All-Ireland U21 Football Championship 2014

[rodney trotter]

No if it was Donegal and Dublin it was in Breffni. Double header so Portlaoise was probaly sensible enough . Last year it was a double header in Tullamore, since Roscommon borders Offaly that woudn't have been fair on the Cork fans who would have had to travel a great distance, even if there was only a few yesterday. Didn't see the problem in the venue yesterday

[Syferus]

Two points to make. Firstly the choice of venue for yesterday's semi finals. Some people are saying that Portlaoise was chosen to suit the Dubs, but in fairness to them, i don't think that's the case and this is the reason why. .When the venues were announced there were still 6 counties in it, as the Munster and Ulster Finals hadn't been played. Roscommon v Cork/ Tipperary was fixed for Portlaoise. If it was Dublin v Donegal, the game was to be played in Tullamore as far as i remember. If it was Dublin v Cavan, it would be played in Portlaoise as a double header with the other semi, which is exactly what happened. So if Donegal had won Ulster, the Dubs wouldn't have even been in Portlaoise yesterday.. Re the Roscommon defence, it has to be remembered that the entire half back line that started the championship against Mayo were missing through injury yesterday. Fintan Sweeney, Fintan Kelly and Conor Daly were all missed and we need some of them back for the final, with all due respect to the lads who replaced them yesterday.

Well to be fair John Mac was the starting CB and the captain until he got injured just before the Mayo game, he was straight back into the starting line-up when fit.

Thought McInerney and particularly Ronan Daly did little wrong, he scored a wonderful point and attacked in the now trademark Daly style. He made a few fantastic block downs too.

I'd be surprised if we don't have both Dalys starting the Dublin game on yesterday's evidence, I really don't know of either Fintan can be expected to be fit enough to make anything more than the bench the next day. Kelly in particular could offer good cover if we want to protect the corners better but if his hamstring isn't healthy then that becomes a liability.

[Shrewdness]

Keep the chins up Westside. The fortunes of Cavan's Senior team are already improving, and when more of the U-21's are fed into that panel, Cavan people have a lot to look forward to...Re the venues, my mistake.

[INDIANA]

It's easy for the Dubs to sit back and call us bad losers etc.. You have your U21 All Ireland Final, you have so much success you can pick and choose which big games you go to, you know you will get many many All Ireland Semi Finals and an U21 Semi Final barely registered a blip on the radar going by the poor crowd of Dubs there yesterday. Bear in mind we have about one twentieth the population of Dublin, a fraction of the funding, we might not see an All Ireland Semi Final for 15 years again. We're hurting.

Cavan have a good few available for next year, the loss of Moynagh, McVeety and Clarke is huge but we dealt with Brady and Flanagan moving on so maybe we will remain competitive. And we will probably have a more impressive array of forward next year with Connolly and Galligan and Hayes a year older. Is there a Gearoid or Barry or Moynagh or Flanagan in there to lead them and keep the tone from previous years? We'll see..

This is where the lazy mans analysis comes in Westside.

Population means nothing. For a size of 1m we have 80 clubs. Cork has more GAA clubs then us- should they be split in two?

You'll only not see another all ireland semi final again if you want to. Cavan has been asleep at the wheel for too long. Things haven't looked this good for Cavan for ages. This is a special bunch of Dublin players at present and the idea that we'll have this all the time is rubbish.

As regards the funding there is so much mis-information out there at this stage its a waste of time posting anything relevent because nobody is interested in the real story because its not sexy.

[Rossfan]

Dublin might have only 80 clubs but some of them have more teams/players than many a small County.
We badly need our first choice half backs fit and ready for the Final as we were so open at times yesterday it wasn't funny.
Younger Daly is only out of Minor, and the other 2 are not good enough. I don't want to personalise it but.... ye'll know what I mean.
For a team that dominated so much of the game having to depend on the last kick of the game to win by 1 is not good.
I for one am worried about this Final.
The man with the cap was doing a lot of pontificating afterwards too so obviously some flaws to be rectified before we face the supermen.

[Syferus]

Dublin might have only 80 clubs but some of them have more teams/players than many a small County.
We badly need our first choice half backs fit and ready for the Final as we were so open at times yesterday it wasn't funny.
Younger Daly is only out of Minor, and the other 2 are not good enough. I don't want to personalise it but.... ye'll know what I mean.
For a team that dominated so much of the game having to depend on the last kick of the game to win by 1 is not good.
I for one am worried about this Final.
The man with the cap was doing a lot of pontificating afterwards too so obviously some flaws to be rectified before we face the supermen.

John Mac isn't good enough?! Have you been living under a rock? He kept Brian O'Driscoll under wraps yesterday and his man didn't have a sniff of the ball in the Connacht final. He'll be pushing Niall Daly for the senior CB berth soon enough.

Again, we were missing two, not three, 'first choice HBs' yesterday. HB isn't the line where we had the trouble either.

[Dont Matter]

This is where the lazy mans analysis comes in Westside.

Population means nothing. For a size of 1m we have 80 clubs. Cork has more GAA clubs then us- should they be split in two?

As regards the funding there is so much mis-information out there at this stage its a waste of time posting anything relevent because nobody is interested in the real story because its not sexy.

Dublin have far more players than anyone else, some clubs have loads of teams.

If you want to be compared to Cork then why don't you get the same funding as Cork? Cork got 95,000 for games development last year while Dublin got 1.5million. How is that fair? How is it mis-information also? It's the GAA's books I'm getting the numbers from.

[INDIANA]

This is where the lazy mans analysis comes in Westside.

Population means nothing. For a size of 1m we have 80 clubs. Cork has more GAA clubs then us- should they be split in two?

As regards the funding there is so much mis-information out there at this stage its a waste of time posting anything relevent because nobody is interested in the real story because its not sexy.

Dublin have far more players than anyone else, some clubs have loads of teams.

If you want to be compared to Cork then why don't you get the same funding as Cork? Cork got 95,000 for games development last year while Dublin got 1.5million. How is that fair? How is it mis-information also? It's the GAA's books I'm getting the numbers from.

Most Dublin clubs are mired in debt and have to fund raise for anything they want to build. Do some analysis and research before posting lies about genuine GAA people who shouldn't have to apologise to the likes of you for living in an urban environment

[Shrewdness]

Syferus, John Mc Manus took over the full back position on the team for most of the Hastings Cup campaign and did very well, with Kelly taking over at centre half back. When injury ruled Mc Manus out of the Mayo game, Sean Mullooly came in at full back and is there since.

[Dont Matter]

Most Dublin clubs are mired in debt and have to fund raise for anything they want to build. Do some analysis and research before posting lies about genuine GAA people who shouldn't have to apologise to the likes of you for living in an urban environment

What's this?  It has nothing to do with what I posted. Loads of clubs all over the country are struggling, I don't know a club who doesn't have to fundraise.

This has nothing to do with the money provided to turn Dublin into a GAA superpower in both football and hurling. About 1.5 million every year. You wont even discuss these numbers as you know they're unfair.

[Syferus]

Syferus, John Mc Manus took over the full back position on the team for most of the Hastings Cup campaign and did very well, with Kelly taking over at centre half back. When injury ruled Mc Manus out of the Mayo game, Sean Mullooly came in at full back and is there since.

Thomas Featherston, the starting U21 FB from last year, was injured for much of this year. John Mac's natural position and the one he's played coming up through the grades has been CB. Fintan was a midfielder until a few weeks ago but honestly he's more suited to CB, CF or on the wing.

[Westside]

It's easy for the Dubs to sit back and call us bad losers etc.. You have your U21 All Ireland Final, you have so much success you can pick and choose which big games you go to, you know you will get many many All Ireland Semi Finals and an U21 Semi Final barely registered a blip on the radar going by the poor crowd of Dubs there yesterday. Bear in mind we have about one twentieth the population of Dublin, a fraction of the funding, we might not see an All Ireland Semi Final for 15 years again. We're hurting.

Cavan have a good few available for next year, the loss of Moynagh, McVeety and Clarke is huge but we dealt with Brady and Flanagan moving on so maybe we will remain competitive. And we will probably have a more impressive array of forward next year with Connolly and Galligan and Hayes a year older. Is there a Gearoid or Barry or Moynagh or Flanagan in there to lead them and keep the tone from previous years? We'll see..

This is where the lazy mans analysis comes in Westside.

Population means nothing. For a size of 1m we have 80 clubs. Cork has more GAA clubs then us- should they be split in two?

You'll only not see another all ireland semi final again if you want to. Cavan has been asleep at the wheel for too long. Things haven't looked this good for Cavan for ages. This is a special bunch of Dublin players at present and the idea that we'll have this all the time is rubbish.

As regards the funding there is so much mis-information out there at this stage its a waste of time posting anything relevent because nobody is interested in the real story because its not sexy.

"Population means nothing".. I'm sorry Indiana but that's rubbish. Pure and utter rubbish. I agree it's not as simple as saying you have the entire population of Dublin at your disposal, there are other sports, sections of the population that will never play GAA, sections that live in Dublin but play Club football elsewhere etc..
However, one of my local clubs had an outstanding Minor side that got to the Division 1 Championship final last year. They had 18 players. 8 of that 18 were Under 16. Would any club in Dublin ever be in that situation where they could only have 3 men on the bench in a Division 1 Final? Or a lower Division playing 11 a side because they can't field 13 and have a couple of subs? That's the kind of situations we have in Cavan.

I'm not saying Dublin should be split in two or anything like that. What I am saying is that their population gives them a massive advantage over most other counties. Is that Dublin's fault? No. What I am saying is that because of Dublin's population they can be confident that they will have consistent success. Cavan don't have that luxury and hence why yesterday's loss hurt so much. That's the only point I'm making I'm not getting at Dublin.

[INDIANA]

It's easy for the Dubs to sit back and call us bad losers etc.. You have your U21 All Ireland Final, you have so much success you can pick and choose which big games you go to, you know you will get many many All Ireland Semi Finals and an U21 Semi Final barely registered a blip on the radar going by the poor crowd of Dubs there yesterday. Bear in mind we have about one twentieth the population of Dublin, a fraction of the funding, we might not see an All Ireland Semi Final for 15 years again. We're hurting.

Cavan have a good few available for next year, the loss of Moynagh, McVeety and Clarke is huge but we dealt with Brady and Flanagan moving on so maybe we will remain competitive. And we will probably have a more impressive array of forward next year with Connolly and Galligan and Hayes a year older. Is there a Gearoid or Barry or Moynagh or Flanagan in there to lead them and keep the tone from previous years? We'll see..

This is where the lazy mans analysis comes in Westside.

Population means nothing. For a size of 1m we have 80 clubs. Cork has more GAA clubs then us- should they be split in two?

You'll only not see another all ireland semi final again if you want to. Cavan has been asleep at the wheel for too long. Things haven't looked this good for Cavan for ages. This is a special bunch of Dublin players at present and the idea that we'll have this all the time is rubbish.

As regards the funding there is so much mis-information out there at this stage its a waste of time posting anything relevent because nobody is interested in the real story because its not sexy.

"Population means nothing".. I'm sorry Indiana but that's rubbish. Pure and utter rubbish. I agree it's not as simple as saying you have the entire population of Dublin at your disposal, there are other sports, sections of the population that will never play GAA, sections that live in Dublin but play Club football elsewhere etc..
However, one of my local clubs had an outstanding Minor side that got to the Division 1 Championship final last year. They had 18 players. 8 of that 18 were Under 16. Would any club in Dublin ever be in that situation where they could only have 3 men on the bench in a Division 1 Final? Or a lower Division playing 11 a side because they can't field 13 and have a couple of subs? That's the kind of situations we have in Cavan.

I'm not saying Dublin should be split in two or anything like that. What I am saying is that their population gives them a massive advantage over most other counties. Is that Dublin's fault? No. What I am saying is that because of Dublin's population they can be confident that they will have consistent success. Cavan don't have that luxury and hence why yesterday's loss hurt so much. That's the only point I'm making I'm not getting at Dublin.

Its complete rubbish and I'll tell you why there are any amount of amalgamations at underage level in Dublin because well established clubs cannot field a team

People see the top 6 clubs in Dublin and assume thats every club. it isn't or anything like it. The Top 6 dominate most grades from u14 to senior. A lot of other clubs its a hand to mouth existence.

Its Ewan Mc Kenna and John Fogarty analysis- everything about Dublin is bad.

Clubs in Dublin have been smashed by emigration like everyone else. Yes we can replace players more so then rural clubs but some clubs can't.

[Westside]

Let's say for a second that you're right and Dublin don't have an advantage due to population (which I'm finding it hard to believe that you're actually saying to someone from Cavan).. Why are they given 1.5 million for games development and Cork, who have more clubs as you've said yourself, get 95k if what the lad above says is true? (If it's not then fair enough)
Surely the only rationale for giving Dublin such a huge amount of funding for games development would be if they were reaching a massively higher proportion of players than the counties that were given so much less?

Genuine questions here as I haven't ever paid much attention to this debate or the Dublin defence to it.

[mylestheslasher]

Like I say Dublin fans complaining about booing, Dublin fans complaining about scumbags. Am I in the twilight zone. If I wanted to be sure of finding such behavior I would head to Hill 16 when the Dubs are playing. I was there once when Dublin played Tyrone and a gang of ye were chanting something about "orange b**tards" at Tyrone. Like I said, look after yer own big problem before you try and fix a small problem in Cavan.

Why not answer Don't Matter, why is so much money being given from HQ to the Dubs when they are well able to fund themselves?

God myles you really are a bitter, sad little man. Why play up to the Neil Toibin Cavan stereotype?

Dont defend the indefensible from the sc**bag element of the Cavan support. The officials are entitled to a basic duty of care - your fans provided nothing but toerag behaviour yesterday

I have never defended any of the sc**bag element of the Dublin support and never will.

As regards money- thats the last resort of the village idiot on gaaboard.

You think Cavan's 4 ulster u21's was built on bread and water?

Sure listen Don't matter and yourself can debate that all day. The poor misguided fool has been looking for a playmate for a few months now. You look like you can provide that.

Showing your class now with the personal insults Indiana. Cavans 4 in a row Ulsters were built on modest amounts of money raised within the county. It didn't come in any greater quantities in the last 4 years than it did before - i.e. there is no correlation between our recent success and money from Croke park. There is a correlation between hard work from dedicated Cavan men like Peter Reilly  and success though.

I am immensely proud of Peter, his management team, the players, the panel and the fans that followed the team. Its just a shame they didn't get fair play yesterday, a shame but not really a surprise.