Where Now For Connacht Football.

[Shrewdness]

As Connacht is the only province without a representative in the All Ireland Semi Finals, is Connacht Football in a state of disarray and what does the immediate future hold for it's 5 counties.?

It's very rare to find both Galway and Mayo looking for a new manager at the same time.
Events in this year's Connacht Championship and All Ireland Qualifiers prove that both counties are currently in temporary decline.
Who ever thought they would see the day that Wexford and Longford would send the big two in Connacht tumbling out of the championship.
Some people on this board have suggested that both will be back as a force in Connacht next year, but is there really any concrete evidence to back that up.
It will be fascinating to see who the 2 new managers will be.

I think Mayo will return to strength before Galway. If you take the age of Padraig Joyce into account, and couple that with a lack of steady underage talent coming through, i think Galway's new manager will have his hands full.Where are all the 2007 Minors gone to. Paul Conroy is the only one that i've seen to progress.

Roscommon won a Connacht Title this year, about 2 years earlier than most people thought they would even be competitive enough to challenge for one.
They do have a lot of talented young players, and overall it's a young panel, with a lot more young players poised to break through.
But Ros still have a lot of rough edges to their play, and will be plying their trade in Division 4 of the League next Spring.

What effects will the events of the last 2 games have on Sligo?
A successful league which yielded promotion and the experience of winning in Croke Park, was added to by those 3 memorable undefeated games against Mayo and Galway.
But , the Connacht Final defeat, and the subsequent 19 point humiliation against Down are bound to leave psychological scars on the Sligo set up.
Can they rouse themselves for another serious tilt at a Connacht Title next year?
Will Kevin Walsh still be manager next year, and if he is, will the Sligo players continue to 'buy in' to the Kevin Walsh style of management as they've done during his tenure so far.

Unfortunately, it's hard to see anything but continuing struggle for Leitrim.
A small population, a lack of underage success and an inability to get out of Division 4 will surely hinder any hopes of progress.

So, what does the immediate future hold for Connacht. Are we about to slip behing the other provinces, or is there light at the end of the tunnel?

[ross4life]

10 year's of Quarter finals now & only twice have Connacht champion's won (Mayo 04 06) not good enough for a proud footballing province, IMO Connacht football at the moment is at the same level as it was back in 1992/93/94 when the Connacht winner's were expect to lose & did

1995 was the road to recovery for Connacht when a upcoming Galway team almost beat Tyrone, Judging by the under age talent coming through with Mayo,Galway & Roscommon i expect these team will improve in the next 3/4 years

It's important that Sligo recover from the poor finish to this year's championship & if they do there's a connacht title available to them in the next year or two

Leitrim will continue to struggle as i don't see any Quinn's or Darcy's coming through

[GAA_Punter]

When was the last time Galway beat a team outside Connaught

[ross4life]

2004 v louth 

[mouview]

Don't think the titular question is really relevant anymore; with the advent of the back door the Provincial series have lost much of their importance and regional boundaries have waned. (Ask Jack O Connor!) You might just as well ask where now for Ulster football as all bar Tyrone haven't produced anything of note in years. (Maybe Down can change that). Ditto Leinster. There are no weak provinces anymore, just a whole heap of weak counties.

Where now for Connacht football? Minor semi's for a start with Galway and Mayo both in with a shout (though I fear for Gaillimh).

[Goin Down]

As Connacht is the only province without a representative in the All Ireland Semi Finals, is Connacht Football in a state of disarray and what does the immediate future hold for it's 5 counties.?

It's very rare to find both Galway and Mayo looking for a new manager at the same time.
Events in this year's Connacht Championship and All Ireland Qualifiers prove that both counties are currently in temporary decline.
Who ever thought they would see the day that Wexford and Longford would send the big two in Connacht tumbling out of the championship.
Some people on this board have suggested that both will be back as a force in Connacht next year, but is there really any concrete evidence to back that up.
It will be fascinating to see who the 2 new managers will be.

I think Mayo will return to strength before Galway. If you take the age of Padraig Joyce into account, and couple that with a lack of steady underage talent coming through, i think Galway's new manager will have his hands full.Where are all the 2007 Minors gone to. Paul Conroy is the only one that i've seen to progress.

Roscommon won a Connacht Title this year, about 2 years earlier than most people thought they would even be competitive enough to challenge for one.
They do have a lot of talented young players, and overall it's a young panel, with a lot more young players poised to break through.
But Ros still have a lot of rough edges to their play, and will be plying their trade in Division 4 of the League next Spring.

What effects will the events of the last 2 games have on Sligo?
A successful league which yielded promotion and the experience of winning in Croke Park, was added to by those 3 memorable undefeated games against Mayo and Galway.
But , the Connacht Final defeat, and the subsequent 19 point humiliation against Down are bound to leave psychological scars on the Sligo set up.
Can they rouse themselves for another serious tilt at a Connacht Title next year?
Will Kevin Walsh still be manager next year, and if he is, will the Sligo players continue to 'buy in' to the Kevin Walsh style of management as they've done during his tenure so far.

Unfortunately, it's hard to see anything but continuing struggle for Leitrim.
A small population, a lack of underage success and an inability to get out of Division 4 will surely hinder any hopes of progress.

So, what does the immediate future hold for Connacht. Are we about to slip behing the other provinces, or is there light at the end of the tunnel?

And what about poor forgotten London and New York. London havent been far behind some teams they've played in recent years.

New York almost beat Galway this year. Showing progress. 

[neilthemac]

10 year's of Quarter finals now & only twice have Connacht champion's won (Mayo 04 06) not good enough for a proud footballing province, IMO Connacht football at the moment is at the same level as it was back in 1992/93/94 when the Connacht winner's were expect to lose & did

1995 was the road to recovery for Connacht when a upcoming Galway team almost beat Tyrone, Judging by the under age talent coming through with Mayo,Galway & Roscommon i expect these team will improve in the next 3/4 years

It's important that Sligo recover from the poor finish to this year's championship & if they do there's a connacht title available to them in the next year or two

Leitrim will continue to struggle as i don't see any Quinn's or Darcy's coming through

what happened to Galway in 2001 quarter final?

[ross4life]

10 year's of Quarter finals now & only twice have Connacht champion's won (Mayo 04 06) not good enough for a proud footballing province, IMO Connacht football at the moment is at the same level as it was back in 1992/93/94 when the Connacht winner's were expect to lose & did

1995 was the road to recovery for Connacht when a upcoming Galway team almost beat Tyrone, Judging by the under age talent coming through with Mayo,Galway & Roscommon i expect these team will improve in the next 3/4 years

It's important that Sligo recover from the poor finish to this year's championship & if they do there's a connacht title available to them in the next year or two

Leitrim will continue to struggle as i don't see any Quinn's or Darcy's coming through

what happened to Galway in 2001 quarter final?

Were Galway the Connacht Champions in 2001?

[Rossfan]

what happened to Galway in 2001 quarter final?

Were Galway the Connacht Champions in 2001?
[/quote]


We were Conncht Champions in 2001 but due to mental weakness couldnt handle it and seemingly we were also upset because we had  to play Galway again and we didnt get to Croke Park.
Or was it that we were celebrating for 4 weeks?
Not much mental weakness in the class of 06 who are breaking through now.

[neilthemac]

10 year's of Quarter finals now & only twice have Connacht champion's won (Mayo 04 06) not good enough for a proud footballing province, IMO Connacht football at the moment is at the same level as it was back in 1992/93/94 when the Connacht winner's were expect to lose & did

1995 was the road to recovery for Connacht when a upcoming Galway team almost beat Tyrone, Judging by the under age talent coming through with Mayo,Galway & Roscommon i expect these team will improve in the next 3/4 years

It's important that Sligo recover from the poor finish to this year's championship & if they do there's a connacht title available to them in the next year or two

Leitrim will continue to struggle as i don't see any Quinn's or Darcy's coming through

what happened to Galway in 2001 quarter final?

Were Galway the Connacht Champions in 2001?

but he made the point that only Mayo have won a quarter final in the last ten years. Wrong. Galway beat Ros in quarter final in 2001. the smug backstards

[ross4life]

10 year's of Quarter finals now & only twice have Connacht champion's won (Mayo 04 06) not good enough for a proud footballing province, IMO Connacht football at the moment is at the same level as it was back in 1992/93/94 when the Connacht winner's were expect to lose & did

1995 was the road to recovery for Connacht when a upcoming Galway team almost beat Tyrone, Judging by the under age talent coming through with Mayo,Galway & Roscommon i expect these team will improve in the next 3/4 years

It's important that Sligo recover from the poor finish to this year's championship & if they do there's a connacht title available to them in the next year or two

Leitrim will continue to struggle as i don't see any Quinn's or Darcy's coming through

what happened to Galway in 2001 quarter final?

Were Galway the Connacht Champions in 2001?

but he made the point that only Mayo have won a quarter final in the last ten years. Wrong. Galway beat Ros in quarter final in 2001. the smug backstards

No i didn't! "10 year's of Quarter finals now & only twice have Connacht champion's won" 2001 Galway were beaten in the Connacht semi final. so I'm right

[Lar Naparka]

but he made the point that only Mayo have won a quarter final in the last ten years. Wrong. Galway beat Ros in quarter final in 2001. the smug backstards

I don't think that one Connacht county batin' another amounts to much, one way or the other! Back in 2001, Galway won the AI and Mayo took the league title. The league semis, for the first time ever, were contested by 4 Connacht sides.
By any standards, football west of the Shannon was in a fairly healthy state back then.
Since then, the gap between Connacht and the rest of the provinces has been steadily widening and right now we are left sucking the hind tit and will be for the foreseeable future.
It may well be that our levels haven't declined to any great extent but it could be a case of all other provinces surging ahead of us in terms of team training and the provision of resources.
Either way, we are in there at the bottom of the heap.
At the present time, Kerry, Cork, Limerick and possibly Tipp would feel reasonably confident of beating any side in Connacht. In Leinster, Dublin, Kildare, Meath and probably Louth won't lose too much sleep if they had to face one of us either.
Look North and, for Christy's sake, and you'll see that most counties up there could probably handle the pick of Connacht, never mind any of the individual counties.

You'd need to look at the All Star awards since 2001 to get the real picture; Connacht players have picked up a combined total of 6 since then. (That's just a quick check and there may be one or two more but that wouldn't mean much in the overall tally.)
So we got 6 between us out of 15 x 8 and a scatter of replacement awards along the way!
If that's not a cause for concern, I don't know what is..
I think it's time all Connacht counties gave up their petty squabbling and start making use of the combined centre of excellence. It is up to each and every county to make the best use of the resources to be found there. I believe an indoor playing pitch is on the agenda and this is something that none of the counties concerned could afford the cost or have the need for its own individual none.
John Prenty and his fellow-evangelists on the provincial council are to be commended for their far-sightedness and their concern for the needs of their flock. Stuff the begrudgers and set yer sat navs for Bekan.

[SLIGONIAN]

Sligos Centre of Excellence got Planning permission this week so we'll be setting the sat navs for Scarden in Strandhill. And probably not get a penny from Connacht.

In terms of football ability we are the best in Connacht but our mental frailities whether it be not believeing in ourselves or getting cocky thats our battle to stop repeating those mistakes. So i think alot of work needs to be done on the mental approach in 2011 for us more than anything.

[Farrandeelin]

Why then are Roscommon the current Connacht champions Sligonian?

[ross4life]

In terms of football ability we are the best in Connacht

After weeks of gloom & doom that's more like the sligonian we all know & love