NFL Division 1

[Armagh18]

Have no League Finals.
Top team wins and is given a home draw in the AI.

Wise up with your crazy (100% sensible) ideas.
Always thought league finals were a waste of time, especially when you go down the divisions.
Maybe of top 2 teams in Div 1 are level on points play a final, but otherwise just use league position, like any other league.
League finals are just a revenue generator.

I see where you're coming from but then think of the likes of Leitrim a few years ago when they got to a league final, must have took most of the county to Croker for whats probably a lot of counties only chance at getting there to play for silverware, wouldn't like that to be taken away.

Don't get me wrong - if your team is in it, it's an occasion. I thoroughly enjoyed Derry v Dublin league final a couple of years ago.
But if the finals were done away with, that league game that cements the league win for you becomes a final of sorts. I get your point though on getting to play in croker, taking that away from the lower leagues makes croke park a venue for the elites only, and I don't like that either.

Proper scheduling so that teams aren't looking at the league with an eye on their provincial championships and having to weigh up the risk vs reward of going hard at a league title

[JoG2]

Have no League Finals.
Top team wins and is given a home draw in the AI.

Wise up with your crazy (100% sensible) ideas.
Always thought league finals were a waste of time, especially when you go down the divisions.
Maybe of top 2 teams in Div 1 are level on points play a final, but otherwise just use league position, like any other league.
League finals are just a revenue generator.

I see where you're coming from but then think of the likes of Leitrim a few years ago when they got to a league final, must have took most of the county to Croker for whats probably a lot of counties only chance at getting there to play for silverware, wouldn't like that to be taken away.

Don't get me wrong - if your team is in it, it's an occasion. I thoroughly enjoyed Derry v Dublin league final a couple of years ago.
But if the finals were done away with, that league game that cements the league win for you becomes a final of sorts. I get your point though on getting to play in croker, taking that away from the lower leagues makes croke park a venue for the elites only, and I don't like that either.

Proper scheduling so that teams aren't looking at the league with an eye on their provincial championships and having to weigh up the risk vs reward of going hard at a league title

Run the league games off with no breaks in-between, would save 2 weeks. Teams may have to rotate or dig into their squad more, sure that's no bad thing pre-championship

[Blowitupref]

Have no League Finals.
Top team wins and is given a home draw in the AI.

Wise up with your crazy (100% sensible) ideas.
Always thought league finals were a waste of time, especially when you go down the divisions.
Maybe of top 2 teams in Div 1 are level on points play a final, but otherwise just use league position, like any other league.
League finals are just a revenue generator.

I see where you're coming from but then think of the likes of Leitrim a few years ago when they got to a league final, must have took most of the county to Croker for whats probably a lot of counties only chance at getting there to play for silverware, wouldn't like that to be taken away.

Don't get me wrong - if your team is in it, it's an occasion. I thoroughly enjoyed Derry v Dublin league final a couple of years ago.
But if the finals were done away with, that league game that cements the league win for you becomes a final of sorts. I get your point though on getting to play in croker, taking that away from the lower leagues makes croke park a venue for the elites only, and I don't like that either.

Proper scheduling so that teams aren't looking at the league with an eye on their provincial championships and having to weigh up the risk vs reward of going hard at a league title

Run the league games off with no breaks in-between, would save 2 weeks. Teams may have to rotate or dig into their squad more, sure that's no bad thing pre-championship

Has been plenty of injuries with the three games in consecutive weeks, can imagine would be many more running off the league without any break. 

Probably need to forget about pre-season competitions at this stage and start the NFL the 1st or 2nd week of January.

[blanketattack]

Div 1 shouldn't have a final and maybe not 2 either.
Playing in Croke Park hardly a novelty for Div 1 teams.
Give Div 3 and 4 teams their day out.

[NAG1]

Maybe playing devils advocate a bit here, but looking in at the games the players seem to be enjoying actually getting a regular run of games instead of the slogging training.

I think it could be organised better but there is definitely something in increasing the number of games to training ratio.

It definitely is moving toward a more league based championship type combo.

[AustinPowers]

Div 1 shouldn't have a final and maybe not 2 either.
Playing in Croke Park hardly a novelty for Div 1 teams.
Give Div 3 and 4 teams their day out.

Deciding the winners  on who finishes top of the table , you'd need a helicopter in Athlone , ready to fly the trophy to  wherever was needed

If I recall , last year was very tight.  Donegal missed a late  pen v Mayo. Had they scored , they'd have reached the Div 1 final, and Mayo relegated.  Instead, Donegal missed, and  Mayo made the league final!

The league final has been  hugely devalued in recent years. The league is a great competition, very competitive, but few  Div 1 teams want to  actually win it. The  occasion of the NFL final was massive  in the 80's/90's. Such a shame.

[JoG2]

Have no League Finals.
Top team wins and is given a home draw in the AI.

Wise up with your crazy (100% sensible) ideas.
Always thought league finals were a waste of time, especially when you go down the divisions.
Maybe of top 2 teams in Div 1 are level on points play a final, but otherwise just use league position, like any other league.
League finals are just a revenue generator.

I see where you're coming from but then think of the likes of Leitrim a few years ago when they got to a league final, must have took most of the county to Croker for whats probably a lot of counties only chance at getting there to play for silverware, wouldn't like that to be taken away.

Don't get me wrong - if your team is in it, it's an occasion. I thoroughly enjoyed Derry v Dublin league final a couple of years ago.
But if the finals were done away with, that league game that cements the league win for you becomes a final of sorts. I get your point though on getting to play in croker, taking that away from the lower leagues makes croke park a venue for the elites only, and I don't like that either.

Proper scheduling so that teams aren't looking at the league with an eye on their provincial championships and having to weigh up the risk vs reward of going hard at a league title

Run the league games off with no breaks in-between, would save 2 weeks. Teams may have to rotate or dig into their squad more, sure that's no bad thing pre-championship

Has been plenty of injuries with the three games in consecutive weeks, can imagine would be many more running off the league without any break. 

Probably need to forget about pre-season competitions at this stage and start the NFL the 1st or 2nd week of January.

They'll always be levels of injuries during any given spell though Armagh for example having to play their C team the last two years is a bit of an outlier. Pros and cons to it all, if the league was brought forward into mid Jan , there  wouldn't be too many complaints? Don't think so

[blanketattack]

Div 1 shouldn't have a final and maybe not 2 either.
Playing in Croke Park hardly a novelty for Div 1 teams.
Give Div 3 and 4 teams their day out.

Deciding the winners  on who finishes top of the table , you'd need a helicopter in Athlone , ready to fly the trophy to  wherever was needed

If I recall , last year was very tight.  Donegal missed a late  pen v Mayo. Had they scored , they'd have reached the Div 1 final, and Mayo relegated.  Instead, Donegal missed, and  Mayo made the league final!

The league final has been  hugely devalued in recent years. The league is a great competition, very competitive, but few  Div 1 teams want to  actually win it. The  occasion of the NFL final was massive  in the 80's/90's. Such a shame.

Or have 1 or 2 replicas.
I doubt many people would know what the trophy for winning the league looks like, so the replica wouldn't even need to be that exact.
You could use the Munster or Leinster trophy and nobody would care. In fact, they might prefer it over one covered in "Allianz" paraphernalia

[fearsiuil]

Armagh brought a fine crowd with them Sunday to MacHale Park, some noise from stand when they were getting their scores in the last quarter. Not many counties outside of Connacht bring that following to Castlebar.

[Maroon Manc]

Great effort from the Donegal lads to get a draw out of that. Looked down and out playing a man down from the 30th minute, but kept at it and whittled away the Galway lead. Galway should have won it, missing a few good goal openings (great work again from Mulreany and McCole), and it was their own mistake in possession, playing a sloppy ball back into their own half to a marked player, that sparked the comeback.

Lovely two pointer from Mogan to salvage the draw. Murphy was superb after he came on.

Idiocy from Langan and McMenamin to put us down to 14 though.

Have ye many first choice lads to come back?
Travelling today and could not get stream to work so haven't seen the game.
We probably have four or five starters in Walsh, McDaid, Thompson and O'Laoi (think he'll start wing back) and possibly Fitzgerald.
Comer seems unlikely to be back.
That's about it

Galway threw that away, should have been a lot further ahead at half time and that's without the missed goal chances in the 2nd half. There was 3 really simple point chances missed from around 21m out with no Donegal man near them. Long distance frees are an issue, Gleeson has missed countless frees and 45's. I can't recall Tierney taking a 45 since his hamstring injury.

Joyce will be delighted by how well the new lads have all done, their all contributing but if Galway are going to have designs on winning the big one then they need Walsh, McDaid & Thompson contributing.

The media and the pundits seem very positive on Galway but its only the league, a potential Connacht Final is 9 weeks this Sunday on the basis they should beat Sligo.

[twohands!!!]

Great effort from the Donegal lads to get a draw out of that. Looked down and out playing a man down from the 30th minute, but kept at it and whittled away the Galway lead. Galway should have won it, missing a few good goal openings (great work again from Mulreany and McCole), and it was their own mistake in possession, playing a sloppy ball back into their own half to a marked player, that sparked the comeback.

Lovely two pointer from Mogan to salvage the draw. Murphy was superb after he came on.

Idiocy from Langan and McMenamin to put us down to 14 though.

Have ye many first choice lads to come back?
Travelling today and could not get stream to work so haven't seen the game.
We probably have four or five starters in Walsh, McDaid, Thompson and O'Laoi (think he'll start wing back) and possibly Fitzgerald.
Comer seems unlikely to be back.
That's about it

Galway threw that away, should have been a lot further ahead at half time and that's without the missed goal chances in the 2nd half. There was 3 really simple point chances missed from around 21m out with no Donegal man near them. Long distance frees are an issue, Gleeson has missed countless frees and 45's. I can't recall Tierney taking a 45 since his hamstring injury.

Joyce will be delighted by how well the new lads have all done, their all contributing but if Galway are going to have designs on winning the big one then they need Walsh, McDaid & Thompson contributing.

The media and the pundits seem very positive on Galway but its only the league, a potential Connacht Final is 9 weeks this Sunday on the basis they should beat Sligo.

Saw elsewhere that Donegal made 3 subs at HT (Murphy, Mogan and Roarty) who between them contributed 0-6 to the final scoreline while Joyce only made 3 subs who only played about half an hour total between them.(As I mentioned in the thread earlier it's rare when an intercounty manager only uses 3 subs in a game)

[Blowitupref]

Great effort from the Donegal lads to get a draw out of that. Looked down and out playing a man down from the 30th minute, but kept at it and whittled away the Galway lead. Galway should have won it, missing a few good goal openings (great work again from Mulreany and McCole), and it was their own mistake in possession, playing a sloppy ball back into their own half to a marked player, that sparked the comeback.

Lovely two pointer from Mogan to salvage the draw. Murphy was superb after he came on.

Idiocy from Langan and McMenamin to put us down to 14 though.

Have ye many first choice lads to come back?
Travelling today and could not get stream to work so haven't seen the game.
We probably have four or five starters in Walsh, McDaid, Thompson and O'Laoi (think he'll start wing back) and possibly Fitzgerald.
Comer seems unlikely to be back.
That's about it

Galway threw that away, should have been a lot further ahead at half time and that's without the missed goal chances in the 2nd half. There was 3 really simple point chances missed from around 21m out with no Donegal man near them. Long distance frees are an issue, Gleeson has missed countless frees and 45's. I can't recall Tierney taking a 45 since his hamstring injury.

Joyce will be delighted by how well the new lads have all done, their all contributing but if Galway are going to have designs on winning the big one then they need Walsh, McDaid & Thompson contributing.

The media and the pundits seem very positive on Galway but its only the league, a potential Connacht Final is 9 weeks this Sunday on the basis they should beat Sligo.

7 points ahead 15 v 14 was a prime opportunity to win but shooting which was 50% let Galway down. Still a point earned in a match favourites to lose and a win against Monaghan should more or less secure Division 1 status for Galway.

[J70]

Great effort from the Donegal lads to get a draw out of that. Looked down and out playing a man down from the 30th minute, but kept at it and whittled away the Galway lead. Galway should have won it, missing a few good goal openings (great work again from Mulreany and McCole), and it was their own mistake in possession, playing a sloppy ball back into their own half to a marked player, that sparked the comeback.

Lovely two pointer from Mogan to salvage the draw. Murphy was superb after he came on.

Idiocy from Langan and McMenamin to put us down to 14 though.

Have ye many first choice lads to come back?
Travelling today and could not get stream to work so haven't seen the game.
We probably have four or five starters in Walsh, McDaid, Thompson and O'Laoi (think he'll start wing back) and possibly Fitzgerald.
Comer seems unlikely to be back.
That's about it

Galway threw that away, should have been a lot further ahead at half time and that's without the missed goal chances in the 2nd half. There was 3 really simple point chances missed from around 21m out with no Donegal man near them. Long distance frees are an issue, Gleeson has missed countless frees and 45's. I can't recall Tierney taking a 45 since his hamstring injury.

Joyce will be delighted by how well the new lads have all done, their all contributing but if Galway are going to have designs on winning the big one then they need Walsh, McDaid & Thompson contributing.

The media and the pundits seem very positive on Galway but its only the league, a potential Connacht Final is 9 weeks this Sunday on the basis they should beat Sligo.

Saw elsewhere that Donegal made 3 subs at HT (Murphy, Mogan and Roarty) who between them contributed 0-6 to the final scoreline while Joyce only made 3 subs who only played about half an hour total between them.(As I mentioned in the thread earlier it's rare when an intercounty manager only uses 3 subs in a game)

The game turned on a sequence shortly after  McMenamin was sent off, where Galway were keeping possession around midfield, then a player played the ball back into his own half, only for Murphy to show up to force a turnover which lead to a Donegal point. That got the crowd and the Donegal team roused up just when it looked like Galway would cruise home with the six point lead ann ann extra man. Got Murphy going too where in his previous cameo against Mayo he had looked very rusty.

[GoldCoastRossie]

With no one wanting a league final maybe give the team that finished first in each division, a home final and allow the county to keep 80% of the gate or some other split and you might get a decent crowd at the game and a bit of local excitement.

[AustinPowers]

With no one wanting a league final maybe give the team that finished first in each division, a home final and allow the county to keep 80% of the gate or some other split and you might get a decent crowd at the game and a bit of local excitement.

I think  the problem is  more  to do with potentially having  a championship match 7 days after a league final , rather than not wanting  to win the league at all.

Armagh and Tyrone play  in the preliminary round in Ulster . If either  qualified for  a league final ,  I wouldn't imagine they'd go like  mad to win it,  even if it was  in front of their own fans. The championship game (potentially) a week  later would be of more importance