Championship 2009 in dire straits

Tyrone Dreamer · June 29, 2009, 09:23:23 PM

The championship in many ways is only starting properly now. Teams have one or 2 games behind them and most will only be aiming too peak from now on. Knockout football is starting and trophies will be handed out. Looking forward to Dublin V Kildare and Mayo v Galway. Armagh v Monaghan should be good this weekend and there should be a few good qualifier games involving Kerry. There's also the novelty of a Tyrone Antrim final. As said elsewhere if the last 8 is made up something like this - Tyrone,Armagh,Kerry,Cork,Dublin,Kildare,Galway,Mayo we could have some great games to look forward to later on.

Would be great if Kildare beat the Dubs and the Dubs had to head to Cork for the quarter final.

Tyrone Dreamer · June 29, 2009, 09:26:13 PM

People are also very quick to ignore the positves. Some of Dublins scoretaking early on yesterday including Brogans goal haven't been given the credit they deserve.

ONeill · June 29, 2009, 11:14:25 PM

Quote from: Tyrone Dreamer on June 29, 2009, 09:26:13 PM
People are also very quick to ignore the positves. Some of Dublins scoretaking early on yesterday including Brogans goal haven't been given the credit they deserve.

Exactly. The Dubs' scores in the first 10 mins were top drawer.

INDIANA · June 30, 2009, 12:31:36 AM

Tyrone lads praising Dublin. f*** I'm worried now.

stevecw · June 30, 2009, 12:51:26 AM

I don't see how its been any worse this year than other years.

There have been exciting games, albeit not all of them live on tv. Bad choices of matches like showing Westmeath/Wicklow & Mayo/Roscommon have coloured peoples view of things.

Cork, Kildare, Dublin yesterday, Mayo, Tyrone have all looked impressive so far. And i'm sure we will see better from Kerry, Armagh and Galway before the summer is out.
Even teams like Derry & Donegal could easily get through qualifiers and be a threat again.

Its great to see Antrim & Limerick in the provincial finals, especially Antrim...who won well in an open entertaining game on Saturday night. Saw them in the league and i was very impressed with them. Ok it was against Carlow, but they seemed a level above what they usually are even back then.

Its a very open championship this year with no team you would say for sure will win it. To me Cork would be my bet right now, but i wouldn't put much on them.

This weekend with the 1st 8 qualifiers the real championship starts. Should be some good games in it, but of course there will be 2 or 3 very one sided affairs including i fear my own Carlow going to Ballybofey to face a wounded Donegal side. I fear the backlash big time

Tyrone Dreamer · July 12, 2009, 03:41:50 PM

Hopefully we'll get less whinging for the rest of the championship, although I see Spillane still at it today. Since Barney started this we have had a good Munster Final between Cork and Limerick, a really good first half and good overall game between Derry and Monaghan, and a great Leinster Final between Dublin and Kildare. I'm sure there were some other decent qualifier games.

muppet · July 12, 2009, 03:58:38 PM

I think we all need to give Barney a big group hug.

Who's first?

Barney · July 12, 2009, 07:14:35 PM

In fairness things have picked up considerably.

Sadly no great hurling this year.

Its a pity it takes so long for the championship to swing into serious action.

Pangurban · July 12, 2009, 07:33:07 PM

Would not agree that the Championship is less competitive, but overall there has a been a serious decline in the quality of football being played, which is effecting all counties. However there are hopeful signs from Cork, Dublin and Tyrone that this will be remedied before the year is out, and attacking football will return

Tyrone Dreamer · July 18, 2009, 06:59:26 PM

Another good day for the championship. Quality not the best but 2 very entertaining games.

Jinxy · July 18, 2009, 07:08:45 PM

Quote from: Pangurban on July 12, 2009, 07:33:07 PM
Would not agree that the Championship is less competitive, but overall there has a been a serious decline in the quality of football being played, which is effecting all counties. However there are hopeful signs from Cork, Dublin and Tyrone that this will be remedied before the year is out, and attacking football will return

There hasn't really.

muppet · July 18, 2009, 07:32:53 PM

A couple of very entertaining games today.

Tyrone Dreamer · July 18, 2009, 08:34:11 PM

They're saying on the radio that the Derry Donegal game is a great match.

balladmaker · July 18, 2009, 08:47:59 PM

No need to panic, tomorrow's Ulster Final will throw up an edge of the seat classic $:-\$

Tyrone Dreamer · July 25, 2009, 08:43:02 PM

Despite a slow start its turning into a great championship. Backdoor has been brilliant this year. In previous years some teams struggled to recover from defeats and take it seriously. Thats not the case any more with loads of competitive games. Think its improved because its been pushed back to July giving teams more time to prepare after a defeat. Has also been helped by home and away format up to round 3.