Dublin

[screenexile]

Zulu

A fair point and all Dublin really need going forward is 2 from each u21 to push on .

My point is not anti Dublin per se but more the sustainability of IC football .

The Dublin team are on another level physically to any side in the GAA history.  The dice is loaded .  There is no beauty in the current situation where the sport is not competitive.

Yesterday is a close as it will get for at least 5 years .  Of course there might be an occasional ambush but in the main the AISF is going to be as competitive as the Armagh SFC in the coming years.

Dublin have been doing one pitch session one gym session a week during the league. They train less then everyone else.

I've no idea what half the counties do when they train 6 days a week.

We're not allowed have a great team. Only Kerry and Kilkenny are.

Kilkenny' dominance is greater then any other sports team in the world yet no word of it here

Doesn't suit the agenda

AHEM!!!

They can be beaten in a one off it's not like they're going to win 8/9 in a row or anything but I just think it's set up for them to dominate over the next 10/15 years!

No way. Galway will be back before then. Kerry will find their mojo. Throne will be in the mix. Meath might even resuscitate.

And maybe they will win one and Kerry a few as well but the Dubs are going to be the new Kilkenny!

Kilkenny have 11/16 All Irelands and Hurling is fucked because of it. The game can't grow anywhere outside its main base because how is anyone from a non Hurling County going to have a chance at winning the big prize?

[Jinxy]

Clare will win the hurling this year.
Kilkenny's period of dominance is over.

[muppet]

Peter Sweeney credited there now, hello Peter.

Sweeney concludes that Dublin cannot be split up which is missing the point.
It is desirable that there be a lot of people playing GAA in Dublin and the application of funding to achieve that is perfectly reasonable. What is not fair is that this large number of people playing is aggregated into population units, either club or county, which creates teams that distort national competitions.

And of course other counties too need to get their act together, which doesn't negate the above point.

I think, to be fair to everyone, we should split all of the counties that have won Sam since 2000.

And Roscommon, just in case like.

I'd actually be in favour of amalgamating Roscommon and Mayo. Mosco has a nice ring to it.

Kildare and Mayo would be a good merger

Clare & Down?

[Canalman]

Was there an replay for the OMahoney Johnny Cooper incident?
Two lads well able to throw their weight around. O Mahoney at it for years and can't forget Coopers rake on Diarmuid O Connor in drawn semi and got in Seamus O Shea face enough to draw a black card in the replay.

Distant footage from the Canal End that really only shows that Kinsella didn't see the incident himself so the linesman must have made the call.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2016/0425/784105-dublin-gaa/

No name credited but whoever wrote this definitely reads this board.

Peter Sweeney credited there now, hello Peter.

Comments below it are great, in fairness to the Dubs they are all on the same page. It's all just begrudgery.

One of the comments says several U14 Dublin club teams went to Portugal for a week warm weather training before feile. Surely that can't be true.

Nope. One team went after winning the Dublin Feile iirc. Funded it themselves. Not from one of the affluent areas of the city also.

Certainly eyebrows were raised, but afaik it was never done since or before. 

Was definitely frowned upon

[AZOffaly]

I thought Brigids did something mental like that a few years ago. I know they sent a 'dummy' team to march in the parade, while the players were tucked up preparing for their first match

[Croí na hÉireann]

Zulu

A fair point and all Dublin really need going forward is 2 from each u21 to push on .

My point is not anti Dublin per se but more the sustainability of IC football .

The Dublin team are on another level physically to any side in the GAA history.  The dice is loaded .  There is no beauty in the current situation where the sport is not competitive.

Yesterday is a close as it will get for at least 5 years .  Of course there might be an occasional ambush but in the main the AISF is going to be as competitive as the Armagh SFC in the coming years.

Dublin have been doing one pitch session one gym session a week during the league. They train less then everyone else.

I've no idea what half the counties do when they train 6 days a week.

We're not allowed have a great team. Only Kerry and Kilkenny are.

Kilkenny' dominance is greater then any other sports team in the world yet no word of it here

Doesn't suit the agenda

Plenty of words if you bothered to read them.

Boden hasn't got enough pitches to service the demand. Country people always make the mistake that GAA clubs can't survive in a large urban setting.

That suggests they are too big. Time to split them up.

Problem with that is that there isn't the green areas inside the M50 to host new clubs. You could base one in UCD but after that......

[Dinny Breen]

Was there an replay for the OMahoney Johnny Cooper incident?
Two lads well able to throw their weight around. O Mahoney at it for years and can't forget Coopers rake on Diarmuid O Connor in drawn semi and got in Seamus O Shea face enough to draw a black card in the replay.

Distant footage from the Canal End that really only shows that Kinsella didn't see the incident himself so the linesman must have made the call.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2016/0425/784105-dublin-gaa/

No name credited but whoever wrote this definitely reads this board.

Peter Sweeney credited there now, hello Peter.

Comments below it are great, in fairness to the Dubs they are all on the same page. It's all just begrudgery.

One of the comments says several U14 Dublin club teams went to Portugal for a week warm weather training before feile. Surely that can't be true.

Nope. One team went after winning the Dublin Feile iirc. Funded it themselves. Not from one of the affluent areas of the city also.

Certainly eyebrows were raised, but afaik it was never done since or before. 

Was definitely frowned upon

Every underage team should try and have one tour overseas, great way to bond young players to a club. Creates great memories and positive reinforcement about what a team and club culture is all about. Our U12s recently spent the weekend away in Birmingham.

[easytiger95]

I agree Dinny, but just in relation to warm weather trips/people losing the run of themselves over Feile teams, I remember I was down in Kilkenny the time Castleknock broke through in the hurling feile and their semi final opponents (Blackrock from Cork) had brought several cryogenic baths with them on a flatbed so they could use them between matches.

[seafoid]

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/dublin-s-dominance-undermining-football-s-spectator-appeal-says-giles-1.2624172
As the dust settles on Dublin's record equalling four-in-a-row in the Allianz Football League, there are concerns that the county's ongoing domination runs the risk of undermining the game's spectator appeal.

That is the view of an old rival of Dublin, former Meath selector, double All-Ireland winner and footballer of the year Trevor Giles, speaking as an Eirgrid football ambassador at an event to mark Saturday's final between Cork and Mayo in the All-Ireland under-21 championship, which the company sponsors.

"I think they've just become dominant and I think they're going to stay that way for a few years, which for a neutral probably isn't ideal in terms of, if Dublin are playing somebody – are you going to watch it; because it's going to be one-sided?

[ashman]

This should not be a bashing thread .  The whole feile thing had gone mad and the dublin teams were no better or worse in this regard .

[Jinxy]

I agree Dinny, but just in relation to warm weather trips/people losing the run of themselves over Feile teams, I remember I was down in Kilkenny the time Castleknock broke through in the hurling feile and their semi final opponents (Blackrock from Cork) had brought several cryogenic baths with them on a flatbed so they could use them between matches.

They're called 'mortar tubs' where I come from.

[Lar Naparka]

If there's one team to topple the dubs it the red hands. We would aboulstey show them zero respect

That ship sailed in 2008

New team now. By respect I mean would have no fear. Not like these other clowns on here who seem to be shitting themselves over Dublin.we would have as good as devolpment structures as there is and if not this year then soon. Dublin is lucky that they have such a good bunch of players but give it a few years and the cycle will change

It will change with a few retirees. I can see the field being very even between 5/6 counties in about 3-5 years. Leinster will be still a cesspit however

Can't see that happening. The imbalance between urban and rural areas, the capital in particular,  will continue to grow at a steadily increasing pace. According to Marty Morrissey in a report on Ballyboden, the club fields over 50 teams. I mentioned this to a friend in Skerries and he told me that the Harps field over 70 teams! I'd wager that the dozen of Mayo's larger clubs wouldn't match that amount. Back in '91 (I think) a report commissioned by Central Council, stated that 5 Dublin clubs could field more underage players than any of five named counties. The situation has not gotten any better in the interim and that's for sure.
The main purpose of the report however was to examine and and assess the rate of fallout as younger players start to move up to the grades.
Dublin was by far the county with the highest drop out. Far more kids, percentage wise, joined GAA clubs than in any other county but the numbers leaving were equally well in front of any other county. Another big concern was that the percentage of those former players severed connection with the club they had played for.
I'd say that 90% plus of the population of Castlebar were solidly behind the Mitchels as they prepared for the final. The commission report referred to the penetration rate, the percentage of the local population that would support the local club.
Would the 'penetration rate' in Firhouse be in double figures? I very much doubt it. The GAA are losing their share of the market as it were, and nowhere as pronounced as in Dublin. The number of super clubs in Dublin is increasing while clubs in Mayo are amalgamating due to the effects of rural depopulation. There are many other counties in the same boat as Mayo and things are not going to change for any of them anytime soon.
If Dublin keep mopping up national titles while at the same time losing a larger and larger share of potential members and supporters, the outlook is bleak for the GAA in general.

Was driving around the area just before the club final and couldn't see ONE flag stuck out the window of a house. Apart from the flags and bunting outside their grounds you wouldn't have a clue anything was going on.

I saw plenty of flags around Rathfarnham.

`There was bound to be plenty of flags and bunting in some places as Boden is a big club but as Croi says, he was driving about the area and failed to see any. I mentioned Firhouse, in Boden's catchment region, as I have a nephew there who played underage hurling with the club and was a mad supporter in his younger days. Four or five of his mates played there with him so I expected to see a good few houses with Boden's colours but not a single one was to be seen.
The nephew doesn't dislike the club and he'd class himself as a Dub supporter but wearing a Dub jersey and heading to the pub to meet up with his mates whenever a Dublin match is televised is about as far as it goes for him.
Once one of his crowd dropped out, the rest followed suit and I know none of them bothers going near the club, let alone support it in any way. Needless, to say neither any of parents nor neighbours have the same sense of identification with the local club as you'll find in the small rural areas like Castlebar.
My point is that while, Boden is a successful club with a large number of members, it's share of the total market of potential supporters is slipping. When you realise that this is happening onn a county-wide scale, it's time to start worrying a bit....
Short term, doesn't matter...mid-term, maybe time to see what can be done... long-term, a niche sport for an elitist minority.

Boden hasn't got enough pitches to service the demand. Country people always make the mistake that GAA clubs can't survive in a large urban setting. They don't just survive - they thrive and are as closely knit as any rural parish.

Rugby has all the market penetration of sex under a wheelbarrow in Dublin if the truth be told. Nobody plays it after 18. GAA is king.

G'man Indy, you're making my case far better than I can!
Of course Boden, with over 50 teams, could use more pitches if there were green field sites available and so could most clubs in the capital.
Between the lot of them, they deserve unstinting praise from a high percentage of parents in the Dublin area. After all, they provide an unparalleled child minding service to harassed adults of all creeds and colours.
However, the dropout rate here is far higher than the national average and that was a cause of concern for Central Council as far back as 1991. Clubs may well have 4 or 5 teams or more in each of the under 15s but will only have at most two at minor level. (Heck, I'm only going by the findings of this report. Right now, I'm not taking sides in the overall debate.)
You may think Rugby has little or no penetration rate but somehow or another, there no problem filling the Aviva or the RDS for an interprovincial game. Money spent on following rugby activities is a potential loss to the GAA's coffers.
BTW, I never had sex under a wheelbarrow so I can't really comment on what it's like but I'll take you at your word.

[Jinxy]

Lar, as someone who lives in Dublin and has a good knowledge of the general sports scene on both sides of the river, I can tell you it is the GAA that's eating into rugby's participation base, not the other way around.
Nationally, where rugby is making inroads is in the provincial towns and more traditional 'rural' GAA areas, where they are coming from a very low base.
If you look at the traditional rugby powers in Dublin, they are tiny operations compared with the GAA superclubs like Kilmacud Crokes and Ballyboden.
And they're getting smaller by the year, which is why Blackrock were so desperate to enter into a ground-sharing deal with Cuala at Stradbrook.
The provincial scene has strangled club rugby in this country.

[seafoid]

Jinxy the way things are going Leinster and Munster rugby  will be a good bit lower profile over the next 5 to 10 years.

[Jinxy]

The concussion thing doesn't help either.
If you're a yummy mummy in Stillorgan and its a choice between sending little Fionn down to the nursery in Crokes or sending him to a rugby club, you'll probably go with the former.
The GAA is now an acceptable middle class pursuit in what would previously have been considered rugby heartlands.
The dominance of the schools rugby scene over the juvenile club rugby scene is another factor.
For those that make their schools senior cup team, that will be the pinnacle of their rugby career.
If you don't get an academy contract, it's a choice between playing in front of two men and a dog for the rest of your rugby career, or just giving it up altogether.
As most of them will not have played for a club during their secondary school years, they don't have the same ties a footballer or hurler of the same age would have with their local club.
Its easy enough to just walk away.