Is Leinster now once again the top Football Province?

[lynchbhoy]

I cant believe anyone would even suggest leinster are the strongest province. You must be trying to wind us up.Very funny agorm 

I'll second that, Dublin are the only team in Leinster and they hammered Wexford. and as for Kildare! - i heard they are putting nets up on the sidelines in Croke Park after their kick display lastweek led to people in the center of the Hoganstand being hit with balls that were called shots by the kildare players  

I admit I laughed out loud at that !

[nrico2006]

Oh right, the Ulster side are deflated but the Leinster side are super motivated after a provincial final defeat. That's called having an opinion and twisting the evidence to suit it.

Its a bit different in Fermanaghs case as they were so close and probably should have won it the 1st day out, hence the deflation whereas its hardly the same for Wexford who were beat out the gates and came out against Down with a point to prove.

[dec]

Leinster is the only province which has not won Sam this decade.

[Zulu]

Ah come on now, Fermanagh started the game very well and if they could kick a score they would have been 4 or 5 points up within the first 10min. Wexford beat Down only beacause Down are poor, not because they were driven, infact Wexford were quite letargic, if they had met Tyrone or Mayo they would have been beaten. Cavan, Antrim and Down are poor to average, Donegal, Derry, Armagh, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Monaghan are all decent sides but little better (if at all) than Meath, WM, Laois, Kildare and Wexford and none of them are as good as Dublin. The bottom line is, Ulster's a very competitive province and has a large number of teams that could make the All Ireland semi finals but there aren't any exceptional teams in Ulster and most provinces have a few teams that could win Ulster.

[screenexile]

I wouldn't agree that only Dublin could win Ulster, Armagh won it this year by beating Cavan, Down and Fermanagh. If that had been Dublins path they would definately have won it, I'd also say WM, Wexford and Meath would have a very good chance if that had been their path. Ulster have plenty of decent sides but no really good one so I'd say any number of mid ranking teams could win it. Munster and Leinster are the only provinces with a really good team at the moment IMO.

Fair enough to Kildare for beating Fermanagh but if you put things into perspective Fermanagh were always going to find it hard to play this game with the necessary desire and drive after all the work they put into in Ulster.  Deflation is a word that springs to mind.  As for Down, well they were terrible against a Wexford side fired up after that hammering.

Oh right, the Ulster side are deflated but the Leinster side are super motivated after a provincial final defeat. That's called having an opinion and twisting the evidence to suit it.

Yeah the Dubs could have played those two to get to the final where they would have eventually been found out by Armagh but may still have won. Westmeath and Meath may have put up a performance (Barely, I will give them the benefit of the doubt after this year's performances) but wouldn't have won it.

Laois, Kildare and Wexford are keek! Kildare got a lucky draw into where they are now and faced a Fermanagh team that had nothing more to give, and to be honest Fermanagh should have had them beat out the gate after 25 mins. Laois... just plain awful! Wexford are an OK team to a point, a bit like Fermanagh they do everything right but just don't have enough good players to see them over the line past the QFs, they beat a poor Down team (Yes who beat Tyrone at the start of the year but they wouldn't now) and I think this will be their last match of the year.


This argument is redundant anyway and we could all sit and pontificate about this standard of football and that standard of football being better/worse than the other when really there are 6 candidates with a decent chance of winning the All Ireland (Kerry and Dublin 2 favourites, Armagh, Tyrone, Galway and Cork behind that)

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Screen - You maybe want to retract or change some of your last comments?

[Hill16 Blues]

Doubt he will retract. Many Ulster football fans are bordering on delusional at this poiny. Ulster period of dominance 2002 - 2005 is well and truly over.

2008 Ulster champions beaten by team who themselves received the biggest ever hammering in Leinster final. Ulster beaten finalists beaten by team who were humiliated by Div 4 team in Leinster 1st round etc etc. But no none of this matters  - Ulster still reigns supreme!!!

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Using this logic then will Dublin beat Tyrone by 25 points next weekend?

[Tankie]

Leinster is still poor but it just shows that uslter is very weak this year!

[slow corner back]

In reality outside of Kerry and possibly Dublin ( unproven until they win an AI ), there are about 10-12 teams all within a few points of each other. The advances in fitness, blanket defence and substitution of athletic ability over football ability have brought this about. Ulster had an advantage for three or four years when Armagh, Tyrone, occasionaly Donegal etc were using the blanket defence and other teams were not. At this point vitually every wing half forward in the country is tracking back and defending in his own half for most of the game. I do not think you can say Leinster is the strongest province but Ulster certainly is not.

[his holiness nb]

Am amazed at how poor the Ulster sides are this year, definately up there with Connaught for worst footballing province. Its all very well having competitive games in your own championship, thats because all the sides are on a similar, very poor, level.

Cue his holiness eating his words after Tyrone beat us out the gate next week 

[INDIANA]

galway are a fine side and have an excellent age profile , with bergin back next season and the other injuries they won;t be far away. Cullinane and Meehan came of age today, Sice,Hanley and Bradshaw were terffic as well. so connacht isn't that weak. Screen's comments are redundant after today.
Could repeat but slow corner back below has described the current state of gaelci football. I think Kerry are better than everyone esle, and any of the others could beat each other on any given day with Dublin on paper the best of the leading pack to potentially maybe beat Kerry if the two meet.

[The Real Laoislad]

Seriously what does it matter which is the strongest province? At the end of the day its all comes down to who the best team is it doesn't matter a f**k what province they come from..

[J70]

Seriously what does it matter which is the strongest province? At the end of the day its all comes down to who the best team is it doesn't matter a f**k what province they come from..

I think the Ulster boys did rub it in a bit on the board during the 02-05 period, so its payback time now. Not to be taken too seriously.

[his holiness nb]

Seriously what does it matter which is the strongest province? At the end of the day its all comes down to who the best team is it doesn't matter a f**k what province they come from..

100% agree, but its quite satisfying to see the Ulster sides doing so poorly given how they remind us regularly how great Ulster is  

J70 hit the nail on the head.