh confidence that they will win an win well. Certainly Bennydorano falls into that category but not picking up anything more than that.

I sense that Monaghan are more confident against Armagh than they would have been against of the other sides they could have faced. Similarly Armagh are more confident than they would have been against Mayo. Would read nothing more into it than that
#4
GAA Discussion / Re: AIQF Armagh v Monaghan
June 27, 2023, 06:56:09 PM
Quote from: RedHand88 on June 27, 2023, 12:42:57 PM
Theoretically would Armagh people be happy winning if it meant Tyrone beat Kerry?

Siege mentality in a question
#5
Only a request at this stage. Hasn't been approved yet.

That said if they have both requested it then any decision to have the game elsewhere comes under greater scrutiny.

The traffic issues looked very problematic and possibly making a farce out of have the 2 group games throw in at the same time. Could have had the situation with Tyrone or Westmeath fans with young children/elderly patrons arriving well before the Dublin/Sligo match to secure a seat in Breffni and then then having to hang around for a delayed throw in to the Tyrone/Westmeath because of traffic delays pushing back the throw in in Carrick.

There is always a risk of traffic delays and you have the decision of whether to push back throw in but they were exacerbated in this instance by the combination of fixtures. It looked like really poor planning and I wouldn't be surprised if the Gardai expressed reservations.

Hard to know what crowd it will take to Croke Park. If it is a quarter full then that that is still more than double the number that Carrick could accommodate. I fully accept that a pool stage group game is not the same as a knock out double header.

It is what it is.

Any idea of timescale for a decision?
#6
Rumour that it was originally Cavan and Galway objected. Then moved to CoS and now Armagh objected. Don't know if either is actually true.
#7
Quote from: Manning18 on June 07, 2023, 04:53:53 PM
Quote from: smelmoth on June 07, 2023, 04:29:21 PM
Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on June 07, 2023, 04:24:26 PM
Disagree totally on Breffni, we may as well have had a toss for match to be there or the Hyde then, Breffni is unbelievably inconvenient for Galway support compared to Armagh.

You could hardly argue that Breffni was more inconvenient for Galway than Carrick is for Armagh?

Is this a joke? It's near the same distance for both.

You're saying above "There isn't an absolutely ideal ground for this game but Breffni was as close as you could get". For starters I can think of 4 grounds.

But to play your game, in which possibly way would Hyde Park Roscommon for instance not be as fair or fairer than Breffini? Why shouldn't it be played there?

On CoS it looks like it's c1hr15mins from Tuam and Ballinasloe. No part of Armagh is remotely as close.  1hr50 from Galway city is still a bit shorter than any part of Armagh. But the number of towns that people travelling from any part of Armagh is going to drive match day travel time way up. There will be match day traffic coming from Galway as well and nobody is going to achieve satnav projected times but it looks way worse for armagh.

On Hyde vs Breffni. Again Hyde is 38 mins from Ballinasloe and 54 from Tuam. That's a bit long from even the nearest parts of Armagh.

But again none of the above takes in the context of the other matches.

Objectively all parts is Armagh to Roscommon is more difficult than any part of Galway other than the extreme west and the islands to Breffni. So no, not a joke.
#8
Quote from: the_daddy on June 07, 2023, 04:35:12 PM
Quote from: smelmoth on June 07, 2023, 04:09:42 PM
Quote from: Maroon Manc on June 07, 2023, 03:51:50 PM
Quote from: armaghniac on June 07, 2023, 10:07:31 AM
Quote from: Maroon Manc on June 07, 2023, 08:29:38 AM
Could easily have played it in the Hyde to satisfy demand from Armagh huge support.

I think that Breffni would have better met this objective.

I was on a the windup as its a ridiculous suggestion as was Breffni.

Breffni is now a ridiculous suggestion as there is the small matter of another game being played at the same time there. But I don't see why it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place.

There isn't an absolutely ideal ground for this game but Breffni was as close as you could get.

As has been pointed out elsewhere the travel scenario looks very problematic (given other games ongoing and the absence of ring roads or dual carriageways) and the stadium is hardly big enough.

I would be very surprised if Armagh have not objected in some way to this. I am completely against the pointless appeals of disciplinary decisions but this fixture decision looks incompetent.

Journey times from Lurgan, Armagh and  Crossmaglen don't look too bad at just over 2 hours but the reality will be much, much more than that. A lot of Galway is much closer than that. Unless you are coming from Clifden the venue is hardly equidistant.

Armagh had easily 10k in Healy pk and would have more if the capacity allowed.

The criteria that Croke Park use for the distance is from the county ground. There's 5 minutes difference from the Athletic Grounds & Pearse Stadium to Pairc Sean according to google maps.
The total attendance in Healy Park on Saturday was 9k.

On Healy Pk I stand corrected. Whilst the official figure you quote is complete nonsense I do accept that it wasn't a full house. Whilst Armagh had very significantly more than half the crowd it wouldn't have added up to 10k. My bad.

On distance between the counties I will take you at your word on what the official ruling is. It's a strange rule but I suppose there has to be one. Even weirder would be the failure to apply context. The context of getting from Lurgan or any of the towns in S. Armagh to CoS in match traffic when Tyrone are travelling to Breffni at the same time. The contexts of what towns you have to go through and their ability to cope. Going early to get a seat for children then brings in the earlier match at Breffni. In combination these fixtures look ill considered at best.

Presumably the Gardai have given it all their blessing.
#9
Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on June 07, 2023, 04:24:26 PM
Disagree totally on Breffni, we may as well have had a toss for match to be there or the Hyde then, Breffni is unbelievably inconvenient for Galway support compared to Armagh.

You could hardly argue that Breffni was more inconvenient for Galway than Carrick is for Armagh?
#10
Quote from: Maroon Manc on June 07, 2023, 03:51:50 PM
Quote from: armaghniac on June 07, 2023, 10:07:31 AM
Quote from: Maroon Manc on June 07, 2023, 08:29:38 AM
Could easily have played it in the Hyde to satisfy demand from Armagh huge support.

I think that Breffni would have better met this objective.

I was on a the windup as its a ridiculous suggestion as was Breffni.

Breffni is now a ridiculous suggestion as there is the small matter of another game being played at the same time there. But I don't see why it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place.

There isn't an absolutely ideal ground for this game but Breffni was as close as you could get.

As has been pointed out elsewhere the travel scenario looks very problematic (given other games ongoing and the absence of ring roads or dual carriageways) and the stadium is hardly big enough.

I would be very surprised if Armagh have not objected in some way to this. I am completely against the pointless appeals of disciplinary decisions but this fixture decision looks incompetent.

Journey times from Lurgan, Armagh and  Crossmaglen don't look too bad at just over 2 hours but the reality will be much, much more than that. A lot of Galway is much closer than that. Unless you are coming from Clifden the venue is hardly equidistant.

Armagh had easily 10k in Healy pk and would have more if the capacity allowed.
#11
Quote from: ned on June 06, 2023, 04:52:45 PM
Quote from: smelmoth on June 06, 2023, 02:10:40 PM
Quote from: tonto1888 on June 06, 2023, 01:53:52 PM
Quote from: smelmoth on June 06, 2023, 01:27:20 PM
The standard in the English championship is significantly above the SPL.

Celtic can only beat the teams in front of them. But would the bottom half of the SPL survive a season in the English championship? And if relegated from it would they bounce back?

Celtic isn't the problem. It's Scottish football that's the problem.

The bit that baffles me is those that say Celtic or Rangers are a big as large English sides and would thrive in England if only they had access to the money. Whilst I can see the appeal of that argument it fails to address the point that Celtic/Rangers are not in the EPL, they don't have access to the money and therefore the players and don't play against the quality of opposition. The product people are watching is not the team that Celtic/Rangers could be or the contests they could be involved in in some theoretical future. It's the Celtic/Rangers of today. Mediocre players in mediocre teams battering utterly useless teams.

But yes. If run well and granted access to the EPL Celtic or Rangers could ride high like Newcastle or if run badly could be a Leeds. But they are stuck where they are and I can't see why anybody pays them any notice. It's not as if there isn't a better quality product available just as easily.

really?

Well not any football reason why they would pay them any notice

You are commenting on something you obviously dont know much about. Every home game you will have several thousand supporters from outside Scotland going to see Celtic.

I do t think your post makes any sense.

I'm fully aware of people travelling from outside Scotland. But that doesn't address any of the points I was making.
#12
General discussion / Re: The IRISH RUGBY thread
June 07, 2023, 07:03:26 AM
Quote from: Milltown Row2 on June 06, 2023, 08:41:33 PM
Quote from: Tony Baloney on June 06, 2023, 07:43:00 PM
London Irish suspended from all competition for next season.

Paddy (leading a scorer in league?) will be back?  ;)

Even without London Irish I guess Paddy will always be an exile
#13
Quote from: tonto1888 on June 06, 2023, 01:53:52 PM
Quote from: smelmoth on June 06, 2023, 01:27:20 PM
The standard in the English championship is significantly above the SPL.

Celtic can only beat the teams in front of them. But would the bottom half of the SPL survive a season in the English championship? And if relegated from it would they bounce back?

Celtic isn't the problem. It's Scottish football that's the problem.

The bit that baffles me is those that say Celtic or Rangers are a big as large English sides and would thrive in England if only they had access to the money. Whilst I can see the appeal of that argument it fails to address the point that Celtic/Rangers are not in the EPL, they don't have access to the money and therefore the players and don't play against the quality of opposition. The product people are watching is not the team that Celtic/Rangers could be or the contests they could be involved in in some theoretical future. It's the Celtic/Rangers of today. Mediocre players in mediocre teams battering utterly useless teams.

But yes. If run well and granted access to the EPL Celtic or Rangers could ride high like Newcastle or if run badly could be a Leeds. But they are stuck where they are and I can't see why anybody pays them any notice. It's not as if there isn't a better quality product available just as easily.

really?

Well not any football reason why they would pay them any notice
#14
The standard in the English championship is significantly above the SPL.

Celtic can only beat the teams in front of them. But would the bottom half of the SPL survive a season in the English championship? And if relegated from it would they bounce back?

Celtic isn't the problem. It's Scottish football that's the problem.

The bit that baffles me is those that say Celtic or Rangers are a big as large English sides and would thrive in England if only they had access to the money. Whilst I can see the appeal of that argument it fails to address the point that Celtic/Rangers are not in the EPL, they don't have access to the money and therefore the players and don't play against the quality of opposition. The product people are watching is not the team that Celtic/Rangers could be or the contests they could be involved in in some theoretical future. It's the Celtic/Rangers of today. Mediocre players in mediocre teams battering utterly useless teams.

But yes. If run well and granted access to the EPL Celtic or Rangers could ride high like Newcastle or if run badly could be a Leeds. But they are stuck where they are and I can't see why anybody pays them any notice. It's not as if there isn't a better quality product available just as easily.
#15
Quote from: Manning18 on June 06, 2023, 03:10:50 AM
Quote from: armaghniac on June 05, 2023, 10:46:27 PM
Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on June 05, 2023, 10:32:35 PM
Wouldn't be happy with Breffni as a venue, a joke for Galway really given the travel distance compared to the opposition. Anywhere in South Armagh about an hour away, it's two hours from Tuam and as for travelling from West Galway forget it. I don't want to hear about the size of the Galway support base and how many might travel either way, this is an advantage that shouldn't be given in terms of venue access to Armagh.

What do you propose? Having it in the Hyde, that would advantage Galway just as much? Longford and Mullingar simply are too small.

If it was in the Hyde, the vocal Armagh support would (rightly) go bananas. Breffini is equally an unfair venue, if not worse

After a weekend of poor attendances though, it makes a decent crowd more likely, being close to the bigger fanbase. Still doesn't mean Galway should be the ones getting screwed though. Tullamore was/is a perfectly fair venue for both and more than big enough but sounds as if it's been allocated elsewhere

How would Breffni be less fare than Roscommon?

Breffni is significantly closer to equidistant than Roscommon.

Don't think there is a perfect venue. Breffni looks the best. And if it is Cavan just hope it doesn't rain. We got drenched there in the first round of the Ulster championship.