A fully fit Meath team can challenge Dublin in Leinster

Kildare on their day with a few things going for them can give Dublin a game too

But this year I feel Meath are in a better place

Simply because they have pretty much everyone available to them

They were unlucky last year with injuries...

Looking at the draw it looks likely that it'll be another Dublin v Meath final

On the day - I expect Meath to be far closer than last years mauling...

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 13/04/2015 16:27:27    1713807

Greenfield in not having a go, and i agree with majority of your points, but alot of meaths woes have to be put down to bad clubs, i think the clubs have a serious problem in Meath atm , they cant compete outside of county at all, and as you know on Meath forum the debate raged re 5 players from one intermediate club on senior county team. Now my view is that if your good enough you play regardless of club position, but club football from what ive been told and read is at a low point within Meath at the moment.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 13/04/2015 17:28:21    1713829

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 7204

1713505
So it isn't a fact that Dublin received roughly 1.7 million Euros from Croke Park last year while the likes of Tyrone only received 50 odd thousand??? Of course you and other Dublin fans will not complain about the status quo, it doesn't suit you to bite the hand that feeds you. I know Antrim have serious internal problems but give us JUST a fraction of what Dublin receive for coaching and infrastructure and maybe we will make a fist of it. Even the other Leinster fans on HS are highlighting the massive injustice and unfairness at play within the GAA, ALL weighted in Dublin's favour; millions from the GAA, home advantage in most games, a compliant worshipping media and massive advertising revenue......and you STILL deny it's NOT a level playing field. Dearie, dearie me! There are none so blind as those that cannot see.
13/04/2015 10:06:08

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Ulsterman I have produced facts and figures on games development fund allocations several times on this forum in the past. As expected you have understated the Tyrone figure by more than half. Perhaps you are getting your figures from the anti-South Northern media! Tyrone received €119K in 2014 for a population of about 150K. Just shy of €1 per head and Tyrone is not a dual county. Dublin received €1.5 million covering a population of 1.4 million. Just over €1 per head but Dublin is a dual county.

Probably best if you research your 'facts' in future Ulsterman. Do try to keep up!

There are none so blind as those that can not see is right.

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4700 - 13/04/2015 18:06:31    1713846

I that is a good and honest post Greenfield, but sometimes i think some counties over exaggerate the amount of coaches we have and our resources. so it takes the pressure of them ,They can say sure whats the point we cant compete with the Dubs .sure they have this and that and the other. Banty last year stated most of out players only worked part time and were near proffesional in the lead up to the Monaghon game.( i did a list at the time which clearly showed the job diversity our players had ) The question has to be if Donegal can get themselves into a top team , Monaghon are improving all the time, Mayo over the last 5 years have become a top team, why have Meath a football mad county with no hurling distraction let themselves fall back. Why have Kildare gone to Div 3. Is this the fault of the Dubs? When in the qualifiers away from the Dubs why are ye not pushing on then. While their is truth that Dublin have things easier as regards sponsorship and off course you can never have enough guys and girls going into schools teaching kids the skills of the game,, i think a lot of counties have to look at themselves.

AthCliath (Dublin) - Posts: 4347 - 13/04/2015 18:45:07    1713861

royaldunne
County: Meath
Posts: 7226

1713431
Joxer , the Leinster council need the money that Dublin generates.

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What's that got to do with Dublin's wins? Are you suggesting, as Ulsterman is, that the 32 member LC GAA committee (two reps from each county included) are somehow in collusion with the match officials and the higher echelons of the organisation to ensure that Dublin (many neutrals might say that this team is one of the finest in recent times) progress so that their coffers might be swelled slightly by the Dub supporters hard earned cash? While you would expect this kind of tripe from Ulsterman, I am guessing that you are not suggesting this. Where was this 'favouritism' when Dublin were not kings of Leinster and where is it when they get out of Leinster? The only 'soft' kickable free that Dublin got yesterday was when Rock was tripped and had the ref let play develop, like he is supposed to, then Dublin had a man in possession bearing down on goal. A decision like that hardly backs up Ulsterman's conspiracy theory. Anyway like I say, I am guessing that you are just stating a fact and not trying to back up any conspiracy theory :)

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4700 - 13/04/2015 19:40:46    1713876

Dublin need more money than smaller counties, the money is prorated based upon population. The other thing is that teams come and go in all provinces. The province that does the best per head of population would be Connacht once you look at club titles and under age and the odd senior title. The concern with Leinster might be that Dublin is winning a lot of u-21...all their All Irelands come since 2004 and no other county in Leinster got a sniff.....I hope this changes soon, meanwhile Roscommon should collect another win for the west.

suckvalleypaddy (Galway) - Posts: 1669 - 13/04/2015 19:51:46    1713882

Joxer first of all settle down, that was not what i was implying one bit, my only problem with Leinster council and Dublin is that in no way should Dublin play quarter finals of Leinster in croke park , actually i think even semis should be kept out of croke park, and should be the preserves of the final itself. Leinster council needs the extra money regardless of the fact that portlaoise could accommodate them.
As for ulster man and agreeing with him? Not one bit , meaths situation is totally down to former county boards and their lack of infrastructure in building youth teams, they just thought the good times would continue to roll, i have seen no Meath supporter suggest that we are where we are cause of money going to Dublin, if you misunderstood my comment's then i apologise, but my concern is solely on the devaluing of croke park not by dubs but by Leinster council.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 13/04/2015 20:31:47    1713899

Ulsterman making stuff up again.

Theres a few lads on here who need to research their arguments!

JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 13/04/2015 20:55:19    1713911

Joxer
Leinster football has been on a slide ever since Kilkenny once a bastion of Leinster football ceased to take an interest in gaelic football after they won their third Leinster title.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4321 - 13/04/2015 21:40:08    1713928

royaldunne
County: Meath
Posts: 7228

1713899
Joxer first of all settle down, that was not what i was implying one bit, my only problem with Leinster council and Dublin is that in no way should Dublin play quarter finals of Leinster in croke park , actually i think even semis should be kept out of croke park, and should be the preserves of the final itself. Leinster council needs the extra money regardless of the fact that portlaoise could accommodate them.
As for ulster man and agreeing with him? Not one bit , meaths situation is totally down to former county boards and their lack of infrastructure in building youth teams, they just thought the good times would continue to roll, i have seen no Meath supporter suggest that we are where we are cause of money going to Dublin, if you misunderstood my comment's then i apologise, but my concern is solely on the devaluing of croke park not by dubs but by Leinster council.

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I don't doubt you Royaldunne. Your comment about the LC needing Dublin winning followed straight from UMs suggestion that as long as Dublin are winning then the LC doesn't give a monkeys so I hope you see where I was coming from. This was all in the context of UM's comment that Dublin got some 'easy frees' yesterday. So I think you know where this is going.

Anyway, completely agree with you on usage of CP and every Dub I know would support that. Unfortunately there are only 2 Dubs out of the members representing the counties on the 32 man LC committee. Obviously all/most of the reps from the other counties don't agree with us though and that is a crying shame IMO.

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4700 - 13/04/2015 21:41:04    1713929

I think basing the amount of funding allocated on population is a flawed argument to be honest, thats basically saying in Dublin that 1.4 million people are all in the GAA, when in fact dublin for its population has less GAA clubs than Cork (albeit bigger numbers in most Clubs). The fact is that Dublin have been treated very favourably in the form of funding compared to other counties, to claim otherwise is folly to be honest. The fact is in 2014 Dublin received more funding than the other 31 counties combined, in fact the difference between the top level of funding in Dublin and the second biggest level of funding is staggering, Dublin received €1.46 million while Cork in 2nd place received €69,000. Thats just last year. On top of that Dublin have also managed to secure the biggest sponsorship deals to supplement the funding received.

Now to be frank thats not the fault of Dublin GAA or the ordinary GAA man in Dublin, if its been given to them they are not going to turn it down, why should they and to be fair they have made the most of what has been given and have invested in excellently while other counties such as my own have wasted money left right and centre and wonder why we are struggling to catch up.

In regards to Leinster football lets be honest its not really much different than it has always been. Dublin have always been the top team arguably with the likes of Meath being their closest challengers and the odd upsurge from Kildare, Westmeath, Loais and to a lesser extent Wexford. Now bringing the Dubs out of Croke park for a change would help. The fact is its closing in on nearly a decade since the Dubs played outside of Croke Park, since that time Rugby and Soccer have been and gone from Croke Park. Its a huge advantage for Dublin to be fair, but again thats not the fault of Dublin GAA. They are not demanding that every game be played in Croke Park, in fact they would eb quite happy to go elsewhere.

The fact is it comes down to money for the GAA. We kid ourselves sometimes in believeing that at the top level is still all about the games for the GAA, its isnt, its all about money and the business model. In pure business terms investing the vast majority of your funding into the largest population is the smart thing to do, it in turn will hopefully result in more membership and in turn more money. Again the Dubs fill Croker, why ahve games outside of Croker and lose out on that extra money, but again none of this is the fault of Dublin so having a go at them is pointless. Its further up the food chain that needs to be looked at.

Leinster football is where its more or less always been at to be fair, the difference is Dublin are stronger in my opinion than they have ever been, even better than during the 70's, thats the difference, this Dublin team is on the verge in my opinion of an era where they may be one of the top teams of all time.

tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1338 - 14/04/2015 09:23:27    1713962

Not so sure I agree with all of that Tearintom. We are talking about development funding here right? I've looked at different sources of these figures before and they tend to vary only slightly. I don't have them to hand just now but the article below would suggest that your figure for Cork is way off and so too is your claim that Dublin receive more than the other 31 counties combined. Again per head of population Dublin's allocation is about right I would say. Look at Kerry's figure for example for a population of about 145K. So I don't see where the very favourable argument comes in.

I would also argue that population is a fair way to allocate funds. Remember that this money is to develop AND promote the games. The DCB is challenged with promoting the games to 1.4 million people and nowhere is the competition against other sports more fierce than in the capital.

http://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/dublin-faces-cuts-as-gaa-plans-big-financial-revamp-30683408.html

On the point of Dublin's sponsorship. Surely this is irrelevant. It's Dublin's work and drive that secures this. If it was relevant to how much central funding you received then why bother trying to secure it in the first place? Why should Dublin be penalised for drumming up their own sponsorship deals?

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4700 - 14/04/2015 12:05:58    1714028

all that has happened is its gone back to the mid- late seventies when Dublin ruled Leinster. From memory I remember back then that Meath and Kildare weren't really in the picture.

crikey (Australia) - Posts: 355 - 15/04/2015 15:30:51    1714535

crikey

Dublin were very strong in the 70s, they won 6 Leinsters in a row but that was sandwiched in between 3 Offaly wins either side plus Meath wasn't too far behind them, like we didn't suffer 16 point Leinster final defeats to them. Dublin are an ever constant threat in Leinster but they haven't had this sort of unchallenged dominance in the east since the early years of the Leinster championship up until 1908.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 15/04/2015 16:38:25    1714565

Yeah apart from the 5 past cluxton game in 10 Dublin would have something like 12 in a row? Am i right in saying that?

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 15/04/2015 16:50:54    1714571

Htaem
County: Meath
Posts: 6252


Some of the 70's Dub/Meath games went to the wire bigtime, people forget that!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8592 - 15/04/2015 18:10:48    1714604

Realdub oh you are right they did go to the wire, but i suppose last year really does look out of place, apart from 10 for us and 95 for dubs they have been tight enough affairs even in 13 until last 15 mins it was nip and tuck. Until your far superior fitness kicked in. I hope it was the kick Meath needed , unfortunately we will not know until Leinster final shall we meet.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 15/04/2015 19:44:00    1714639

royaldunne
County: Meath
Posts: 7239

1714571
Yeah apart from the 5 past cluxton game in 10 Dublin would have something like 12 in a row? Am i right in saying that?

Meath's previous victory over Dublin before 2010 was in 2001's Leinster Final. Meath went on to hammer Kerry in the semi-final and themselves get hammered by Galway in the All-Ireland final. Prior to 2001 Dublin hadn't beaten Meath since 1995.

The following year Ray Cosgrove destroyed Fay and Meath's dominance over Dublin was eneded.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13709 - 15/04/2015 20:43:15    1714648

To be fair Cosgrove didn't really destroy Fay,I think Cormac Sullivan made a few mistakes that day in goal.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 15/04/2015 21:24:16    1714664

Yes the 70s games were close (I've heard) but even the 5 games we played between Meath's 01 & 10 victories were very competitive even though Dublin won 4 of them (with 1 ending a draw thanks to a dramatic Cian Ward equaliser), particularly the 2 games in 2007 they were very exciting.

Since 2010 sadly we haven't kicked on at all and neither has any other Leinster team. In 12 we lost the final just before HT, 2013 was by far the most competitive even if the scoreline suggests otherwise but last year was an embarrassment, it was a bit like 1995.....of course we all know what happened the following year in 1996, so here's hoping :-)

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 15/04/2015 21:28:47    1714665