CONNACHT FOOTBALL.......WHERE TO NOW????

[Shrewdness]

Following the woeful display of Connacht Champions, Sligo, yesterday, i think it's fair to say that Connacht Football is now at it's lowest ebb for the last 12 years.

Fair play to Sligo for bridging the 32 year gap in winning this year's Connacht Title, but in my opinion, they are a very limited team. This begs the question.....what's gone wrong with Connacht Football???

Mayo are very much entering a transitional phase. They do have many fine individual players, but gelling them together as a team is going to be a big task for even John O'Mahony. A heavy defeat to Galway and a heavy beating in Derry suggests a huge job ahead.

Galway are in an even bigger state of decline. Who thought they would ever see the day that Galway would struggle to beat Leitrim, and then lose to Sligo in the same year??
Galway have shown that they are not as good as they looked against Mayo, and with many of their leading players on the point of retirement, it's fair to say that Galway are set for a major job of restructuring and transition.

Roscommon always flatter to deceive, and look in a mess at the moment. With a management who have failed to impress, and a team who continue to press the self destruct button in major games, it's hard to see where any improvement is going to come from.
In time, a handful or so, of last year's All Ireland winning minor team should emerge onto the senior team, but that doesn't bring any guarantee of success. It's hard to see where any improvement will come from in the short term.

Leitrim will always be restricted by a limited playing pool due to the small population of the county. There is no more passionate and devoted group of players anywhere than the Leitrim lads, and as they showed against Galway, they are capable of giving anyone a game on any given day.
But, in the greater scheme of things, it's hard to see where further improvement will come from.

Sligo are worthy Connacht Champions for 2007, but who can say when they will repeat this feat?? A lot of their players looked exceptionally mediocre yesterday. They are probably in a similar position to Leitrim population wise, give or take a few thousand. A lack of recent underage success suggests that there isn't exactly a steady stream of talent coming through, as evidenced yesterday by the need to introduce the likes of Gerry Mc Gowan when fresh legs were needed.

So, it all begs the question, where is Connacht football heading.?? For the first time in 12 or 13 years, when next year's All Ireland contenders are being discussed, it is almost certain that no team from Connacht will be seriously considered as being realistic contenders.

[Rossfan]

And is anyone asking where is Ulster Football heading after their champions got dumped yeaterday?
Next week could well see Derry and Monaghan( I hope not in both cases) being dumped which would leave no Ulster team in the last 4.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Galway are in an even bigger state of decline

While I agree with a lot of what you said I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that Galway are in a worse state than Mayo? There is little between the teams in reality.

[Maguire01]

And is anyone asking where is Ulster Football heading after their champions got dumped yeaterday?
Next week could well see Derry and Monaghan( I hope not in both cases) being dumped which would leave no Ulster team in the last 4.

Yes, but Tyrone weren't hammered yesterday. I'd also argue that Meath are tougher opposition than Cork.
Add to that the fact that it was an Ulster team who dumped out Mayo.
There's no question that Ulster is miles ahead of Connacht.

[tyronechap]

ulster football is alive for sure this year has just been a bad year but it aint over yet i have faith in derry 2 beat dublin look at a few years back all ulster final i no there were a few ppl that didnt like that tbh i think ulster the strongest country

[Maguire01]

ulster football is alive for sure this year has just been a bad year but it aint over yet i have faith in derry 2 beat dublin look at a few years back all ulster final i no there were a few ppl that didnt like that tbh i think ulster the strongest country

Country?

[Shrewdness]

GBB........I just felt that if you strip away the players in Mayo and Galway who must surely be on the point of retirement, then Mayo are left with a better nucleus of a panel than Galway.
Add in that Mayo have John O'Mahony heading into his second year , compared to Galway's current management situation where they are sure to have a new man at the helm next year, and i just feel that Mayo would have a slight edge on Galway in terms of the restucturing that both are facing into, despite what happened in Salthill last May.

Ulster football is definitely in a healthier overall position than Connacht right now.

[GalwayBayBoy]

GBB........I just felt that if you strip away the players in Mayo and Galway who must surely be on the point of retirement, then Mayo are left with a better nucleus of a panel than Galway.

Well Galway are probably losing Ja to retirement. Joyce and Declan Meehan are staying on for another year or two it seems. Not sure about Savo yet. They aren't the main men in the team anymore so I doubt it would be disasterous if we lost all of them at once.

Not sure if anyone is retiring in Mayo but obviously McDonald, Brady, Heaney and Nallen are not far off it. Pierce Hanley seems to be off to Australia.

Not sure how that would equate to the remaining Mayo players being better than the Galway ones. I just don't see it to be honest.

I guess O'Mahony will be into his second year but hard to predict if things will get any better for him next year. Hard to predict for us as we don't know who the next coach will be.

[Rav67]

the standard of connacht senior football was awful this year but mayo galway roscommon have had u-21 and minor successes in recent years so im sure they'll progress rightly in the next few years. 

As regards who's the weakest province, I wouldnt necessarily judge it on how many teams make the last 4. Munster will quite possibly have 2 again but 3/6 counties are in Division 4 and none could even make the TM final. Ulster only had 1/9 and they should have one the second-tier competition so that shows a lot more depth.

[Shrewdness]

Fair enough GBB, i take your point.

[DJGaliv]

All this talk about teams needing massive rebuilding which will rule them out of challenging the top teams is total bullshit.

Apparently Armagh, Galway, Mayo, Tyrone have all reached the end of the road. According to the shite in the media, it's the end for those teams, and it'll take 3-5 years before we see them up there challenging again. What utter bull. Who are supposed to be taking over from these four strong footballing counties? Monaghan, Derry, Meath and Sligo? Catch a grip!

It's ridiculous. The difference in the footballing standards of counties isn't that wide that teams need to undergo massive redevelopment that will take three years. One season to the next counties can undergo huge transformations, just look at Meath. Stay clear of injuries, bit of luck and momentum can go a long way.

Unable to get any possession at midfield, insipid in attack, without a reliable free-taker and forced to use unfit players in a desperate attempt to quell the Meath onslaught, this was certainly a hard way to die for Tyrone.

Of course, they will regroup next season and Mickey Harte intends to stay in place, but it will be a different team. And unless Brian McGuigan returns, it may be just an ordinary one as opposed to the brilliant team that he and Peter Canavan backboned in those two glorious All-Irelands.

Players like Ronan Clarke, Ciaran McDonald, Michael Meehan, and Stephen O'Neill are always going to be up there challenging for provincial and All-Ireland titles. Every so often they'll get done by injuries, or a lack of hunger.

All things considered, Galway and Mayo will continue to dominate Connacht. Sligo have no forwards, Roscommon have shockingly deteriorated, and Leitrim will never beat Galway and Mayo in the same year.

[Rossfan]

Galway and Mayo will continue to dominate Connacht.

God help us what an awful prospect 
Hopefully we can get back to our once proud tradition of spoiling their parties every few years.

[DJGaliv]

Galway and Mayo will continue to dominate Connacht.

God help us what an awful prospect 
Hopefully we can get back to our once proud tradition of spoiling their parties every few years.

Fair enough it sounds disrespectful to the other counties in Connacht, but cutting away all the bullshit it's true. Every six years one of the other counties wins one, but all in all it's Galway and Mayo's to lose. It will stay this way until or if Roscommon's minors come through, and Sligo start unearthing a few top quality forwards. The trouble is by then the likes of O'Hara will have bowed out.