All Ireland club football championships 2023/24

[seafoid]

I was delighted for Malachy O'Rourke, He is one of the most insightful coaches in the game as well as a superb communicator and if Wattys had lost it would have been a very hard blow for him. The association will really benefit from his wisdom in the years ahead .

[seafoid]

It was a big psychological barrier for Glen to overcome yesterday by winning the final in Croke Park. If they had lost that game I think they would have found it hard to get back there.

For Derry as a county it could be the big breakthrough that might elevate them to believe that they can challenge to win an AI title. I think they will be one of around 5 teams that could win it this year and it certainly helps to have a few AI winners among the squad.

Derry need marquee forwards. Wattys don't seem to have any to spare. Glass scored that wonder goal from midfield. There isn't much evidence of a correlation between club success and the Sam Maguire  in recent years because of the stranglehold of the Dubs and the wider variety of club winners but in 1998 Corofin did win the club and that was followed up by Galway winning Sam.

[Captain Scarlet]

Late to this but a lot are saying how great Brigids were, but I think their style of play looks so nice when they have the tails up. Even then, Wattys missed a lot of scorable shots and were able to get at them.
When they were a bit more clinical towards the end it made all the difference. Great game of football to be fair.

I cannot understand what Brigids were flutin about with that free out that led to the goal.

[Blowitupref]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Agreed on making your own tradition but that only happens in special circumstances. This is a very gifted group of footballers in Glen and in Glass they have one of the top 5 players in the country. They nearly threw it away yesterday but got over the line.

Question now is can they back it up?  Good teams win 1,  great teams back it up. Had yesterday taken the edge off them enough or are they hungry for more. Much will depend on how much Harte expects of them for Derry. The body can only do so much so back to back will be a huge ask

Not sure about nearly throwing it away. What I've seen of them the last two years they tend to create a lot of chances and kick a lot of wides in matches. McFaul for example is a top footballer and important player for Glen but shooting/shot selection isn't the best. Glen was 2-1 in front on ten minutes and wouldn't lead again until 61st minute. Getting over line is their main strength and no bad trait to have even the Dublin 6 in a row team did that a few times against Kerry and Mayo.

[yellowcard]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Agreed on making your own tradition but that only happens in special circumstances. This is a very gifted group of footballers in Glen and in Glass they have one of the top 5 players in the country. They nearly threw it away yesterday but got over the line.

Question now is can they back it up?  Good teams win 1,  great teams back it up. Had yesterday taken the edge off them enough or are they hungry for more. Much will depend on how much Harte expects of them for Derry. The body can only do so much so back to back will be a huge ask

Not sure about nearly throwing it away. What I've seen of them the last two years they tend to create a lot of chances and kick a lot of wides in matches. McFaul for example is a top footballer and important player for Glen but shooting/shot selection isn't the best. Glen was 2-1 in front on ten minutes and wouldn't lead again until 61st minute. Getting over line is their main strength and no bad trait to have even the Dublin 6 in a row team did that a few times against Kerry and Mayo.

They never really looked like getting over the line yesterday and it looked like they had run out of ideas. Once Mulholland was black carded I thought they were gone and it was only after Glass scored the goal that they seemed to find some extra energy from somewhere.

They have the quality and the age profile to come back and win another AI title providing the desire remains.

[seafoid]

3 all Irelands for ulster clubs. I'll be on pints of seafoids tears as he tries to claim ulster football is weak😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Show me where I said Ulster football was weak.

My point remains that Ulster football fans tend to disregard the quality of Connacht teams
because of this :
"Field Marshal Slim: Nothing is ever as good or as bad as the first reports of excited men would have it"
and that this is reflected in ridiculous odds such as yesterday when Wattys were 4/11 instead of evens.
The game could have gone either way right until the end.

Ulster and Connacht football are both developing nicely. It is great to see both provinces making progress.

[SouthOfThe Bann]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

[seafoid]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

If formerly garrison towns that are now soccer towns could be converted to Gaelic fortresses

1, Sligo and Longford would not be on the no Sams list
2. Louth would be ahead of Meath on the Sam roll of honour

For football counties, having a soccer town is like having a strong hurling area in your county. It means not leveraging your population in full. Derry is the 6th most populous county but Kildare, Meath, Tipp, Wexford and Kerry have lower population and more Sams.

[seafoid]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Agreed on making your own tradition but that only happens in special circumstances. This is a very gifted group of footballers in Glen and in Glass they have one of the top 5 players in the country. They nearly threw it away yesterday but got over the line.

Question now is can they back it up?  Good teams win 1,  great teams back it up. Had yesterday taken the edge off them enough or are they hungry for more. Much will depend on how much Harte expects of them for Derry. The body can only do so much so back to back will be a huge ask

Not sure about nearly throwing it away. What I've seen of them the last two years they tend to create a lot of chances and kick a lot of wides in matches. McFaul for example is a top footballer and important player for Glen but shooting/shot selection isn't the best. Glen was 2-1 in front on ten minutes and wouldn't lead again until 61st minute. Getting over line is their main strength and no bad trait to have even the Dublin 6 in a row team did that a few times against Kerry and Mayo.

They never really looked like getting over the line yesterday and it looked like they had run out of ideas. Once Mulholland was black carded I thought they were gone and it was only after Glass scored the goal that they seemed to find some extra energy from somewhere.

They have the quality and the age profile to come back and win another AI title providing the desire remains.

They need one or 2 more forwards to win more, I think. In years that teams win you need luck and they got it this year. Last year eg Glass' shot was saved in the final. This year it went in.


 Winning one is amazing and changes the parish forever so I would never look down on it. Bellaghy, Lavey, Ballinderry and now Maghera are a class apart in  Derry football because of the all Ireland.


But thinking that adding to 1 is a foregone conclusion is not borne out by the statistics.  In the last 20 years most winners have not gone on to win more.  It literally is the toughest. I think you need a special team to go beyond 1. To follow up you make your own luck and you beat the statistics by having a strong defence and midfield and scoring forwards. 

That is the difference between winning one and winning more.

Only Cross and Corofin seem to have gone beyond 1 in the last 2 decades.

Club is funny. Brigids could win next year and then follow up. You just don't know.

[SouthOfThe Bann]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

If formerly garrison towns that are now soccer towns could be converted to Gaelic fortresses

1, Sligo and Longford would not be on the no Sams list
2. Louth would be ahead of Meath on the Sam roll of honour

For football counties, having a soccer town is like having a strong hurling area in your county. It means not leveraging your population in full. Derry is the 6th most populous county but Kildare, Meath, Tipp, Wexford and Kerry have lower population and more Sams.

Derry City is the 4th/5th biggest city in the country.

Only Belfast Dublin and Cork are bigger with Limerick in around the same size depending on the source.

Despite being a soccer town on the law of averages there should still be one or two strong GAA teams in the city.

I know Steelstown could be argued as a strong club but the other 3 or 4 clubs in the city are languishing in junior.

[Mario]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

If formerly garrison towns that are now soccer towns could be converted to Gaelic fortresses

1, Sligo and Longford would not be on the no Sams list
2. Louth would be ahead of Meath on the Sam roll of honour

For football counties, having a soccer town is like having a strong hurling area in your county. It means not leveraging your population in full. Derry is the 6th most populous county but Kildare, Meath, Tipp, Wexford and Kerry have lower population and more Sams.

Conveniently ignoring that half the county is from a unionist background.

[seafoid]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

If formerly garrison towns that are now soccer towns could be converted to Gaelic fortresses

1, Sligo and Longford would not be on the no Sams list
2. Louth would be ahead of Meath on the Sam roll of honour

For football counties, having a soccer town is like having a strong hurling area in your county. It means not leveraging your population in full. Derry is the 6th most populous county but Kildare, Meath, Tipp, Wexford and Kerry have lower population and more Sams.

Conveniently ignoring that half the county is from a unionist background.

Is that not less of a factor in Tyrone and Derry than it is in Antrim and Down ?

[Mario]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

If formerly garrison towns that are now soccer towns could be converted to Gaelic fortresses

1, Sligo and Longford would not be on the no Sams list
2. Louth would be ahead of Meath on the Sam roll of honour

For football counties, having a soccer town is like having a strong hurling area in your county. It means not leveraging your population in full. Derry is the 6th most populous county but Kildare, Meath, Tipp, Wexford and Kerry have lower population and more Sams.

Conveniently ignoring that half the county is from a unionist background.

Is that not less of a factor in Tyrone and Derry than it is in Antrim and Down ?

Tyrone definitely. Co. Derry outside of the city might be more unionist, or close to 50 50

[marty34]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

If you look at the Derry senior team from last year, all 15 players were from south Derry.

The minors, iirc, had about 13 or 14 starters from south Derry.

A few lads from Derry City this year which is great to see but north Derry adding very little to the county, football wise. This is disappointing as Derry always had great players from north Derry on board.

South Derry clubs have put in huge work over this past 15 years and this is bearing fruit now. There's a competitive edge to it now at underage which is good.

Glen are a great template as a club. Huge effort was put in with those minor teams and they did fantastically well to bring as many of them through to seniors as possible.

A lesson for all clubs.

[seafoid]

Credit where its due. Glen were persecuted for years as a townie club that would never deliver. You only have to go back to start of Derry thread here to see that. In fact all towns were written off, as the rural clubs were the predominant forces.

Then Coleraine won it and in time Magherafelt crossed the coveted line...before Glen kicked the doors down altogether  not just winning Derry, but Ulster and now AI.

People talk about tradition, I say go ahead and make your own history. Glen proved that.

Imagine if Derry could get the city producing more quality teams how much of a force they could become in football. North Derry wouldn't be a hotbed for footballe either would it?

Coleraine bucking that trend of course.

If formerly garrison towns that are now soccer towns could be converted to Gaelic fortresses

1, Sligo and Longford would not be on the no Sams list
2. Louth would be ahead of Meath on the Sam roll of honour

For football counties, having a soccer town is like having a strong hurling area in your county. It means not leveraging your population in full. Derry is the 6th most populous county but Kildare, Meath, Tipp, Wexford and Kerry have lower population and more Sams.

Conveniently ignoring that half the county is from a unionist background.

Is that not less of a factor in Tyrone and Derry than it is in Antrim and Down ?

Tyrone definitely. Co. Derry outside of the city might be more unionist, or close to 50 50

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_districts_in_Northern_Ireland_by_religion_or_religion_brought_up_in