Ulster Club SFC 2024

[brokencrossbar1]

Tyrone Club wins of the Ulster Senior Championship - 2

Antrim Clubs wins of the Ulster Senior Championship- 4

Tyrone Club wins of the AI senior Championship - 0

Antrim Club wins of the AI senior Championship - 1

[Truthsayer]

Tyrone Club wins of the Ulster Senior Championship - 2

Antrim Clubs wins of the Ulster Senior Championship- 4

Tyrone Club wins of the AI senior Championship - 0

Antrim Club wins of the AI senior Championship - 1

Which shows Antrim once in a blue moon produces a great team a mile in front of all the others while Tyrone remains the most competitive and entertaining. How hard is this to understand?

[general_lee]

Tyrone SFC is good because it's straight knockout which is now a bit of a novelty factor.

I get the feeling a "top 2" is developing though, that's not to say either team is a shoe-in but 7 of the last 10 finals has featured either or both of EC/Trillick.

[ElJeffe]

Tyrone Club wins of the Ulster Senior Championship - 2

Antrim Clubs wins of the Ulster Senior Championship- 4

Tyrone Club wins of the AI senior Championship - 0

Antrim Club wins of the AI senior Championship - 1

Which shows Antrim once in a blue moon produces a great team a mile in front of all the others while Tyrone remains the most competitive and entertaining. How hard is this to understand?

I would argue if everyone club championship was straight knockout then it would be the same as Tyrone. It's not that your senior clubs are superior or better ... take for example the amount of games played to win a Tyrone champ is less than other counties... why are they woeful at Ulster club level ?

It dosnt add up saying it's the best and entertaining because of the quality ... it's the format which ads to it I believe

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

It's not the quality of the best team but the quality of the worst team.
You could have a super team hammering the dung out of poor teams year in year out - that, for me, would not be a good or interesting championship.

[Milltown Row2]

All counties have at one point or other have had straight knockout, we had it for years, but the clubs asked for group games due to the fact that they trained all year and boom, out of championship and nothing to play for the rest of the year.

I think it was purely for clubs to get extra games and to allow players to play at a higher level that they normally would more often, whether there is merit in that I don't really know.

But lads coming on and saying because its straight knockout thats what makes it the best, the every county that did it in the past would claim that title

[general_lee]

Straight ko is a novelty at this stage which does still hold some appeal, group stages have merit but some might argue it allows better teams an off-day and still get a second bite. CE for example weren't undefeated in Armagh

[Truthsayer]

Tyrone championship ended a few weeks ago! Antrim boys still arguing it's not the best!    get over it...

[brokencrossbar1]

Tyrone is competitive,  that's about the height of it...as someone said above though it's becoming less competitive with Trillick and EC going to be the dominant teams for the next few years I suspect.

[gallsman]

When did this shite pivot from "best" to "competitive" or "entertaining"?

[Christmas Lights]

All club championships imo should be straight knockout.  I think group stages are a total nonsense, ending up with meaningless, dead rubber games or the shadow boxing games early on if two of the big teams in the county meet each other (ie Slaughtneil vs Glen). The championships in Antrim, Armagh, Derry are completely diluted as a result of their formats, it doesn't really work for me.  You end up with clubs and players maybe not playing a proper knock out game which simply shouldn't be the case.  Tyrone championship is by far the most exciting Ive seen based on their format, great crowds, great hype and it feels like a big game for all the players.  That all feeds into the game as well.  The big issue with the group stages for me is say the likes of a smaller team takes a scalp of a bigger team, if they happen to meet again later on in the championship, say in a semi final, its very difficult and rarely happens where that smaller team will beat that bigger team again. 

[lenny]

All club championships imo should be straight knockout.  I think group stages are a total nonsense, ending up with meaningless, dead rubber games or the shadow boxing games early on if two of the big teams in the county meet each other (ie Slaughtneil vs Glen). The championships in Antrim, Armagh, Derry are completely diluted as a result of their formats, it doesn't really work for me.  You end up with clubs and players maybe not playing a proper knock out game which simply shouldn't be the case.  Tyrone championship is by far the most exciting Ive seen based on their format, great crowds, great hype and it feels like a big game for all the players.  That all feeds into the game as well.  The big issue with the group stages for me is say the likes of a smaller team takes a scalp of a bigger team, if they happen to meet again later on in the championship, say in a semi final, its very difficult and rarely happens where that smaller team will beat that bigger team again. 

I agree to an extent particularly from a supporters point of view as its more exciting. As a coach and former player there are many issues with straight knockout. Smaller teams beating the really big teams - how often does that happen? There's a reason the bigger teams are the bigger teams and that's because they don't fall to upsets very often. Smaller teams can go for years in straight knockout with one game a season. How do they develop? To give a county example, McGeeny said recently that Armagh won the AI this year because of their development over the last few years and he said this would've been impossible with knockout. In reality straight knockout suits the bigger teams because they will get a run most years. They're not too disappointed in a bad year because they get a rest. Smaller clubs can develop a team if they get 4 or 5 championship games a year even if they slightly lack the intensity of knockout.

[Mario]

All club championships imo should be straight knockout.  I think group stages are a total nonsense, ending up with meaningless, dead rubber games or the shadow boxing games early on if two of the big teams in the county meet each other (ie Slaughtneil vs Glen). The championships in Antrim, Armagh, Derry are completely diluted as a result of their formats, it doesn't really work for me.  You end up with clubs and players maybe not playing a proper knock out game which simply shouldn't be the case.  Tyrone championship is by far the most exciting Ive seen based on their format, great crowds, great hype and it feels like a big game for all the players.  That all feeds into the game as well.  The big issue with the group stages for me is say the likes of a smaller team takes a scalp of a bigger team, if they happen to meet again later on in the championship, say in a semi final, its very difficult and rarely happens where that smaller team will beat that bigger team again. 

I don't get the support for straight knockout myself. In Derry the group stages are just to reintroduce the county men and allow them a few games before it's all or nothing. If Derry was straight knockout all you are getting is one extra knockout round of 16. It's knockout from the last 8 anyway. In your example the smaller team probably only took a scalp because it's not knockout. For example Glen always rest players in the early group games in Derry, they wouldn't do that if it was straight knockout.

[Rufus T Firefly]

I think group stages are a total nonsense, ending up with meaningless, dead rubber games or the shadow boxing games early on if two of the big teams in the county meet each other 

Whatever about shadow boxing, it takes a very rare set of circumstances for there to be dead rubber matches.

The championships in Antrim, Armagh, Derry are completely diluted as a result of their formats, it doesn't really work for me.  You end up with clubs and players maybe not playing a proper knock out game which simply shouldn't be the case.

A team who gets knocked out at the group stage has effectively played a knockout match with their third fixture.

I appreciate you're only voicing your opinion, and it is one that seems to be gaining increasing popularity, but I'd only ask that people keep in mind that for those Counties who have introduced group stages, have already had straight knockout for over 100 years, and felt that it was time for a change. Furthermore, with the arrival of the split season, there seems to be growing alarm at the fact that some County players are getting to play only 4 / 5 games with their Clubs each year - a straight knockout would surely only add to that issue, with the possibility of one game and you're out.

The Championship is the most important competition in the GAA calendar, where teams are best prepared and have their strongest squads available. Having more matches between those teams, for me, simply means more fixtures to enjoy.     

[illdecide]

Clann Eireann were poor enough but got over the line. Turbitt was way below par and it wasn't even the way he was marked, looked uninterested at times which is bizarre to say when i seen the display he gave in County final. To win when some of your top men don't perform says a lot and I expect a really good game v Errigal C. However, if Clann Eireann's big guns don't step up against EC then they'll be wasting their time. They have the arsenal to win and i hope they do but i think Errigal will be too strong for them, hopefully i'm wrong.