MuckrossHead your bang on. The seventies between Dublin and Kerry are romanticized by the GAA nostalgics but they had plenty of easy wins en route to the final

Maybe in 30-40 years people will look back and properly reflect on the four big guns right now as akin to Hearns, haggler, Duran and Leonard as the four kings of GAA. The standards they are raising the game should be applauded, not derided but I suppose that's just the typical Irish way

shaggykev (Donegal) - Posts: 203 - 03/08/2015 17:06:26    1763215

shaggykev
County: Donegal
Posts: 121

1762975
Mother of god ye are all brainwashed by those eegits in RTE

Cork v Kerry was superb
Meath v Westmeath was one of the best games and produced a fantastic result
Donegal v Tyrone was compelling and actually had some really decent football
Longford v Offaly -wonderful game
Galway v Mayo-had heart, spirit and excellent goals
Donegal v Galway- see above
Kerry v Kildare-May have been one sided but give credit to Kerry for putting on an exhibition
Dublin v Fermanagh-Loved Fermanaghs attitude and put Leinster teams to shame

PLUS

We have the big four likely to play each other again this year four times and we'll get some brill games
Donegal v Mayo
Winner v DUblin
Winner v Kerry

Last seasons three football semi finals were games of the ages as was the 2013 Dublin v Kerry Semi final
Quit your whinging and enjoy the game for what it is

If Donegal, Kerry, Mayo and Dublin so what. People didnt whinge in tennis when Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic moved above the pack. Eventually the pack started to catch up and raised their own standards

Cavan v Monaghan was quite a good game too!
Also, Ulster final was a good watch....... maybe it still hurts for you to include.

Who are the big 4 ?....... Your facts are wrong... Monaghan/Tyrone WILL play Kerry in the semi -final..... Either Donegal /Mayo will NOT contest a semi!

Monaghan Exile (Monaghan) - Posts: 442 - 03/08/2015 17:30:48    1763233

Teams will win at all costs now so get used to every year being a shite year. Blanket defences will b more and more but the top 4 teams will b able to break them down. Hurling is a concern at the moment too but I just think the teams who had pretty average backlines these past 2 years finally got found out. Cork were getting destroyed in the 2013 final yet still somehow won munster in 2014. Limerick had no forward line and we're still winning games.Dublin have been awful in the championship past 2 years and Clare have disappointed in the 2 years since winning the AI in 2013 . Somehow we all should have seen this coming. The only teams who have improved in hurling is Galway and Waterford. Tipp and KK are untested yet to even state how they rate this moment in time. Galway and Waterford only put up a little fight in respective finals and it's nice to see them getting a crack at the top 2 again in reverse order!! Hopefully the semi finals will make up for the poor year so far.

WildPundit (Tipperary) - Posts: 1709 - 03/08/2015 17:38:23    1763240

03/08/2015 11:55:47
football first
County: All
Posts: 942

1762976 Some wonderful football forwards playing at the moment- Quigley has been a breath of fresh air all season; Michael Murphy's catch, turn and point v Galway on Saturday was awesome, as was his flick to McHugh for the second goal; Connolly's points with left and right yesterday were top notch; Ciaran McManus has been superb, and the Kerry goal machine yesterday was a classic mix of skill, pace and movement. Glass half full....or glass half empty...take your pick.

Great post, spot on! I would add Odhran MacNailais two points against Galway, Corrigans lobbed goal for Fermanagh against Westmeath, Aidan O'Shea's performance against Sligo and in Hurling what about Joe Cannings unbelievable goal against Kilkenny.

So_it_is (Fermanagh) - Posts: 40 - 03/08/2015 17:41:47    1763242

Agreed the provincial system is dead. It will probably have to get much much worse before the GAA make changes. People will vote with thier feet and not attend the games. It is ruining my enjoyment of supporting the best Generation of Dublin footballers since the 70s.

gormdubhgorm (Dublin) - Posts: 990 - 03/08/2015 17:43:18    1763243

GAA badly needs a Dubs win this year. Or else Mayo. Sorry Kerry Donegal, Monaghan Tyrone. Kerry have a good hurling team now and can look forward to supporting them in division 2 next year and the Munster hurling also. The Northern teams have their own mini championship the Ulster competition. So the GAA needs the "big bad Dubs" especially to fill Croke park and bring the colour blue to it. Next year 2016 will be Mayo's year-without doubt.
Finally provincial championships are finished. Time to bring back knockout and combine Munster and Leinster titles, and Connacht and Ulster. With knock out games. 2 Provincial finals, with the winners playing the 2nd team in other province is the way to go. And Ireland South East and Ireland North West so to speak.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2520 - 03/08/2015 17:51:40    1763248

The standard of individual play and skill levels are quite superb - but these are mere flashes. But the gulf between the top teams and the rest is growing, not sure what can be done. The big worry would be for a dramatic fall in attendances or more importantly the numbers playing the game - but while attendances probably will dip the numbers playing it are still very strong. Maybe just show less of the games on TV I don't recall in the seventies seeing wall to wall live football on TV - that is not good for the game.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4898 - 03/08/2015 17:58:39    1763251

I'd say so far it has been pretty poor stuff. It's time for a new championship with more meaningful matches. True about the best Dubs team in a generation. They may get either 1 or 2 proper matches this year.

tyroneed (Tyrone) - Posts: 753 - 03/08/2015 18:02:47    1763254

Lads would you stop there still always be great scores and some nice moves but the game right now is terrible it's so boring it's a game of basketball now hand pass after hand pass then 15 lads in there own half ah will you stop, boring.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 03/08/2015 18:03:11    1763255

This year is not over yet, and people only really remember the old days when provincial compeititons offered something. This is particularly true of leinster and munster, when teams like offaly, meath, kildare and even laois/westmeath/wexford/ in the 00s were able to compete and win.

Unfortunately, all the big horses in the race run at the end of the summer now, there is little or no romance in the championship, unless you want to include westmeath beating meath for the first time ever. I would say that there is a lot of football left, but there has been some awful games in historical terms in years that we look back with nostalgia at.

Donegal v Mayo could be a classic
Tyrone and Monaghan will last the 70 minutes, and the result will be in the balance for the game
Dublin will possibly get a good game in their semi v donegal or mayo, who knows it could be a classic

Kerry might even be given a game by the winners of tyrone or monaghan
What about an all ireland final featuring the dubs and kerry? or kerry and mayo part 2?

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 03/08/2015 18:08:05    1763259

Seriously disagree. There's always been some one sided games at times. Munster and Ulster produced the expected Division 1 standard provincial finals. The Munster runners-up were caught out by the week gap after the replay. This allowed Kidare sneak through. There's always likely to be one rogue quarter-finalist. Fermanagh were destined to fulfil this. They brought great energy and entertainment value. Next weekend's quarter-finals should be competitive. The hurling championship has been disappointing so far.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7876 - 03/08/2015 18:30:25    1763269

The title of thread is worst in living memory , well I suppose that depends on how old you are , for me its not been vintage to date , some poor games , too many one sided games but not as bad as the title suggests , if you are a Waterford fan Im sure your enjoying the championship and year , Dubs have a league , title still going strong for Sam , minors in an All ireland hurling semi , so not to bad , but looking at the games I watched in both codes as a neutral Ive had more borefests than edge of the seat games .
TV saturation maybe an issue ,
Its definetly been the year of the tactic .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 03/08/2015 19:01:11    1763287

tiobraid
County: Tipperary
Posts: 1372

...Tipp and kk have most definitely gone back wards ...

How have they gone backwards?

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2480 - 03/08/2015 19:09:10    1763296

Is any sport followed by so many moaning, crying, sanctimonious whingers as Gaelic Games ? Is any sport analysed by so many moaning, crying, negative , self obsessed journalists and pundits as Gaelic Football ? The answer to the initial stupid question in this thread is no . 1979 , Kerry 9-21 Clare 1-09. Kerry 2-14 Cork 2-04. Kerry 5-14 Monaghan 0-07. Kerry 3-13 Dublin 1-08. Kerry's results in 1979 on the way to winning Sam . Have a look at the semi final and final results around those years .

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 03/08/2015 19:30:32    1763315

Ah your having a laugh boys, jaysus last year was far worst until the All Ireland Semi final's finally sprung the Championship to life.

I have really enjoyed quite a few game so far this year in the Championship.

The Provincial Championships gave us plenty of good games, like the memorable comeback by Westmeath against Meath in Leinster, Donegal v Tyrone sledging match, Donegal unexpectedly blitzing Armagh, Galway giving Mayo a game, Kerry v Cork pt 1 and most of the Ulster games were good enough to watch, bar Derry v Down.

The Qualifiers were ok too, with Fermanagh's fightback against Roscommon and Westmeath. Antrim upsetting Laois in the Qualifiers, or Wexford beating Down.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 03/08/2015 19:35:23    1763322

DEFINITELY NOT A VINTAGE YEAR SO FAR. However good chance of excellent semi's and finals in both hurling and football could turn the year around.

dingle2 (Kerry) - Posts: 278 - 03/08/2015 21:56:16    1763469

make all lower teams in the league have automatic home advantage in the the championship.like longford would not have to play dublin in croke park as happened this year

toe2hand (Galway) - Posts: 223 - 04/08/2015 09:27:58    1763498

Must be the worst after the quote from one manager

"I just think it is bad taste and without Sligo competing they wouldn't have a job."

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 04/08/2015 09:29:41    1763500

Yeah apart from the 2 games mentioned its been terrible year .
I suppose apart from the real all ire final that will take place between dubs and mayo in semi the rest were and are non events in the big scheme of things.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 04/08/2015 09:35:03    1763503

Whats the definition of a good year?

Would tight matches but crap football be a good year?

You get tired of the constant negativity in Irish journalism about the GAA.

And then like sheep people start repeating it.

Weak counties have always been weak, and will also be weak!

In general in any sport only 3 or 4 teams are seriously in the running.

witnof (Dublin) - Posts: 1604 - 04/08/2015 09:39:13    1763505