Bit of a debate in the pub about which county had the most competitive football club championship, in terms of the number of clubs that could realistically emerge and challlenge in any given year. Armagh used to be fairly competitive but cross fair play to them ended that, i was thinking Derry possibly Tyrone. Interested in your views.
Armagh football.
Roscommon is fairly competitive now, since the Clan na Gael dominance ended in the mid 90s the titles have been shared around but no doubt St. Brigid's are the strongest at the moment.
Mayo (5 different winners in the last 5 years) is also competitive.
Cork - there are about 6 teams with realistic championship ambitions and also includes UCC. Nemo Rangers beaten tonight too.
Derry, without a doubt.
04 - Slaughtneil
05 - Bellaghy
06 - Ballinderry
07 - Glenullin
08 - Ballinderry
09 - Loup
10 - Coleraine
Despite Ballinderry and Coleraine being favs this year, dont rule out a new name for this list.
Kilrea, Dungiven or Ballinasceen cant be ruled out.
at the opposite end of the scale, St Gall are in a procession through Antrim, a la Crossmaglen of the last 15 years
As regards the Tyrone championship, quarter final stage now and you'd be hard pushed to pick a winner from 5 or 6 teams. There's not one dominant team something that is necessary to compete regularly at provincial level with the likes of St Galls or Cross but any one of those teams on their day could beat them.
Since the dominance of carrickmore and errigal ciaran was ended in 2006, Tyrone has been very hard to predict from year to year, and in my opinion 6 teams have a realistic chance of taking honours from year to year. A second reason why the championship is so hard to win is because of how well drilled the other 9 teams with outside chances are. There are very rarely heavy hammering's, and most games especially from the quarter finals onwards are very low scoring with a typical score line of 0-9 to 0-8. It takes a brave effort along with a healthy dose of luck to win the championship, this perhaps goes a long way to explaining Tyrone's lack of ulster club titles with errigal ciaran lifting the only one.
From personal viewing and following results other tough championships to win would be: Dublin, Derry and Donegal
Kilkenny is fairly tough I say
Does competitive mean a higher or lower standard. Cross may have won 14 of the last 15 Armagh titles but they also won 8 or 9 Ulsters and 5 All Irelands in that time. Does that mean that Armagh was competitive and gave Cross good grounds for battles further afield or non - competitive so that they were fresh for All Ireland assaults? Some of their toughest games last year were in Armagh. The year the Ogs beat them on the other hand they lost in the first round of Ulster (by 2 points to St. Galls who went on to win the All Ireland). Highlighting a result this year against a team who had 9 championship debutants this year due to injury, retirement and emigration is not a true reflection in my opinion. What I would love to see in Armagh is to see teams have the belief they could beat Cross - then it really will be competitive.
Dublin has the best quality of player and is an extremely hard to win
Kerry divisional structure make it very hard every year and there are alot of top class teams
2006 Crossmolina
2007 Ballina Stephenites
2008 Ballaghadereen
2009 Charlestown
2010 Ballintubber
2011 Castlebar Mitchels
Quote from: muppet on September 04, 2011, 04:25:04 PM
2006 Crossmolina
2007 Ballina Stephenites
2008 Ballaghadereen
2009 Charlestown
2010 Ballintubber
2011 Castelbar Mitchels
wishful thinking :D you always paint a dire picture in the economics threads, but in the GAA section the glass is half full, not half empty.
This has to be another one of the daftest threads... everyone will name their own County...
What next a thread on .. what County has the nicest jerseys?
Quote from: Rossfan on September 04, 2011, 09:04:58 PM
This has to be another one of the daftest threads... everyone will name their own County...
What next a thread on .. what County has the nicest jerseys?
Mayo.
Muppet probably is dead on the button. Castlebar will win the county championship this year in Mayo. (I've said that for the past number of years, but this year seems to be coming to fruition for them!)
Quote from: Rossfan on September 04, 2011, 09:04:58 PM
This has to be another one of the daftest threads... everyone will name their own County...
What next a thread on .. what County has the nicest jerseys?
Daftest quote above. It has already been stated that Antrim and Armagh are not competitive.
In Ulster, Derry and Tyrone are definitely very competitive. However, whoever wins these respective championships wont go far in ulster because both championships are very poor quality. Carrickmore are favourites in Tyrone and Coleraine are favourites in Derry. Both teams are crap when considered in an ulster context - Carrickmore dont have 3 quality footballers and Burren stuffed Coleraine without moving into second gear last year.
Some of the Dublin clubs are like intercounty teams. Parnells for example have 4 Laois, 2 Wexford and Cluxton. Kilmacud have about 6 Dublin panelists plus a couple from Wexford and Kavanagh from Longford.
Quote from: muppet on September 04, 2011, 04:25:04 PM
2006 Crossmolina
2007 Ballina Stephenites
2008 Ballaghadereen
2009 Charlestown
2010 Ballintubber
2011 Castlebar Mitchels
Noted...
Quote from: Farrandeelin on September 04, 2011, 09:08:23 PM
Muppet probably is dead on the button. Castlebar will win the county championship this year in Mayo. (I've said that for the past number of years, but this year seems to be coming to fruition for them!)
Noted...
Quote from: regal on September 05, 2011, 08:51:44 AM
In Ulster, Derry and Tyrone are definitely very competitive. However, whoever wins these respective championships wont go far in ulster because both championships are very poor quality. Carrickmore are favourites in Tyrone and Coleraine are favourites in Derry. Both teams are crap when considered in an ulster context - Carrickmore dont have 3 quality footballers and Burren stuffed Coleraine without moving into second gear last year.
I wouldn't be just as strong as that regal. I do accept the general point you're making though. There is St Gall's and Cross and then there is everyone else. Burren might be the next to push on.
I agree Coleraine never counted v Burren last year. It'd be interesting if that experience stands to them should they win it this year. Wasn't so long ago Ballinderry put Cross to the pin of their collar though taking to a replay in the final. With that team ageing a little I don't think there's an outstanding team in Derry. There's 4-5 decent teams so there's been a levelling off (downwards). Both Tyrone and Derry championships are quite similar like that at the minute with noone really stepping up to the level of Errigal Ciaran side of a few years ago.
Quote from: Kerry Mike on September 04, 2011, 10:08:51 AM
Kerry divisional structure make it very hard every year and there are alot of top class teams
I know this has been discussed before Mike, but could you outline the structure of the Kerry championship briefly? Genuinely interested...just cant remember what way yous set it up.
Quote from: regal on September 05, 2011, 08:51:44 AM
In Ulster, Derry and Tyrone are definitely very competitive. However, whoever wins these respective championships wont go far in ulster because both championships are very poor quality. Carrickmore are favourites in Tyrone and Coleraine are favourites in Derry. Both teams are crap when considered in an ulster context - Carrickmore dont have 3 quality footballers and Burren stuffed Coleraine without moving into second gear last year.
Carrickmore would have alot more than 3 quality footballers. I think that Coleraine winning Derry for the first time and the hoo hahh that went with that was the reason they ended up losing to Burren, as Down football is not of a great standard. I fancy Omagh for Tyrone this year and Ballinderry for Derry.
Cork and Armagh are the least competitive of the big teams.
Quote from: Rossfan on September 04, 2011, 09:04:58 PM
This has to be another one of the daftest threads... everyone will name their own County... What next a thread on .. what County has the nicest jerseys?
Emmm...
Antrim Senior Football Champions:
2001 - St Gall's
2002 - St Gall's
2003 - St Gall's
2004 - St Gall's
2005 - St Gall's
2006 - Cargin
2007 - St Gall's
2008 - St Gall's
2009 - St Gall's
2010 - St Gall's
2011 - Final is St Gall's v. Lamh Dhearg
Not Antrim
Quote from: AbbeySider on September 05, 2011, 09:50:16 AM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on September 04, 2011, 09:08:23 PM
Muppet probably is dead on the button. Castlebar will win the county championship this year in Mayo. (I've said that for the past number of years, but this year seems to be coming to fruition for them!)
Noted...
No Ted.
Quote from: Take Your Points on September 05, 2011, 11:09:36 PM
Quote from: Take Your Points on September 03, 2011, 11:42:01 PM
Quote from: maddog on September 03, 2011, 10:09:34 PM
Armagh used to be fairly competitive but cross fair play to them ended that
It might be a bit more competitive if the other teams could make some effort to take on Cross instead of lying down or running away....
Friday 2nd September 2011
Armagh Harps 1-06 Crossmaglen Rangers 6-12
:D
It looks like another former 'great' Armagh club is on the wane.......
Monday 5th September
Ballymacnab 4-12 Clan na Gael 0-04
What are they feeding them in South Armagh?
Some of you may remember the Clan na Gael of Smyth, McKinistry and McKerr in the 1970s but those days are a distant memory. Even now the Clan na Gael of O'Hagan and Marsden is a faded memory. BTW are they the only club to have a darts society section on its website? (http://clannagaelclg.com/darts-society/)
The Nab are mid Armagh... 3 mid teams in the semi's this year. Cross were the only good South Armagh side... The rest of them lived off their success!!
Quote from: Take Your Points on September 05, 2011, 11:09:36 PM
Quote from: Take Your Points on September 03, 2011, 11:42:01 PM
Quote from: maddog on September 03, 2011, 10:09:34 PM
Armagh used to be fairly competitive but cross fair play to them ended that
It might be a bit more competitive if the other teams could make some effort to take on Cross instead of lying down or running away....
Friday 2nd September 2011
Armagh Harps 1-06 Crossmaglen Rangers 6-12
:D
It looks like another former 'great' Armagh club is on the wane.......
Monday 5th September
Ballymacnab 4-12 Clan na Gael 0-04
What are they feeding them in South Armagh?
Some of you may remember the Clan na Gael of Smyth, McKinistry and McKerr in the 1970s but those days are a distant memory. Even now the Clan na Gael of O'Hagan and Marsden is a faded memory. BTW are they the only club to have a darts society section on its website? (http://clannagaelclg.com/darts-society/)
My earliest memory of football outside Poyntzpass was Clan na Gael playing "The Johnnies" in the Ulster Championship. To me, St Johns all seemed to be flying machines. McKinstry lorded the midfield.
Kildare's championship is imo fierce competitive. Any one of 6/7 teams would fancy themselves as contenders.
Quote from: Canalman on September 07, 2011, 10:46:56 AM
Kildare's championship is imo fierce competitive. Any one of 6/7 teams would fancy themselves as contenders.
Most counties would have 6/7 teams that would fancy
themselves as contenders ;D
But I know what you meant...
Quote from: Canalman on September 07, 2011, 10:46:56 AM
Kildare's championship is imo fierce competitive. Any one of 6/7 teams would fancy themselves as contenders.
I suppose it is competitive enough looking at it. Only three teams have managed to retain it since the great Carbury team of the sixties and seventies - Raheens in 78/79, Clane in 91/92 and Moorefield in 06/07.
Even allowing for the strength of both Newbridge clubs, there are strong clubs now in every part of the county. Celbridge in the north and St Laurences in the south both won their first title in 08 and 09 respectively. I personally think Athy are going to be a serious force over the next few years and the winners of their quarter final with Sarsfields will win it out this year. If Moorefield had a forward they'd be serious All-Ireland contenders but they'll struggle for scores with Ronan Sweeney on the sidelines.
The clubs in the north of the county should be making progress because of the population boom in recent times but only Celbridge seem to have gotten their act together. Leixlip, Maynooth and to a lesser extent Confey have seriously untapped potential. Naas are another club that are perennial underachievers given their pick.
Clane look like they're on the way back and I expect JTB to win the Indtermediate Championship this year. They are two clubs that Kildare football need to be competitive; Clane in particular given their proud history.
No-one has retained the Sligo SFC since 1989 when St Pats (JFC champions in Sligo last year and who will feature in Celebrity Bainisteoir this year) won the last of their SFC titles. Prior to St Pats double, St Marys had won 8 of the 11 previous SFC's from 1977 to 1987 inclusive.
The 4 semi finalists who play this weekend have won the last 9 championships between them: Eastern Harps (2002, 2008, 2010) v. Tourlestrane (2004, 2007, 2009) and Curry (2003, 2006) v. Coolera/Strandhill (2005).
In Longford, the Senior Football Championship has been won by seven different teams in the last decade, as follows:
Clonguish: 03, 04 & 05
Dromard: 05 & 07
Colmcille: 08
Longford Slashers: 10
Abbeylara: 06
Ballymahon: 02
Drumlish: 01
All of the above winners have also each lost at least one final in the last decade, with the exception of Abbeylara (who last lost in 1999).
Quote from: Throw ball on September 04, 2011, 01:19:03 AM
Does competitive mean a higher or lower standard. Cross may have won 14 of the last 15 Armagh titles but they also won 8 or 9 Ulsters and 5 All Irelands in that time. Does that mean that Armagh was competitive and gave Cross good grounds for battles further afield or non - competitive so that they were fresh for All Ireland assaults? Some of their toughest games last year were in Armagh. The year the Ogs beat them on the other hand they lost in the first round of Ulster (by 2 points to St. Galls who went on to win the All Ireland). Highlighting a result this year against a team who had 9 championship debutants this year due to injury, retirement and emigration is not a true reflection in my opinion. What I would love to see in Armagh is to see teams have the belief they could beat Cross - then it really will be competitive.
So what you're saying is say for example that if Lamh Dhearg beat us in the final then they have a chance of going on to win an All Ireland or compete in the Ulster Championship? I'm not having a dig at Lamhs by the way, same as not having a dig at the Ogs. Your own county Championship is totally different than playing in Ulster and beyond.
It's true a good run in your own club championship helps when competing in Ulster, but it's up to the clubs in their own county to dominate.
Milltown you could also say that if Ronan Clarke hadn't have missed a chance he would normally take St Galls would never have been All Ireland champs! What I was trying to get at was that a competitive county championship does not mean the standard is high. If Cross, for example, had not been in Armagh the last 15 years the County champions could have been Mullaghbawn, Madden, Dromintee, Pearse Ogs, Clann na Gael etc.. This would not have made the standard higher. What I was getting at is that Cross won many Ulster and All Irelands but in that time they also had many competitive matches in Armagh. Just because one team is always winning does not mean the rest of the competition is not competitive. Unfortunately economic circumstances have reduced the standard of some teams this year while Cross continue to get better!
Quote from: regal on September 05, 2011, 08:51:44 AM
In Ulster, Derry and Tyrone are definitely very competitive. However, whoever wins these respective championships wont go far in ulster because both championships are very poor quality. Carrickmore are favourites in Tyrone and Coleraine are favourites in Derry. Both teams are crap when considered in an ulster context - Carrickmore dont have 3 quality footballers and Burren stuffed Coleraine without moving into second gear last year.
I doubt you must be smokin' more than just regal
Quote from: Throw ball on September 07, 2011, 08:06:29 PM
Milltown you could also say that if Ronan Clarke hadn't have missed a chance he would normally take St Galls would never have been All Ireland champs! What I was trying to get at was that a competitive county championship does not mean the standard is high. If Cross, for example, had not been in Armagh the last 15 years the County champions could have been Mullaghbawn, Madden, Dromintee, Pearse Ogs, Clann na Gael etc.. This would not have made the standard higher. What I was getting at is that Cross won many Ulster and All Irelands but in that time they also had many competitive matches in Armagh. Just because one team is always winning does not mean the rest of the competition is not competitive. Unfortunately economic circumstances have reduced the standard of some teams this year while Cross continue to get better!
But he did, If my granny had balls she'd be........
That's not a real argument in truth, also the economic crisis I'm sure is just as tough in Cross as it is anywhere else in Armagh.
Cross play a brand of football and have players who don't seem to panic in big games. Great team in fairness and after tonight's result for us I think we will be concentrating on the hurling
Quote from: Milltown Row2 on September 07, 2011, 11:24:45 PM
Quote from: Throw ball on September 07, 2011, 08:06:29 PM
Milltown you could also say that if Ronan Clarke hadn't have missed a chance he would normally take St Galls would never have been All Ireland champs! What I was trying to get at was that a competitive county championship does not mean the standard is high. If Cross, for example, had not been in Armagh the last 15 years the County champions could have been Mullaghbawn, Madden, Dromintee, Pearse Ogs, Clann na Gael etc.. This would not have made the standard higher. What I was getting at is that Cross won many Ulster and All Irelands but in that time they also had many competitive matches in Armagh. Just because one team is always winning does not mean the rest of the competition is not competitive. Unfortunately economic circumstances have reduced the standard of some teams this year while Cross continue to get better!
But he did, If my granny had balls she'd be........
That's not a real argument in truth, also the economic crisis I'm sure is just as tough in Cross as it is anywhere else in Armagh.
Cross play a brand of football and have players who don't seem to panic in big games. Great team in fairness and after tonight's result for us I think we will be concentrating on the hurling
You're a cute hoor Milltown, nothing like playing down your chances again and again and again...
St Gall's for the club football and hurling AI titles. They beat the mighty men of Dunloy last night.
Quote from: hardstation on September 08, 2011, 09:45:39 AM
Quote from: Billys Boots on September 07, 2011, 05:15:28 PM
In Longford, the Senior Football Championship has been won by seven different teams in the last decade, as follows:
Clonguish: 03, 04 & 05
Dromard: 05 & 07
Colmcille: 08
Longford Slashers: 10
Abbeylara: 06
Ballymahon: 02
Drumlish: 01
All of the above winners have also each lost at least one final in the last decade, with the exception of Abbeylara (who last lost in 1999).
Why would a team who had just won back to back championships have to combine with another team the following year?
Also, why was the championship not played in '09?
Nerd Alert! ::) :) Give him a break we know what he was getting at
Quote from: Nally Stand on September 07, 2011, 08:10:06 PM
Quote from: regal on September 05, 2011, 08:51:44 AM
In Ulster, Derry and Tyrone are definitely very competitive. However, whoever wins these respective championships wont go far in ulster because both championships are very poor quality. Carrickmore are favourites in Tyrone and Coleraine are favourites in Derry. Both teams are crap when considered in an ulster context - Carrickmore dont have 3 quality footballers and Burren stuffed Coleraine without moving into second gear last year.
I doubt you must be smokin' more than just regal
yea cus derry teams never go far in ulster,
09 final
08 final
06 final
05 final