Leinster Championship Rankings

[his holiness nb]

What has Brogan Jnr done this year

In fairness Dinny, he has been Dublin best forward and top scorer during the league.

I'm not going to get into comparisons about who is better as they are a waste of time, but fair is fair.

[Dinny Breen]

In fairness Dinny, he has been Dublin best forward and top scorer during the league.

So league form is a good guide to a players form yet Derry are dismissed even though they are league champions 

[DUBSFORSAM1]

how derry can be ranked second with one just one scoring forward is beyond me

You could probably say the same about Dublin, i.e Brogan. Of the Derry forwards the two Bradleys and Muldoon would walk into the Dublin forward line and Mark Lynch is a far better player than Collie Moran.

Bradley and Muldoon would get in but Eoin Bradley and Mark Lynch wouldn't get in - have done nothign yet to deserve a place.

[INDIANA]

you couldn't have been watching the donegal game dinny because, his shot selection at times was questionable. that's the difference between the best forwards and the rest. bernard has been dublin's best forward this year, and has a proven championship record last year. eoin bradley strikes me as the sort of player who could score 1-7 one day and then draw a blank the next day. bernard will score consistently more often than not.

[screenexile]

Sorry I seemed to miss all the craic on this thread today. My theory behind having Armagh top 5 is that they still have the players and the hunger to drive for that elusive 2nd all Ireland. People forget they were massively unlucky against both us and Donegal last year and I see them making waves this year.

As for the tribesmen well I liked the look of them against us in the league and I felt they were capable of putting a decent run together this year. Obviously expectation within the County isn't too high but I think they will be hard enough to stop.

As for the Dubs forwards v Derry forwards I've played against both sets of players and I can tell you that Quinn (bottler), Keaney (did nothing last year against us and very over rated!), Connolly, Moran (actually could do a job in a weak Dub HB line but not a forward) and Jayo aren't up to it. Brogans are all you've got.

Paul Murphy couldn't be marked last year against us and you were lucky he was injured. Paddy couldn't be marked, Eoin when he came on caused havoc by chose the wrong option and Devlin chipped in with a couple of nice points as well. Add to that this year with Gilligan playing well, Lynch improving every game and Muldoon playing great stuff as well that's 7 decent forwards we have and some real competition for places... Another thing the Dubs don't really have... please don't mention Vaughan.

[INDIANA]

you've just proved my point on eoin bradley screen "wrong option" that's the difference between the good ones and the rest. for me he generally takes the wrong option so there in ends that debate. Devlin wouldn't make the top 8 in the dublin forwards, if he can't get in the derry forward line he wouldn't get in ours. The Lynch improving every game is something we've heard every year for the last 5 years but when's he going to deliver? again wouldn't worry about him if we were playing derry. he simply isn't rated outside derry. you've got muldoon and bradley and that's it pretty much it.
so that's makes us about equal! don;t kid yourself into thinking that those players are better than the other dublin forwards because they aren't.

[screenexile]

Ok I'll give you the wrong option thing with Bradley as it does my head in as well but some of these days he'll realise that he's got a footballing brain and things will begin to happen (hopefully sooner rather than later).

As for Devlin and Lynch well Devlin has been injured all year and has only really been back for a month. When a man is out for that length of time and the team are winning it can be difficult for him to break back in. He showed last year that he is quality and when he does get a run out he will do the same again. As for Lynch and "the last 5 years", well Lynch was still a minor 5 years ago and I think this is only his third year in the Senior panel so we'll see how it progresses. As for being worried about outside Derry? Well you can ask any of the college teams in the Sigerson if they worried too much about him since he was practically the player of the tournament!

I think we went through this whole song and dance last year you, I and Dubsforsam about who had the better players and the fact I believed that Dublin didn't have as much individual talent but were better as a unit than Derry. Personally I believe this year we would be stronger as a unit and I would be confident we would beat you this year should our paths meet. Actually I hope that happens because it would be towards the tail end of the championship which would mean we've done well. Anyway I think we'll just have to agree to differ on this occasion.