It is well known how little respect Kerry have for the league, yet they have won that competition more times than the 9 Ulster counties combined! This chat of Kerry not being able to win All-Irelands if they had to come through Ulster is awfully tiresome. They have a 100% record in the qualifiers as well just for good measure. The things that can be achieved with great footballers is remarkable.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 10/10/2014 14:47:06    1662397

Personally, I'd welcome an All-Ireland open draw and the end of a provincial system. A league system with home and away games and then some sort of play off system at the end - seems to me the fair way to go.

The more competitive games good players get, the better they will be, and believe it or not that is advantage to the likes of Kerry because they have plenty of good footballers as it is by far the number one played sport in the county.

What is often conveniently ignored is the standard of inter-county teams in Munster is not that bad comparatively with teams from other provinces around the country. Clare, Tipperary, Limerick or Waterford would more than hold their own with a lot of counties in Connacht, Leinster and Ulster. Ulster gaels seem to crow the loudest about Kerry's unfair advantage in Munster but yet they do not want to see the Ulster Championship abandoned - you can't have it both ways.

As I said at the beginning, I long for the open draw. I often say to people that we never got to see enough of the best of the 78-86 Kerry team because actually there game time was so limited by the existing system - playing sometimes maybe only 3 serious games to win a championship. Ask any inter-county player (at least the Kerry boys) and to a man they would you tell they would rather have more games than training. The frustrating thing for inter-county players is the amount of training versus the actual amount of limited game time.

I actually think the provincial system has to change and the catalyst for change may well be Dublin. As the standards in Leinster slip, it is actually detrimental to Dublin who remain totally unchallenged in their province and the situation is likely to get worse - with not even one serious challenger. Dublin were left cold by their stroll through Leinster and no team in Leinster put it up to Dublin unlike Clare, who actually did give Kerry a serious testing and gave the Kerry management food for thought. What lessons did Dublin learn in Leinster? Not one! What is not good for Dublin, sooner rather later, tends not to be good for the GAA and so it is only a matter of time before we see a change and rightly so.

Kingdomson (Kerry) - Posts: 244 - 10/10/2014 15:57:11    1662417

Kingdomson A great post and it is refreshing to see a Kerry man admit that the system is flawed. I do not quite agree that the Munster counties mentioned would consistently compete well in a heat of the battle Ulster Championship, possibly against the weaker counties in the province but even then I would fancy Antrim and Fermanagh to win through. But I agree change is on the way and it will do the sport good.

sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 10/10/2014 16:16:05    1662430

I dont think that there are too many anti Kerry.Kerry won the All Ireland fair and square and 99% of us congratulate you.The 1% anti seem to be the few begrudging posters we see here and its only a few.I dont know what ye did to Roscommon to get such an anti response. I am from a neighbouring county that suffered at your hands a few years ago when we got close to you but even though I was cheering for Donegal in the final I applaud your team and congratulate you.I was in Tralee last weekend and the Donegal supporters got great praise from ye Kerry people,now some Mayo supporters didnt.Anyway well done.Kerry could be placed in any province and they would still win.

naharcs (Limerick) - Posts: 59 - 10/10/2014 16:26:37    1662437

the idea that kerry wouldnt win if they were in ulster is utter nonsense soma i agree...they would get tougher games though yes some years i would argue and get beaten some days..but when it comes down to it they would still win more often than not....cork are as good if not better than every ulster side every year bar 1-2 usually so there playing a top class opponent every year so at least theres that while in leinster there is utterly nothing to challenge the dubs..an overrated kildare side when mcgeeney was with them was the height of it in recent years

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 10/10/2014 16:37:40    1662445

i really do hope the system is changed soon and freshened up as people are just tired of it at the minute and the product really does need to change

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 10/10/2014 16:43:18    1662452

Do ye really think we couldn't win Ulster?
We beat the best Ulster team of the past 5 years.
Ulster is competitive don't mistake that for Good!

westkerry (Kerry) - Posts: 1250 - 10/10/2014 17:05:37    1662462

sam1884 if only there was a recent championship game that would indicate whether Limerick would be capable of beating Ulster sides like Antrim....And Limerick are unfortunately a distant 5th in terms of sides in Munster, but this is partly due to the real progress Tipp and Clare are making. If you swapped Tipp and Clare for Antrim and Cavan I would give them a real chance of making the Ulster final, however I would give Cavan and Antrim absolutely no chance of making the Munster final.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 10/10/2014 17:07:21    1662466

Do Kerry have an unfair advantage?

Paddypower odds on this year's finalists winning next year's All Ireland are Kerry at 7/2 and Donegal at 14/1. That gap might just be a reflection that the draw gives Kerry an advantage.

As for Kerry beating an Ulster Team this year, so did Tyrone but we would have had to beat another 3 of them to win the province.

tyroneed (Tyrone) - Posts: 753 - 10/10/2014 18:30:16    1662497

Ulster is totally overated there are alot of teams in Ulster that would
not make the Munster final they would have to beat Kerry and Cork to get there
at the moment Donegal might make it without Mcguinness im not sure stop blown
hot air about Ulster

wfkerry (USA) - Posts: 933 - 10/10/2014 20:13:19    1662527

wfkerry. Half the teams in Division 1 are from Ulster.

tyroneed (Tyrone) - Posts: 753 - 10/10/2014 20:46:18    1662536

wfkerry
County: USA
Posts: 712

1662527
Ulster is totally overated there are alot of teams in Ulster that would
not make the Munster final they would have to beat Kerry and Cork to get there
at the moment Donegal might make it without Mcguinness im not sure stop blown
hot air about Ulster

It would depend on the draw and where the semi finals were played.

Lets pretend any of the ulster teams, take down for example, drew waterford or limerick in the first round. Then the semi final would be a 33% chance of playing kerry or cork. Now if that game were to be played in killarney or cork then yes either kerry or cork would be raging hot favorites to make the final. Lets even pretend down drew clare in the semi and beat them, and then faced kerry/cork in the final. If it were played outside of killarney or cork then they would have some chance, otherwise they wouldnt have much.

Lets pretend that donegal, armagh or tyrone got to the semis. Then it would be interesting. It would all hinge on where the semis were to be played, and of course the finals. The semis are all played in a neutral venue in ulster.

I think that there is a perceived notion that ulster counties moan about things a lot re the competitive nature of ulster and thus a longer season. I would say that it is an issue, but it would not be a deal breaker in terms of whether a potentially all ireland winning team from ulster would be negatively effected by burnout or injury. Simply, if a team are really good enough, they will go through a wall to win it.

Teams that have been definitely effected by the ravages of ulster would include monaghan this year v dublin, they just couldnt give it their best shot as they were involved in so much football before that game.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 10/10/2014 20:52:58    1662540

Mayo are the true champions this year. Poor refereeing and playing replay in Munster Limerick handed them the title. Wake up people. Mayo were robbed!!!. Mayo were robbed.
Why was'nt the semi replay held in Sligo? Answer the GAA hatred of the Connacht teams and to a lesser extent the Dubs. The reason why the Semi replay was held in Limerick Munster was to punish the Dubs imo. The pro Kerry GAA establishment felth the Dubs were too cocky and also that Kerry deserved an All Ireland after 4 years.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2519 - 10/10/2014 21:15:58    1662545

Tyrone in 2008 played 9/10? games to win Sam, they went on to beat Kerry in the final,why did they win, simply they were the best team in the land that year.
My point is the best team wins Sam every year.
Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision.

kerryrowz (Kerry) - Posts: 833 - 11/10/2014 11:08:24    1662595

I will try one more time would Kerry win ulster from tyrone/Donegal draw?

thebadbounce (Galway) - Posts: 87 - 11/10/2014 11:22:08    1662598

kerryrowz
County: Kerry

My point is the best team wins Sam every year.
Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision.

Strongly agree with first half of this statement.

Partially agree with second part of this statement. Champions have to have desire and vision. But they also have got to have the gym, tactics, preparation, drills of set pieces, big squad, gamesmanship and timing your peak fitness for the end of september.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 11/10/2014 11:23:45    1662599

Lads its farcical.Could you imagine a Champions League draw with Real Madrid being picked in a handy group of 5 annually,while Bayern get picked in a 9 team group of death every year and Barca being drawn in a group of 12 every year.Haha stop will ye tis gone beyond a joke about 30 years ago.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 11/10/2014 12:24:30    1662618

Handy group of 6.I forgot about Waterford.An easy mistake.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 11/10/2014 12:39:05    1662622

current system is just so outdated and shambolic..change needed urgently

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 11/10/2014 12:39:26    1662623

thebadbounce
County: Galway
Posts: 47

1662598
I will try one more time would Kerry win ulster from tyrone/Donegal draw?

They would have a good chance, but it would be all on the day. It would also depend on home advantage in the first round, although they would have to travel to armagh if they got passed tyrone/donegal. Then they would be looking good, if they won the second game that is.

Impossible to know for sure, but they would no doubt be favorites to win ulster but only narrowly.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 11/10/2014 13:26:50    1662635