Ulster's McKenna Cup

[tiempo]

McKenna cup very heavily used by ulster teams. It is IMO why teams in Ulster do better at the earlier stages in the leagues.

Leagues are not about winning yes - they're about getting promoted as high as you can and if division 1 staying there.

Jebus wept

Develop a winning culture 101 - don't worry about winning the league, mid table mediocrity will do, hang in the long grass for an ambush

Last 2 winners of Sam came from Division 2

[imtommygunn]

division 1 more than the rest... The rest are about promotion if you can.

trial players as much as anything once the points are on the board. Who has really focused on winning the league?

[Armagh18]

division 1 more than the rest... The rest are about promotion if you can.

trial players as much as anything once the points are on the board. Who has really focused on winning the league?

Derry.

[tiempo]

division 1 more than the rest... The rest are about promotion if you can.

trial players as much as anything once the points are on the board. Who has really focused on winning the league?

Derry.

Dubs, Tyrone, Kerry, Cork all spent time focusing on it as part of the bigger picture, winning habit and all

[Orior]

division 1 more than the rest... The rest are about promotion if you can.

trial players as much as anything once the points are on the board. Who has really focused on winning the league?

I could see how management might not field their strongest team (to the detriment of players in form).

But as soon as any player steps on the field I assume they are givng 100%.

Has anyone on the board played a club or county game and deliberately gave only 50%?

[Armagh18]

Theres definitely an element of it, even subconsciously you'll get that extra few % out of yourself knowing a game is more important than another.

Then you have lads peaking fitness wise for championship and maybe different gameplans being trialled out in less in league games.

Remember reading about how Armagh eased up in a lot of league games this year and began working on different systems/set plays/calls etc when the game was comfortable.

[armaghniac]

Theres definitely an element of it, even subconsciously you'll get that extra few % out of yourself knowing a game is more important than another.

Then you have lads peaking fitness wise for championship and maybe different gameplans being trialled out in less in league games.

Remember reading about how Armagh eased up in a lot of league games this year and began working on different systems/set plays/calls etc when the game was comfortable.

And of course being in Div 2 they had the luxury to ease up, a luxury that may not be available in Div 1. Of course, with a more mature game plan they now might benefit more from a good test of it.

[Armagh18]

Theres definitely an element of it, even subconsciously you'll get that extra few % out of yourself knowing a game is more important than another.

Then you have lads peaking fitness wise for championship and maybe different gameplans being trialled out in less in league games.

Remember reading about how Armagh eased up in a lot of league games this year and began working on different systems/set plays/calls etc when the game was comfortable.

And of course being in Div 2 they had the luxury to ease up, a luxury that may not be available in Div 1. Of course, with a more mature game plan they now might benefit more from a good test of it. 

Argument to be made either way I suppose, Galway and Tyrone this year both had to throw some inexperienced lads in at the deep end and it'll probably stand to them in the long run.

[bennydorano]

See the inter-pro manager's giving off in today's Irish News about the withdrawal of the pre season tournaments - especially so as it would have been an ideal testing ground for the new rules. As I said a few times, the decision to stop them seemed particularly idiotic to me as the vast majority of teams will be running around like blue arsed flies arranging pre-season friendlies anyway.

[Rossfan]

Made no sense dropping them for Jan 25 with a probable raft of  new rules coming in.
 

[Blowitupref]

Made no sense dropping them for Jan 25 with a probable raft of  new rules coming in.
 

And would teams have taken pre-season competitions serious if they weren't scrapped?  managers in recent years picked only a few first choice players, Galway for example went further by fielding development panel in the FBD, didn't Donegal play their U20s in the McKenna cup one year?

[Dreadnought]

Cavan have put in to congress to have them reinstated. Makes sense, the one year we have loads of new rules potentially, and no pre season games

[Captain Obvious]

No McKenna cup or other pre-season tournaments for 2025,  needed 60% votes for it to return and was three votes short.

[tiempo]

Jarly trying to be everything to all people, a needless fail and sizable loss of revenue in Ulster

[armaghniac]

Jarly trying to be everything to all people, a needless fail and sizable loss of revenue in Ulster

I imagine that Armagh would get a decent crowd anyway.
The Connacht council too have cut back owing to the loss of revenue.

It does not seem a well thought out decision, was there a 60% majority to abolish these in the first place?