Back door is the front door

[cornafean]

It was a bit stupid of the Times to print Makem's reasonably argued letter yesterday, after the Cork had almost beaten a vastly superior Kerry the previous day in Croker.

[Fuzzman]

A few of us were discussing this after the match on Sunday as I asked the question do you think Mickey Harte purposely planned to go back door this year.

I think the general consensus was that yes it is harder to come out of Ulster and then re-motivate yourself for the AI quaterfinal against a team who probably got beaten the Sunday before whilst you havent played now for 3 or 4 weeks and have another wee medal in your pocket

I reckon Mickey Harte thought to himself Kerry have won the Most AIs and most of them required them to play 2 or 3 good games tops
So whilst he creates a decoy story of how the current format isn't fair to provincial winners, Micky is cleverly lowering expectations up til July and then upping the ante and self belief in the squad whilst motivating them with lines like "Are we gonna prove these lads wrong that we're has beens"

Of course its a risky game but Harte can be a shrewd ruthless man and whilst he may not purposely go out to lose matches early in the summer he certainly looks to have his team playing only at a fraction of what they can

Question is of course can they turn it on and off like a tap when they need to or is all this a bunch of crap and just a manipulation of the truth depending on results.

Had Tyrone lost the 2005 final jouranlists would have written Yes Tyrone were tired from their 10 match marathon whereas when they won it was like...
Kerry hadn't come thru the wars like Tyrone and weren't battle hardened.

[Uladh]

there is no way on this earth that any manager plans to go the back door route. if you find yourself there then fair enough, you adapt and make the most of it, including the beneficial run of games.

[feetofflames]

Thats just naivity, It takes a hell of a lot of effort to win Ulster - the effort expended cost both Armagh and Fermanagh dearly this year.

[Uladh]

It's reality

[feetofflames]

no its naivity

[Uladh]

That you believe that explains a lot of your posts

[tyssam5]

Wait until Mike Sheehy gets hold of this article, lads ye are only throwing petrol on his fire.

Yerra, these days there is no need to wind them up at all...they do it themselves....I'm not sure whether O'Mahoney deserves a boot up the hole for his actions on Sunday or a medal for his good work in winding up nordies !  Its hilarious 

What game were you watching? I thought Kerry were playing Cork in the one I watched? What part of the North are they from?

I found O'Mahoney's antics highly amusing, but I would imagine it was Cork people who were wound up by it.

Anyway watching the replay it is clear the whole thing was instigated and managed by Donaghy, a Tyrone plant whose mission is to destroy the purity of Kerry football. It's time you saw through this rouse and sent him back up to us?

[tyssam5]

The whole "Mickey is the best, knows how to get AI through backdoor, etc" will look a bit stupid if Wexford manage to put one over Tyrone on Sunday.  Will all theories change with a Wexford win.  I knew Tyrone would beat Dublin but while Wexford are not the best they will put up more of a fight against Tyrone given the confidence gained in beating Armagh.  All this theorising would be best left until 23rd September.

These warnings would be better heeded if you didn't admit you were planned Monday as a holiday.

[Mike Sheehy]

Thats just naivity, It takes a hell of a lot of effort to win Ulster - the effort expended cost both Armagh and Fermanagh dearly this year.

So, what exactly are you saying....that MH did plan to go the back door route ?

[Lar Naparka]

That Peter Makem is a sincere man and does care about his football is a no-brainer. He makes his case here and he does indeed highlight negative aspects of the back door system. I have no problem with that.
However, if somebody else takes a counter view about the same system, I've no doubt at all that an equally valid case can be argued.

People talk about the back door giving weaker teams much more championship exposure etc, but it merely lengthens their walk along the plank.

I can't deny that to be a fact;-Kerry or other heavyweight sides can't be gotten rid of if they happen to misfire on a given day. The system is weighed in favour of the stronger teams. But for all its faults, the back door does offer hope to so-called weaker counties as well.
It is most unlikely that Wexford would be appearing in Croke Park this weekend if it wasn't for the system and their chances of appearing in a semi final at any time in the foreseeable future would have remained very slim indeed if it wasn't for the self same system.
Sligo certainly made the headlines back in the early noughties for a time after the same backdoor was introduced. Monaghan at present have been consistently punching above their traditional weight. The same applies to Fermanagh.
There are many counties for whom the new system is the only hope of ever getting at least to a Croke Park appearance. It's not without its pitfalls either.
Mayo got walloped in Salthill last year in late May and then had seven weeks to wait for their next game. This year Kildare had four straight weeks of competitive football.
The new setup has its own potential drawbacks for all counties.

It is now beyond dispute that if a county wants to go far in the All Ireland championship, the last thing they need is a provincial title.

Zat so? I think quite a few All Ireland winners have gone the provincial crown route without apparent harm.

They led at half time against Cork by nine points in the most recent Munster final - a similar sort of situation to the previous year - and "collapsed" in the second half, trying to convince everybody that they were in decline and that an era was over.

That's a serious allegation and is not backed up by any sort of evidence. Did Kerry just 'collapse' in the second half without a thought for their supporters or the public at large and the cost and effort of attending a game that Kerry knew full well they were going to lose?  I think Makem makes an unfounded allegation here.
There have been rumours about Armagh and Tyrone throwing provincial games for some years also.  I don't know if those rumours are true and Makem offers no evidence to back up his claim but getting knocked out early is no sure-fire fire way to win an All Ireland either. For one thing, once you enter the back door you have little choice in selecting your next opponent.
I don't think Makem has made his case.

[Lazer]

A few of us were discussing this after the match on Sunday as I asked the question do you think Mickey Harte purposely planned to go back door this year.

I think the general consensus was that yes it is harder to come out of Ulster and then re-motivate yourself for the AI quaterfinal against a team who probably got beaten the Sunday before whilst you havent played now for 3 or 4 weeks and have another wee medal in your pocket

Thats just naivity, It takes a hell of a lot of effort to win Ulster - the effort expended cost both Armagh and Fermanagh dearly this year.

So, what exactly are you saying....that MH did plan to go the back door route ?

Was any of you actually the first round ulster championship matches between Tyrone and Down, If Tyrone were trying to get beat, they went a hard way about it.

[Jell 0 Biafra]

If Kerry were out to deliberately lose the Munster final, why would they have run up such a big half-time lead? 

[5 Sams]

Makem has just been on with Dunseith on Radio Uladh and he actually said and I quote,

"Kerry threw the last two Munster Finals". Unquote.

Dangerous talk

[Aghdavoyle]

Makem has always been a loose cannon and really should be given a fool's pardon. Anyone who takes him seriously is as bad as he is. he wrote a letter in the cross examiner this week of equal nonsense content.