Connacht GAA: The improvement thread

[muppet]

As i said on the other thread, this will not look good. Realistically in a five team province with only two traditionally stronger teams you will get years like this where the two teams misfire and the smaller guys get a run. Happened in Connacht before in the early 90s and even in Munster in 1992. It doesn't look good when the teams that come through bollox it up like this though.

Cosmo, when it comes to bollixing things up, Mayo are the galacticos, so none of that condescending shite about the lesser counties (in your opinion) coming through.
You might have to get used to it. Have you seen anything from Mayo and Galway this year to say that things will be any better for them in 2011???......I haven't.

You beat Leitrim and Sligo and suddenly you are dumping all your pessimism on us! Mayo have had their worst season since the introduction of the qualifiers but why dwell only on that year? We could easily play into September 2011.

[GalwayBayBoy]

As i said on the other thread, this will not look good. Realistically in a five team province with only two traditionally stronger teams you will get years like this where the two teams misfire and the smaller guys get a run. Happened in Connacht before in the early 90s and even in Munster in 1992. It doesn't look good when the teams that come through bollox it up like this though.

Cosmo, when it comes to bollixing things up, Mayo are the galacticos, so none of that condescending shite about the lesser counties (in your opinion) coming through.
You might have to get used to it. Have you seen anything from Mayo and Galway this year to say that things will be any better for them in 2011???......I haven't.

Undoubtably no but Galway and Mayo do have an ability to rediscover their mojo quicker than the other Connacht counties. They can go from being rubbish one year to quite good the next. Not that I'm expecting that to happen. As bad as both have been this year you would still expect one of them to win Connacht next year.

[Cosmo Kramer]

As i said on the other thread, this will not look good. Realistically in a five team province with only two traditionally stronger teams you will get years like this where the two teams misfire and the smaller guys get a run. Happened in Connacht before in the early 90s and even in Munster in 1992. It doesn't look good when the teams that come through bollox it up like this though.

Cosmo, when it comes to bollixing things up, Mayo are the galacticos, so none of that condescending shite about the lesser counties (in your opinion) coming through.
You might have to get used to it. Have you seen anything from Mayo and Galway this year to say that things will be any better for them in 2011???......I haven't.

Easy there lad. Probably as well to leave the Mayo slagging until after your QF. If you win that (and I genuinely hope you do) you'll have plenty of reason to shout.

My dividing of the province in two is not without substance. Couple of questions for you. Is it or is it not 30 years next month since any of Roscommon, Sligo or Leitrim won a game in the All Ireland Series (i.e. QF, SF or final)? And how games at that level have Mayo and Galway won in the interim?


EDIT: Just realised I never answered your question at the end of your post. With 4 of the last 5 Connacht U-21s and 3 in a row at minor, i have plenty of hope for Mayo. Throw the best of them in with our half a dozen or so best of the more senior players and there's every chance we can win Connacht in 2011. And we generally have a decent record of going further on in the Championship the years we win provincial titles (4 of the last 6 times we have gone further), so big improvement is possible next year - only with the right manager of course.

Galway I'm not so sure about, but if they get their forwards fit, particularly Meehan of course, they can compete with anyone in a one off big game. They don't seem to have as much coming through as Mayo though, but I would still expect them to win more Connacht titles in the next decade than any of the other three.

And also - I didn't use the word 'lesser'. There is a big difference between smaller and lesser, one is condescending and the other is not.

[Peter Solan the Great]

Sligo really have shone the torchlight of shame on Connacht once more. Its hard not to be angry with them. Please God that Roscommon will have 15 men behind the ball and at least keep it respectable.

Where to from here? this centre of excellence from Connacht is a start no surprises that it is being led by Mayo.

County by County guide

Sligo really have to start outting the effort in at underage. They can hardly expect sustained success at Senior level with out the underage to back it up. They cant be expecting the likes of Alan Costelloe from other counties all the time. There in Division 2 next year we'll see how forward or backwards they have gone then

Roscommon have put in the effort at underage but i think they have a over reliance on the minor crop of 2006. They need a few hard men and from having watched the club scene from time to time there is plenty of them there. There on the right track though they need to get out of division 4 next year.

Leitrim there doing there best with limited resources, very high emigration in the county. keep plugging away and hope for a bit of success, the underage set up in leitrim is far superior to that in sligo.

Galway i think that they are too interested in Arts festivals and skinny latte's at this stage to be honest. Half a hurling county and half a football county massive population they'll come right at some stage they should start with appointing a galway man as director of football and as manager and not spending vital money on rent a managers.

Mayo probaly have the most potential, the club scene has gone down hill a bit no doubt about it the recession has hit hard. Good underage teams have dominated Connacht for the last few years the "genisis" report will tell us more. The "West Mayo" team is the template we need to follow for Junior players.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Well it's hard to believe where the only one's left to fly the Connacht flag  go easy on us lads because we know our limitations in Roscommon & we will be happy enough with good effort v Cork,Kildare,Down or Dublin

Who would you like to draw R4L? Down look a good bet. If ye drew them, ye would not be given a chance given Sligos demise against them. But i think ye would have a chance.

Hard to know who would be a good draw? where really punching above our weight but it should be a great experience for the young lads, i think Dermot has ask for Kildare v Roscommon in the heaven's above & that would be in his words "Mighty. Mighty altogether."

It sure would

[Shrewdness]

As i said on the other thread, this will not look good. Realistically in a five team province with only two traditionally stronger teams you will get years like this where the two teams misfire and the smaller guys get a run. Happened in Connacht before in the early 90s and even in Munster in 1992. It doesn't look good when the teams that come through bollox it up like this though.

Cosmo, when it comes to bollixing things up, Mayo are the galacticos, so none of that condescending shite about the lesser counties (in your opinion) coming through.
You might have to get used to it. Have you seen anything from Mayo and Galway this year to say that things will be any better for them in 2011???......I haven't.

You beat Leitrim and Sligo and suddenly you are dumping all your pessimism on us! Mayo have had their worst season since the introduction of the qualifiers but why dwell only on that year? We could easily play into September 2011.

Muppet, i never mentioned Roscommon in my post. My post was aimed at your comment about teams breaking through and then bollixing up. You were obviously referring to Sligo, as was i.

Don't worry, we are well aware of our limitations in Roscommon.

[muppet]

As i said on the other thread, this will not look good. Realistically in a five team province with only two traditionally stronger teams you will get years like this where the two teams misfire and the smaller guys get a run. Happened in Connacht before in the early 90s and even in Munster in 1992. It doesn't look good when the teams that come through bollox it up like this though.

Cosmo, when it comes to bollixing things up, Mayo are the galacticos, so none of that condescending shite about the lesser counties (in your opinion) coming through.
You might have to get used to it. Have you seen anything from Mayo and Galway this year to say that things will be any better for them in 2011???......I haven't.

You beat Leitrim and Sligo and suddenly you are dumping all your pessimism on us! Mayo have had their worst season since the introduction of the qualifiers but why dwell only on that year? We could easily play into September 2011.

Muppet, i never mentioned Roscommon in my post. My post was aimed at your comment about teams breaking through and then bollixing up. You were obviously referring to Sligo, as was i.

Don't worry, we are well aware of our limitations in Roscommon.

I made no such comment.

Doesn't even sound like me messing either.

[Shrewdness]

As i said on the other thread, this will not look good. Realistically in a five team province with only two traditionally stronger teams you will get years like this where the two teams misfire and the smaller guys get a run. Happened in Connacht before in the early 90s and even in Munster in 1992. It doesn't look good when the teams that come through bollox it up like this though.

My mistake Muppet, but i stand by what i said.

Cosmo, when it comes to bollixing things up, Mayo are the galacticos, so none of that condescending shite about the lesser counties (in your opinion) coming through.
You might have to get used to it. Have you seen anything from Mayo and Galway this year to say that things will be any better for them in 2011???......I haven't.

You beat Leitrim and Sligo and suddenly you are dumping all your pessimism on us! Mayo have had their worst season since the introduction of the qualifiers but why dwell only on that year? We could easily play into September 2011.

Muppet, i never mentioned Roscommon in my post. My post was aimed at your comment about teams breaking through and then bollixing up. You were obviously referring to Sligo, as was i.

Don't worry, we are well aware of our limitations in Roscommon.

I made no such comment.

Doesn't even sound like me messing either.

[muppet]

As i said on the other thread, this will not look good. Realistically in a five team province with only two traditionally stronger teams you will get years like this where the two teams misfire and the smaller guys get a run. Happened in Connacht before in the early 90s and even in Munster in 1992. It doesn't look good when the teams that come through bollox it up like this though.

My mistake Muppet, but i stand by what i said.

Cosmo, when it comes to bollixing things up, Mayo are the galacticos, so none of that condescending shite about the lesser counties (in your opinion) coming through.
You might have to get used to it. Have you seen anything from Mayo and Galway this year to say that things will be any better for them in 2011???......I haven't.

You beat Leitrim and Sligo and suddenly you are dumping all your pessimism on us! Mayo have had their worst season since the introduction of the qualifiers but why dwell only on that year? We could easily play into September 2011.

Muppet, i never mentioned Roscommon in my post. My post was aimed at your comment about teams breaking through and then bollixing up. You were obviously referring to Sligo, as was i.

Don't worry, we are well aware of our limitations in Roscommon.

I made no such comment.

Doesn't even sound like me messing either.

Do you see the original comment about 'bollix it up'?

[Farrandeelin]

I cannot see Mayo doing anything of substance out of Connacht for a long time.

[ross4life]

I cannot see Mayo doing anything of substance out of Connacht for a long time.

Last 5 years

Connacht under 21 titles 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Connacht Minor titles 2008, 2009, 2010

So your trying to tell us all the good work at underage level by Mayo is gonna go to waste?

[Farrandeelin]

But it's outside of Connacht I worry about. And it could go to waste if the top brass don't get somebody good to do the job.

[ross4life]

But it's outside of Connacht I worry about. And it could go to waste if the top brass don't get somebody good to do the job.

compare yourselves to someone like Cork the last decade..

Cork All Ireland runner's up in 07 09, League winner's 2009, Munster titles 4, All Ireland u21 07 09, All ireland Minor 00

Mayo All Ireland Runner's up in 06 04, League winner's 2001 Connacht titles 3, All Ireland u21 06, All ireland runner's up 00, 05, 08, 09

not a lot different to be honest

[Zulu]

There's a bit of a difference in fairness, Mayo's league win will be 10 years ago by 2011 so is irrelevant for their future prospects. Cork also lost that 06 U21 so they have had at least 3 very good U21 teams in the past 4 years and their minor record is pretty good too. And although Munster may not be the strongest province, it has Kerry in it so if you win it your probably a pretty decent team, the same can't be said of Connacht.

The problem with Mayo IMO is that they don't produce enough 9/10 players, loads of 7 or 8/10 players but not enough really top class ones. Galway are different in that they do get the few gems but not enough of the 7 or 8/10 players and I can't see that changing for either team in the near future. The other counties just don't have the pick to be serious challengers on a regular basis but both Sligo and Roscommon have the bones of decent teams at the moment and I would be working extra hard at U16 to U21 level to try and bring another 6-7 players through to complement the best of what they have now.

[moysider]

I dont't think it is a question of Mayo not producing better players and just several competent players. The problem lies in how 18+ players have been allowed go quickly to seed after initial promise. There are obvious problems like fielding 2 teams at U16 and stuff but the real sinkhole has been at senior for generations. A culture of underpitching has been in place for decades in the county. It has often manifested itself as young fellas with swelled heads as soon as they get a senior start. Liam O Neill hit the nail on the head in an interview with the Mayo News. I ve posted his piece on another thread here.  Players were happy enough to play club, and had no ambition to win an AI in the 80s. Nothing has changed.

The current minors have 2/3 players [form on the day always being a factor] who are 8/9 players. But so were Hanley, Parsons and Campbell and Michael Conroy at 18yrs. Our problem is not producing players of quality - it s developing them into serious senior footballers.

All counties (including Cork , Kerry and Tyrone ) need a good few top players to emerge at the same time, and when that happens there is always a number of journeymen who will be lifted by the rising tide and you have a golden era. Mayo s problem, in my time, was when we had the quality, we didn't have a Micko, Heffo or Boylan to cut out the shite that has been dragging us down for generations.