ziggy32001
County: Meath
Posts: 3075

1743283
A lot of good teams in Ulster,but only one is capable of winning Sam.

Yes I would have to agree, Donegal are possibly the only genuine contenders for the All Ireland right now.

But I do think the overall standard has really come on quite a bit since 2013 in Ulster. I don't mind threads like this, no harm in look at the state of the various counties.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 26/06/2015 20:55:56    1743288

The pub team of Ulster(Antrim) last weekend beat the side many pundits said were the one side likely to keep the score down against Dublin and rated the third best team in Leinster

Enough said

shaggykev (Donegal) - Posts: 204 - 27/06/2015 09:43:58    1743326

shaggykev
County: Donegal
Posts: 109

Really? Is that the crux of your point? One isolated result.

What conclusion should i draw from the fact Longford have knocked Derry out on at least two occasions in succession IIRC over the last few years.

One of Leinsters weaker teams beating one of Ulsters better teams. I draw nothing from it but by your logic........

seany16 (Dublin) - Posts: 1658 - 27/06/2015 11:01:57    1743350

Ulster is ultra competitive both short term and long term.

Short term you have every team making the final in the last 7 years. You have donegal who had won ulster the second least amount of times becoming semi dominant . That's like westmeath or offaly dominating leinster which would be great .

Long term you have a minnow of the last 20 years monaghan becoming the other semi dominant team . If it was the duopoly of Armagh and Tyrone of last decade it would be boring. Instead it's fresh .

Apart from this you still have fermanagh , Tyrone and cavan pushing the duopoly close and Armagh , Derry and down on their day can do the same.

Long story short it's by a mile the best province. No team looks set for endless dominance like in leinster but then again the funding is fairly shared .

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 27/06/2015 14:53:07    1743404

Donegal have been in half the ulster finals for the past 25 years, so it's not akin to Offaly or Westmeath becoming half decent.

Samsforthehills (Donegal) - Posts: 1072 - 27/06/2015 17:12:48    1743444

It is surely, I don't recall Derry last winning Ulster as I was 6 though I did get the privilege to sit in Samuel as a toddler.

4KHDoneill (Derry) - Posts: 182 - 27/06/2015 17:51:04    1743465

Armagh and Tyrone dominated the last decade. Donegal and Monaghan are the top dogs at this moment. It seems there will always be two dogs coming from the pack over a period of time. I would still fully expect the All-Ireland quarter-finals to consist of the Munster finalists, Connaught champions, Leinster champions and 4 Ulster counties. It'll be par for the course. The qualifiers ensure a competitive province will have that reflected in the number of teams in the quarter-finals.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7883 - 28/06/2015 08:54:20    1743607

To an extent legendzxix but you also have to allow for the luck of the draw including the A and B sides of the draw where you could see the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th strongest sides in one province (perhaps Monaghan, Tyrone, Derry and Armagh in Ulster) all in the one side fighting for two quarter final spots.

Throw in the fact that the qualifiers always seem to throw up more upsets for reasons I do not understand for good measure.

We then have the inbalance of number of teams from each province which I am undecided on the impact given that on one hand it gives you more chances if you come from a lager province but then this is offset by the shorter path to the later stages of the qualifiers for teams from smaller provinces.

And that is all before you get into the copetitiveness of provinces i.e. you could be dumped into the qualifiers at a much earlier stage and even come up against your conquerers in a later stage of qualifiers more readily from certain provinces.

For me any province that gets 3 representatives into All Ireland quarter finals in any given year is doing pretty well.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 28/06/2015 10:07:12    1743627

Samsforthehills
County: Donegal
Posts: 958

1743444
Donegal have been in half the ulster finals for the past 25 years, so it's not akin to Offaly or Westmeath becoming half decent.

Including the upcoming 2015 Ulst, Donegal will have contested 14 out of the last 26 Ulster final's.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 28/06/2015 11:12:54    1743669

Well Naysayer - to an extent that's why I've often argued that the qualifier draws should be seeded based on league placing. I've also argued that a Round of 16 should be brought in. The cream will always rise to the top regardless. Tyrone, Armagh and Derry can cause Dublin and Mayo problems on the B side of the draw. I have to admit, I am shocked that Ulster's Down were knocked out by Leinster's Wexford.

Ulster performances against non-Ulster oppostion so far:
1A: Cavan 2-22 London 0-11
1A: Antrim 2-15 Laois 1-16

1B: Armagh 2-17 Wicklow 2-7
1B: Wexford 2-16 Down 2-11

Down are the only county to let down the province so far.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7883 - 28/06/2015 11:38:07    1743678

Yeah looking at those results you would say it is probably the expected number of Ulster teams who have progressed but not the expected teams. I would not say I was shocked at Downs exit though it certainly was an upset. I did say on Laois after last weekend that they would be only the first of a few upsets in qualifiers.

What are your opinions on why there are always far more upsets in qualifiers? Personally I do not understand the explanation that was given to me recently that some teams after defeat in provincial accept they are not All-Ireland contenders so more or less give up.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 28/06/2015 14:31:44    1743744

can anyone tell me if tyrone won by 9 or 10 points today? rte say 1-14 to 0-8 and on hoganstand report it says 1-14 to 0-7 but if you count up the scores on the report its 8 points, need to know for me bet!!

achara (Monaghan) - Posts: 563 - 28/06/2015 19:32:36    1744046