I know OLLIE it's ridiculous how our county boards have ignored the dire state of our county grounds, the same could be said for Kildare as well. It's no coincidence though that the 3 worst county grounds in the county happen to be near Croker Park, I'd imagine they aren't exactly giving us priority, although again our county boards need to be stronger and hammer home the point.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 02/02/2016 10:02:25    1821524

cuchulainn35

Come here listen I was only joking, I know Pairc Tailteann is a complete dump, it's neglect by previous county boards was a disgrace and while the current board have a plan for it, I don't really know where the money is going to come from, so I'll believe them when I see action.

The only modern thing down in Pairc Tailteann were the lights and they had to be taken down because they weren't safe!

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 02/02/2016 11:04:51    1821540

Yeah Htaem I agree with you. Another county beside Dublin which could do with an improvement with their County Ground is Wicklow.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 02/02/2016 11:40:49    1821568

The Gaa don't seem to care about county grounds close to Dublin.

Meath,Kildare,Wicklow and Louth all have poor grounds.But they did put money in Offaly and Laois.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 02/02/2016 12:02:38    1821580

Ye you could throw Wicklow in there as well, the only reason I didn't is because they've recently built a new stand but overall the ground does still need a bit of work.

I'm just afraid health and safety is going to step in and close some of these places altogether, the standards are pretty strict these days so it's beyond the realms of possibility.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 02/02/2016 12:48:15    1821607

Back to matters on the field and division 2

I was at the Galway Laois game...

Laois were at the races in the first half and Galway strated like a house on fire playing some great football...Laois did miss a peno and hit the cross bar in the first 10 minutes which could have changed things.

the second half was a different story with Laois making 5 changes at or before the break they seemed a lot more as ease after these changes.

Galway took their foot off the pedal somwhat and made changes ...Varley and Comer inside will test any defense in the country...

We weren't really exposed in the full back line so hard to tell what they are made of but I like the looks of our Full back he is pacey and very comfortable on the ball coming out of defence.

BigJohn.6_8 (Galway) - Posts: 704 - 02/02/2016 13:08:44    1821615

Htaem it is a long time since I was down in Aughrim. When was that stand build?

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 02/02/2016 14:42:51    1821652

Goldrick hopefully some changes will be implemented next season. The Leinster MFL are trialing a maximum of 3 hand-passes and also awarding a mark.

crikey (Australia) - Posts: 355 - 02/02/2016 18:28:28    1821730

It only opened within the last year OLLIE.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 02/02/2016 19:40:25    1821745

The mark should come in.I remember one incident that annoyed me on Sunday,were Armagh let a Meathman catch a ball in midfield.As soon as he came down he was surrounded by Armagh players and Armagh got the free,I think a fine catch in midfield should be rewarded.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 02/02/2016 21:44:39    1821776

Ziggy in general that annoys the hell out of mr too. On saying that I would prefer that if a player makes a clean catch he is allowed the time for 2 or 3 steps before he can be tackled. The mark in my opinion would slow the game too much.

Armaghball (Armagh) - Posts: 96 - 02/02/2016 21:52:48    1821783

It's very hard to look past Tyrone 1 and Derry 2 for promotion.
I believe Meath and Cavan will fancy there chances at the number 2 spot tho, only time will tell.
This division will be a massive help for all teams as they prepare for the opening round of the championship and will hold them in good stead going through the back door system down the line as this is the root for most Division 2 teams

bullwork (UK) - Posts: 11 - 03/02/2016 11:27:32    1821839

As a Meath man personally i am delighted to have the likes of Tyrone, Derry, Armagh in Div 2 this year.
Main reason being ,playing against them is forcing the Meath management to focus on tightening up defense and moving away from man to man marking. Playing loose flowing games against other Leinster sides IMO is of no use come championship time.
A good tough league slog against dogged quality competitors might knock a bit more steel into our boys.
The first fruits I saw against Armagh with a more disciplined rear guard who defended as a more cohesive unit rather than leaving each man to do his own job.
Looking forward to this shake up should maybe bar Tyrone, be only a few points between 2nd from top and 2nd from bottom.

highking12 (Meath) - Posts: 184 - 03/02/2016 12:49:04    1821876

Derry are proven league campaigners, There is no reason yet to believe they will be any less competitive this campaign.

derryman (Derry) - Posts: 3246 - 03/02/2016 13:26:48    1821906

tyrone gettin alot of credit and ritely so, but think some people are under estimating the quality of derry football, now that they have new management in i think they along with tyrone are a step above everyone else in the division.

abitawit (Fermanagh) - Posts: 274 - 03/02/2016 13:45:15    1821914

I think Derry are strong and always do well at this time of year and are usually capable of beating anybody even in Div 1. I would say that in terms of defence play if you are not able to put out a team who can defend man to man then you are not going to be able beat the top two or three teams in the country- indeed you will be able to compete with them, but not beat them. There are at least two if not 3 teams in Div 2 who would beat 50% of what is in Div 1.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 03/02/2016 14:14:50    1821925

Write Derry off if you want but I will be putting money on them to Win Ulster this year, Very impressed with them and they can really push on and win something this year!!!!

youngfella27 (Armagh) - Posts: 110 - 03/02/2016 14:22:44    1821928

fancy armagh and derry in tomorrows games. armagh should bate laois well, they hate coming up to armagh. derry will look to continue there good promising start to 2016, in breffini it'll be tough but the test that they needed

halfback_5 (Armagh) - Posts: 13 - 05/02/2016 18:27:44    1822688

Armaghball

Good point,but making a catch at midfield should be encouraged,if a foul is given against after the catch more players will be tempted to punch.They need to do something about it,your idea isn't bad at all.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 05/02/2016 20:24:43    1822725

I reckon Derry fans get very frustrated,not too long ago they reached the dv1 final,only to have an early summer and lose to Longford.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 05/02/2016 20:26:50    1822726