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I honestly don't think much has changed regarding the Dublin team despite popular opinion. On their day they have the potential to run over most teams, then and now. They should have Kerry buried by half time in the 2004 quarter final and gave Armagh a right good rattle in the fourth round qualifer in 2003. Sure Dublin have won the last two Leinsters but Laois were unlucky to lose against them in 2005 as were the Slashers last year, so IMHO not much has changed since Tommy Lyons took charge in 2002.

If Dublin have maintained the same level, then Westmeath have regressed massively on the evidence of last year's quarter final between the two sides.

Suffice it to say, presently the DCB is struggling greatly to get its games played due to lack of places to play them. Just look at all the unfinished competitions every year.

The lack of venues is certainly not the biggest problem with competitions not getting finished.

bord na mona, its a facility in an area of Dublin where its badly needed. The GAA were told they could be part of it, then that was reneged on. A facility that the GAA have access to is needed and if John O'Donoghue wants to build us a seperate one, well and good, we'll happily leave the other one for whoever else wants it. Thats not on the cards. Rathcoole isn't touted for that use either, and as tayto says, its not a great location for a lot of south dublin to access. Tallaght on the other hand has a multitude of GAA clubs within a 6-7 mile radius.

This issue has nothing to do with Shamrock Rovers. Its to do with the GAA in that locality pushing for what they were once promised.

Grand, but really I don't see the attraction in this particular site.
By all means put the heat on Zero O'Donoghue and expose his buffoonery, but I'd hope the strategy is to squeeze a better site for GAA purposes, rather than simply to get into the Tallaght site.
I'd hope there is some sort of bargaining going on in the background and that the sole strategy of Dublin GAA is not just to pursue the case via the courts.

At a push, I would have agreed with the original plan of the DCB to take over the site and let Rovers senior team in the odd time, because of the opportunistic value of it and that the GAA would have the running of it. But since then Rovers have been clever in managing to re-invent their image as some sort of caring community based club with all the talk of youth teams and the like playing in the new ground.
The best time to get onto the site was when Rovers were welching on debts, not paying players, falsifying accounts and leaving any unfortunate businesses that dealt with them out of pocket.

Well i've said it before but Tallaght is much easier to get to then Rathcoole, it'd be as easy for me to get to Parnell Park.

Grand, but Croke Park is easier to get to for Northside soccer fans, but it's hardly reason enough to make it the permanent home for the Irish soccer team?
There are plenty of other green spaces in Tallaght that have nothing on them except shopping trolleys and burnt out cars. Would you settle for a GAA stadium on one of these instead?

While I believe Shamrock Rovers are unworthy of such largess, I think the GAA should leave them to it.
Are we too worried about principals over the practical implications?
If the GAA gets its way, I don't think the stadium will be a particularly good asset to have.
There would be too much demand on the facilities from all sides. The pitch would be rubbish with so many games. I believe that trying to put soccer and GAA pitches on the one space will never work.

Remarking the pitch every second night when one code plays a game there, would be a complete pain.
Goal posts would need to be taken constantly erected and taken down since there would (and should) be several teams getting the usage of the facilities. There would be so many logistical problems that I'd much rather stick to having GAA grounds for GAA games and let the others to do their own thing.

Why are people so drawn on this particular site? I think people are more concerned with blocking Rovers, than acquiring an asset (of dubious value) for the GAA. Are there not plenty of other green field site in Dublin where a GAA ground can be built?
There is the Rathcoole project, but I'm sure there could be plenty of other sites that could be used.
Let the precedent be set by Shamrock Rovers. Other GAA projects should then demand almost total funding from local councils. The real injustice would be if GAA projects didn't get the same level of funding.

This case has the resonance of someone who works for a living taking a couch potato to court because they feel he doesn't deserve his social welfare payments. If you are the big dog, you have to get used to these things.

[Edited]
Thought you might get a good laugh at some of the comments on these threads from some group of Shamrock Rovers fans who belong to some "Ultras" lunatic brigade.
On a completely unrelated topic Rovers have a serious hooligan problem, which is generally regarded to be the worst of any LOI club.
Check out youtube.com and see their dust up outside the Hill 16 pub.



http://www.srfcultrasforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2616

http://www.srfcultrasforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2650

Christ, I'd love it, love it, if John "The Bullshitter" O'Donoghue lost his seat for his carry on. 
Also, I'm glad that the Croke Park funding has gotten a proper public airing.
Too many gobshites spout the "taxpayers built it" line, so Zero O'Donoghue has inadvertedly helped clarify the issue publicly with his bluster!

Initially when Micko Dwyer (or to give him his correct media title "The legendary Mick O'Dwyer"), took over in Wicklow, I was hoping they'd have a good run in all compeitions and that the GAA's profile in the county would be raised.

Now that the usual shite of taking shortcuts to success has started, I hope the "loveable rogue" and his band of merry men get the shite kicked out of them and this puts a stop to his brand of GAA "evangelism"...or did I mean to say vandalism.

I'm not sure how bad Casey's offence was and I condemn abusing refs, but there are some refs who can overreact to any questioning of their authority.
Most obvious examples of this are referees who make a really bad decision and then move the ball forward at the hint of any frustration. Most of us in the same situation would probably guess if we've made a bad call and not seek to further enrage people by adding on more punishment.

You can often tell by a ref's body language that they are bulling to lay down the law and show who is boss. The ref who races towards the player waving a card on his way, as opposed to the one who calmly restores order and looks in control.

I'm not projecting what happened in this instance, but it is quite possible that Casey said something that some refs might have ignored, but this ref took exception to. By all accounts he was having a bad day. There is no way a committee are not going to back the ref, unless he has done something ridiculous. So the fact that they enforced a 4 suspension, doesn't necessarily mean there was a grave offence committed.

In fairness, it wasn't the second yellow that he got suspended for, it was the abuse of the ref afterwards. Slightly different kettle of fish.

If Casey wasn't harshly booked for the second offence, none of this would have happened.

Casey has been sent down for six months.

Ouch!  Just how bad was his offence?

He got a second yellow for a trivial offence, i.e. a foot block that most people felt was accidental.
After a series of unfortunate events, Casey now has a 6 month ban. 
Crazy stuff when you consider what goes unpunished.

As you may work out from the title of this website (though with you having to read an ad to let you know that there are GAA clubs for you to play with I'm not taking this for granted) that this is a discussion board. i'm entitled to my opinion and will not wind my neck in for you or anyone.

I think lots of people, choosing who to play for is not a straightforward choice.
You might want to suss out the vibe of the club and how welcoming they are to outsiders.
If they are club with a conveyer belt from underage to adult, then there is a good chance they will be more clannish and less welcoming.
Also, some people would rather join a club with a lot of outsiders who they'd have more in common with, rather than a club with a team sheet of Antos and Decos. 

I see nothing wrong with this kind of advertising.
There are a lot of clubs in Dublin who have no underage set up who need to be constantly recruiting to survive.
There are thousands of young people who are moving to Dublin and other cities who are decent players but wouldn't make any adult teams back home. There is a big bottleneck from minor and U21 to adult grades and realistically only a small handful of underage players will be catered for at adult level. Any one who wants to play gaelic games, even if they aren't elite club players should be catered for. You shouldn't need to be willing to drive 300 miles to prove your credentials.

You simply couldnt argue against having to give players money for taking time off work because the GAA have organised a game on a Wednesday night that is over 2 hrs drive in the coach.

Do you pay the player who earns €150k a year the same amount as you pay the player who doing an apprenticeship, if they both have to miss work because of a game?
The theory behind such aspirations like "no player should be out of pocket" sound great, but tease it out a bit more and it would be a minefield of problems.

I wonder did Dessie pay Croke Park for the image rights for using it as a backdrop in the photo shoot?