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Donal O'Gs Comments On Football In General And The TC In Particular

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Replying To wicklowsupport:  "A poster from one of the strong hurling counties took offense to me writing that the hurling championship shouldn't be called the 'All Ireland' as it is a glorified Munster championship plus one or two Leinster counties and Galway. Maybe they took offense as my statement has more than a grain of truth in it. DOG was involved in a game played in Australia a few years ago involving Kilkenny; designed to promote hurling worldwide. How detached from reality is that? This raised my eyebrows considering seventy five percent of Ireland is struggling to promote the game and put out a team at any meaningful level. Hurling is a skillful game but in terms of promotion and participation, football is played more at a decent level throughout Ireland compared to hurling. The problem we have in football is there are 'professional' counties competing against 'amateur' counties which causes mismatches particularly at provincial level. In my opinion, hurling as a product is actually in decline. There is a huge problem with the ball being thrown plus I think the introduction of a lighter ball has resulted in higher scores per game but equally it has resulted in a large number of players being bypassed during games. DOG comments were meant to be controversial but his comments actually gave people something to talk about especially when the Sunday Game as a product this season has been dull and devoid of anything meaningful in terms of punditry."
The football championship shouldn't be called the all Ireland then either should it, seeing as how half the counties don't compete in it, and there are only a few realistic contenders per year?

Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1739 - 16/05/2023 19:02:11    2479088

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Replying To Crinigan:  "Just the usual hurling high horse mentality. These types live in a bubble - nobody in the world gives a fiddlers or has any interest in the sport outside of a few counties in Ireland. To me it's incredibly boring and over rated - ball is either out of play or high up in the air and you can score a point from literally anywhere. I turn it over as soon as I see it on tv and I know many like this - there is a reason it's a dying sport. Donal Og would want to wake up."
Those comments you just made are every bit as nasty and spiteful as anything Dónal Óg said, so dont throw stones if you're in a glass house.
It'll be a sad day for sport in this country if hurling ever does "die".

Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1739 - 16/05/2023 19:04:31    2479089

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Eh, Donal Og Cusack has his two cents on football?
Hardly news worthy.

streaker (Galway) - Posts: 498 - 16/05/2023 19:19:52    2479094

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Replying To Eddie the Exile:  "Take no notice of that man. He was in the driving seat of the disastrous pay-for-play push by a Cork senior hurling cohort in 2002-2005, they haven't recovered since. Of course, pay for play would have inevitably led to pay-per view but DOC wouldn't have cared much in that context. Hurling, the great game that it is at the top level, is lucky that it doesn't get more exposure. It would ruin the brand to have any of the 20+ point margin games on the TV, and they happen a lot."
Aren't loads of football matches totally one sided too though?
The Sunday game had 4 football provincial finals on the last two weekends and 3 of them were a complete waste of time for everyone involved,, and loads of football people even hated the ulster final (though tbh I thought it was great).
And even though there are loads of football matches still to be played,the format means that you'll probably be able to count on one hand the amount of them that will be tense and have the fans excited between now and the end of the season.

Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1739 - 16/05/2023 19:24:50    2479095

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Replying To Galway9801:  "Aren't loads of football matches totally one sided too though?
The Sunday game had 4 football provincial finals on the last two weekends and 3 of them were a complete waste of time for everyone involved,, and loads of football people even hated the ulster final (though tbh I thought it was great).
And even though there are loads of football matches still to be played,the format means that you'll probably be able to count on one hand the amount of them that will be tense and have the fans excited between now and the end of the season."
I enjoyed the Ulster final also. Usually I enjoy any Ulster Football Championship games I see because the result is in the balance right up til the end. That along with a bit of goalmouth action are the most important things for me in a game. Superlative bits of skill or flowing football are all OK but they are the icing on the cake is all. If the game isn't close and competitive then there is no cake.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 12128 - 16/05/2023 20:31:57    2479106

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Donal Og's comments on football and Tailteann Cup were wrong, but the responses from Spillane, and from some of the posters here, are equally out of order.

midlands (Westmeath) - Posts: 546 - 16/05/2023 22:24:19    2479127

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Replying To Galway9801:  "Aren't loads of football matches totally one sided too though?
The Sunday game had 4 football provincial finals on the last two weekends and 3 of them were a complete waste of time for everyone involved,, and loads of football people even hated the ulster final (though tbh I thought it was great).
And even though there are loads of football matches still to be played,the format means that you'll probably be able to count on one hand the amount of them that will be tense and have the fans excited between now and the end of the season."
Of course there are one sided football matches, but that is at least acknowledged and debated. Poor quality hurling contests on the other hand are not exposed to the same scrutiny. The point is that if they were, some of the hyperbole around hurling would be more difficult to justify.
More 'exposure' of hurling would inevitably mean more poor quality games for the casual supporter to watch. That might have the opposite effect to intended.

Eddie the Exile (Monaghan) - Posts: 1064 - 16/05/2023 23:06:46    2479132

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I wouldn't be a great hurling fan but tuned in to a few of the Munster Championship games and they were brilliant. Thoroughly enjoyable and really exciting. I have seen DoG a good few times lamenting the lack of promotion of hurling but it would be secondary to football in many counties. North of Dublin, bar Antrim it pales into insignificance mostly. As for DoG comments on the Tailteann Cup that just came across as sour grapes. Try telling the Carlow footballers that the TC is meaningless because they didn't celebrate their win over Wicklow like it meant nothing.

Jazzyjeff (Derry) - Posts: 166 - 17/05/2023 08:11:10    2479140

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Tongue in cheek comment and D Og certainly got the reaction he wanted.

dingle82 (Down) - Posts: 214 - 17/05/2023 09:30:27    2479152

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I don't see what Donal Og gains from disparaging the Tailtean Cup? Is his gripe that the existence of the competition leads to it being covered more on TSG and hurling gets less coverage as a result? If he wanted to argue that Hurling and football should have separate highlight shows then that would at least make sense, especially with the huge increase in games.

PK57 (Louth) - Posts: 1656 - 17/05/2023 09:41:01    2479154

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If Donal Og really wanted to promote hurling he would be going to some of the McDonagh, Ring, Rackard and Meagher matches and doing in depth analysis and coverage on them rather than getting on his soapbox about football and what is happening there.
Then again why RTE have given him a platform is beyond me, maybe O'Rourke has a point..

keepitlit (Longford) - Posts: 36 - 17/05/2023 09:57:23    2479163

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Replying To Galway9801:  "The football championship shouldn't be called the all Ireland then either should it, seeing as how half the counties don't compete in it, and there are only a few realistic contenders per year?"
No, I agree the football championship shouldn't be termed the All Ireland but at least in the football there are 16 teams competing for the title. Yes, it could be argued that there are probably only 5 or 6 teams that can realistically win the football championship which also applies realistically to the hurling championship. The main difference I see between the football and the hurling is there are a lot of counties that play in two football championships than compete in the hurling equivalents. I don't agree that there should be a third tier in the football championship. The provincial should be scrapped as it is not working. If you look at the two provincial championship that are a success: muster in hurling and ulster in football, in my opinion, the reason they are success is that all the counties are predominantly focusing on one code - football in ulster with the exception of Antrim and hurling in muster with the exception of Kerry. Maybe, there in lies the solution. Should counties focus on the code they are strongest in and not try to compete in two codes? Cork, Galway and Dublin are probably the only counties that are playing both to a high standard but maybe this is down to resources and playing population.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 1916 - 17/05/2023 10:36:31    2479185

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Replying To Crinigan:  "Just the usual hurling high horse mentality. These types live in a bubble - nobody in the world gives a fiddlers or has any interest in the sport outside of a few counties in Ireland. To me it's incredibly boring and over rated - ball is either out of play or high up in the air and you can score a point from literally anywhere. I turn it over as soon as I see it on tv and I know many like this - there is a reason it's a dying sport. Donal Og would want to wake up."
there was one game of u 20 hurling last year, it was claimed to be a classic, between scores.wides,65s,frees,subs the ref blew the whistle 91 times in 60 /63 minutes, boring in understatement

Stmunnsriver (Wexford) - Posts: 2848 - 17/05/2023 11:07:18    2479202

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Replying To Stmunnsriver:  "there was one game of u 20 hurling last year, it was claimed to be a classic, between scores.wides,65s,frees,subs the ref blew the whistle 91 times in 60 /63 minutes, boring in understatement"
Keepers must have had sore arms with puck outs

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1007 - 17/05/2023 11:30:16    2479215

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I wouldn't be getting too hung up on Dobal og's football comments.

His real target was the cosy arrangement between rte and gaa go and the GAA itself. I would wholeheartedly agree with his sentiments regarding ppv and coverage of hurling. It is our national game. The notion of free to air is a nonsense, we all pay our tv licence which rte get anyway.

The gaa at the top level are pushing this hard irrespective of what the faithful might think. Its been a poor couple of years for the GAA, cashless turnstiles marginalising the elderly, club final debacle, allegations of DV being ignored and the GAA go ppv mess. There is a total disregard for grass roots and what is going on there from those at executive level. I would sincerely hope that jarlath burns will be his own man when he takes over a president and not be a patsy for the establishment.

totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 922 - 17/05/2023 11:47:51    2479220

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Replying To Freethinker:  "Keepers must have had sore arms with puck outs"
ref must have had sore lips

Stmunnsriver (Wexford) - Posts: 2848 - 17/05/2023 11:49:27    2479221

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There are few things more cringe than listening to the likes of Donal Og talk about hurling and trying so desperately hard to make it out to be something it's not.

oneoff (UK) - Posts: 1380 - 17/05/2023 11:54:37    2479225

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Replying To yew_tree:  "Just the veil dropping that we all know is there among certain hurling people."
Totally agree. One of the reasons why I really don't like hurling

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 17/05/2023 12:25:56    2479232

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Replying To oneoff:  "There are few things more cringe than listening to the likes of Donal Og talk about hurling and trying so desperately hard to make it out to be something it's not."
I agree. It's a minority sport that has little appeal outside a small number of counties. Yet corporations are expected to bow down to it.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 17/05/2023 12:40:17    2479235

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Totally agree. One of the reasons why I really don't like hurling"
I love watching a good hurling game. The skill is amazing but I prefer football.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11241 - 17/05/2023 13:05:58    2479239

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